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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
This book just makes me want to continue to learn about Kyoshi's legacy. I love the surprises in learning more about Kurak and Yangchen. I also love that it reemphasizes the fact that the newest avatar usually has to deal with the decisions of the past avatar. It really emphasizes how choices are not all black in white and that not every thing connects like you think it should.
I also love seeing how complicated Kyoshi and Rangi's relationship is and how it continues to evolve.
I also love seeing how complicated Kyoshi and Rangi's relationship is and how it continues to evolve.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm always keen to read more lore in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I enjoyed the first book in this duology, which set up the expansive world and politics that inform Kyoshi's life and Avatarhood. Kyoshi remains a great character, and I do give Yee credit for making her a multi-dimensional character with flaws, who makes the wrong decision a lot of the time. For an all-powerful Avatar, she feels remarkably human, which is what makes her story so interesting. Yee is a great writer and his more literary style is an interesting departure from the looser style of the series and comics, which I actually like! It lends a whole new dimension to the canon of the series.
Where this book didn't work as well for me as its predecessor was in establishing the stakes of where the story was going. Even though this is the second book in the series (and admittedly I had read the first quite recently) I felt a bit thrown into the middle of the action of Kyoshi's escapades, and didn't have the luxury of lots of lead time to introduce the new cast of characters. Rise was so meticulous about setting up Kyoshi's past, her relationships, her place in the world, so that when the plot got going, you felt firmly rooted in the world. In this book, there is once again a lot of travel, lots of new villains, backstabbing, divided loyalties, and all sorts of shenanigans, but the pace was such that I never felt anchored in the story, in how this book was going to build upon what was set up in the first. The two Fire Lords, the clans, the spirits, Kyoshi's struggle to commune with the previous Avatars — it's all excellent content, but it didn't really cohere for me in the end. The plot, while action-packed, never felt totally propulsive, like I needed to keep reading to find out what happened. Whereas I found the first book much more engaging, this grabbed me in certain parts, but left me wanting more in others. I think there was great potential with the return of Yun, but I found myself confused by his motives and the way he interacted with the other characters, and by the time we reached the final conflict, I wanted it to feel more heart-in-my-throat, like this was the culmination of everything these two books had established, and was left wanting.
One thing I loved about the first book was setting up Rangi and Kyoshi, and I was hoping that their relationship would really blossom in this story. While there are some very lovely moments between the two of them, I didn't get the level of growth that I was really hoping to see. They are both distracted by the action, to say the least, but it would have been nice to have a stronger sense of where they will be going from this point. I did appreciate getting a deeper look into Rangi's mother, Hei-Ran, and her time as part of Kuruk's "Team Avatar."
In the end, this didn't really feel like the end of a duology, and perhaps my slight disappointment has to do with wanting a different story out of this series than it was offering up. Introducing Kyoshi as the Avatar and setting up her early exploits and the disarray in the Fire Nation is obviously important to later action in the series, but I think the story I wanted was Kyoshi's later life, the establishment of the warriors, her fighting battles. Which is obviously not what a YA novel was going to aim for! So I can't really fault the book or the author for delivering exactly the narrative that was intended. I guess I'm just craving more Kyoshi content (needless to say, but I'm excited about Suki's upcoming solo comic!) and didn't get what I was looking for here.
I would still recommend for fans of the series, though I can't help but hope that there will be future books that can expand upon these ones even more!
Where this book didn't work as well for me as its predecessor was in establishing the stakes of where the story was going. Even though this is the second book in the series (and admittedly I had read the first quite recently) I felt a bit thrown into the middle of the action of Kyoshi's escapades, and didn't have the luxury of lots of lead time to introduce the new cast of characters. Rise was so meticulous about setting up Kyoshi's past, her relationships, her place in the world, so that when the plot got going, you felt firmly rooted in the world. In this book, there is once again a lot of travel, lots of new villains, backstabbing, divided loyalties, and all sorts of shenanigans, but the pace was such that I never felt anchored in the story, in how this book was going to build upon what was set up in the first. The two Fire Lords, the clans, the spirits, Kyoshi's struggle to commune with the previous Avatars — it's all excellent content, but it didn't really cohere for me in the end. The plot, while action-packed, never felt totally propulsive, like I needed to keep reading to find out what happened. Whereas I found the first book much more engaging, this grabbed me in certain parts, but left me wanting more in others. I think there was great potential with the return of Yun, but I found myself confused by his motives and the way he interacted with the other characters, and by the time we reached the final conflict, I wanted it to feel more heart-in-my-throat, like this was the culmination of everything these two books had established, and was left wanting.
One thing I loved about the first book was setting up Rangi and Kyoshi, and I was hoping that their relationship would really blossom in this story. While there are some very lovely moments between the two of them, I didn't get the level of growth that I was really hoping to see. They are both distracted by the action, to say the least, but it would have been nice to have a stronger sense of where they will be going from this point. I did appreciate getting a deeper look into Rangi's mother, Hei-Ran, and her time as part of Kuruk's "Team Avatar."
In the end, this didn't really feel like the end of a duology, and perhaps my slight disappointment has to do with wanting a different story out of this series than it was offering up. Introducing Kyoshi as the Avatar and setting up her early exploits and the disarray in the Fire Nation is obviously important to later action in the series, but I think the story I wanted was Kyoshi's later life, the establishment of the warriors, her fighting battles. Which is obviously not what a YA novel was going to aim for! So I can't really fault the book or the author for delivering exactly the narrative that was intended. I guess I'm just craving more Kyoshi content (needless to say, but I'm excited about Suki's upcoming solo comic!) and didn't get what I was looking for here.
