Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

8 reviews

somelesbianwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

F.C. Yee should've been a writer on the shows. these books are ELITE. painful, exciting, interesting, queer, fits perfectly in the universe but also with a maturity that the networks and age rating limited in parts of the original shows?? sign me up. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment

simareading's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

For what it is, this book is fantastic. If it was for a different demographic I may lower my rating a bit, but the story was actually very wonderful. It made me angry, and sad, and kept me coming back after every short break. Excited for the second!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Death, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

perenlop's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not all that attached to Avatar as a series, but I really enjoyed this one! Kyoshi's an interesting protagonist (very refreshing to see an angry and cold female protagonist that's allowed to be angry) and I was invested in seeing her overcome Jianzhu and his forces. Speaking of Jianzhu, an avatar villain that's a rich government man who was friends with the previous avatar, tried to take on said avatar's duties, who's now trying to contain the new avatar with his influence that could easily kill her and has become a broken man trying to do so is a FANTASTIC concept. He was one of my favorite characters from how well he was written and how angry he made me in a lot of his scenes. Probably one of my favorite villains in recent memory. 

Also the book is gay. I appreciate that :) I love seeing gay people in fantasy novels and Kyoshi and Rangi's relationship was absolutely precious to watch unfold throughout the book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Homophobia

sophieissapphhic's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

3.5 stars 

- This book expanded on the Avatar Universe so well!! This was worth the read for the worldbuilding alone.
- I liked the character relationships! They were developed well.
- Be gay, do crime.
- I disliked the inconsistent pacing. In the beginning, it dragged, and the other two thirds of the book felt all over the place pace-wise. 

Content Warnings: violence, death, child death, parental abandonment, body horror (teeth horror; brief), fire & fire-related injuries, blood, grief, alcohol consumption

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body horror and Alcohol

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Genocide, Gore, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Suffocation. Drugging/poisoning.

revisable4510's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

favorite quotes:

She'd taken her own gear off and was only wearing a thin cotton shift that exposed her arms and legs. Her streamlined figure belied the solidness of her muscles. Kyoshi caught herself gawking, having never seen her friend out of uniform before. It was hard for her to comprehend that the spiky bits weren't a natural part of Rangi's body.

Rangi shifted, pressing closer to Kyoshi's body, rubbing the soft bouquet of her hair against Kyoshi's lips. The startling contact felt like a transgression, the mistake of a girl exhausted and drowsy. The more noble Fire Nation families, like the one Rangi descended from, would never let just anyone touch their hair like this.
The faint, flowery scent that filled Kyoshi's lungs made her head swim and her pulse quicken. Kyoshi kept still like it was her life's calling, unwilling to make any motion that might disturb her friend's fitful slumber.
Eventually Rangi fell into a deep sleep, radiating warmth like a little glowing coal in the hearth. Kyoshi realized that comforting her throughout the night was both an honor and a torture she wouldn't have traded for anything in the world.
Kyoshi closed her eyes. She did her best to ignore the pain of her arm losing circulation and her heart falling into a pile of ribbons.

Despite how tired they were, Rangi only dozed fitfully, shivering though it was no longer cold. Watching her from a distance, Kyoshi had an answer regarding the little snips of breath she'd listened to for so long in their shared tent on the iceberg. It was how Rangi cried in her sleep. Every so often, she would burrow her face into her shoulders to wipe her tears.
With their eyes on each other, it was easy to be brave. Maybe that's the only way we get through this, Kyoshi thought. Just never look away.

"Kyoshi, I'm so sorry. I don't know how to break this to you, but... but..."
Relief came like a monsoon. She did not have to meet them. She didn't have to discover what kind of person she was when the past unearthed itself and took solid form.

Lek forgot his portion as he watched them, amazed. "I didn't think an army princess and a servant girl from a fancy mansion would take to elephant rat."
"Survival training at the academy," Rangi said, breaking a bone with her fingers to get at the marrow. "We learned to accept whatever food we could find in the wild."
"I used to eat garbage," Kyoshi said.

They're all the same, Kyoshi thought. Every single one. Whether they clothe themselves in business or brotherhood or a higher calling only they can see, it doesn't matter. They're one and the same. ...
They look at themselves like forces of nature, as inevitable ends, but they're not. Their depth is as false as the shoals at low tide. They twist the meaning of justice to absolve themselves of conscience. ...
They're humans like us, made of skin and guts and pain. They need to be reminded of that fact.

this could get a little boring and too gritty for me but it was definitely the first post-a:tla canon work that i've really enjoyed. i think it did the setting justice

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, and Grief

papercraftalex's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'll be giving a full review after I finish the sequel

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Medical content

rumireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror and Torture

Minor: Homophobia