The Sword of Kaigen

by M.L. Wang

On a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies. Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Adult, Epic Fantasy, Audiobook, Magic

696 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2019

About the author

Hi, I'm M. L. Wang, writer of sci-fi & fantasy, winner of Mark Lawrence's 5th Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO).

I'm rarely on Goodreads, so if you need to get in touch, please see the contact page of my website: https://mlwangbooks.com/contact/

Reviews

[Petrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here!

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars from start to finish for this exceptional Japanese-inspired military fantasy standalone. As of this moment, The Sword of Kaigen has become not only one of the four best self-published books I’ve ever read but also my personal number one favorite self-published book.It is a true masterpiece.

This is one of those books where I just want to write “Please buy it and read it. It’s fucking amazing!” as my entire review. This book came out of nowhere, and it totally stole my heart. If you’ve been following my reviewing progress, you probably know that I like to keep and show my personal stats and facts on books I’ve read and reviewed. After The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher, We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson, and Never Die by Rob J. Hayes, The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang became the fourth self-published book that I’ve rated with a full 5 stars. I honestly didn’t expect to love this book that much, but I was madly engrossed by every page. Trust me, you’ll want to pre-order this book right now. I already did; it’s only $0.99 at the moment on Amazon for god sake! (More info on the amazing bonuses that come with the pre-order at the bottom of this review.)

“A life of dangerous adventures might seem worth it now, when you are young and seemingly invincible, but one day, you will have children, and you will not want that life for them.”

The Sword of Kaigen is M.L. Wang’s first adult high fantasy book, a standalone companion prequel to her Theonite series, and this was absolutely incredible. It’s an Eastern Asian (mostly Japanese) inspired military fantasy, and I loved this book deeply from cover to cover. The official blurb on Goodreads and Amazon did a great job explaining the premise of the book without spoiling anything, so please feel free to check there if you want to know more. Let’s begin with what I loved about this book. I’ll start by saying I seriously flipped (or swiped) through this book insanely fast. The Sword of Kaigen is brimming with seductive pacing and it was truly unputdownable. Every moment I wasn’t reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen next. From deadly propaganda to non-stop escalating suspense and superb character developments, Wang did a fantastic job in making sure that every chapter has something important happening. No pages were wasted; the book was utterly tension-packed and contained a very endearing cast.

“Listen, son… when I was your age, I had to face truths that seemed to break the world. That’s what happens when you come into contact with people who aren’t quite like you. You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young.”

I’m serious here. I’ve said countless times before that I prioritize characterization over everything else, and a crystal clear talent for characterization has been displayed since the first chapter. The two main characters, Mamoru and Misaki, were extremely well-written; but what amazed me further was how in-depth the characterizations were for EVERY character in this book. The characters are flawed, and none of them stay the same as they were at the beginning of the story.

Picture: Mamoru by Tara Spruit (@taratjah)



Mamoru’s development in the face of the harsh revelation regarding everything he believed was astounding. Reading about his growth, struggle, and determination in living up to his name (Mamoru is Japanese for ‘protect’) was something I immensely enjoyed. But as much as I loved Mamoru, I have to give my biggest praises to Wang for her stunning achievement in writing Misaki.

Picture: Misaki by Tara Spruit (@taratjah)



The natural and gradual development in her characterization and relationship with her family compelled me to be heavily invested in her storyline. She has become one of my favorite heroines in fantasy, and I was also thoroughly impressed by the awesome and wholesome female friendship nurtured in this book. The characters in this novel taught me the meaning of facing hardships together, and how crucial family, friendship, love, adulthood, and parenthood are in the face of disaster. These and the terror of war were the main themes of The Sword of Kaigen, and they were expertly delivered to the reader with finesse.

“I’ve never needed a sword to protect you—to raise you the way your father wanted. Caring for my family meant putting away the fighter, so I did.”

The world-building was intricately crafted; the clothing, honorifics, attitudes, older Japanese customs, and languages used were all spot-on. I found the world-building and setting to be quite unique. It’s like an alternate Earth imbued with high fantasy elements rather than a totally new world. Planes and technologies were in the book. The languages that the characters spoke were literally Japanese and Mandarin in our world. I may be wrong here, but the name of the Planet, Duna, may have come from the Indonesian word for ‘planet’: Dunia. Although a different kind of book, this book also serves really well as a rival opposite to The Poppy War in world-building. In The Poppy War, the Nikara Empire (Chinese) was invaded by the Federation of Mugen (Japanese), and the main character there employed fire magic. In The Sword of Kaigen, the Kaigenese Empire (Japanese) was invaded by the Ranganese (Chinese), and the main character here used water/ice magic. As a Chinese person who devours Japanese culture and media on a daily basis, I’m totally satisfied by the evident amount of research Wang has done for her world-building, and I thank her for it.

Picture: Planet Duna by Charis Loke



To say that this book was thrilling is an understatement. I’m not joking. The Sword of Kaigen is one of the most intense books I’ve ever read. I gritted my teeth, I clenched my fist, and I was constantly breathless. Wang knows how to write catastrophic elemental magic and implement extraordinary heart-hammering scenes very effectively. If you love The Poppy War, shonen anime/manga, or elemental magic battles—Avatar: The Last Airbender, for example—you seriously have to read this book. Ice magic, wind magic, blood manipulation, and terrific duels; without writing skills of a certain caliber, the battles in this book could’ve been really frantic and too hard to follow. However, that wasn’t the case with this novel because Wang’s prose was easy and delightful to read. Her prose may not be poetic, but it is vivid, simple, and flows without any obstruction.

Picture: The Sword of Kaigen by Felix Ortiz



Frankly, sometimes it even felt like I was reading Brandon Sanderson’s magical battles, and that’s one of the biggest praises I can ever give to any high fantasy author. Wang provided not only one but two climax sequences in The Sword of Kaigen; the first one began at approximately 35%, and the second one at the 75% mark of the book. I can say with certainty that both of them were stupendous in quality. Showing the raw and violent power of the magic systems, the calamity that appeared when the bloodline of the gods clashed was bloody destructive. I need to also mention that the book features one of the most memorable duels I’ve ever read in a fantasy novel. Not only was the duel itself magnificent in execution, but it was also so emotionally impactful that it formed unforgettably vivid images in my head. The Sword of Kaigen is a war story, a brutally pulse-pounding one. The great characterizations enhanced the sense of danger and impending loss the characters felt during and after the war. Bad things happen to good people and you WILL feel their palpable pain and tragedy. The piercing blade of ice will stab at your empathy, white snow will turn crimson, the summoning of the Whispering Blade will break your heart, and you will beg for more because you won’t be able to stop reading the book until you’ve reached the satisfying conclusion.

“But if I learned one thing from Firebird, it’s that a person’s tragedy doesn’t define them or cancel all the good in their life.”

The Sword of Kaigen is an excellent Japanese-inspired military fantasy in all its glory. Written with words sharpened to fatal edges that cut straight to the heart with merciless precision; full of colossal frigid blasts that freeze its suspenseful familial drama and outstanding action scenes into the reader’s memory; emotionally demonstrating the terrifying truth of the atrocity of a devastating war that left incurable scars to the fictional characters who have become real to me. All of these components combined to make this book my first 5—and 6—out of 5-star read of the year. I’m only five days into January at the time of writing this review, and I already know that this superlative book will not only be in my ‘best books of the year’ list by the end of the year but it will also be listed as one of the best books I’ve ever read. In my list of brilliant and favorite self-published books, The Sword of Kaigen stands tall at the top of the mountain, and I honestly have no idea when or if another self-published novel will steal its rightful spot. Without any shred of doubt, this was a phenomenal read, and I will recommend this glistening jewel of a novel to every adult fantasy reader from now on. If you’re a fan of The Poppy War, read it. If you’re a fan of military fantasy, read it. If you’re a fan of high fantasy, read it!

“Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it.”

Sidenote regarding Pre-Order bonus:
This pre-order currently is priced at $0.99 and ALL entrants (worldwide) who pre-order will receive cool bonus swag. Details here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Official release date: 19th February 2019

You can pre-order this book from: Amazon | Blackwells (Free International shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

[chai (thelibrairie on tiktok) ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a perpetual pleasure to finally find a book you can give yourself up to, a book you can curl inside and let the rest of the world flow around you. And it is always an agony to have to uncurl yourself and return to the real world, feeling abruptly unmoored, like a sleepwalker awakened mid-dream wondering what exactly they’d been doing.

