Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series The Legend of Korra are both colored by their wonderful minor characters. From suave, eccentric entrepreneur Varrick and badass bounty hunter June to the Cabbage Guy and the Boulder, every corner of the Avatar-verse is packed with magnetic secondary characters who could most definitely hold a story of their own. Some get full arcs, while others only get a few moments to shine.
And my very favorite minor, one-episode character is finally getting her due in a full novel. That’s Jin, the cute girl who asks Zuko on a date in “The Tales of Ba Sing Se,” a date where he freaks out and after doing something adorable for her, vanishes into the night. In my heart, Zuko returned to Ba Sing Se and they reunited and honestly, nothing in the canon contradicts that.
Titled City of Echoes, the upcoming book comes from author Judy I. Lin (A Magic Steeped in Poison and A Venom Dark and Sweet). The official synopsis is as follows:
There is no war outside of these walls.
This is what the citizens of Ba Sing Se are told to believe, but Jin knows better. As a refugee whose parents were killed by the Fire Nation, she is haunted by her past. Now, she does her best to keep her head down in the Lower Ring, caring for her ailing grandfather and balancing school with survival. Her one bright spot is her best friend Susu, whose family treats Jin like one of their own, and whose bakery she helps make deliveries for.
Her world shatters when Susu’s father gambles away the bakery and Susu is forced to take a contract in the Upper Ring to pay off the family’s debt. Jin vows to help her friend—no matter what it takes. A chain of events fueled by her desperate promise leads Jin to Xuan, an arrogant boy from the Middle Ring with ties to the Silver Fangs, a major player in the city’s black market. The deeper Jin delves into her double life, the more she learns about Susu’s own entanglement in a conspiracy darker and more dangerous than she could have imagined.
As whispers swirl of the Avatar’s presence within the city’s walls, the Fire Nation creeps ever closer. With Ba Sing Se teetering on the brink of revolution, Jin must defy the powerful forces that control her city and risk everything for the friend she’s determined to save.
City of Echoes will kick off a new series from Abrams Books called Avatar Legends, which will dive into the lives of different “unsung heroes” of Avatar and Korra. This is not to be confused with Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, which is a tabletop role-playing game. Other Avatar book spinoffs include the Chronicles of the Avatar, a book series which dove into the lives of previous Avatars like Kyoshi, Yangchen, and Roku. I’m thrilled Jin is getting her due, and I’m excited to see which other characters might be featured in the series down the line.
City of Echoes is available for pre-order now and will hit shelves on July 22.