I would still recommend for fans of the series, though I can't help but hope that there will be future books that can expand upon these ones even more!
i have a bunch of disjointed thoughts about this book but let me start by saying that i absolutely loved and enjoyed this duology what a shame to admit i've been putting off the second part for more than a year. although the novels had their share of flaws in writing where some points were convoluted at times, they were minor and tolerable and mildly affected the storytelling as a whole atleast for me.
kyoshi's background was fleshed out well and the conclusion of her story gave in-depth backing to her strong resolve for justice as previously introduced in the tv show. the redeeming revelation provided on kuruk's avatarhood (which was deemed failure by the public opinion) and tying his faults directly into yangchen's own shortcomings created this fluid ripple effect in putting a conclusive end to kyoshi's journey in finally connecting with her predecessors.
kyoshi's monologues were heart-stirring and i was moved to tears whenever the story reminded us how much of a fragile and abandoned little girl she was and how she still is!!! but strives to escape the looming shadows of her biological parents' background as ruthless criminals because of her constant need to prove to the world that she is not of the same feathers as they were and embraces the highs and lows of avatarhood in order to save and protect people from suffering the same trials she went through. her fear of rejection from the very people she wanted to save was devastating to witness due to the fact she was still carrying the scar she got when she was abandoned by her own parents, as evident in her rigid denialism about yun's descent into corruption.
the part i enjoyed mulling over the most was her warring dynamic with yun, not to mention that i was drawn into his character the instant he was introduced. yun turning into the man he despised most passionately (jianzhu) amid the process of his quest to exact revenge on everyone who lied to him was decadently tormenting it drives me insane to think about his tragedy. kyoshi, rangi, and yun were my totga trio and i will forever cherish them in my heart.
and rangi... my sweet, precious, beloved rangi who has this admirable penchant for honor and responsibility to protect her people. there's nothing really much to say about her character as it pales when put in relation to kyoshi and yun but i still adore her so much. rangshi is forever.
hei-ran is also a character worthy of special mention!!! her initiation of the sincere and undaunted submission of surrendering her life, legacy, and honor to take responsibility for the sins she committed out of duty to receive absolution and aid kyoshi in achieving the greater good even if it meant she'd be used as a sacrificial bait because she's hyper-aware of the severity of damage she's caused to the world was sooo moving. hei-ran volunteered to give her life to absolve her of the guilt and dishonor of the sinful acts she perpetrated in the past but doing so made her the most honorable man among the horde without her realizing. and huazo and hei-ran were toxic old woman yuri if you squint.
yangchen's little moment with kyoshi was also one of the bits i largely enjoyed. i was about to black out from crying when yangchen embraced and consoled kyoshi. these novels are sooo special to me and i'm forever grateful to f.c. yee for bringing kyoshi's delightfully epic and gripping tale into physicality. i'll definitely tap into the yangchen novels and look forward to reading more of f.c. yee's works set in the world of avatar.
kyoshi's background was fleshed out well and the conclusion of her story gave in-depth backing to her strong resolve for justice as previously introduced in the tv show. the redeeming revelation provided on kuruk's avatarhood (which was deemed failure by the public opinion) and tying his faults directly into yangchen's own shortcomings created this fluid ripple effect in putting a conclusive end to kyoshi's journey in finally connecting with her predecessors.
kyoshi's monologues were heart-stirring and i was moved to tears whenever the story reminded us how much of a fragile and abandoned little girl she was and how she still is!!! but strives to escape the looming shadows of her biological parents' background as ruthless criminals because of her constant need to prove to the world that she is not of the same feathers as they were and embraces the highs and lows of avatarhood in order to save and protect people from suffering the same trials she went through. her fear of rejection from the very people she wanted to save was devastating to witness due to the fact she was still carrying the scar she got when she was abandoned by her own parents, as evident in her rigid denialism about yun's descent into corruption.
the part i enjoyed mulling over the most was her warring dynamic with yun, not to mention that i was drawn into his character the instant he was introduced. yun turning into the man he despised most passionately (jianzhu) amid the process of his quest to exact revenge on everyone who lied to him was decadently tormenting it drives me insane to think about his tragedy. kyoshi, rangi, and yun were my totga trio and i will forever cherish them in my heart.
and rangi... my sweet, precious, beloved rangi who has this admirable penchant for honor and responsibility to protect her people. there's nothing really much to say about her character as it pales when put in relation to kyoshi and yun but i still adore her so much. rangshi is forever.
hei-ran is also a character worthy of special mention!!! her initiation of the sincere and undaunted submission of surrendering her life, legacy, and honor to take responsibility for the sins she committed out of duty to receive absolution and aid kyoshi in achieving the greater good even if it meant she'd be used as a sacrificial bait because she's hyper-aware of the severity of damage she's caused to the world was sooo moving. hei-ran volunteered to give her life to absolve her of the guilt and dishonor of the sinful acts she perpetrated in the past but doing so made her the most honorable man among the horde without her realizing. and huazo and hei-ran were toxic old woman yuri if you squint.
yangchen's little moment with kyoshi was also one of the bits i largely enjoyed. i was about to black out from crying when yangchen embraced and consoled kyoshi. these novels are sooo special to me and i'm forever grateful to f.c. yee for bringing kyoshi's delightfully epic and gripping tale into physicality. i'll definitely tap into the yangchen novels and look forward to reading more of f.c. yee's works set in the world of avatar.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Somehow the heat and harshness of my world not only couldn't take me away from, but brought me closer to Kyoshi's. This isn't a children's book. Or maybe it is for the hurt child within. It is somber and yet we pick up the pieces and try again. We call back on friendships and connections. We remember our oaths. We commune with the spirits. There's not a happy ending. Yet, we do what we can.
If you are a fan of The Last Airbender, then both Kyoshi novels are a must read. I wish F.C. Yee had written two more novels to continue her story because The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi only felt like the beginning. 5/5