It’s difficult to talk about this book through my fierce admiration for the author’s achievement in it. The Sword of Kaigen is a massive book. From the outset, the sheer volume of backstory provided amounts to literary whiplash: the world of potent gods, undaunted warriors and horrific monsters is brimming with detail.

The story begins in the Kusanagi Peninsula, a place that bred warriors, and not just any warriors, but the fiercest that ever were. Years of defending the Kaigenese Empire against its foreign enemies earned the province the nickname “the Sword of Kaigen” and enshrined it as deeply as any truth whispered to the gods before an altar.

14-year-old Matsuda Mamoru wants to claim his legacy as the son of the most eminent warrior family in the Kusanagi Peninsula, but it comes with too high a price. Mamoru’s friendship with Kwang Chul-hee, a new transfer student at the elite Kumono Academy, has forced him to confront uncomfortable truths about the government and the insidious lies they circulate to justify bleeding great gouts of Kaigenese men in never-ending wars so those in power could pull the world’s riches to themselves like spiders in the center of a golden web. Lost and conflicted, Matsuda turns to his mother, Misaki, for answers. Misaki had once been a warrior herself, walking side by side with death, before giving it all up to seek some mute purgatory where she could live as the wife to the distant and hard-hearted Matsuda Takeru. Determined to leave the past behind, she could only offer her son halting truths. But when an attack sends her family careening alone into the fearful darkness, it is as if someone had removed a fuse in her mind: Misaki will protect her family and she will not count the cost.

There is obviously a lot to set up here. In a lesser author's hands, this could easily become potboiler, but Wang plots with the meticulous deliberation of a piano tuner. She keeps the dialogue slashing, the prose detailed yet concise, and the action so enthralling my heart often flew out ahead of me. Add in the persistent sensation of dread throughout—that sickening suspicion of where the story might be headed that I didn't want to even think out loud lest that would make it true—and you’ve got a page-turner in the true sense. I literally could not stop turning pages.

The Sword of Kaigen has some of the most vivid and cleverly choreographed action sequences that I have ever read, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. But some of the book’s most memorable moments occur in stillness, when the author will drop scalpel-sharp insights, striking, with the precision of a well-sent arrow, at so much of what ails not only her fictional world but our own world as well. After all, the true monsters of The Sword of Kaigen are eerily familiar: propaganda, militarism, socio-economic disparities, and the ways countries can both liberate and dehumanize.

The characters, however, make the book. Crafting a multi-voiced novel can trip up even the most seasoned of authors, but Wang makes it look effortless. Wang is exceptionally good at flipping the reader’s perceptions and offering unexpected moments of clarity. As the plot tightens, the characters begin to tell us who they really are. Too often, it is as if we have always seen them from one angle, and now that they have turned, rotated, we are confronted with another facet. The fact, for example, that the author had me feverishly rooting for characters I spent the majority of the novel hating with a Casanovian passion says enough.

Misaki, in particular, is an exquisitely refreshing protagonist, and the character that followed me off the page the furthest. Through a series of flashbacks, we witness how her personality has changed throughout the years from a sharp, hot-tempered teenager to an older, detached, mute facsimile of herself. The insolence is gone, that old aggressive glint: Misaki had curled into her good-wife place like a bird bred in a cage, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. But over the course of the novel, she becomes something else entirely. Misaki grows tired of listening to her husband, tired of the weight of his will crushing her smaller and smaller, tired of minding her place. She was a warrior—not just a body, not just skin and softness, not a toy or a tamable creature—and her transformation (more an unlocking than a change) is a wonder to behold.

“I’m Matsuda Misaki,” she said with pride and honesty she never attached to those words before. “I’m your wife.”

And she attacked him.

The exploration, too, of mother-son relationship is unforgettable. At turns tender, touching, and terrifying, it speaks deeply to the rewards of motherhood without shying away from its risks. Misaki has four children, and for years, she did not see any of them clearly. When she looked, she saw only the mirror of her own faults, and so she stood and watched them recede from her, shrinking to the end of a tunnel. Misaki's journey in this book is, in many ways, about reclaiming her name as a mother, which she didn't feel capable or even worthy of. "How had a soulless block of ice like Takeru and a selfish thing like her," Misaki muses at one point, "created something so bright?" That it took a tragedy to drive home that her children have only needed her to be herself is one of the novel's most heart-wrenching truths.

All in all, The Sword of Kaigen is an adventure and a half, and a new all-time favorite. I genuinely do not doubt that every single fantasy reader will hungrily devour this novel, and, if you're anything like me, you will ask for more at the end.

[Emily (Books with Emily Fox on Youtube) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. Some of the best character arcs I've read.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this Fantasy standalone!

[Emily May · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I have the words to do this book justice.

I could mention the fantastic story, the memorable characters, the detailed and fascinating universe and magic system... but none of that seems to adequately capture how utterly breathless I felt reading The Sword of Kaigen.

These characters mattered to me. The outcome of this story mattered to me. The world is so vivid that, rather than needing to suspend disbelief, I need someone to convince me it isn't real.

I recently enjoyed Wang's Blood Over Bright Haven, but even that isn't at the same level as this book. Blood Over Bright Haven is easier to digest and quicker to get moving. This is propulsive, too, but it’s dense in the beginning when the world and magic is still being explained to us. I promise it’s worth it. The rich world-building adds so much to this universe, making it layered and believable.

Once we get past the setting of the scene and info dumps in the first few chapters, I could hardly put this down. I was grabbing for it whenever I had even a few minutes, desperate to discover the characters' fates. I will spare you a lengthy description of the world and magic system because that's what the beginning of the book is for, but, in short, The Sword of Kaigen is a martial arts/magic fantasy with politics, action and truly fascinating and complex characters.

I'm going to reiterate that point-- the characters are so well-drawn and multifaceted. They experience actual growth and change over the course of the novel. Also, it is clear pretty quick that Wang is one of those evil authors who isn’t afraid to put her characters through hell and no one is guaranteed to survive. I like this; it makes for tense and unpredictable reading. MAJOR SPOILER: I was devastated about Mamoru :(

I was so disappointed to read that Wang won’t be writing any more Theonite books any time soon. I understand her reasoning and appreciate an author knowing when it isn’t working instead of just throwing out anything to appease fans… but, god, I am dying for more! More than 600 pages here and it's still not enough. This world is so rich and there are so many characters' stories still unfinished… I could easily see there being a few more 600 page books in this world. I guess I'll join the begging hordes...PLEASE??

Note: contains depictions of graphic death and one instance of sexual assault.

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Congratulations to M.L Wang - The Sword of Kaigen is the SPFBO champion for 2019 with the joint-highest score in the contest's 9 year history (from ~3,000 books!)

Find out more here:

https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...


Well, this was excellent. My favourite SPFBO champion so far.

Wang is a highly skilled writer with a talent for bringing her characters to life, making them feel vital, unique, real. She very quickly invested me in the lives of the families around which this story revolves.

It takes a while to understand what this story is about as it's set in a large, complex world and often I felt that we were going to follow those threads into some larger, world-threatening plot. But really this is a story concerned with the Matsuda family and the young woman who marries into it.

There's an interesting magic system and an enjoyable mix of these magics and modern science set against the background of a very traditional society into which almost no technology intrudes. The battles (and Wang writes wonderful fight scenes) are based around swords and magic (primarily ice-magic).

Wang's unashamedly ruthless - all of the characters are in danger, nobody is safe. There's a LOT of heartache waiting for you among these pages, along with tons of excitement, intrigue, and satisfaction.

A lot of frustration and tension is generated by the constraints of the society imposed on characters who we want to have the freedom to flourish / be happy, and by the failure of characters to communicate - but not in any artificial way but because people are complex and flawed and often fail to understand each other's motives and feelings.

It's a mature book in the way that it presents, understands, and resolves various conflicts, showing every one on whom the spotlight lingers to be deeply human. There are no mustache twirling villains here.

Wang maintains the pace, tension, and interest extremely well, hauling the reader through this lengthy book.

Only in the early stages when the focus moves to a new location did I worry that I wasn't going to fully enjoy the book, and those fears were short-lived.

This book pleased me on all levels and I give it my highest recommendation.



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[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woot!!



