Tags : book review
Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Rise of Kyoshi
F. C. Yee’s The Rise
of Kyoshi delves into the story of Kyoshi, the Earth Kingdom–born Avatar. The
longest-living Avatar in this beloved world’s history, Kyoshi established the
brave and respected Kyoshi Warriors, but also founded the secretive Dai Li,
which led to the corruption, decline, and fall of her own nation. The first of
two novels based on Kyoshi, The Rise of Kyoshi maps her journey from a girl of
humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice who is still feared and
admired centuries after she became the Avatar.
Why did I read this book
again?
Because I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I was
curious about this book.
5 of 5
Characters
I thought the characters were well-represented. Kyoshi
herself was the worst of the bunch, flipping back and forth between bossy and
bratty to meek and humble way too much.
4 of 5
Did I care what
happened?
Most of the time. I really liked her journey of discovering
she was the Avatar. I didn’t love the second half of the book as much. The balance
between outer and inner conflicts felt stretched too thin.
3 of 5
Plot Holes
There were no huge holes that I remember, and only a few
things that annoyed me to the point of distraction. For instance, Kyoshi goes
into the Avatar state like three or four times. That’s the only time she’s
powerful for most of the book. Then, after some training that we don’t get more
than a glimpse of, she’s suddenly dust stepping? Also, the total trust the thieves
put in her wasn’t believable.
3 of 5
How many times did I
yawn?
It got slow a few times. The romance was clunky, which was
sad.
3 of 5
Cool Factor
I was expecting more in the way of bending, but that wasn’t what
this book was about. After I shifted my expectations, I enjoyed most of it.
4 of 5
The End
Cliffhanger! I mean, most things were tidied up nicely, but
then…they weren’t. Granted, I should have noticed that it was a book 1.
4 of 5
Overall Enjoyment
The world of Kyoshi is much more brutal than that of Aang, which
I actually liked. Seeing her rise into the Avatar is fun.
The author seemed to soften or skip things that I wanted to
experience through the story. I’m not sure if that was because they wanted to
keep it YA, or what, but not seeing much of the training was annoying. How can
a reader know if a character is growing if we don’t experience it?
4 of 5
Total:
30
That’s a Green Belt!
