Brief Synopsis
“The Shadow of Kyoshi” by F.C. Yee follows the events of the first book, as Kyoshi works to continue her development into a fully-fledged Avatar. But ghosts of the past threaten to undo all of her hard work…
Content Warnings: Violence (PG-13)
What Do I Think?
In my review for this book’s predecessor, “The Rise of Kyoshi”, I noted how that novel managed to balance well a faithfulness to the original source material while adding depth to a previously one-dimensional character. While that book started off slowly, it quickly introduced a strong, vibrant cast that acted as a nice contrast to the Team Avatar from “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
“The Shadow of Kyoshi” starts off very strong, jumping right in with the Avatar busting up a gang operation in the walled city of Ba Sing Se. Right away we see that Kyoshi has continued to grow in the short gap between books – she uses her strength to her advantage, and commands attention wherever she is. Her life isn’t easy – there are many complexities she has to deal with as the Avatar – but she acts with some degree of confidence.
Unfortunately, all that gets thrown away rather quickly when Kyoshi is invited to the Fire Nation. Both her confidence and competence vanishes – suddenly it is as if all character development from “Rise of Kyoshi” was thrown out the window, and the young woman is incapable of doing anything correctly. Time and time and time again, she fails. Most of the problems which arise as a result of her inadequacy aren’t even resolved by Kyoshi herself, but by others who put in the hard work for her. This speaks to a general sense of confusion the author has about their main character – they don’t want Kyoshi to solve everything too easily, but they don’t quite seem to know how to have her solve…well, anything.
In addition to the gross slaughter of Kyoshi’s character development, there are also some notable issues with regards to how this novel handles some of the lore of the Avatar world, primarily with regards to Kyoshi’s predecessor, the Avatar Kuruk. In “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, Kuruk once speaks of his life and describes himself as “go with the flow”, as the people during his time mostly resolved their own issues – only when his wife was taken by an evil spirit did he regret not taking more action. In “Shadow of Kyoshi,” however, Kuruk ‘s easy-going attitude is replaced with one of deep grief, as he describes to Kyoshi how he was constantly in battle with dark spirits and that this led to his early demise. There’s no mention of his wife or the dark spirit Koh – indeed, if “Shadow of Kyoshi” is to be believed, Kuruk must have been a rather adulterous individual.
Changes to lore are common, especially when a series as youth-friendly as ATLA enters the more grim, YA world of Kyoshi. But “Shadow of Kyoshi” dispenses with established lore with such frivolity that at times it reads as if it is deliberately ignoring the animated series entirely.
In general, “The Shadow of Kyoshi” is a mess of botched character development, convoluted plot lines, and disregarded lore. Failing to live up to the standard set by its predecessor, it is sure to leave an unfortunate impression with those unfamiliar with the franchise and a bad taste in the mouth for those who have enjoyed the world of the Avatar.
Jacob Ryckman 