Holy shit!!!!!!!!! I can’t!!!! I’m having a damn panic attack I’m so hyped up on this damn book!! Someone run over and buy me the paperback!! This is going on my shelf, I don’t just want the kindle. I’m getting it in July!!! And I missed out on all that swag 😫. Damn it all to hell!! I’ve actually had this book on my kindle for awhile but like most things kindle it takes awhile. But, when I started out with the book, I couldn’t get into it. I was on crack apparently but my sweet friend told me to push on so I’m naming her as a recommendation and I love her for telling me to keep going!! Anyhoo....

I freaking love, Misaki!!!!!!!!!

And for the moment, Misaki let herself be thankful for the thing she was. After all, a lady wouldn’t have been able to slice a man’s legs out from under him and then plunge a blade into his mouth when he opened it to scream. A mother wouldn’t have been able to cut a young woman’s head from her shoulders. A human being wouldn’t have been able to turn from their dismembered corpses without a single pang of guilt.

Thank the Gods she was a monster.

Omg!! Why 😫



Omg!!!!!!



THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING!! WENT TO FAVORITES LIST!! MISAKI IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL!!

"You lost your right to my obedience when you stopped being a man!" Misaki cut him off. "If you want me to go back to the house, you’ll have to fight me. I’ve stood by too long while you disgraced yourself, but this—this is the last time you will be weak in front of me. One of us is going to rest here with our son. Draw!

Read the damn book!!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

BLOG: https://melissa413readsalot.blogspot....

[aleksandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75/5

Please, please, please, I beg you on my knees, don't write books like The Sword of Kaigen, because now my whole life has changed and I don't know what to do with it.

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 5⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 4⭐️
Themes: 5⭐️
Emotional Impact: 5⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 5⭐️
Total Average: 5⭐️

Easily one of the best books I've read.

The Sword of Kaigen delicately and masterfully explores themes I desperately love to read about, and it does it with nuance and compassion. Through Mamorou's point of view, Wang illustrates the complicated impact of a culture built on tradition and obedience. Mamourou's journey to his own sense of self and purpose is beyond inspiring, as he navigates the weight of expectations and awakens to propaganda and the complexity of the world. The courage he finds to be stoic in chaos and loyal to his own, to whatever end is some of the most emotionally stirring storytelling I've ever read. Wang is able to be both critical of the limitations of tradition and simultaneously show the strength of conviction it provides; and it’s breathtaking.

Through Misaki's character, the story claws through the depths of regret and grief. It juxtaposes masculine and feminine capability and purpose, deftly avoiding trite over-simplification. In a sexist culture, it's refreshing to be shown complexity. Men verbally condescend to their families in one chapter, only to lay their lives down for their wives and children in the next. Relegating women to home and mothering is antiquated in the modern world. However, in a warrior culture, where men are all that stand between women and the worst violence, it feels appropriate for a wife to take care of a man and his children. God, Wang tackles the roles and importance of the sexes so tactfully here.

Throughout the plot, this character study avoids nothing. The trauma/fear/control cycle is broken down and examined. It's so brutal. It's so healing. The aftermath of loss is shown on a full spectrum. I especially loved that one character embodies the quiet strength it takes to dare to live in the face of loss. To make the sacrifice worth it. To make survival matter. To value one's own life as highly as someone who would give their own to save yours. It's so powerful. Additionally, Wang tackles the dark side of humility in the face of failure, illustrating how sometimes what the world most needs when we've failed, is for us to get back up and try harder. Admitting defeat and facing consequences is honorable and all, but greater still is defiantly daring to be better than you have been.

This tale weaves a tapestry of rich cultural diversity, age and vocation representation, simple but enthralling elemental magic, and a ridiculously engaging plot. I sobbed through entire chapters, inconsolable and unable to stop reading. Wang went all the way to the core of the human experience, intimately, but with a global perspective. It's a masterful achievement. A story that goes leaps and bounds above others.

I have no notes. This is everything a story should be.

[Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some big "wow" moments that ultimately saved a book that has some pretty serious pacing problems.

Watch my video review by clicking here.

[Althea ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

We need more child-mother-father protagonists in fantasy like this, I said what I said.

the only thing i have the energy to say right now is that you are SLEEPING if you have not read this STANDALONE FANTASY masterpiece. this reads like an anime with Demon Slayer and ATLA/Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes, in all the best ways.

"We keep to the old warrior tradition the rest of the world has forgotten and we're proud of it.”

This is a brutal, angsty, intense, imaginative, heart-warming, satisfying, and hard-hitting fantasy standalone that centers around a powerful water-ice power wielding family/community. These nuanced family dynamic tropes in fantasy will always have my heart.

It’s perfect for those who like a lot of heart and action in their fantasy. I found out that ML Wang works at a martial arts school and it really shows in the writing. The characters and maximized potential of their powers were so investing. The battles scenes are some of the most realized and vivid (and brutal) that I have ever read. I AM SO IN LOVE. The potential of water-based elemental powers wasn’t wasted since we already get so little of it. Or at least not in the feeling and detail that ML Wang does while incorporating sociocultural context and practical applications into it.

“A life of dangerous adventures might seem worth it now, when you are young and seemingly invincible, but one day, you will have children, and you will not want that life for them."

I say it's like Demon Slayer and ATLA because it takes tropes and themes from both then combines it in a way that satisfied me on another level i can’t explain without spoiling. The effects of transparency/communication on government-level and family-level environments were so well implicated that I lost count of the number of times I had to close the book because I had to take a deep breathe at the intensity before continuing. It was an insane time.

ML Wang doesn’t hold back when describing what needs to be described and brutally shows the tragedies of war, fair warning. It honestly felt weird at first to think that 14 year olds and 5 year olds are capable of the things they do in this book but I see how that’s the point of the story. That these children who are so young are also so burdened by that much power. The reversed prejudice on light skinned people was so interesting to read about and this might be the first book that tackled it so blatantly while still underlining that any kind of racial prejudice shouldn’t be perpetuated.

"You might look like a decorative flower,
but you're more sword than anything else.”

The early and successfully established family dynamics were built on so well. I didn’t expect to get the perspective of the mother (i like being surprised with books) but it really was a stroke of genius. It added another layer of depth that this book would have been lacking otherwise, both in character dynamics/relationships and world-building. Besides, we love seeing women saving women and themselves in this household.

The character developments and themes were so well-executed. The things that were meant to be slow burn were so SATISFYING to see unfold *ehem*. I was rooting HARD for that to tie up well.

For those of you who care: this has an arranged marriage trope as a side plot.

"There was no way you could have understood. You can't until it's you."

I would describe the pacing as chunky because it's not really slow nor fast but in the action parts, it's a lot of action. In the parts where it's world-building, it's all world-building. I didn't mind it but that may be why some people might find it tiresome to read, I guess.

Wang tends to use conversations to info-dump but i honestly didn’t mind. In my opinion, it wasn’t done in a way that was boring? I think there is a huge difference between info dumps that suit the plot and info dumps that are lazy writing. And I think this fits under the former. Just keep the glossary handy and you’ll be fine.

If there’s something to be nitpicky about, I didn’t really agree with the undertones of how the queer rep was executed but it was so short and towards the end that i didn’t even have time to dwell on it. Some lines towards the end did feel weird in the sense they suddenly felt more modern and didn’t fit the vibe but it felt miniscule to everything else I loved, as a character-oriented person. There are also some dialogues that felt weird and out of place (in the end mostly) but it didn’t bother me that much. My critiques seem so insignificant compared to what I loved. The character arcs are worth every little critique I can think of.

“Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it.”

Everyone who not-so-subtly influenced me to read this was right.
I was destroyed.
I had to meditate on my own feelings for a hot minute.

↣ I have nothing else to say, I was shaking at how much I loved every second of this. I both want more and want to preserve this precious book in it’s standalone glory. This feels like it would be one of those books that only gets better with a reread. It’s truly like if Demon Slayer met ATLA, you cannot convince me otherwise. Give me more child-mother-father protagonists in fantasy. READ THIS. ↢

“The moon and the ocean fear no change.”

— 4.5 —
⇢ content warnings// Physical Abuse (implied) Violence, Graphic Deaths, Graphic Violence, Mass Death, Suicide Bombing, Suicide, Mentioned Murder of Baby, Mentioned Attempt at Murder of Baby, Rape, (Post Partum) Depression

[len ❀ · Rating 1 out of 5]

The devil couldn’t reach me so he made me a hater of popular books.

