Avatar: The Last Airbender may have been on television back in the early 2000s, but the series seems to be regaining popularity this year. Netflix is working on a live-action reboot of the show — one that actually includes input from its original creators, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko — and it also recently got a young adult prequel novel from Amulet Books.
The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee, which is in bookstores this week, chronicles the backstory of Avatar Kyoshi, who was an Earthbender and the Avatar who preceded Avatar Roku, who preceded Avatar Aang. Kyoshi is referenced frequently during the original series, and is mentioned throughout The Legend of Korra as well. And don’t worry, while Yee wrote the story, DiMartino offered his creative input as well, ensuring that this spinoff book falls in line with The Last Airbender canon.
In the original animated series, fans are told that Kyoshi was one of the greatest Avatars who ever lived, and that she filled the role for 230 years — but the show obviously doesn’t elaborate too much on her history, since its main focus is Aang. The Rise of Kyoshi, however, considers what Kyoshi’s early life must have looked like, going back as far as before she discovers that she’s the next Avatar.
“What was appealing to me was how with limited screen time, she was such an effective foil to Aang in the original series,” Yee said during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “They don’t spend that much time together, but it’s so interesting to watch them play off each other with their different approaches to problem-solving. That got me into thinking about what could be filled in. What kind of experiences would she have had to go through in order to arrive at the woman we see as an adult, who briefly appears and advises Aang, and owns up to slaying a conqueror, and doesn’t take any BS from anyone? She must have seen some pretty intense stuff to give her that edge.”
To make matters more fascinating, Kyoshi isn’t recognized as the Avatar at the beginning of the story, with the Avatar and benders charged with finding the next one actually wrongly identifying another man as the Avatar. This will make the story stand apart from Aang’s and Korra’s, as both of them learned what they were early on. Barely able to earthbend at a young age, Kyoshi will be in for quite a surprise — and a momentous undertaking — when she realizes what she is.
“Since the earliest days of Avatar, we’ve always been pitched ideas of a fake Avatar. It seems like a natural thing for writers to glom onto,” DiMartino told EW.
And when Kyoshi does come into her powers, The Rise of Kyoshi will explore how those powers affect her relationship with herself and the people around her — including her female love interest, Rangi, giving Avatar fans another LGBTQ+ story to get behind.
And if you’re excited to see where this new addition to The Last Airbender world goes, Yee is already hinting that he’ll be releasing another novel following up on Kyoshi’s story. “It’s crazy,” DiMartino said, which bodes well, I think.
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“The people who grew up with the show are now older and actually working on the shows, comics, and books, and there’s still the next generation discovering it,” DiMartino concluded. “That was one of our goals originally: To tell a timeless story that could last generations.”
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