Book Review: The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

Published: July 16, 2019
Publisher: Amulet Books
Received: purchased
Read from October 17, 2021 to February 5, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

F. C. Yee’s The Rise of Kyoshi delves into the story of Kyoshi, the Earth Kingdom–born Avatar. The longest-living Avatar in this beloved world’s history, Kyoshi established the brave and respected Kyoshi Warriors, but also founded the secretive Dai Li, which led to the corruption, decline, and fall of her own nation. The first of two novels based on Kyoshi, The Rise of Kyoshi maps her journey from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice who is still feared and admired centuries after she became the Avatar.

Review:

As someone who's been a fan of Avatar since the show first aired when I was eleven, I've been very excited each time we've learned that there's going to be more. The movie was a disappointment, and Korra was a bit of a mixed bag. People have complicated feelings about it. I actually like Korra, though it's not on the same level as the original for me. The comics are also fun, and I've enjoyed the ones I've read, but I don't really connect with comics in the way I do TV shows or novels.

That was why I was excited to hear that there were going to be novels set in the Avatar universe. Avatar Kyoshi also had an interesting backstory that had already been introduced in Last Airbender, so learning more about her had me excited, and I wasn't disappointed.

Honestly, I could talk about this book for ages, but I'm going to try and focus on several of the biggest thoughts that I have after reading.

As I said before, there's a lot of potential for an interesting story about Kyoshi just based on what we learn about her in the original TV series. She was the longest lived Avatar, living for a longer period of time than a human being should be able too (over 200 years) which was never explained on the show, and she had a whole island and group of warriors named after her.

This first book addresses all of that in a way that felt very natural to the story currently being told and without it feeling like those details were being dropped just to explain things in the original TV show. I love the way it was done. As someone who's seen the TV show many times, I picked up on ways this story connected to the show, and I also have some theories about the second book based on what I know about Kyoshi from the show. However, you could pick up this book without ever having watched the show and be just as engaged in the story.

The Rise of Kyoshi also means that we now have two queer Avatars, which isn't something I could have imagined when I was watching Last Airbender as a kid. It's amazing.

Kyoshi wasn't anything like what I expected her to be, and I really like that. In addition to Kyoshi, we get a large cast of new characters, and every single one of them was unique and interesting. I particularly like how Jianzhu is the villain of the story, but we can see how he justifies his actions as being for the good of the world. It makes him a particularly great villain and humanizes him in a way that Ozai never got. (Azula was a bit more than Ozai, but I think it makes more sense to compare Jianzhu and Ozai as Ozai was always the one Aang was supposed to face.)

I did like Rangi, but she was quite closed off emotionally, which admittedly made a lot of sense for her. I hope we get to learn more about her and how she thinks in the second book. She's very devoted to Kyoshi too, and I'd like to see more of her as her own independent person and not necessarily as Kyoshi's teacher or protector.

Outlaw gangs called daofei play a huge role in the story, which was another surprise. By Aang's day, they seem to have (at least mostly) disappeared, since the pirates that we do see in Last Airbender are nothing like the groups we see in the book. I assume that Kyoshi's time as the Avatar will have a lot to do with these daofei and possibly be why they're almost nonexistent by the time Aang is born.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Rise of Kyoshi. It's an engaging and fun backstory for Kyoshi, and I'm excited to read the sequel and learn more about what happens next.