Most of the time, people struggle writing reviews for books they loved. I’ve seen many of my mutuals say they can’t really express their love properly and get it all into words. For me it’s the opposite. I struggle more with books I don’t like and it makes it difficult to really explain why. Sometimes I wish I ranted more or wrote reviews where I just yap and yap and jot down everything that didn’t work for me.

In this case, a lot of things went downhill pretty damn fast.

The lack of world building is comical. I’ve seen reviews stating it’s fantastic but I sadly disagree. We are set to accept, believe and understand how the world of this book works without having a proper understanding of its history. The historical fiction aspect is properly given for the book world’s history only—wars, political leader, great powers. But we never learn how everything really came to be, how the powers work, how everything was set up to begin with, and how these people came to be. There’s no backstory or information given to understand the magical system. It’s just something you need to accept and move on from. The author gives a couple pages of an info dump of the world where one of the professors is explaining the history, which doesn’t help whatsoever since it’s info dumb and all piled together. Never once does the author separate it. A glossary is provided at the end, which is a stupid decision in my opinion, as I’ve finished the book and had no idea it existed in the first place. So this whole time as I read, I struggled understanding what certain words meant even though the definition and explanation was at the end to begin with. Despite that, I think the choice of putting it on the end of the book is dumb, and it still doesn’t help since it’s really not enjoyable reading words and having to go to the glossary every time to know what it means. We don’t get any explanation on the magic system, we don’t learn what certain terms mean, and we don’t learn how these magical people came to actually be. Instead, glossary aside, we come to learn the magical system as the story unfolds, but it’s not something the author herself actually tells us. This is simply weak in my opinion.

The world is a mix of modern and fantasy. The modern aspect is a fictionalized world of historical Japan, with some of its cultures and traditions derived from its historical years, including gender norms, languages, clothes, work environments, and manners. The fantasy aspect of it is much more complex. There’s powers and magic, which is a prominent role in the main characters since the beginning. However, once again, the magic system is never explained, and instead something you just need to follow along through and figure out on your own. Considering this is in the Theonite series, I’m set to believe the previous books actually have an explanation for it all.

I found it quite interesting when Mamoru started learning the real side of his empire/country. He learned about how the empire’s media continuously lies to its people for the sake of their sacrifices and devotion. A bit familiar, if you ask me… That aside, I was beginning to think he would become a revolutionary and stand up for all the injustices and lies. Misaki’s past also has a revolutionary side to her, which was actually cool to see. But in the end, the author makes an unnecessary choice for Mamoru, and decides to leave Misaki with the settlers. It was honestly really disappointing to see Misaki practically give up on everything she went through and learned in the past. Comparing this to The Poppy War trilogy does it a disservice and I’m tired of seeing the comparisons. Rin never gave up and never sided with the oppressors; Misaki does and did. Rin died fighting for her people; Misaki didn’t.

I cannot get behind how the author portrays the groups of this world. Brown people are the oppressors and white people are the oppressed. Hadean’s are basically the most oppressed group in this world, essentially the slaves. In elementary school, Misaki had been told that Hadeans’ light colored hair and eyes were signs that they were a more primitive variety of human, closely related to dogs and monkeys who shared their coloring.

Please read that again.

Even though Elleen’s gold hair and pale eyes were a bit frightening—perhaps because they were a bit frightening—Misaki found them beautiful. She had decided that if Elleen was related to any animal, it was something dignified and dangerous, like a leopard or a falcon.

Please also read that again.

And the reason this paragraph is added is because we’re learning about one of Misaki’s friends, Elleen, from her past, who is Hadean. From the glossary: Hades the westernmost country on the continent of Namindugu, a former Yammanka colony, the original homeland of most of Duna’s adyns.

M.L. Wang really said: in my world, white people are the oppressed and the slaves!

Ha! Imagine!

In the end, what this book shows? If you’re refusing settler rule, you’re bad! Ignoring what the author tries to paint in this book with her characters, it still shows the end message clearly: colonizers win.

No character in this book is memorable and worth mentioning. The events at the 50% mark are rather anticlimactic and underwhelming. We’re set to root for our main characters, Misaka, and her teenage son, Mamoru, but both characters are inherently weak, underdeveloped, and feel superficial. Misaki’s character is simply disappointing. It felt as if she was nothing but a mother and devoted wife who couldn’t defend herself and wouldn’t be able to come out of her spot. The author had an opportunity to write her as a strong female main protagonist, but instead she chose to stick with the usual, traditional, common female leads we see in every sort of media. She’s weak, uninspiring, two-dimensional, and offers nothing new in the fantasy world. I don’t care that this is a historical fantasy and caters to genders norms and expectations. From a fantasy author, I expected the author to have given her an arc showing her worth and strength. Instead, majority of the story takes place with her being a mother and measly wife to an abusive, toxic husband, unable to really stand up for herself and her son, and end up relying on her husband until the end. The blurb makes it sound like Misaki claws her way back to her past, where she was able to hold her ground. All Misaki did was downgrade. She gives her husband another chance because of her kids, and even admits it herself. There’s no rage, anger, or regret, just her sticking through it. Her son, Mamoru, comes across someone we, as the reader, most likely anticipate him to be a strong and fierce warrior but is, unfortunately, just a kid with big dreams. What the author did to him didn’t help in any way. Instead, the authors tactics here felt lazy and unoriginal. The book is less than 700 pages of no character development and zero growth.

It’s also laughable how the author expects us to feel sympathy and acceptance for Misaki’s husband, Takeru. I love deranged and unethical characters in my books, but what I don’t like are abusive male leads who show no sense of humanity, sympathy, or love for the entire book only for them to give us a bullshit ass excuse of his life for a short amount of page time and then magically have a whole change of heart. More than 70% of the book, Takeru spends being unloving, cold, and unjust, only for him to have a 360 change of heart and suddenly realize his family needs him. There is never an ounce or hope of character development and growth from him. Never once do we see him regret his actions and choices from before and show us that he’s worth giving a second chance to.

Honestly, I kinda started paying less attention after the 30% mark because of how boring everything was. By the half mark, I dissociated and couldn’t bring myself to care about anything or anyone. The politics were stupidly laughable, the character development non existent, the writing continued being aggravating, and the plot seemed to become messy.

This book is all hype for me. Everything is so underwhelming and unmemorable.

[Daniel B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A step in the direction fantasy should be headed in. Outstanding with a structure that will raise eyebrows. I cannot promise everyone will love it, but everyone obsessed with fantasy should read it.

Full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pqwa...

[jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

alright. lets break down how i feel about this book.

things i liked:

interesting world building - i really loved the old traditional japanese feel to the story and the setting is described in a way that makes it very easy to feel immersed.

the characters - really well-rounded and complex characters that go through some great development, so its not difficult to root for them.

all dialogue - the vast majority of the narration is dialogue and i personally enjoy that because it always makes for quick and easy entertainment.

things i didnt like:

odd pacing - the climax takes place in the middle of the story and the remaining 60% feel like a very extended epilogue.

unclear genre - with elemental magic, brief sci-fi technology, a setting in a modern future but has made-up lands/empire like traditional fantasy, this felt all over the place.

more positives than there are negatives, so a pretty good reading experience overall. i would be really interested to see if this becomes a series. the ending definitely lays the groundwork for a sequel, so i will be keeping my eyes open.

↠ 3.5 stars

[Hamad · Rating 5 out of 5]

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“You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young.”

★ I have to agree with the quote above, the pieces of this book fit together perfectly! You can’t understand the crazy expectations I had for this book and yet it was able to blow me away! I have some bold confessions: Best Self-published book I ever read, Best Fantasy Standalone I ever read and one of the best books I read this year! (Okay I made them in bold and then realized it became a bad pun for the previous sentence!)

★ I don’t know where to start with this one, it was just perfect in all aspects as if it was written and tailored to my taste! But I love that almost everyone who read it gave it 5 stars (4 if not 5) and I have to agree with my friend Petrik that it is a master piece.

★ The writing was so good, it was so atmospherical and I felt that I was part of that word. There were a lot of quotes I like and the book uses dialogues to touch upon very important, very sensitive subjects! It took me a few pages to get used to the Japanese terms and the glossary surely helped! But after those few pages that I invested some time in, it was like winning the million-dollar lottery! The book is unputdownable! I am writing this and I am suddenly in the mood to reread it soon!

