Reviews with content warning for Death - The Rise of Kyoshi

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

96 reviews

yellowvans's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

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jayisreading's review

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adventurous fast-paced

4.75

For those who want more Avatar content, The Rise of Kyoshi will scratch that itch. With tight writing, rich details, and wonderful worldbuilding that still adheres to the existing rules and structures in ATLA, Yee does an incredible job narrating the origin story of Avatar Kyoshi. He does an incredible job with Kyoshi’s character development; you really get a sense of her growth throughout the book as well as her ideologies. I was also impressed by how well he handled action scenes, too, especially given the fantastical aspects of bending that might be hard to capture in text.

I think a particularly pleasant surprise was the depth of Yee’s exploration of ethics and politics throughout this book, mostly focusing on the Earth Kingdom (but you get hints of what’s happening in the other nations as well). Furthermore, it was interesting. It’s hard to capture that well, but I thought he did a fantastic job diving deep into what easily could have bored the reader. And, frankly, I think it was what really brought the story together and made the writing as tight as it was.

All-in-all, this is such a phenomenal contribution to the Avatar universe. It will undoubtedly make you want more Kyoshi content, and I’m truly looking forward to reading the sequel.

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_katie_reads_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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e_flah's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The Rise of Kyoshi was my book club's most recent pick and I honestly think if it hadn't been for book club, I would've DNF'd this book. I really enjoyed Avatar: The Last Airbender when I watched it for the first time last year but I think my only casual familiarity with the show made this book a lot harder to get through. The Rise of Kyoshi throws you into the world of ATLA with minimal explanation of some major concepts -- like what an Avatar actually is -- but leaves a lot of the politics + locations for the reader to puzzle out. If I'd been more familiar with ATLA, I think I would've found this a lot less frustrating.

The pacing of The Rise of Kyoshi was also all over the place. This felt more like three shorter books stuck together into one. I've seen other reviewers mention this would've made a better graphic novel and I wholeheartedly agree.

If you're a big fan of ATLA, The Rise of Kyoshi is worth a read. As a more casual fan, I wish I'd passed on this one.

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fiveredhens's review against another edition

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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

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arce's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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levtolstoy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad 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

4.0

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catmac15's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.75

The Kyoshi Books I think are very underrated in the avatar universe. these books are much darker than ATLA which I personally enjoyed.

The fandom and the show itself give Kyoshi a reputation of someone who doesn't care about killing and death but the author adds more depth to her character and gives readers a more human side to Kyoshi that the show doesn't give her (due to the lack of screentime she has, as she is a side character)

The reason I'm not giving it 5 stars, despite how much I loved it, I found that when introducing all the new characters, you kind of get a bunch thrown at you at once, and for a while, it was hard to keep track of them all. I don't have this problem with the second book since the second one didn't introduce that many new characters that weren't in the first book. If you're looking for more content in the avatar universe, this is a good place to start.

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wirt's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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

4.75

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_kimb's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

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