The Dawn of Yangchen

"Yangchen's inexperience may prove to be her greatest asset ..."

— Caption for The Dawn of Yangchen.

The Dawn of Yangchen
Creative
Authors	F. C. Yee Michael Dante DiMartino (advisor)
Art by	Jung Shan Chang (jacket illustrations) Brenda E. Angelilli and Deena Fleming (book design)
Coloring by	Jung Shan Chang (jacket illustrations)
Publication
Publisher	Amulet Books
Date of publication	July 19, 2022
ISBN	978-1-4197-5677-1 978-1-4197-6464-6 (exclusive edition) 978-1-4197-5678-8 (paperback edition)
Series	Chronicles of the Avatar
Pages	336
Last novel	The Shadow of Kyoshi (release order)
Next novel	The Legacy of Yangchen

The Dawn of Yangchen is the third novel in the Chronicles of the Avatar series written by F. C. Yee and the first to focus on the life of Avatar Yangchen. The novel illuminates her journey from uncertain young woman to revered leader.

The novel was released on July 19, 2022. A paperback edition will be released on June 24, 2025.

Overview

Yangchen's inexperience may prove to be her greatest asset ...

Plagued by the voices of Avatars before her for as long as she can remember, Yangchen has not yet earned the respect felt for Avatar Szeto, her predecessor. In an era where loyalty is bought rather than earned, she has little reason to trust her counsel. When Yangchen travels to Bin-Er in the Earth Kingdom on political business, a chance encounter with an informant named Kavik leads to a wary partnership. Bin-Er is a city ruled by corrupt shang merchants who have become resentful of the mercurial Earth King and his whims. To extract themselves from his influence, the shangs have one solution in mind: a mysterious weapon of mass destruction that would place power squarely in their hands. As Yangchen and Kavik seek to thwart the shangs' plan, their unlikely friendship deepens. But for Yangchen to chart her course as a singularly powerful Avatar, she must learn to rely on her own wisdom above all else.

This propulsive third installment in the Chronicles of the Avatar series illuminates Avatar Yangchen's journey from uncertain young woman to revered leader.

Chapters

Prologue: "Voices of the Past" 1. "The First Step" 2. "Voices of the Present" 3. "Flight" 4. "Forgiveness" 5. "Unwinding" 6. "The Visitor" 7. "The Proposition" 8. "The Parade" 9. "Theater" 10. "Keeping Score" 11. "Fallback Plans" 12. "Outside Options" 13. "The Trade" 14. "Reading Leaves" 15. "The Northern Air Temple" 16. "Making Ready" 17. "Breaking In" 18. "A Place to Lay One's Head" 19. "A Meeting of Minds" 20. "The Gamble" 21. "Legitimate Business" 22. "The Dispute" 23. "Loose Ends" 24. "Rememberance" 25. "The Numbers Game" 26. "The Reckoning" 27. "Closing the Deal" 28. "Following Through" 29. "Dreams Within Dreams" 30. "Basic Tradecraft" 31. "Conversations" 32. "Traces" 33. "Last Chances" 34. "Clarity" 35. "The Display" 36. "Exposure" 37. "Reconciling" 38. "The Earth King" 39. "Honored Guests" Epilogue

Trivia

• Barnes & Noble released an exclusive edition of the book with eight extra pages containing character art of Yangchen, Kavik, and Nujian as well as a cut scene from The Shadow of Kyoshi with commentary by F. C. Yee.
• Like the two previous installments, an audiobook from Blackstone Publishing was released on Audible, with Nancy Wu returning as narrator.
• Like the first two novels in the Chronicles of the Avatar series, The Dawn of Yangchen was written in consultation with Michael Dante DiMartino, the co-creator and executive producer of the TV series.
• F. C. Yee tried to make The Dawn of Yangchen deliberately different from the previous Kyoshi novels, constructing it as a kind of spy thriller. This was partially motivated by Yangchen herself, as he wanted her to still adhere to Air Nomad values, conform to existing canon, as well as face struggles unique to her journey. Yee found the idea of forcing Yangchen to engage in espionage compelling, as this would be especially difficult for her (being an Air Nomad with tattoos and a famous Avatar), in turn resulting in the natural need of a supporting cast who operate on her behalf.
  • According to Yee, a major aspect of the book and Yangchen's overall struggles is the issue of trust, something tied to the book's spy thriller trajection and the usage of Kavik as a secondary protagonist: "Because of the two different perspectives in Dawn of Yangchen, no one's true intentions are always clear."