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A review by swordspoint
The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
TL;DR, content breakdown, and recommends at the bottom! This review will contain minor spoilers for the first book in the duology.
Wow, I am so glad I got to borrow copies of this amazing duology and prequel to the Avatar: the Last Airbender series. Kyoshi is often made into a meme in the fandom, shown only as a ruthless but powerful Avatar who would encourage Aang to act violently. This book showed her true backstory, one of a girl caught between two worlds and struggling to reconcile her identity as the Avatar with her own beliefs.
Essentially, I loved it.
The story of The Shadow of Kyoshi starts off a little after where we last left the cast. Kyoshi is off on her own carrying out justice as best she can, separated from the Flying Opera Company and her girlfriend Rangi. She's also on the hunt for ex-Avatar candidate Yun, who reappeared after being believed to be dead at the end of the last book.
The pacing in this book was about on par with the last one, if a little faster. It moves delightfully quickly, barely giving the reader time to process what's happened before flinging off to the next scene. The end and final fight scene felt slightly rushed, and I really wished that Kyoshi had been able to reunite with the Flying Opera Company earlier, instead of just at the end. It felt like the sudden unexplained reunion almost trivialized her relationship with them, in a way, considering how major of characters they were in the first book.
FC Yee's writing is just as good as in The Rise of Kyoshi- I'm not particularly picky about prose, and to me it felt perfectly serviceable for the story that was being told. The more tense, emotional scenes hit especially hard with Yee's writing style, but there was one element of the story that really shone.
The characters.
Kyoshi's character development is fantastic. She comes to terms with who she is, the anger she holds onto, and what sort of Avatar she's going to be, and she is so incredibly flawed. She's one of the most real characters I think I've encountered in YA lately, especially with the way her background affected her view of the world. She's almost an antihero- morally grey, not always heroic, and a little too ready to let her personal problems interfere with her actions- and I loved seeing her grow and come into her own during the story.
I'm also happy to say that the reader gets some insight into Avatars Kuruk and Yangchen's history which really brings together some of the motifs from both the book and the TV series.
Yun's few PoV chapters were goddamn heartbreakingly painful to read, and reminded me a bit of Holland from the Shades of London series. Yee did an excellent job with him- that's about all I can say without spoilers.
Rangi is going to hold a special place in my heart. I loved her little angry explosions and habit of chucking furniture about in anger- she's another profoundly real-feeling character, and the way her and Kyoshi's relationship imperfectly builds and changes throughout the book is absolutely lovely. (Also, well-written LGBTQ+ romance in mainstream YA!)
The only thing I didn't love, leading to the half-star off (also, as someone who just moved from Goodreads- how great is it that Storygraph lets you use quarter and half stars?!) was the ending, which although satisfying was just a little too fast-paced for me after all of the buildup leading up to it.
TL;DR: 4.5/5 A fast-paced, emotional, hard-hitting conclusion to a duology that gives great insight into a wonderful character from the A:tLA series.
Content Warnings: Moderate fantasy violence and death, some mentions of bullying and emotional abuse.
Recommended For: AtLA fans, fast-paced fantasy lovers, those looking for powerful gay antiheroes, fans of elemental magic, those who enjoy strong character development.
Favorite Moment: Rangi showing her love to Kyoshi by throwing soup at her. :)
Wow, I am so glad I got to borrow copies of this amazing duology and prequel to the Avatar: the Last Airbender series. Kyoshi is often made into a meme in the fandom, shown only as a ruthless but powerful Avatar who would encourage Aang to act violently. This book showed her true backstory, one of a girl caught between two worlds and struggling to reconcile her identity as the Avatar with her own beliefs.
Essentially, I loved it.
The story of The Shadow of Kyoshi starts off a little after where we last left the cast. Kyoshi is off on her own carrying out justice as best she can, separated from the Flying Opera Company and her girlfriend Rangi. She's also on the hunt for ex-Avatar candidate Yun, who reappeared after being believed to be dead at the end of the last book.
The pacing in this book was about on par with the last one, if a little faster. It moves delightfully quickly, barely giving the reader time to process what's happened before flinging off to the next scene. The end and final fight scene felt slightly rushed, and I really wished that
FC Yee's writing is just as good as in The Rise of Kyoshi- I'm not particularly picky about prose, and to me it felt perfectly serviceable for the story that was being told. The more tense, emotional scenes hit especially hard with Yee's writing style, but there was one element of the story that really shone.
The characters.
Kyoshi's character development is fantastic. She comes to terms with who she is, the anger she holds onto, and what sort of Avatar she's going to be, and she is so incredibly flawed. She's one of the most real characters I think I've encountered in YA lately, especially with the way her background affected her view of the world. She's almost an antihero- morally grey, not always heroic, and a little too ready to let her personal problems interfere with her actions- and I loved seeing her grow and come into her own during the story.
I'm also happy to say that the reader gets some insight into Avatars Kuruk and Yangchen's history which really brings together some of the motifs from both the book and the TV series.
Yun's few PoV chapters were goddamn heartbreakingly painful to read, and reminded me a bit of Holland from the Shades of London series. Yee did an excellent job with him- that's about all I can say without spoilers.
Rangi is going to hold a special place in my heart. I loved her little angry explosions and habit of chucking furniture about in anger- she's another profoundly real-feeling character, and the way her and Kyoshi's relationship imperfectly builds and changes throughout the book is absolutely lovely. (Also, well-written LGBTQ+ romance in mainstream YA!)
The only thing I didn't love, leading to the half-star off (also, as someone who just moved from Goodreads- how great is it that Storygraph lets you use quarter and half stars?!) was the ending, which although satisfying was just a little too fast-paced for me after all of the buildup leading up to it.
TL;DR: 4.5/5 A fast-paced, emotional, hard-hitting conclusion to a duology that gives great insight into a wonderful character from the A:tLA series.
Content Warnings: Moderate fantasy violence and death, some mentions of bullying and emotional abuse.
Recommended For: AtLA fans, fast-paced fantasy lovers, those looking for powerful gay antiheroes, fans of elemental magic, those who enjoy strong character development.
Favorite Moment: Rangi showing her love to Kyoshi by throwing soup at her. :)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Death
Minor: Emotional abuse