Point of View

The Rise of Kyoshi is written in the third person, with the point of view character switching between or occasionally during the chapters. Most of the book focuses squarely on Kyoshi’s perspective, with Jianzhu’s point of view taking over the rest of the novel, along with one chapter from Yun’s perspective. Often, the narration deliberately leaves out information only to reveal it later, and sometimes events are told out of order in order to surprise the reader or explain how certain events that seemed impossible happened. This does have an effect of increasing the reader’s suspense at times, such as when the reader is left fully in the dark about Rangi’s fate from the time Jianzhu kidnaps her until she is reunited with Kyoshi.

The differences between Kyoshi and Jianzhu’s perspectives are easy to spot. Jianzhu, because of his...