★ The characters are some of the best characters I read at all! They were so well written and so fleshed out, I could relate to them and I loved them and I mourned them and I can’t stop thinking about them. I think the author was smart because the book had 2 POVs, one of the characters was a young kid and the other was his mother and I am assuring you that this worked a 1000% positively for the book. But the great thing about the characters is that I even cared about the secondary ones and I can still picture them all in the village in my mind!

“A life of dangerous adventures might seem worth it now, when you are young and seemingly invincible, but one day, you will have children, and you will not want that life for them.”

★ The world-building is amazing, I saw many people comparing this to Avatar the air binder and I can see why given the magic system but I also think it is not a fair comparison because this was a bit more mature due to delving into the war and the tragedies it entails. But if you love Avatar, then I am pretty sure you will love this one.

★ The Plot is just so clever and so well thought! the synopsis sounds good but the book is actually better! This book has lots of action, and I like to think of it as 3 thirds, the first third is an introduction and setting the world and preparation for everything. The second third is where most of the action and War take place and it may be my fav action scenes in all the books I ever read. The last third is like an epilogue but at the same time it had a scene I really dreamt of having in the book and I was so happy it was there in this part. The pacing was so well done that I was glued to the book the whole time!

★ I also loved how the book discussed very important things without feeling it tried so hard to do so, or without feeling like there were checkboxes it needed to have! The author genuinely approaches topics such as family and martial arts and feminism and racism! The thing that still blows my mind is that she did this by herself, It was better than 90% of the traditionally published books I have read so Wang just raised the bar of self-publishing and she just destroyed the stereotype that self-published books are bad! The book even had its maps, glossary, characters list, and chapter header!

“I’ve never needed a sword to protect you—to raise you the way your father wanted. Caring for my family meant putting away the fighter, so I did.”

★ Summary and Prescription: If you are a fantasy fan then do yourself a favor and read this book!!!!!!!

Petrik picked this as his book for my 10 bloggers, 10 recommendations challenge! Thanks a million Petrik!!

You can get more books from Book Depository

[Mayim de Vries · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We are the Sword of Kaigen. If we’ve let it rust, then we deserve to die on it, along with our enemies.”

…It is 3:27 AM and I finished reading the book. There are 73 people among my friends who want to read it too. If you are one of them, do this today. If you are not—do it anyway.

I don’t think enjoyment is an apt word to describe my experience with The Sword of Kaigen. It took me a while to compose this review because even now I do not know how to put together a coherent sentence that could portray the sheer magnificence of this book (especially that I most definitely do not possess an ounce of Ms Wang’s stupendous writing talent!). This book appeared out of nowhere, grabbed me by the throat and then shattered me only to rebuild me in a new shape. I cannot remember last time that a book shook me out of my complacency and annihilated the ironic subconscious voice that offers snark comments whenever I read to leave me both awed and grateful. The Broken Earth maybe. But I’m not sure.

The main idea is persuasive, yet deceptively simple and relies on a universe where humans have supernatural powers relying on natural elements: air, water or earth. Some humans that is, roughly those inhabiting lands modelled after what we call South East Asia in our world, with the derivatives of Japan (Kaigen) and China (Ranga) being at the focal point (we, the Westerners are weak and backward peoples worth only some pity in the best case, with no magic or civilisation to our name). More specifically, the story unfolds in a remote and obscure corner of Kaigen, seemingly backward village, neglected and forgotten, keeping to the traditional ways and values of a warrior culture that are no longer respected or remembered elsewhere in Kaigen. Indeed, the Empire seems to be bent on denigrating the way of life they represent while the enemy is closer than anyone thinks.

But the overall settings and the high politics serve only as a backdrop for harrowing individual stories with the members on one particular family: a father, a mother, and a son, at the fulcrum of the tale. The Matsudas don’t cut corners and they are the epitome of their culture. And what a difficult culture it is! A culture of austerity, of perfection, of denial. Of silences measured in years and weighted in ice mountains. You can already see that this persuasive, yet deceptively simple design I mentioned is rendered into a masterpiece thanks to the sublime and complex characterisation of each of the protagonists. Misaki’s unflinching ferocity, Mamoru’s heart-breaking stubbornness, Takeru’s pertinacious skill are a mixture of virtues that are flaws and blessings at the same time. I hated Takeru but was forced to respect him for his principles and deadly skills. My heart cried for Misaki but I had to grudgingly acknowledge the darkness inside her. I loved Mamoru knowing that my love is doomed from the onset. They were all both alien and relatable at the same time, and always, always surprising until the very end of the story. As they breathed and bled on the pages, I breathed and bled as I read.

While the relatively modest scope of this harrowing tale might sound discouraging, do not be deceived as The Sword of Kaigen is a novel of rare density and potency. The pacing is relentless in spite of retrospective flashes. The chapters are short but well crafted and with a superbly balanced description to reflection to action ratio.

Regarding the latter, I simply must note that since Ms Wang is a martial art practitioner herself, she means business when she writes fighting sequences. These are simply phenomenal, take my word for it. I normally tend to skim through battle scenes because I don’t find them that interesting since they habitually serve the authors as mere tools for plot-advancement. In The Sword of Kaigen these scenes are a form of art.

And the best thing about The Sword of Kaigen is that to achieve all of the above the Author does not need a ten-instalment-long series sprawling over thousands of pages and millions of words. No, it takes her one modest novel. Which of course meant, that immediately upon finishing I longed for ten more books like this to exist in readiness to be devoured by me (before you check: there are not).

As a final word of caution, please be prepared for the fact that especially at the beginning of the book you might have the impression that English is peppered with numerous words you will probably not know or understand (unless you are a manga pro). In my case, this somewhat lessened my reading experience. There is a glossary at the end of the book but a) I hate when these things are at the end instead of the beginning so I can at least familiarise myself with the terms b) a book is written in such a way that the reader essentially needs to check every second word. I’m all OK for introducing specific terms and names (like in Inda for instance) but it must be done intuitively or gradually to give the reader a chance to internalise the meanings. Having said this, by chapter 7 I was comfortable with the narrative but I can see some readers being dissuaded and frustrated.

What else to say? I kept reading until small hours of the night and then I couldn’t sleep for a reminder of it. This book is everything you need to read this year. It deserves words of the highest praise and as wide a readership as possible. Please make it happen.

PS The end of the world is coming, I loved the same book that Petrik did! (he agrees!)

PS 2 Thank you for reading. In case you do not know me: my average GR rating is 3.4 and I really do hoard and guard my 5-starers with more alertness than a paranoic dragoness could wish for. I do not hand those away like candies. When I reluctantly do so, it counts, it matters and it is supposed to mean something.

[Rachel (ravenhairedreader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the BEST books I’ve ever read. seriously, my love for this book is all consuming and I know I’ll think about it for a long time to come. Misaki, I love you so much. The discussions of being a woman, motherhood, regret, expectations, family dynamics, and accepting the good in life along with the bad all hit me so so hard. These characters felt SO real, even now I’m wondering what they’ll do next. Reading the last page of this book made me so happy and so sad at the same time. character driven fantasy lovers, YOU NEED TO READ THIS.

[William Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 600th read of all time!

The Sword of Kaigen video review (major book hangover)

THIS BOOK HAS CHANGED ME

I finally read The Sword of Kaigen, and I am so glad I did. This is just spectacular. I understand what all the hype is about! Expert world building, complex characters and a writing style that brilliantly weaves our characters and plot lines together.

Misaki is one of the greatest characters I have come across. A warrior past, she is forced to push that away and become a housewife who merely carries out the will of her husband in a patriarchal society. M. L. Wang deals with this repression so incredibly. The tension, the journey, the investment we feel in Misaki and the surrounding cast is just unreal.

We have an incredible family drama that interweaves and is dragged into the tension and suspense of the wider political world, and the national conflicts that accompany that.

Whilst the action is incredible, from the battle sequences, to the duels, training and magic use is utterly fantastic, the main attraction is the character relationships.

Full Review to Come

[Jay H (Hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 Stars✨

"Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it."

Edit: I didn’t read the special edition since it’s sold out, and the resale prices are fucking insane. I just changed the edition on Goodreads because it’s very pretty.

Don’t expect your typical fantasy here. This isn’t the story of the little guy taking down the big bad villain. If you’re looking for that, you are going to be be let down, but if you approach this book with an open mind, prepare to be absolutely blown away.

M.L. Wang masterfully tackles themes of sexism, motherhood, and responsibility in ways that feel deeply personal and raw. Every single character has a distinct tone and voice, which makes their relationships and conflicts all the more compelling. This isn’t just a tale of good versus evil; it’s a story about the intricate relationships between the characters, each with their own complex motivations and struggles.

