Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Rise of Kyoshi (Chronicles of the Avatar Book 1) , bd

ABRAMS BOOKS - Yee F. C. Yee

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206 pages

English

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From the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender comes the instant USA Today and New York Times bestselling novel starring Avatar Kyoshi-now in paperback!Justice begins with one woman. After nine years of desperate searching for the next Avatar, the discovery of young, charming Avatar Yun has brought stability to the four nations-that is, until Earth Kingdom-born Kyoshi, Yun's unassuming friend and servant, demonstrates remarkable bending during a mission to the South Pole. With the identity of the true Avatar at stake and the growing unrest among her allies turning into violence, Kyoshi is forced to flee the Avatar mansion with her fiery friend Rangi, taking little more than the metal war fans and headdress her parents left behind. It isn't easy finding Avatar training on the run, but Kyoshi and Rangi find unlikely supporters in the daofei: ragtag criminals and outlaws living in the shadows of the Earth Kingdom. Torn between following the traditional path of an Avatar and seeking vengeance for those she has lost, Kyoshi struggles to accept her newfound power as she trains in secret. But while Kyoshi, Rangi, and her daofei friends face off against brutal underworld rivals, those who seek to control the Avatar draw ever closer to her, leaving trails of the dead in their wake. The story behind the longest-living Avatar in the history of this beloved world, The Rise of Kyoshi maps Kyoshi's journey from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice still feared and admired centuries after becoming the Avatar.

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	16 juillet 2019
Nombre de lectures	59
EAN13	9781683355335
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-3504-2
ISBN (B N/Indigo edition) 978-1-4197-3991-0
eISBN: 978-1-68335-533-5
2019 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.
Cover illustrations by Jung Shan Chang
Book design by Hana Anouk Nakamura
Published in 2019 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
FOREWORD
Any prequel story presents a unique challenge, never mind one set in a fictional canonical universe like that of Avatar: The Last Airbender . A common pitfall of prequels? Since the reader already knows how things eventually turn out, they are one step ahead of the hero. Done well, however, a prequel can expand and deepen a beloved fantasy world by exploring its history and characters in new ways. This is the case with The Rise of Kyoshi .
Readers familiar with the original Nickelodeon series might recall that Avatar Kyoshi was a legend, even among the impressive pantheon of Avatars. But how did she become a woman dedicated to fighting injustice throughout the world? And why was she so feared by her enemies? These were the questions left unexplored. In my first talks with F. C. Yee, we discussed a few possible plots but also asked ourselves: What kind of character is Kyoshi, what drives her, and what kind of events in her past could have caused her to develop into such a legendary figure?
I didn t envy Yee the challenge of tackling these questions. I knew he d have to play within the conventions of an already-established world while simultaneously marking it with his own creative stamp. And the Avatar universe has no shortage of must-haves. First, you must have an Avatar-the reincarnated being who holds the ability to manipulate, or bend , all four elements, who has a connection to the mysterious Spirit World, and who deals with conflicts among the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. The Avatar can t do all this alone and thus must also have a core group of teachers and friends-a Team Avatar, as we like to call it. Political conflict is also a must: Whether it s a world war or a revolution, the Avatar inevitably ends up in the center of the fight before he or she is ready. And of course, there is never a shortage of epic bending battles.
Though all Avatars share certain rites of passage-such as mastering all four elements-each one must have a unique journey and face different personal and political challenges on their way to becoming a fully realized Avatar. In The Rise of Kyoshi , we meet a young woman so unlike the legend she is to become that we wonder how she could possibly transform into such a remarkable figure. She s not a great Earthbender. People don t even believe she s the Avatar at the start of the book-a great conceit on Yee s behalf, and one that provides the crux of the conflict for the entire novel.
Entrusting another writer with a world and characters that I helped create is always fraught with anxiety for me. In the wrong hands, it can be a disheartening experience. But when I read The Rise of Kyoshi for the first time, I was immediately drawn into the story and entranced by its intriguing new characters and backstory. I was eager to read on to find out how Kyoshi would overcome all the obstacles in her way (and Yee throws plenty of them in her path).
Working on this project with everyone involved has been a pleasure, and I couldn t be more excited about this incarnation of the Avatar universe.
Michael Dante DiMartino
THE TEST
Yokoya Port was a town easy to overlook.
Situated on the edge of Whaletail Strait, it could have been a major restocking point for ships leaving one of the many harbors that supplied Omashu. But the strong, reliable prevailing winds made it too easy and cost-effective for southbound merchants to cruise right past it and reach Shimsom Big Island in a straight shot.
Jianzhu wondered if the locals knew or cared that ships laden with riches sailed tantalizingly close by, while they were stuck elbows-deep in the cavity of another elephant koi. Only a quirk of fate and weather kept piles of gold, spices, precious books, and scrolls from landing on their doorstep. Instead their lot was fish guts. A wealth of maws and gills.
The landward side was even less promising. The soil of the peninsula grew thin and rocky as it extended farther into the sea. It had disturbed Jianzhu to see crop fields so meager and balding as he d rode through the countryside into town for the first time. The farmland lacked the wild, volcanic abundance of the Makapu Valley or the carefully ordered productivity of Ba Sing Se s Outer Ring, where growth bent to the exacting will of the king s planners. Here, a farmer would have to be grateful for whatever sustenance they could pull from the dirt.
The settlement lay at the intersection of three different nations-Earth, Air, and Water. And yet, none had ever laid much of a claim to it. The conflicts of the outside world had little impact on daily life for the Yokoyans.
To them, the ravages of the Yellow Neck uprising in the deep interior of the Earth Kingdom were a less interesting story than the wayward flying bison that had gotten loose from the Air Temple and knocked the thatching off a few roofs last week. Despite being seagoers, they probably couldn t name any of the dreaded pirate leaders carving up the eastern waters in open defiance of the Ba Sing Se navy.
All in all, Yokoya Port might as well not have been on the map. Which meant-for Jianzhu and Kelsang s desperate, sacrilegious little experiment-it was perfect.

