Review Detail

If you read the Kyoshi installments then you’ll be familiar with how Yee writes these amazing women. If you haven’t, then get ready to fall in love with his writing. I absolutely loved Kyoshi and her story but honestly, Yangchen has definitely stolen my heart. This story was intriguing right from the beginning. Once I started, I barely put it down. Yangchen’s story is about helping others that have been taken advantage of while trying to stay true to the Avatar and the Air Nomad path. This is difficult since she is still fairly young, the previous Avatar was held in high regard, and what she is trying to accomplish isn’t as easy as negotiation. Yee writes Yangchen’s story in such a compelling way that it would be hard not to follow her and want to become her companion, even just as a reader.

While the story had a fantastic plot and great pacing, it really was Yangchen that made me enjoy the story so much. Each time her perspective was told, I wanted her to win. As an Avatar, she wants peace and in a time where peace is held together very thinly, she must traverse carefully. Yangchen is living post The Platinum Affair which gave rise to cities ran by shang’s and ultimately greed corrupted these cities. The threat of something even greater than the leaders of the Four Nations threatens this balance and Yangchen takes it upon her self to solve this issue. Along with Yangchen, Kavik is introduced as well. It was easy to see how Kavik slowly came Yangchen’s side and want to permanently become her companion. But even Kavik has secrets he can’t escape. Yee did a wise decision on giving multiple points of views in this book. I really felt like it gave the complete picture and honestly I don’t know if I would have had the same attachments to these characters if it wasn’t for their own point of view.

Final Thoughts
Overall, The Dawn of Yangchen by F.C. Yee was an absolute fantastic addition to the Avatar series. I thought the story was very intriguing and the plot was perfectly paced. The pages continually turned as I couldn’t put this book down. Yangchen definitely won me over and I am a faithful Avatar supporter. I’m really glad that Kavik’s point of view was also given as it really help solidify this story. The only downside is that I have to wait for Book 2 because I cannot wait to continue this story and Yangchen’s life as Avatar.