3.75 ⭐️ A perfectly fine addition to the Avatarverse, but couldn’t compare to my love of the Kyoshi novels. There were quite a few references to the animated series and to the previous books, which I always enjoyed. Rangi Jet Stepping reference ftw.  Standout stars were Gyatso, Malaya, and Sozin’s section bc honestly the Roku focused chapters were just a little meh. If another Roku book is written I’d like to see it after he’s become a fully realized Avatar and really intertwine the story with Sozin more and his decisions that lead the Fire Nation into the 100-year war. 💦🪨🔥💨

Heck just give me a Gyatso-focused Avatar companion book and a Kyoshi movie and I’ll be just peachy. 👍

Another solid read in a consistently solid series of spin-offs. It’s a mostly seamless hand-off from Yee to Ribay, so anyone worried that this outing wouldn’t have the same thematic foundations and characterizations can rest easy. This one doesn’t have the same oomph as the initial Kyoshi duology but seems to share common ground with the Yangchen books. Ribay’s commentary on colonialism is notably sharp, which is not a new subject for the Avatar series to explore but takes a far fuller, more central role here than ever. I appreciate how Ribay showcases the dangers of invading a world that doesn’t belong to you, and no matter how good the intentions you have going in, you’re still an invader. Placing Roku in that role—at least on some level—is a wise move, and Ribay does an excellent job of showing how even a hero with good intentions can still do more harm than good when inserting themselves into a world that doesn’t belong to them. Good stuff! 

The overall plotting and writing are very comfortably YA, for better and otherwise, which means I was never uninterested but did find myself wishing for a softer touch at times, specifically with the character work. Some of the tensions suffer from prequelitis, too, since the animated series told us exactly how and when certain events in Roku and Sozin’s relationship play out. It lessens the thorniness of their fraying friendship, and I don’t quite think Roku’s characterization is strong enough to convince me that he’s ignorant of the path his friend is already going down. Still, the structure is rock-solid, even if the execution is a little loose, and I’m eager to see where Ribay takes it in the next book. This gets 3.5 stars from me! 

What F.C. Yee did to expand and enrich the Avatar canon in the previous two duologies were my favorite Avatar related things since the ending of the original series. It's a hard act to follow, and I don't fault Ribay for not being able to match the expectations set.

That said, while this novel is good in many respects, it suffers from the worst kind of prequel-itis you can have. Where the author is more preoccupied with laying out foreshadowing for the better-known property than developing their own story. Roku is the Avatar we knew the most about from Aang's journey, and his tragic mistake of allowing a friend's ruthless ambition to continue unchecked is the shadow that haunts Aang's journey in Avatar: the Last Airbender. But this story is about a young Roku, just starting out, so he shouldn't be making that error so obviously and repeatedly from the start.

Having Roku and Sozin continue to interact during Roku's training already contradicts the canon in the episode of "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" but it also shows Ribay's biggest mistake in my opinion. He refuses to let the narrative make the choice of morally grey characters. Gyatso clocks Sozin as evil with first glance, newcomer Malaya tips us off with her mistrust of the clan leader Ulo in a way that makes everyone in their island seem dumber in comparison for not noticing it. And of course Malaya also makes the same assumption of Sozin to the point where she's determined to try and assassinate him withing five minutes of meeting him while they're both trying to rescue Roku.

Ulo was a perfect setup for a Jet like character who had extreme views but rooted in sound motives to protect. Instead he's characterized by the narrative repeatedly as untrustworthy and bad, which can be fine but makes the story feel more didactic than impactful. Sozin's big moment of choosing Roku over power momentarily feels weak since he could always just...go back to the library. The whole "it could sink by the time he gets back" has no urgency, especially since we know Zhao manages it a good 80 or so years later.

Overall, this is an okay fantasy story but not something I would give to someone to introduce them to Avatar the way I would with the Kyoshi stories. At the end of the plot, Roku's meddling made everything worse, and his spiritual growth feels stop-and-start with how oblivious he is to circumstances. I don't feel like I appreciate his character, Gyatso's, or Sozin's better for reading it. Instead, it's the opposite.