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Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'
Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Legacy of Yangchen by F.C. Yee
12 reviews
pandacosm's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It's a relief to finally get an Avatar novel by F. C. Yee that has a real happy ending and where friends actually stay loyal and play important parts in the final climactic battle . I have to admit, reading the prior books partly ruined the mood for me all the way through because I kept on expecting betrayals or a tainted, Pyrrhic victory, so the highs of the book couldn't be enjoyed . And this book still has points that I consider unnecessarily dark for the Avatarverse, like literally having a tortured child kill a sky bison and then die himself. Yeah, that happened . It was an interesting book. I'm relieved this is the end of the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Sorry if I missed any content warnings. There was a lot of dark stuff as usual.sdpersaud89's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Abandonment
sfstefanie's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Backdrop of Plutocratic rise, discussions of morality
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Pretty mild, book suitable for teenskappafrog's review against another edition
3.75
Like the first book, Yangchen was great in this. I love what Yee has done with her character. This book felt more balanced between Kavik and Yangchen - I wasn't as annoyed when the POV switched to him. I also enjoyed the greater variety in settings in this book. Bin-Er never gave me a lot of rich visuals, but Taku and the other settings in this book did. I do think this book struggled a bit more with the plot than the previous one though. There were more plot holes and contrivances. People were constantly sharing only partial truths, and the timeline kept jumping around, so between those two I ended up having a hard time keeping up with the reality of the situation. By the end of the book, I felt there were a few parts where I'd never quite understood who knew what and when. Yee tried to pack a LOT into this book, and some things felt pretty rushed. For example, Kavik discovering Yangchen's abuse of the the Spirit Oasis drug was never brought up again, and not a lot of time was spent on Nujian's death. Overall though, this was a rich episode in the Avatar world that I'm glad I spent some time in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol
twistedflower2357's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really really loved this book and couldn't put it down. I'll try not to rehash things I said in my previous review for The Dawn of Yangchen, because I think The Legacy of Yangchen shares or exceeds everything I had to praise about its predecessor. Both Yangchen and Kavik are increased in their complexity, their characterization now even more intrinsically tied to the plot. The way FC Yee poises Chaisee and Kalyaan as Yangchen and Kavik's dark foils, respectively, allows us to really dig into the heart of our protagonists and what drives them. More than ever, Yangchen has to grapple with her humanity and the eternal psychological horror of being the Avatar, condemned to regret mistake after mistake after mistake. Her and Kavik have beautiful arcs and their relationship with each other is even more compelling than it was in the first book.
The worldbuilding is rich, the prose filled with clever in-universe koans, and the limits of bending possibilities are explored with clever, horrifying detail without feeling too permissive (it's easy to get caught up in questions like "can earthbenders bend glass" and "can airbenders bend the air from someone's lungs" without regarding the actual implications these abilities would have on the world). This time, I felt much more favorably towards FC Yee's apparent habit of withholding information from the audience until a later point and layering flashbacks during the finale to reveal information non-chronologically. The pacing flowed better and I enjoyed the feeling of having the rug pulled from under me.
The greatest issue I had with the book is perhaps the most spoiler-ific one.It hurts my heart to say, but I didn't feel like we had enough time to sit with Nujian's death. The pace was so breakneck that it almost felt like a plotpoint left by the wayside, happening for no real reason other than to pile onto the cosmic horrors Yangchen must face as the Avatar. I just wish we could have explored Yangchen's grief across a longer timeframe; there are a few pages of the simply gut-wrenching immediate aftermath from her perspective, a single flashback later on, and little beyond that. Another small issue I had was with "Team Avatar"'s acceptance of Kavik in the end. The huddling scene itself was lovely, but I was disappointed that Jujinta, Tayagum, and Akuudan's forgiveness was given like a joke. I think this conflict was deserving of a serious resolution. But these are, however, relatively minor problems I have. I think the strengths of this book, and this series as a whole, far outshine these issues for me. This is definitely a book I recommend diving into.
