Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rise of Kyoshi

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rise of Kyoshi is an American fantasy novel and the first young adult novel written by American authors F.C. Yee and Avatar co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino in the Kyoshi Novels series, published in July 2019. It is based on the character Kyoshi and the Avatar Universe created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. It is a New York Times bestseller.[1]

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rise of Kyoshi
AuthorF.C. Yee and Michael Dante DiMartino
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Kyoshi Novels
GenreFantasy
PublisherAmulet Books
Publication date
July 16, 2019
ISBN978-1-419-73504-2

Set in the world of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, it takes place 400 years prior to the series and follows the life of Kyoshi, an Avatar born in the Earth Kingdom, two generations before Aang.[2]

The second book in the series, titled The Shadow of Kyoshi, was released on July 21, 2020.[3]

Synopsis

Seven years after the death of 33-year-old Avatar Kuruk of the Northern Water Tribe, his companions Jianzhu and Kelsang, a powerful Earth Kingdom sage and an Air Nomad, respectively, search the Earth Kingdom for the next Avatar. They come to Yokoya village, to try and find the Avatar among the children there. Kyoshi, then a homeless outcast child left in the village by her outlaw parents, briefly participates in their test, but runs off midway through it, unused to displays of kindness. She is later taken in by Kelsang, who becomes a father figure to her.

Nine years later, young Kyoshi works as a servant in a mansion built to accommodate Yun, an Earth Kingdom teenager who Jianzhu has identified as the Avatar, and who is one of Kyoshi's friends. Yun's identity as the Avatar is thrown into doubt after Kyoshi performs a feat of Avatar-level earth-bending during a confrontation with pirates. Jianzhu seeks to mentor Kuruk's successor and believes himself the only one capable of doing so. After Yun and Kelsang were killed after Jianzhu sacrificed Yun to a spirit in an attempt to identify the real Avatar, the resultant trauma causes Kyoshi to go into the mighty Avatar State and nearly kill Jianzhu, before she flees the Avatar's mansion with her friend Rangi, a teenage firebender serving as Yun's bodyguard.

During her journey, Kyoshi seeks to perfect her technique in earthbending and master the other three elements to take vengeance on Jianzhu.

Reception

Entertainment Weekly called it a "stunning revitalization of Avatar storytelling", and observed how the use of prose enabled a deeper exploration of the worldbuilding.[4] Kirkus Reviews lauded Yee's use of "political entanglements (and) complex cultural identities", but noted that familiarity with the source material was necessary for "full enjoyment".[5]

References
  1. "Young Adult Hardcover Books - Best Sellers". The New York Times. August 11, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  2. Haasch, Palmer (July 24, 2019). "The Rise of Kyoshi author F.C. Yee on penning a new entry in the Avatar canon". Polygon. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  3. "Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Shadow of Kyoshi (The Kyoshi Novels Book 2) Hardcover – July 21, 2020". Amazon. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  4. Holub, Christian (July 16, 2019). "How The Rise of Kyoshi YA novel finds new things to love about Avatar: The Last Airbender". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  5. "The Rise of Kyoshi". Kirkus Reviews. June 23, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
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