#pocbooklr

The Shadow of Kyoshi is here...now imagine my disappointment when I looked to the jacket and read, “The conclusion to...” when here I was thinking this would be a three part series. [SPOILERS AHEAD]

That aside, The Shadow of Kyoshi is an astounding follow up to The Rise of Kyoshi and it makes me want more from F.C. Yee. We know so little about the past Avatars outside of Roku but this brief series makes me want to explore more about the lives and legacies of the Avatars that came before. And to be clear, I don’t mean a prequel that reconceptualizes Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra, or a type of “before story” that tells the absolute origins of every Avatar ever. Just continued brief snippets into the challenges that each individual Avatar had to face because The Shadow of Kyoshi, almost makes me like Korra. It doesn’t quite get there but in the very least I can say that “maybe Korra wasn’t the worst Avatar ever.” 

Which isn’t to say that Kyoshi is, but this novel really highlights the many mistakes of the newly found Avatar. In The Last Airbender, we only ever saw Roku and Kyoshi at the height of their respective Avatarness and while Roku royally fucked up by letting Sozin live (and choosing to make his home on a VOLCANO) for the most part he seemed calm, cool and collected as though he had an innate wisdom as the Avatar that allowed him to know better for the world. And from what we saw of Kyoshi this also seemed to be the case, she was assured in her position and what she had to do for the world...but that ain’t it here. 

Kyoshi, my poor volatile baby, just makes mistake after mistake. She is brass, impulsive, insanely powerful and still not afraid to smite a bitch. It just AMAZES me that in some capacity Aang could come out of this. Fan girling aside, when we get to the heart of the story, Kyoshi has to deal with becoming the Avatar, she has the power and skill but lacks the knowledge required to function diplomatically as this massive authoritative figure to the Four Nations. 

We start the novel with her taking down more petty criminals, which makes sense from Kyoshi’s point of view but not on the larger scale of things. Realistically, Kyoshi cannot confine herself to the underbelly of the Earth Kingdom and luckily, her girlfriend, Rangi, has all the honor of the Fire Nation to lead her way. And I emphasize honor, because we all thought this was a Zuko specific trait but it is not children. Unlike the other three, the Fire Nation is incredibly dedicated to customs/traditions and instilling honor through following these things. 

And honestly, it’s that of worldbuilding that makes me love this novel and it’s predecessor. The Legend of Korra tells us virtually nothing about the individual nations, focusing instead on the colony turned city so to return to those roots and use Kyoshi’s rise as the Avatar as a lense to gain better understanding of the “order” of the world is fantastic...but it’s not perfect.

If there is one thing about this novel that you could argue is weak, it’s Yun. I understand why he is there, Kyoshi is holding very tight to her past/origins and it actively prevents her from becoming the Avatar she needs to be, HOWEVER in my opinion - you can have Kyoshi coming to the aid of the Fire Lord and establishing order in the Nation or you can have Yun come back from the spirit world and have him be an obstacle to Kyoshi accepting what it means to be the Avatar. It’s not terrible by any means, but it felt like two pieces of a puzzle that could fit together even though they weren’t to be. It doesn’t ruin the reading experience by any means, but it felt like too very big stories fighting for Kyoshi’s attention.

shoutout to all the people who have one complete series which is part hardcover part paperback

shoutout to all the people who have parts of their series on e-readers 

shoutout to people who can never find the right lighting

shoutout to people who don’t have bookish knick knacks to put in their pictures

shoutout to all the people who don’t have flowers or white walls or nice sheets for backgrounds

shoutout to all the people whose shelves aren’t in rainbow order

shoutout to all the people whose shelves aren’t even “messy cute,” just messy

your pictures are still great

just because they don’t seem polished doesn’t mean they’re not worthy of being seen

keep taking pictures

keep posting them

people want to see your shelves

people want to relate.

This review was made possible thanks to Net Galley. 

I thought that if I allowed myself to wait a few hours between finishing this book and reviewing it I would be able to articulate how a book could be both anti-climatic while also very engaging; however after twelve hours of letting Conjure Women stew I still pinpoint that one specific element that makes this book worth the sum of its parts, even if you leave the table hungry (Food analogy, bear with me.) 

This is the debut novel of Afia Atakora and it follows the story of "Miss Rue" in a non-sequential history of the plantation she lives on before, during and after the Civil War. 

Truth be told, I don't often read books set before or right after slavery because after taking African American Lit and African American Women's History in college I just couldn't stomach the material. Writing about slavery, specifically about Black women in slavery, means that one way or another you have to talk about sexual abuse and degradation...but Atakora handles it in such a way that is clear without being explicit. You know what's happening to Rue's mother and you know what's happening to other women, but you don't have pages of brutal rape scenes and for that, I am very grateful.

And what can be said of the story? Well, when it started I thought it was about one thing and as I continued to move through it I realized that it was about many things. I don't want to spoil them here (this book isn't set for publication until 2020) but I will say that for most of this novel, I never trusted Rue as a character. This isn't to say that I thought she was malevolent, or bad; it's just that something about the character's movements and point of view always felt hidden. Like underneath the lie you knew she was telling, there was many more that the story had yet to reveal. 

To that point, the only disappointing thing about this story are the "secrets." I suppose due to that first "story" I expected this novel to be about Rue coming up against some supernatural force but that's not it. This is about Rue coming up against the repercussions of slavery and dealing with the power of freedom. She's "free" but won't leave her plantation....and I can't reveal all that that means here, but knowing what slavery means and meant, some of the things you find out aren't as impactful because (and I hate to say it) that's what slavery as an institution did. 

It forced you to make choices you wouldn't otherwise have made, suddenly being made "free" doesn't erase what you've been brought up in or the physical, emotional and psychological prisons you've been held captive to. 

I can't say much more without going into spoilers, so I'll end with this: Conjure Women is a stunning debut. There are some hiccups here and there and the end may leave readers confused or slightly unsatisfied, but on the whole, I highly recommend this book and will most definitely add it to my library. 

You are appreciated and I love you. 

There is so much happening in the next couple of weeks. I’m going to be making a post about my most anticipated books and movies for 2020, I have three net galley books slated for review (the fourth can not be published until closer to the pub date,) I have some thoughts and feelings about that Steven Universe Future promo, a review of the first two episodes of Rick and Morty Season 4 and I will be posting two back to back reviews of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Frozen 2 as well as some thoughts and rantings about the first Frozen.