The worldbuilding is rich, the prose filled with clever in-universe koans, and the limits of bending possibilities are explored with clever, horrifying detail without feeling too permissive (it's easy to get caught up in questions like "can earthbenders bend glass" and "can airbenders bend the air from someone's lungs" without regarding the actual implications these abilities would have on the world). This time, I felt much more favorably towards FC Yee's apparent habit of withholding information from the audience until a later point and layering flashbacks during the finale to reveal information non-chronologically. The pacing flowed better and I enjoyed the feeling of having the rug pulled from under me.
The greatest issue I had with the book is perhaps the most spoiler-ific one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Child abuse
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse and Torture
haleybre's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
crml's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
wow, i was absolutely blown away by this book! rhe first book left me really intrigued and curious, and this book did not disappoint!
the way that towards the end of the book, we kept being flung back and forth in time and location, each chapter answering one question and rising a new one, slowly unfolding the events and it all coming together so satisfyingly! i loved reading that.
i really enjoyed how every time i thought something was a bit of a stretch, or didn’t fit quite right- it was later revealed that it wasnt how it seemed- everything was always accounted for.
i need to dedicate a section of this to nujians death. that absolutely destroyed me, this is worse than kelsang or lek, killing off the ANIMAL COMPANION is ILLEGAL. fc yee is a sadist. i think i actually wanted to throw up when i read that (kavik core).
i will say the way they left us off with jetsun, i felt really incomplete with it- but i understand it and how it works for yangchens character so i dont hate it.
overall, i really really loved this book.
i really enjoyed how every time i thought something was a bit of a stretch, or didn’t fit quite right- it was later revealed that it wasnt how it seemed- everything was always accounted for.
i need to dedicate a section of this to nujians death. that absolutely destroyed me, this is worse than kelsang or lek, killing off the ANIMAL COMPANION is ILLEGAL. fc yee is a sadist. i think i actually wanted to throw up when i read that (kavik core).
i will say the way they left us off with jetsun, i felt really incomplete with it- but i understand it and how it works for yangchens character so i dont hate it.
overall, i really really loved this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
plume_de_renarde's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
doodeedoda's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Blood and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Torture
ferlefur's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
In this fourth book of 'The Avatar Chronicles', FC Yee repeats many of his mistakes from the previous installment.
It feels like he intended to write a heist or political story of comparable magnitude and complexity to that of the first book, The Rise of Kyoshi, but ends up going little into each of the critical points.. While we end up with a good exploration of Yangchen's character, it also leaves us with minor characters (including a couple of antagonists) that aren't explored beyond their superficial input to the plot. The book, in fact, is the shortest of the entire saga so far, as if he had sacrificed the quality of his writing (which he has already demonstrated in The Rise and The Shadow of Kyoshi) in order to meet the deadline.
The subplot in which Yangchen is "lost" in his past lives and these are manifested through them, no longer remains an "explanation" for how he lost his sister, Jetsun. Other than that it has no impact on the main plot.
Also, Yee ran out of ideas to integrate the cities of the shangs into the Avatar universe, without explaining to us how they disappeared or what happened after Yangchen took control over them.
Kavik, the other main character, whose point of view is followed in most of both books, does not have a substantial development in this installment.
The good: the philosophy of Yangchen and Jetsun, whom he meets at the end of the book, the expansion of the Avatar universe, and the daring to bring a different story to it.
It feels like he intended to write a heist or political story of comparable magnitude and complexity to that of the first book, The Rise of Kyoshi, but ends up going little into each of the critical points.. While we end up with a good exploration of Yangchen's character, it also leaves us with minor characters (including a couple of antagonists) that aren't explored beyond their superficial input to the plot. The book, in fact, is the shortest of the entire saga so far, as if he had sacrificed the quality of his writing (which he has already demonstrated in The Rise and The Shadow of Kyoshi) in order to meet the deadline.
The subplot in which Yangchen is "lost" in his past lives and these are manifested through them, no longer remains an "explanation" for how he lost his sister, Jetsun. Other than that it has no impact on the main plot.
Also, Yee ran out of ideas to integrate the cities of the shangs into the Avatar universe, without explaining to us how they disappeared or what happened after
Kavik, the other main character, whose point of view is followed in most of both books, does not have a substantial development in this installment.
The good:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Excrement