And the ending? Perfect. It stays true to the book’s themes, leaving an impact that feels right for the journey we’ve been on.

M.L. Wang just earned herself a loyal fan, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.




______________
Pre-Read:

After waiting for two months, the library finally came through. I need another book to add to my most treasured shelf, so hopefully this one will live up to the hype.

[Nicholas Eames · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece, plain and simple.

I can see some people being thrown off by the pacing (the action peaks about halfway through the book), but this is an incredible study of character, and so beautifully written.

[Sloan MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m going to need to recover for the next 3-5 business days.

[Charlotte Kersten]

Spoilers and mentions of sexual violence and suicide follow.

“You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just…got more pieces than you thought.”

So What’s It About?

A mother struggling to repress her violent past,
A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

What I Thought

The Sword of Kaigen left me with quite a bit to think about. So much of it worked incredibly well for me, but at the same time, I’ll confess that some of it didn’t land quite right with me. At the heart of what works and doesn’t work about this story is Misaki, a woman who abandoned a crime-fighting youth to settle down into the role of a dutiful wife to an esteemed family. She’s a mother whose peak fighting days are behind her and she struggles with her sense of duty while trying to reconcile her past and present, her use of violence and her feelings for her children and husband in a way that is truly engaging. It’s immensely satisfying to see her fight for her family and herself after years of passivity, and her struggle between the strictness of Kaigen’s culture and the freedom she found with her friends abroad is so well-written.

There’s a scene where she rejects her would-be lover Robin when he comes to visit her before she marries Takeru according to her family’s wishes. Robin asks her if she is sure that she wants to get married and she insists that she is; he implies that she is throwing her life away and what she says in response is so interesting:

“How dare you claim to respect my choices and then deny them because you don’t agree with them? How dare you claim to respect my autonomy and then deny it because it means you don’t get to keep me?”

It so perfectly captures the conflict at the heart of Misaki’s story – what does it mean for a woman’s empowerment/autonomy/independence to make the “right” or “wrong” choice according to different cultural milieus and different people? What makes it even more complicated is that part of her does truly mean this when she says it to Robin, but Wang also makes it clear that there is a part of her that secretly wants Robin to come sweeping in to carry her away from her decisions. It’s just such an incredibly rich moment for characterization, and I love it a lot.

Misaki steps up to the plate to get her husband to be the patriarch and leader that their community needs in a time of crisis, challenging him and confronting him in a way that violates gender norms and breaks the pattern of their unhappy marriage. There’s one line in particular that’s really interesting to me:

“You lost your right to my obedience when you stopped being a man!”

This was frustrating to me at first, and my immediate reaction was “Well, he doesn’t have the right to her obedience in the first place!!!!!” But then I started thinking about cultural relativism – how presumptive it is to assume that my values are the only right ones and that every women from every cultural context should aspire to those same values and subscribe to my thoroughly Western model of female empowerment and independence. Misaki knows about other countries and their gender norms and, informed with that knowledge as well as knowledge of her home country, she is equipped to know her own values perfectly well and decide what is important to her, what she wants to fight for.

The book does end with Takeru listening to her opinions, respecting her decisions and autonomy and generally being a much more equal partner than he was before, but it’s not the kind of 100% Gender Revolution Patriarchy Overthrown!!!!! plot that I think some other authors might have written instead – their roles and spheres are still separate in many ways, and Takeru is very much the leader of their community.

I will say that as much as I valued this and as much as it made me check my own assumptions, this arc does falter for me in a couple of significant ways. Other readers might feel differently but the message I got from the story was very much that Takeru and Misaki were both at fault for the state of their marriage, because Takeru repressed all of his emotions and refused to value Misaki’s perspective while Misaki…was submissive and didn’t try to understand him more? At one point she reflects that in the fifteen years of their marriage she had “never once looked at Takeru as someone who might need her help.” The idea of joint responsibility for the state of their marriage doesn’t sit quite right with me – it’s automatically complicated for me by the very unequal power dynamic that was at play in their relationship, for one thing. For another, I feel like there are actually many mentions of Misaki trying to engage with Takeru in a more meaningful and equal way over the course of their marriage – the problem definitely seemed to be much more about Takeru shutting her out and refusing to see her as a partner despite her continued attempts. Finally, I'm not super into the implication that the only reason Takeru didn't treat Misaki like a complex human being with feelings and autonomy was because she wasn't helping him and trying to understand him enough. Ultimately I think the message is that they both subscribed to gender roles that ruined their marriage, and improving their relationship now requires both of them to act in challenging and unconventional ways.

My other concern with this part of the story is that Takeru seems to change his mind about a lifetime’s worth of preconceived notions and social norms and emotional regulation techniques VERY quickly. Don’t get me wrong – the duel between the two of them is amazing, and I understand that Mamoru’s death was a major turning point for him. But I’m not quite convinced that that would be enough to get him to change and I wish I could have seen the process of that change happening. There is one brief section of the book from his perspective and it really helped me understand his inner turmoil. As I was thinking about the book afterwards, I decided that Takeru’s development would have been a lot more believable to me if I could have read more of his perspective to see his internal process of changing. The first part of the book features dual perspectives between Mamoru and Misaki, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like if the second part of the book after Mamoru’s death had featured Takeru’s perspective in Mamoru’s place. I don’t know if it would work or not, but I thought it was a kind of interesting idea.

My other big challenge with this book is the treatment of sexual violence. In this case I thought Wang started out doing a great job with Hyori’s feelings after being raped, with her self-blame and shame and conviction that she had betrayed her husband. I loved it when Misaki told her that it wasn’t her fault that she was raped and her husband had nothing to forgive her for. Unfortunately, though, I’ve read THREE books in recent months where a character who exists primarily to be a rape victim dies tragically, and I have to say it’s getting pretty old at this point. I definitely don’t think it’s inherently wrong to demonstrate that someone who’s assaulted may feel that there’s nothing to live for afterwards, but I do think there are ways that those feelings can be addressed in text in a way that doesn’t also feel like it contributes to the ongoing problem of authors treating assaulted characters as if they are disposable after they’ve been assaulted. Of course a lot of characters die in this book, so in that context Hyori isn’t necessarily more disposable than any other character who dies…and yet I do think the additional context of her having been raped complicates her death a little bit. I’d be interested in hearing what others think about this aspect of the story!

I also struggled with the fact that Misaki is so repulsed by Takeru for most of the book, especially when she remembers a time that she got so repulsed that she tried to push away from him while they were having sex and he simply held her arms away from her so she couldn’t push him anymore and kept going. I Did Not Like That and I wish they’d addressed it somehow while the two of them were learning to be better partners.

All that I have left are a few stray observations: I don’t think it is necessary to write the foreign dialects in italics and there are a few instances I noticed with inconsistent use of the italics. The use of perspective feels a little unwieldy to me at times, with a few passages that become weirdly omniscient, the single section from Takeru’s perspective and a scattering of chapters that are 100% flashback. I read some reviews where reviewers complained about the number of terms they didn’t understand and there is definitely a lot of jargon in this book. As I was reading on my Kindle it was very inconvenient to go to the glossary all the time so I ultimately just let a lot of it wash over me. In my case that ended up being fine and honestly sometimes I think that’s the way to go with really intricate world-building. I think the magic is really cool and the action is wonderfully-well written – I usually get bored of fight scenes but I was interested through all of them in this book. Finally, I really appreciate the themes of imperialism and the exploration of Kaigen being a corrupt state that is full of propaganda and sees its people as expendable.

That’s about all I’ve got. Wow, this review got SUPER long but I think it’s a testament to just how much there is to unpack in this book!

[TS Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply phenomenal. A true masterpiece. The Sword of Kaigen is a stunning achievement of empathetic and masterful storytelling.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that sinks its hooks and claws into your very soul. It transcends beyond what a 5-star book usually means to me. It is a book that I will plead, beg and maybe even force everyone to read, so that they can experience the same awe and emotions as I did.  Thus far, I have not gone down the road of awarding 6 stars to some of my favourites, but there are several that I could easily place in that category. Namely The Stormlight Archive, a few titles from Malazan Book of the Fallen, and Heir of Novron, the final omnibus of The Riyria Revelations. Now, this extraordinary stand-alone fantasy novel, which is a rarity in itself, has earned itself a well-deserved spot among these masterpieces.

