The Dawn of Yangchen Review: I Spy, You Spy, We All Spy

Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favourite shows of all time. Filled with great characters and solid worldbuilding, it has everything you could want from a series. But this review isn’t about Avatar: The Last Airbender. Instead, it’s about Avatar Yangchen, the previous Air Avatar, who is part of a spin off novelization of this world. If you loved the world of ATLA, then The Dawn of Yangchen will be for you.

It’s interesting seeing the Avatar world from a different light. And since this is a book series, it does get darker, and almost feels more realistic than the show. Now, if you’re familiar with F.C. Yee, you’ll also know he wrote 2 books about Avatar Kyoshi. I plan to review those two novels as well, but that’s for another time.

On a quick note, I have to say that The Dawn of Yangchen was a fun read. Personally, I enjoyed the Kyoshi books a bit more, but I’ll comment on this a bit more later. If you’re a fan of this franchise, then this is for sure worth picking up. It also has a sequel in The Legacy of Yangchen, which I’ll also review eventually.

So, getting into the actual book, the first thing I want to mention was how abrupt the beginning is. When we start the novel, we get a look into the beginning of Yangchen’s life. This, in and of itself, was cool. I always enjoyed seeing the backstory of previous avatars. Yangchen is no different. The part that did confuse me a bit when I first read the novel was the sudden shift to our other protagonist, Kavik the waterbender.

Now, when we leave Yangchen, she’s about to enter the Spirit Realm with Jetsun, and if you read the book, it makes sense why they didn’t delve deeper into this series of events. But when I started, I have to say it caught me off guard. Another thing that caught me off guard was how fast they introduced named characters throughout the novel.

Maybe it’s the fact I haven’t done any serious reading in a while, but there were a lot of characters introduced right away. It was a bit hard to keep up with. But after reading a few more chapters, things did start to clear up. The final thing that bothered me in the beginning was the slower start. Compared to the Kyoshi novels, this one took a bit of time for me to be mesmerized by the world. This might be due to the main conflict in this novel.

The Kyoshi novels had a lot more action and fights, befitting the Earth Avatar. But The Dawn of Yangchen was focused more on information manipulation and underhanded tactics. Not bad, but it does take a bit of time to get into.

Now, when you get into the meat of the novel, oh boy, it was a ride. I loved following Yangchen and Kavik’s journey to unravel the plot behind the Unanimity Project. Being more of a spy-thriller, it was interesting seeing how the pair pieced together the clues and the different tactics they used to get this information.

Besides the actual plot, the characters were surprisingly compelling. At the beginning of the novel, I can’t say that I liked Kavik all too much. For being someone so integral to the story, he felt a bit weak. But then again, he was just a normal person. Not someone as powerful or unique as Avatar Yangchen. Eventually, I did come to enjoy his character, especially near the end of the novel. So, quick spoiler warning, as per usual. The end is a bit of a plot twist, so be warned.

I think the part that made me really like his character was his betrayal of Yangchen at the climax of the novel. I thought that he might actually stay on Yangchen’s side after Kalyaan revealed himself, but I was disappointed with the betrayal. Although I understand why he did it, I’m still disappointed. After the whole conflict with Unanimity, I thought Yangchen would also forgive Kavik, but it’s also understandable why that bridge broke.

If I had one thing I would improve about the novel, it would be to expand the ending a bit more. The novel does a good job of building everything up, from the spying, to the secret project, to even the final conflict. I would have liked to see more of the fallout though. Personally, it feels like the ending was quite abrupt. There is a follow up to this novel in The Legacy of Yangchen, so maybe some of my questions will be answered there.

At the end of the day though, it was a fun read. Would I read it again? Yeah, I think I would. Now that I know the ending, maybe some of the smaller details will pop up at me. It also provides a new frame of reference to enjoy the novel, which is what this story was all about.

Perspective is everything, and information can be influenced. It’s kind of like watching Murder on The Orient Express a second time. Even though you know the ending, lots of little details jump out once your focus leaves the main story. If you like the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, or even the Kyoshi novels, then read this one. It won’t disappoint.