Avatar Szeto to star in next Chronicles of the Avatar books?

(Art by Avatar News)

Avatar Szeto, the fire Avatar before Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku, Aang, and Korra, could be the main character of the next Chronicles of the Avatar novels.

In a recent interview with Nerds of Color, Chronicles of the Avatar writer F. C. Yee said he doesn’t know if he’ll be writing more books after Kyoshi and Yangchen, but “if he had his choice of what Avatar to tackle next, he named Avatar Szeto as a possible candidate.” 👀🔥

F. C. Yee introduced Avatar Szeto’s backstory in the Kyoshi books, revealing that he was born in a time of crisis in the Fire Nation due to natural disasters, plagues, and clan conflict. Instead of using his divine position as Avatar to enforce his rule, he joined the Fire Nation government as an entry-level bureaucrat and worked his way up with no special privileges until he was an advisor to the Fire Lord– that’s why he has that vizier-like hat in the few glimpses of him we see in Aang and Korra’s eras.

But as we all know, there’s more to every Avatar than their legacy, and in the Yangchen books we learn that Szeto’s life was secretly messy and “a library of intrigue in the realm of spycraft and trickery”.

His name comes from the Chinese Han dynasty title 司徒 (Sītú) meaning “Minister over the Masses”.

Chronicles of the Avatar: The Legacy of Yangchen by F. C. Yee hits shelves this summer on July 18th, 2023!

This is the second Yangchen novel after last year’s The Dawn of Yangchen, and the fourth Chronicles of the Avatar novel after The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi!

Check out the cover reveal above the the official description below:

“Common enemies make for strange friends …

Avatar Yangchen has succeeded in bringing a measure of stability to Bin-Er, but her successes have been limited to a single city, and rumors concerning Unanimity—a weapon capable of total obliteration—have led to increasing tensions among the Four Nations.

Desperate to restore diplomacy, Yangchen attempts to de-escalate hostilities between heads of state. But in the wake of a brutal assassination and the freeing of Unanimity, Yangchen is forced to bring Kavik—the trusted former companion whose betrayal crushed her—back into her fold.

As the Four Nations teeter on the brink of conflict and she begins to unravel the power-hungry Zongdu Chaisee’s true agenda, Yangchen is forced to measure the worth of humanity, and how much can be sacrificed in the name of balance.

This taut and provocative fourth installment in the Chronicles of the Avatar series follows Avatar Yangchen as she charts the course of her legacy, finally making peace with her choices and facing Avatarhood with the courage it demands.”

Kyoshi books writer F. C. Yee says he’s not involved in the animated Kyoshi movie coming to theaters in 2024, set to be directed by Voltron showrunner Lauren Montgomery

We recently learned from Avatar Studios heads Bryke that the studio’s animated movies coming to theaters will not be adaptations of previous books or comics. Earlier, we exclusively revealed the subjects and dates of the first three movies, including that the first, coming 2024, will follow Avatar Kyoshi.

Put these two things together, and we know that the Kyoshi movie won’t be an adaptation/remake of F. C. Yee’s amazing Avatar Chronicles novels The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi, but a brand-new story that will “feed off” of the expanded universe content like the books.

Now, F. C. Yee, in an interview about his next novel, The Dawn of Yangchen, has revealed that as of now, he has actually had no involvement with Avatar Studios’ animated plans and doesn’t know anything about what’s in store. Check out the full quote:

CBR: “Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DeMartino have been very hush-hush about what Avatar Studios has in store for fans in the future. Did you have much insight into what those plans are? Are there any blood oaths you want to betray by giving fans an idea of what they can expect?”

F. C. Yee: “Honestly, I have none; the novel publishing arm is a different unit. I’m as curious as the rest of the fandom!”

(Source: CBR)

Now, I’m guessing this is a bit of a PR answer just because the Kyoshi movie hasn’t been officially announced yet, but that he probably does at least know about it behind the scenes since he’s pretty important in Avatar canon right now, especially her era. But, I don’t think he’s lying about not being involved. The Kyoshi movie is Avatar Studios’ first project, which they’ve been developing in earnest for probably a year at this point, and I think if he was involved he would have already been working on it for a while. He was also writing a whole Yangchen book during that timespan, and is already planning a second, which I find to be unlikely if he was working on a huge new flagship movie. It is possible that this is just an official PR non-answer for right now, and that when the Kyoshi movie is officially announced his involvement will be revealed too, but I think right now I’m gonna take his words at face value and believe them, meaning he really isn’t involved in Avatar outside of the novels.

Well, if F. C. Yee isn’t involved, who is? The untitled Kyoshi movie is set to be directed by Voltron: Legendary Defender showrunner Lauren Montgomery and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Eric Coleman. It’s reported to hit theaters in 2024.

Yangchen Book 2 is confirmed!

Ahead of the release of Avatar Yangchen’s first book, The Dawn of Yangchen, in the Chronicles of the Avatar novel series (currently consisting of The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi), Book 2 has already been confirmed!

In a new interview with CBR, Kyoshi and Yangchen author F. C. Yee teased that Yangchen Book 2 is already planned and in the works. Here’s the full quote (emphasis mine):

CBR: “We also have a drastically different setting, with Shang cities like Bin-Er unlike any place Avatar fans have seen. As an Avatar fan yourself, I imagine there’s a constant conflict between whether to explore a previously established piece of the world or to build your own. What sorts of factors guide you in making those decisions?”