The Sword of Kaigen is the most well-balanced stand-alone fantasy book that I've had the pleasure of reading. From its convincing worldbuilding and awe-inspiring elemental magic system to the spectacular action scenes and intensely emotional moments, and most of all, its stellar character development. Throughout the entire novel, there was not one moment which did not matter, and a palpable tension permeated every turn of the page.

The world was heavily inspired by our Far Eastern cultures and its people. The Kaigenese are reminiscent of the Japanese and the Ranganese the Chinese.  A lot of new and unfamiliar terms, such as those used to describe time, length, clothes, social classes and honorifics, did result in a rather steep learning curve at the beginning. Fortunately, there is a detailed glossary available with the book, and after reading several chapters, context helped to enhance the understanding of these strange words. I do not know much Japanese, but I have an inkling that a lot of these words are derived in some form or another from this language. A lot of care and attention to detail evidently went into creating a world that was entirely new and yet felt familiar and believable.

I will not elaborate on the plot as the book's synopsis did a great job of revealing just enough without any spoilers. Misaki is the only daughter of a well-standing and powerful family who had to turn her back from her exciting life of adventure and the man she loved when she married the second son of the Matsudas, one of the formidable old warrior houses whose bloodline wields the legendary Whispering Blade. Such a union of powerful families through arranged marriages was a tradition observed to maintain the lineage of the bloodline. Wives are expected to bear as many sons as possible for their husbands or are deemed a failure. The treatment of women as portrayed in The Sword of Kaigen was a brutal reality in our Far Eastern patriarchal societies. While advancement and progress have decreased the extent of such gender discrimination, it still exists in the more traditional and prominent families who treasure the continuation of their lineage above all else.

It was entirely by chance that I ended up finishing this book on International Women's Day. This book, which honoured the strength and courage of women, and their capacity for sacrificing all for the ones they love, could not have come at a better time. I have either too many words or not enough to describe the characterisation of Misaki. As an Asian woman, the distinctive cultural sensibilities in Kaigen, and Misaki's inner turmoil as she teetered between resistance and submission, resonated like a windchime. The empathy and strength of her character made for one of the most enthralling and relatable portrayals of a woman that I've come across. Undoubtedly, Misaki is now one of my favourite female characters of all time, if not the favourite.

She had taken every hardship like a stroke of a hammer, turning it into strength.

No character, regardless of how well-written, can stand on his or her own. What made The Sword of Kaigen spectacular was that the author gave even the supporting characters equally masterful strokes. This enhanced my level of emotional investment which made the story so intense and gripping.

I had high expectations when my co-reviewer mentioned that the action and magic battle sequences were Sanderson-worthy.  I was far from being disappointed, and was gifted with two exceptionally memorable scenes. Barely halfway into the book, the power of the gods made manifest in humans clashed in a devastating battle of wind and ice. Sometimes action scenes in fantasy can be written with either just a bit too much of a technical or abstract quality that I find it hard to picture the actual fighting. In The Sword of Kaigen, this was astoundingly well-written and with such clarity and simplicity that I could see and feel everything that happened. I could feel the force of the wind crushing the air out from my chest, and the sharpness of ice piercing the armour of my soul. The unrelenting power of destruction rained upon the civilians, defenseless in its wake. The vivid imagery of the forces of nature wielded by men and women of superlative skills, battling for supremacy. The vicious desperation of a lone mother protecting her family.  As the madness of war abated, I could see the hauntingly blank faces of survivors grappling with loss and grief. The poignancy in the evocative contrast of snow and blood amid the peaceful yet ghastly aftermath of violence and death; dark red essence of life against the purity of white.

Then came one of the most breathtaking scenes that I have ever read. From each of the little or not-so-little moments that have transpired, and from each flicker or flare of emotions, culminated an intense scene of such ferocity and strength of will that it belied how small it was on an absolute scale. The sheer intimacy of this fight, fueled by anguish and anger suffered in silence for years, overwhelmed me in an emotional hurricane of ice and snow. My already crumbling armour shattered into a million pieces.

What followed after that was a beautifully written and lovingly crafted closure to Misaki's story. I appreciated that the author took the time to draw out the ending in what I felt to be a fitting send off for these characters in whom I've grown so invested. I cannot imagine saying goodbye so quickly after that emotionally powerful scene. I needed to see better times ahead for these people, who after so many years of harbouring pain and loneliness, have finally found hope. Sword of Kaigen was for me a love story, or to be more exact a story about love. It was about the love of a mother for her children, the love between a man and a woman, the love between siblings, family and friends, and the love for one's home and its people. It was about being a bigger person than you thought possible to protect what you love, no matter the costs. And to let go when you had to, no matter how hard. In Misaki, it was ultimately about a woman's capacity to love and forgive, and in doing so, achieving wholeness.

Maybe this was the 'how' Robin had been looking for, the simple magic by which she held herself together. Love for what she had and what was gone. Love no matter the pain.

I can't praise this book and its author, M.L. Wang, enough. I also can't believe that I've not even heard of her before. This exceptional book only proved that the fantasy genre has once again been blessed with the emergence of a brilliant young talent.

Do I need to elaborate any further on how amazing The Sword of Kaigen is? Run, don't walk, to get this book and read it. Now. You can thank me later.

You can order this book from: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository (Free shipping worldwide)

You can also find this, and my other reviews at Novel Notions.

[Katie Colson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You lost your right to my obedience when you stopped being a man!"

PUT THIS QUOTE ON MY TOMBSTONE.

I loved this. It is such a well done novel. We got character development and history and political maneuvering and government conspiracies and magic and so much more all in a standalone? Who thought it could be done? Not me.

I have to drop it down a star though for Takeru. It's ON SIGHT with this 'man'. I hate him. Truly and deeply. What a spineless waste of space. Do I sound harsh? Good. He deserves so much worse. Don't talk to me about a redemption arc. That only made it worse. Mizaki is a queen and she deserves so much better.

[ChopinFC · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars (Masterpiece)

‘The Sword of Kaigen’ is a masterpiece in standalone fantasy writing and the story and characters are so captivating that the story transcended into an emotional and deeply rooted literary experience!!

I admit I have a real soft spot for well written, plotted and developed fantasy books. There’s something about the fantasy genre that lifts me from my everyday life and catapults me into pure bliss. The Sword of Kaigen represents the BEST that a fantasy book could elicit from a reader! I was so blown away and connected to the story and main character ‘Misaki’, that the book left me with tears in many instances! Thanks again to super- reviewers ‘Petrik’ and ‘TS’ for their wonderful review and endorsement of this magic book, otherwise I would have never had the privilege to read it!




‘The Sword of Kaigen’ achieves near nirvana in storytelling, mostly because the characters were so well developed and the story so personal and engaging. This wonderfully gifted writer, M.L. Wang has my utmost admiration! I’m used to ‘fantasy demi-Gods’ like Sanderson, GRR Martin, Tolkien, etc. Never in a zillion years would I expect a freshman writer to create such a unique and powerful story!

The story is heavily influenced by old Japanese military culture and battlegrounds, where samurai swords and martial arts played a vital role in combat. The ‘Kaigenese’ empire is fractured and always surrounded by enemies. At the snowy mountain of Takayubi at the ‘Kusanagi peninsula, rest the legendary Matsuda family who have protected the empire for generations. Known as ‘The Sword of Kaigen’, the Matsuda family, along with many other prominent families form an essential role in the defense and history of the empire. As story unfolds, we follow the Matsuda family in their everyday life and the perils they face defending the empire.

The characters are the prized jewels of the narrative, and provide the backbone of this astounding story. Misaki’s,plight is filled with so much emotion and fluidity, that it’s hard to compare a character I felt so connected in recent memory. Misaki is so well characterized, she parallels to perhaps, my favorite fantasy character of all times: Sanderson’s phenomenal ‘Kaladin’ in the Stormlight series. M.L Wang's inspiration carries over to the ‘supporting’ cast, and Misaki’s son ‘Mamoru’ and the entire Matsuda family are brilliantly portrayed.


At its core, ‘The Sword of Kaigen’ is a story of love between a mother and her son, a story of irreversible loss, a story of redemption from a troubled past, and a story of survival for those you love.