Jianzhu trudged uphill in the wet, mucky snowfall, his neck prickling from the bundled straw cloak around his shoulders. He passed the wooden pillar that marked the spiritual center of this village without sparing it a glance. There was nothing on the sides or on top of it. It was just a bare log driven upright into the ground of a circular courtyard. It wasn t carved with any decorations, which seemed lazy for a town where nearly every adult had a working knowledge of carpentry.
There , the post grudgingly said to any nearby spirits. Hope you re happy .
Weathered houses lined the broad, eroded avenue, poking steeply into the air like spearpoints. His destination was the larger two-story meeting hall at the end. Kelsang had set up shop there yesterday, saying he needed as much floor space as possible for the test. He d also claimed that the location enjoyed some auspicious wind currents, using the very solemn and holy method of licking his finger and holding it up in the air.
Whatever helped. Jianzhu sent a quick prayer to the Guardian of the Divine Log as he pulled off his snow boots, laid them on the porch, and ducked through the door curtains.
The interior of the hall was surprisingly large, with far corners draped in shadow and thick-planked walls cut from what must have been truly massive trees. The air smelled of resin. Ten very long, very faded yellow cloths stretched across the worn floorboards. A row of toys lay on each one, evenly spaced like a seedbed.
A bison whistle, a wicker ball, a misshapen blob that might have been a stuffed turtle duck, a coiled whalebone spring, one of those flappy drums that made noise as you spun it back and forth between your palms. The toys looked as worn and beaten as the outside of this building.
Kelsang knelt at the far end of the cloths. The Airbender monk was busy placing more knickknacks with a carefulness and precision that rivaled an acupuncturist setting their needles. As if it mattered whether the miniature boat sailed east or west. He stayed on his hands and knees, shuffling his great bulk sideways, his billowing orange robes and wiry black beard hanging so low they made another sweep over a floor that had already been scrubbed clean.
I didn t know there were so many toys, Jianzhu said to his old friend. He spotted a large white marble that looked too close to the edge of the fabric and, with a graceful extension of his wrist, levitated it with earthbending in front of Kelsang. It hovered like a fly, waiting for his attention.
Kelsang didn t look up as he plucked the marble out of the air and put it right back where it had started. There s thousands. I d ask you to help, but you wouldn t do it right.
Jianzhu s head hurt at the statement. At this point they were well past doing it right . How did you change Abbot Dorje s mind about giving you the relics? he asked.
The same way you convinced Lu Beifong to let us administer the Air Nomad test in the Earth Cycle, Kelsang said calmly as he re-centered a wooden top. I didn t.
Like a certain friend of theirs from the Water Tribe always said, it was better to ask for forgiveness than wait for permission. And as far as Jianzhu was concerned, the time for waiting had long since passed.
When Avatar Kuruk, the keeper of balance and peace in the