The Dawn of Yangchen

Quotes

Genre

• Young Adult
• Fantasy
• Adventure
• Pop Culture

Trigger Warnings

• Death
• Violence/Gore
• Murder
• Police Brutality
• Colonization
• Classism
• Fire/ Fire Injury
• Mental Illness

*There may be spoilers in this review. I will try to avoid major spoilers but some need to be brought up to be discussed.

Summary

Plagued by the voices of Avatars before her for as long as she can remember, Yangchen has not yet earned the respect felt for Avatar Szeto, her predecessor. In an era where loyalty is bought rather than earned, she has little reason to trust her counsel. When Yangchen travels to Bin-Er in the Earth Kingdom on political business, a chance encounter with an informant named Kavik leads to a wary partnership. Bin-Er is a city ruled by corrupt shang merchants who have become resentful of the mercurial Earth King and his whims. To extract themselves from his influence, the shangs have one solution in mind: a mysterious weapon of mass destruction that would place power squarely in their hands. As Yangchen and Kavik seek to thwart the shangs’ plan, their unlikely friendship deepens. But for Yangchen to chart her course as a singularly powerful Avatar, she must learn to rely on her own wisdom above all else.

Characters

• Avatar Yangchen – Air Nomad Avatar, struggles with identity and wants to make the world better
• Jetsun – Older Nun-sister to Yangchen
• Kavik – Waterbender working on the streets trying to protect his family
• Kalyaan – Kavik’s older brother
• Tapeesa & Ujurak – Kavik and Kalyaan’s parents
• Qiu – Kavik’s connection gives him the tip to steal from the Blue Manse
• Boma – Yangchen’s elder and friend
• Sidao – Official assigned to watch the Avatar by the shangs
• Jujinta – Fire Nation member of Chaisee’s agents
• Nujian – Yangchen’s Skybison
• Pik and Pak – Yangchen’s lemurs
• Tayagum – Waterbender agent for Yangchen
• Akuudan – Tayagum’s husband runs an inn
• Henshe – The ambitious Zongdu of Bin-Er
• Chaisee – Zongdu of Jonduri, center of intel
• Mama Ayunerak – Runs a food kitchen for the unemployed of Bin-Er
• Xiaoyun, Thapa, Yingsu – Firebenders hired by the Zongdus
• Feishan – Earth King
• Zolian – Fire Nation Duke

Setting

Earth Kingdom – You know with Ba Sing Se and Omashu. But the world is scrabbling to establish itself in a new network of trade and the Earth King is… touchy.

 Ma’inka Island – Saowon clan of the fire nation settled here and they have had… trouble with the Phoenix Eel spirits that live there

Bin-Er – a city in the northern Earth Kingdom situated on a key trade route between the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water Tribe. It was designated as one of the four shang merchants open to limited amounts of international trade.

Jonduri – Another of the four shang merchants open to international trade, located on almost the entirety of a Fire Nation island in the Baizhi Sea.

Northern Air Temple – located in the mountains along the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom and was one of the two temples that traditionally housed male Air Nomads.

Port Tuugaq – a large harbor city located on Shimsom Big Island, and is a natural trade hub between the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe. Another of the shang merchant cities

Tienhaishi – one of the world’s largest and most prosperous settlements for much of its history. Initially founded by independent nomads under the guardianship of Lady Tienhai, the city eventually fell under the Earth Kingdom’s rule, but retained its own monarchy. The settlement was abandoned as a result of an agreement between Avatar Yangchen and the powerful spirit General Old Iron, after the latter had intended to wipe out its population. The eventual location of Republic City.

Spirit World – The world where the spirits live and thrive. Bending doesn’t work in the spirit realm and it can be dangerous for humans.

Overview

I read this before I read the Kyoshi series. Mostly because I was itching to get to know Yangchen better. It was super worth it. Yangchen is… complex. She struggles with the past lives blurring into her own more than we have seen from any of the other avatars. Her empathy is also an outside burden as well as she struggles against the powers that look to take advantage of both people and spirits. The lines she would drop (like “I don’t need to be close to you to know that you deserve better,”) struck a cord with me, especially in the world today. So many are struggling and it is so hard to find the support and help to make it better.

The writing style moved in a way that I could picture it in the Avatar animation style. The action flowed and the world felt as tangible as the show. Kavik in particular had many scenes where the action and bending were creative and well-paced.

Again in the true Avatar style, the emotional side was present. The complex feelings involved between Kavik and his brother were handled well and Kavik’s reactions were believable. The thief with a heart of gold always gets me.

Pros

Yangchen was everything I wanted her to be. She wasn’t a serene beatific figure but a pissed off crusader playing the political chess- Pai Sho – game that everyone else was playing and trying to manifest change. Her frustrations and constant anxiety are understandable, and for an Avatar, heavy. She truly wants to do good in the world despite it not cooperating.

Kavik was a surprise to me. I thought going into this series that everything would feel like they were trying to copy the show, Aang, or Korra. Kavik felt like he belonged in the world but he wasn’t a cookie cutter waterbender. His introduction, with him bending through the walls of the palace made of ice was inventive and creative and staying true to the show’s nature and to his character. He’s a street runner, looking as if he is only out to serve himself, but his hunt for his brother and freedom show his heart of gold.

The world feels as alive as the rest of the universe and that’s saying something without the visuals. Yee allows the world to continue to exist even with the main characters in the foreground and gives the background characters their own flavor even for the two minutes that they may be present.

Cons

So, like with most books based on something else, there were a lot of references to things outside of the story in the novel and if this is your first interaction with the universe it could be… a lot. There were somethings that I had to double check like General Old Iron, a spirit Yangchen had to negotiate with to save Cranefish Town. A spirit Aang later vanquishes over 400 years later. I thought there would be a flashback or something like it to give more meaning behind it but it didn’t happen in this volume at least.

Some characters, like Tayaguma and Akuudan got the background treatment and greedy little me, I just wanted to get to know them better. Really what I want is for Yangchen to be as fully realized as Aang and to get to know her world just as well. What can I say, Foamy Mouth Guy was one of my favorites from the OG.

Final Thoughts

I loved it. Way more than I thought I was going to. Yangchen as a frustrated force of nature willing to fight the fight for the greater good was better than I could have imagined. She is one of those characters I tend to gravitate towards in her unbending way of striving to make things better.

It did lean on many things from other sources but it wasn’t so heavy handed that you couldn’t get through the story. It showed the origin of many things in the show like Combustion Man (Sparky Sparky Boom Man is still better thank you) and again referenced General Old Iron.

Would I recommend it? Hand over fist yes. But it would be better for a reader who was familiar with the world because it does not stop to explain bending or the world at large. Now this is technically the third book in the series and it might have more explained in the Kyoshi novels but if this is your first experience it can be confusing. Also you need Iroh in your life no matter who you are and Avatar: The Last Airbender is still arguably one of the best shows out there.

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