M.L. Wang’s use of ‘magic system’ is seamless integrated in story, allowing for ‘awe’ inspiring scenes throughout the book! Each ‘cast’ of families have different magical ‘abilities’, that allow the control of snow, wind and fire. Their magical abilities create an organic feel to everyday life and the battles. For instance, the ‘Matsudas’ are able to master the ‘Whispering Blade’, a sword made of snow that is so pure that it can cut through virtually any object, including steel! Awesome!!

I was blown away by the unrelenting,and brilliantly written action scenes! M.L. Wang’s prowess as a writer is in full display during the action scenes. I completely agree with other reviewers, that thought the unbelievable ‘battles’ with sword/martial arts and magic, are very similar to Sanderson’s brilliant writing! The zenith of the narrative comes at the 40% and 70-75% mark , and it will leave you breathless

The Sword of Kaigen is a masterpiece in standalone fantasy storytelling. The narrative and characters are so powerful and emotionally charged and the M.L. Wang’s writing is so ‘personal’, that I was moved and inspired in the end. This is why I love reading!


10 Brilliant Stars!

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus)]

This is too dense for me right now. Not a DNF. Just an 'on pause for right now'
‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿
The only thing I know - is that this is supposed to be an epically good read. Aleksandra's review had me like - well okay, right to the top of the TBR we go. Life altering? Say. Less.

So, off I go on this journey with my gorgeous babes Krysta !! ⚔️🤍

[John Mauro · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this ambitious, self-published, standalone fantasy novel, M.L. Wang tells the story of a conservative warrior society and the impact of war on the relationships in a family of magical fighters.

There are many good aspects of this novel, especially the last third which focuses on the impact of the main battle on the family. While the world-building is expansive, the novel truly shines when it focuses on the smaller scale of personal relationships.

The author is very talented, and with some editing this could have been a masterpiece. There were some annoyances throughout the book, viz., the fantasy society was basically copied from Japanese culture, there was an overzealous and unjustifiable use of italicized dialogue, the magic followed a traditional elemental system, and much of the world-building was done as info-dumps with little relevance to the key story. In my opinion, the novel would have been more effective if it had been scaled back in scope.

Still, there is much to love here, especially the emotional impact in the final third of the book.

Note: this book is not nearly as dark as "The Poppy War," despite claims to the contrary. "The Poppy War" is the better of the two books, in my opinion.

[Hoda · Rating 4 out of 5]

So how does anyone move on from this? 🧍‍♀️😭 I finished it in the morning and thought, "Oh, by the end of the day, I’ll find the words to write about this." But umm, I still can’t find any. 🧍‍♀️💔
So until I find the right words, I’ll just say that you guys need to read this and keep tissues nearby when you do. 🤧

[rina ! ୨୧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

i finished but i will be patiently waiting for cheska b4 i reveal the rating... and rtc ! (i'm going to physically push myself to attempt to write a long review this time)

៚ · 📂 pre-read.
꒰ buddy read with cheska | 18 / 03 / 2024 ꒱

starting my ml wang journey after coming from a hiatus, and major reading slump (which babel put me in), may not be the best idea. i've heard that sobbing and immense grief are 99% guaranteed, so i am preparing myself to face the sword of kaigen aftermath.

ready to become emotionally devastated with ches !! (it's a lifestyle atp) she wasn't lying when she said that a rinaches™ buddy read has been months in the making.

see u on the other side bsf <3

[Mica Santos ⇢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

All my love to the Matsuda family.

The caliber of writing in this book is phenomenal. I have rarely read such perfect character development. It should be noted that the vast majority of chapters are long, the combat scenes are extensive and it is broadly oriented towards the construction of this family, the Matsuda's.

I would describe this book as profound. All aspects and situations have a meaning, every action and reaction has its cause, every consequence is perfectly detailed and explained. Both the dilemmas between the characters and also the great political mysteries and socio-cultural unknowns.

It took me a long time to read it and I didn't feel that sensation of being hooked to the point of not being able to put it down. If it weren't for this, it would clearly be a 5 star book.





30 dec--------------------------------------

Happy New Year! 💫

¡Feliz año nuevo! 💕

Not very inspired to write reviews. Between work and this beautiful time in which I enjoy being with family and friends, I'm not very active around here but I promise to catch up with you all!
However I can assure that this book, this great story is impeccably done. I don't give it 5 stars because although I really liked it, I didn't love it.

[Sade · Rating 2 out of 5]

2ND READING ATTEMPT
🖤🖤
By chapter 6 or thereabouts of this book i was sure i was going to jump into the review of this book gun blazing, by the 50% percent mark i was thinking, i could actually give this ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by the 80% mark i settled on ⭐⭐.5 Which is a lot considering that if i had gone ahead and read this book last year i'm so sure i'd have gone with ⭐.

Wang states you can read this book without having read the previous theonite books but i think if you really want to enjoy the world, read those first before venturing into this book.
The bulk of the plot of this book follows Misaki Matsuda who hasn't quite gotten over who she used to be, teenage Mamoru Matsuda who is just getting to know himself and conveniently at the tale end of the book Takeru Matsuda who struggles with showing affection.

Wang doesn't try to over-complicate the plot or writing except during the fight scenes. To her credit everything neatly falls into place and all lose ends are neatly tied up by the end of the book -This is after all a prequel to the already established Theonite series.

A large part of the plot follows Misaki's supposed growth as a person, mother and as a woman. I personally couldn't get behind Misaki's character simply because i'm tired of women being written down in fantasy books. I know this book borrows some things from real life Asian cultures but i have never understood why fantasy keeps borrowing the women as second class citizens shtick along with other parts of culture that is put into fantasy.
It is a tired trope and i for one i'm sick of it and totally not here for it anymore.
People are shooting fire and ice out of their hands but i have to suffer through countless "i'm so useless because i'm a woman?" just so she could eventually rise like a phoenix from the ashes of patriarchy as most women written in fantasy are wont to do? Thanks but i'll pass.

Also Takeru's character arc??? Wang should have just given readers his PoV from the start and saved us the trouble cos you could smell where his story was heading from a mile away.

I'm not exactly a huge YA fan and when i pick up YA i know to expect largely teenagers running things. So a couple of 14 year olds' besting full on adult CRIMINAL fighters' just wasn't something i was ready to agree with in an adult fantasy especially considering the powers these people supposedly had.

I would say something about the magic system but as this is a prequel i'm guessing it's already established in the previous books. There isn't much in the way of the physical world building and i also struggled to connect to the fact that characters' literally embodied their powers but hey, it's fantasy so i guess it could happen. *shrug*

Random: The whole Nagi and Nami chapter. Now that was some serious unnecessary page filler in this book. Was that really necessary? Do i need to know about this mythical beings to understand the other books in the series? Do the gods stop being figurative and take literal action in the lives of the characters later on? because if they don't why did we need that chapter?

🖤🖤
A huge part of fiction is convincing readers to support the idea of the plot. Frankly i'm not sure what this book was largely about. Propaganda government? that totally random information we find out about?? Women empowerment?? Finding yourself???? I'm not saying sub-themes can't appear in books but it felt like this book wasn't sure what it wanted to be, so why not just shove everything in there and hope for the best.
Also the book is supposedly military fantasy and i'm like how???????? why???????????? because there were just 4 chapters out of 31 that covered the fighting and i would be hard pressed to describe that as military so really struggling with how that tag came about.

🖤
At the end, there's honestly not a whole lot i enjoyed in this book. The fight scenes were the only thing that really worked for me in this book. It was fucking cool but then so gaddamn long Christ!!!!- You really can't win with everything.

Anyways, can't say i hate this book didn't love it as It was largely problematic, confused about the direction it was going, seemingly contrived at times and I've honestly read better.

🖤
1ST READING ATTEMPT


Note to self- Start getting samples before dropping your hard earned money on books.
Honestly trying not to be overly harsh and stick a one star here but i'm for real pissed off at this book.
So many things in the short part i read that absolutely got my goat but the one thing that if i had a physical copy of this book i would have flung it into the bin were the words without meanings.

Am i instinctively supposed to know what jijakalu, numuwu, jiya, falleya, koronu and a bunch of other words are??? Am i really supposed to keep skipping to the glossary to understand the words everytime it comes up? which is like almost every sentence by the way. Was i supposed to have the meanings memorised by a certain chapter so i didn't need the glossary anymore?
Fact i had to take pictures of the glossary on my phone just so i didn't keep going back but that was stressful too.

i mean,


If the kindle version of this book ever gets an x-ray update, i'd definitely come back to it. Until then, i refuse to do all this work just to read a book.