F. C. Yee: “The helpful method [of] world-building is to use parts of the show’s universe as pieces of living history, which is only possible because of the brilliant work done by the original creative team. Book Two of Yangchen’s story will probably take place in Taku, which we get a glimpse of in “The Blue Spirit” as a once-prosperous city now in decline. The show’s world-building has Taku as a place where cargo was distributed. It’s not unreasonable that there would be more cities like that, and the passage of time allows for them to be different than what we’ve seen before.”

You guys know I’m a huge proponent of the Kyoshi novels and F. C. Yee’s writing and contributions to the world of Avatar, so this is definitely a big win in my books!

If the Yangchen books follow a similar schedule to the Kyoshi books, Book 2 will most likely come out some time next summer, but until then, a new era begins as The Dawn of Yangchen hits shelves this July 19th!

They announced an online panel called “Water, Earth, Fire, Air: Continuing the Avatar Legacy”, with the following description:

“Dark Horse Comics, Abrams Books, and Nickelodeon are thrilled to treat fans to a panel worthy of the Avatar! Join Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra creators and writers, Michael DiMartino, Faith Erin Hicks, F.C. Yee, and Gene Luen Yang for a further exploration of the beloved world as it has grown and changed since the animated series has ended.”

It’ll be on Friday, July 24th at 1pm (not sure what time zone that refers to, probably PT but that’s just my guess).

It’ll stream live on YouTube at this link:

https://youtu.be/evoch8nfkKg

The reason I didn’t bother making a post is because it’s another “legacy” panel, meaning they’ll just informally discuss the past of the franchise, it’s not for announcements or the future. They might show some previews of Katara and the Pirates’ Silver, but that’s it. It’s very unlikely that they announce any new comics or novels, but I guess it is a remote possibility with the writers there. However for the main next phase of the Avatar franchise, Netflix’s live-action ATLA series, don’t expect anything. Bryan isn’t even gonna be there, and Gene Yang is, and his comics ended years ago, so it seems pretty low importance. This is not a flagship panel like the ones when ATLA and TLOK were airing.

So to answer your question: don’t expect any news.

By the way I talked about this on Twitter and Instagram, reminder that I do smaller updates like this over on those platforms!

I’m seeing red! Kyoshi series author F. C. Yee has revealed that Kyoshi’s firebender bodyguard Rangi is going to be on the cover of Book Two: The Shadow of Kyoshi.

If it’s anything like the beautiful brushwork on the Book One cover, we’re in for something really cool!

He also recently revealed that the plan remains for the series to consist of two books, and that they will cover her young formative years, not events in her adulthood like the war of Chin the Conqueror.

The Shadow of Kyoshi hits shelves on July 21st 2020, one year after the first book. We love a consistent yearly schedule, so rare in the Avatar franchise…

It’s available for preorder now!

(If you haven’t picked up the first book yet, you really need to. You can check out a sample chapter here if you’re not sold yet!)

Twitter

Check out this new interview with The Rise of Kyoshi author F. C. Yee and Avatar co-creator (and consultant on the book) Mike! They get into the writing process, translating from screen to page, Kyoshi’s origins, her male and female love interests, and more!

The article also shows us this gorgeous edition of the book with a full-artwork cover:

The Rise of Kyoshi is out now! You can read a preview of Chapter Seven: The Iceberg here.

Book Two, The Shadow of Kyoshi, is expected next year.

Book Two of the Avatar Kyoshi series will be titled The Shadow of Kyoshi

Kind of confusing naming… So at first when the series was announced as being two books, it wasn’t clear whether The Rise of Kyoshi was the name of the first book or the series. Now we know that Book One is titled The Rise of Kyoshi and Book Two is titled The Shadow of Kyoshi! So the series doesn’t really have a name, if it is still only two books long.

For Book Two, there’s no release date yet, but we can estimate it’ll be about a year from now in Summer 2020.

Meanwhile Book One, The Rise of Kyoshi, comes out in a couple weeks on July 16th! The author, F. C. Yee, recently shared what the physical book looks like without the slip cover:

Very slick…….

He’s also been doing a countdown to the release with a bunch of cool fun facts:

• “Working with Mike DiMartino on RISE OF KYOSHI was not only a deep-dive into the lore of the Avatar-verse, but also a masterclass in storytelling. I’ve come out of this a better writer than I was going in from his notes and feedback.”
• “Secret bonus of working with Mike - I got to ask him questions about power levels between Avatar Kyoshi, Toph, and Bumi like the total nerd I am”
  
• “It is now official canon that in her youth Kyoshi once picked up a grown man by the neck with one hand and made him cry”
• “While outlining I proposed an earthbending sub-discipline that made everyone working on this project give me side-eye over the phone on a conference call (it is not in the book)”
  
• “Since this was a prequel, I had to be mindful of setting worldbuilding precedents. For example, I may have inadvertently pre-explained how Zuko has his Book One hairstyle 👀”
  
• “Just like Toph’s unique personal bending style draws on Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu as an inspiration, someone in this book has Choy Li Fut Kung Fu as the base of their own unique bending style.”
• “It was not my intent, but once #riseofkyoshi comes out, all of my published novels will have a scene that takes place in a dumpling restaurant. What happens in the restaurant is wildly different though”
  

Last but definitely not least, you can also read a really REALLY cool excerpt of Book One, Chapter Seven: The Iceberg here.