The Rise of Kyoshi is a tie-in prequel novel set in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While ATLA is one of, if not the best, animated shows of all time, I was expecting a ton out of this one. I've read a few tie-in books and novelizations of other media and I'm usually unimpressed.I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It's definitely aimed at younger readers, like the show, but much like the show it touches on more mature themes and content and does so delicately. The worldbuilding is thin; you're definitely expected to be familiar with the world going in, but there's enough here to piece together what's happening if you're not familiar, and it's not an especially complicated world anyway.

This novel has a lot of charm, and captures the tone of the show really well. Kyoshi and crew aren't as memorable or developed as Aang and his friends, but they come pretty close. I can't say I'll be reading the other novels, but as a one-off it was a fun quick read and has me wanting to watch the show all over again.