As the title of this book suggests, this story is all about Avatar Kyoshi and specifically focuses on her early life and finding out she is the Avatar. What makes this interesting is that she doesn’t find out until she is 16.
Kyoshi works as a servant to the boy that the world currently thinks is the new reincarnated Avatar, Yun. Yun is a formidable force in earth bending. He has a precision and skill that is rarely matched. He hasn’t seemed to have caught onto any other bending though. He trains relentlessly with Hei-Ran, a master firebender who worked alongside the previous Avatar, Kuruk. Rangi is Hei-Ran’s daughter and also the best friend of Yun and Kyoshi. The three of them being of the same age have formed a tight bond that transcends classes. Kyoshi admits to have having a crush on Yun in the past, but that they never acted on it.
The main focus of this story takes place after a spirit reveals that Kyoshi is in fact the new Avatar and her world is turned upside down. Everything she thought to be true is thrown into chaos. Jianzhu, the earthbending master that was training Yun, leads him to his death and seeks to control Kysohi. Kyoshi runs away with Rangi and makes it her mission to kill Jianzhu as revenge for killing Yun. While on the run, Rangi and Kyoshi’s relationship deepens and they become girlfriends. So there you have it latheys and gentlethems, Kyoshi is on page bisexual (without the actual word though as I’m not sure they even have it in the Avatar universe. Even Korra was not labeled even though it was discussed in her graphic novel set directly after the events of the last episode). Their relationship is so sweet and cute and filled with the real tension that would arise of their situation and I love them.
I really liked this book. I think that my love for Avatar colors my opinion of all of these books, but this still stands on its own even if you have never participated in the source material. If you are at all interested in Avatar, this could be a great place to start. It would allow you to go in chronological Avatar order while only missing out on Roku, though he does have an episode dedicated to his life in the original series. I did read Shadow of Kyoshi right after this because I couldn’t resist so expect that review some time in June for my queer only book reviews.
Just Read It 