The Sword of Kaigen
Ratings208
Average rating4.4
Contains spoilers
it takes a while to get going but it does pick up at around ~150 pages or so. nevertheless those first couple of chapters are an absolute slog to get through and could have used a lot more tightening up.
so! i finished this in 3 days... i'd heard this was a japanese-inspired fantasy standalone with magic similar to avatar: the last airbender, which got me interested. and overall... it was alright. first, my biggest gripe: the amount of just straight-up japanese. the author is east asian but not japanese, which explains sooo much. was there anything added by making characters count, “ichi! ni! san!” instead of just writing it as “one! two! three!” ? was there any need for the string of japanese sentences in the last chapter, even with the excuse of a character translating for someone else? why have characters use japanese phrases/expressions like “ano” when you're just going to write them saying “um” a couple pages later? it felt very... weeb-y. sorry. the dialogue being in italics if it was being spoken in a different language/dialect was also grating as hell, but you get used to it.
anyway that's not even mentioning the amount of in-universe jargon this book has. i read this on an e-reader and i was NOT about to flip back and forth between my page and the glossary every couple of seconds to see what the hell a numu or jijakalu (there's no ‘lu' sound in japanese btw) was. and what on earth was the point of inventing new units of measurement? all it did was overcomplicate things!
anyhow... i have other criticisms. the strange reverse-racism/reverse imperialists part of the worldbuilding left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth; making the stand-in for koreans an oppressor of the stand-in for the japanese was certainly... a choice. the eugenics element of the worldbuilding is also never really interrogated or dismantled. it's just there. also, i still hate takeru and think he should have killed himself. idgaf. piece of shit father, piece of shit husband, he didn't deserve any of the understanding or forgiveness he got at the end. him being abused by his father doesn't justify AT ALL how he treated misaki or his children, and, inb4 “he learned from his mistakes and is trying to be a better person,” I don't care. Guards, kill this clown.
the story, on the whole, wraps up in a weird spot. it's a standalone supposedly, but the story threads about the assassins goes nowhere by the end of the book and the implications of the ending (an army of elemental orphans?) feels more like the beginning of a series than it does a satisfying conclusion to a fantasy novel. overall, it just felt very... abrupt. the beginning should have been trimmed down to service what Wang wanted to do with the ending, or the story should have ended before everything just slides back from the fantastic action sequences to more dull monologues and info-dumping. speaking of info dumping... that history lecture in chapter 2 is ridiculous and almost made me dnf the book. but i guess one terribly-executed info dump wasn't enough, because later on there's a chapter dedicated to characters just talking about their religions. like why is this here?
Lol when i started writing this i had rated it 3 stars but i had to bump it down to 2.5 because of how many things annoyed me. however i do think the action sequences/fights were written well and some of the character work (misaki in particular) was very good. i'm not sure why people don't like misaki? maybe she's not the most likeable character but to me she's a very very compelling and interesting character (although i really had to suspend my disbelief when her backstory revealed that she and her friends, at 14 years old, were fighting fully-grown adult criminals and WINNING...) also i'm not going to pretend like i didn't cry, because i did. misaki and mamoru's relationship was so moving and her grief at losing him and wishing she had loved him better made me BAWL. so in all... 2.5/5. thought i would've liked it better, but oh well. it is what it is.
Wow. Just wow.
This has got to be one of the most innovative takes on fantasy I have ever read. It reads like a combined Kurosawa film with street fighter style magic powers set in a modern world but with a traditionalist main focus point that almost feels medieval Japanese. The end result is a jediesque group of sword fighters wielding swords and magic in a truly phenomenal manner. The battles in this book are epic mangaesque sequences that vividly role off the page and leave the reader breathless.
Beneath this is a truly amazing cast of characters: the son fighting for his fathers acceptance, the wife whose hidden past is masked by the traditionalism of the society she lives in, the foreign kid bringing new ideas and helping to unmask propaganda, the traditionalist husband struggling to understand the changing world around him.
There is an amazingly jarring juxtaposition between the almost feudal living style at the centre of the book and the cyberpunk stylings of the world outside - and the gradual encroachment of the modern world into this oasis of peace is one of the main stories running through the book.
This book came highly recommended, but even with all that I was surprised by just how innovative it was. I really need to delve more into Wang's Theonite universe. It is a truly fascinating place.
An amazing and well built fantasy standalone. So sad to see that the other serie by the same author has been discontinued or I would have jump straight back in this universe.
A great character centered story about duty, tradition and sacrifice with an amazing elementary magic system. Highly recommend this read !
Really enjoyed it...I only wish someone would have warned me that I was going to cry my eyes out for a half hour while reading it. I loved it so much though that I went ahead and joined the Kickstarter to get the special addition hardcover. Solid standalone, highly recommend (but have some tissues handy).
This had a slow start for me, although I was intrigued and then picked up a third of the way through. I was also personally frustrated with the main character's gender role and relationship with her husband, because it felt so antithetical to how she started and how I think a smart, progressive woman would act. I give the author due credit for this, because there is so much nuance as to why she is behaving this way and it makes sense for the scenario, but I wanted to scream at some points.
The magic was really interesting and I think intuitively made sense so it was easy to pick up and the world isn't so different from ours that you struggle to understand what is going on. There is a fair amount of politics on the edges of everything happening that lends a lot of realism to the book and the scenarios in it.
The fight scenes and battles were excellent and the author pulls no punches in them (pardon the pun).
My biggest issue was how quickly a certain character changed their behavior; it felt so jarring, but eventually the change is further explored and explained which made that change make more sense.
Highly recommend.
This could not have been closer to being a 5⭐️ read. The sword of kaigen was one of the most unique fantasy books I’ve ever read. Hidden behind the usual fantasy elements like complex magic systems, political intrigue, and epic action sequences was a really deep story about family and loss and gender roles that gave it a very real feel in an otherwise fantastical world. Each character experienced real growth in the book in ways I didn’t see coming. That rings particularly true for Takeru who I feel I owe an apology to for how much I criticized him before finally learning who he was and instantly relating to him. My criticism of this book is the world building didn’t feel complete. There were snippets every once in a while but I need more to fully grasp the scope of the world. Also, misakis flashbacks to Livingston were almost entirely stolen from Batman Im pretty sure, right down to the characters name being robin and him shooting a signal over the city to communicate with the police. It was entertaining but I’m not sure why it was in this story. My only other thought is there better be a sequel soon. I need more and will absolutely read it the day it comes out.
4.5
The last few chapters were a big tonal shift and only serve to set up the associated series.
The misogyny was really frustrating.
Other than that this book was a JOURNEY. Absolutely gripping. Great characters arcs. Well worth your time! Check content warnings.
This is a story of rage, pain, loss and suffering. And it is incredible!
The characters are so fleshed out and real, it feels like I have known them my whole life.
The story is about censorship, war and politics but the book used this only as a way for their characters to wake up and find their own calling.
100% recommend, a book I will think about a lot
I wanted so badly to love this one. I can look past the zillion made-up terms, because they do add to the worldbuilding which btw brings a new take on the whole sword & sorcery concept, at least to me. I mean, being such a skilled and powerful “ice wielder” that you can form a blade of ice that can cut through anything? ...yeah, I really wanted to love this one.
But the author has made a couple of decisions that really disappointed me. To keep this spoiler-free I'll just say that the first half of the book was beautifully crafted, but after a climax that happens much too soon and an aftermath that stretches over too many unnecessary events, the plot and the character arcs sort of fell apart for me.
I want to make a point that this book did shine brilliantly in places. It just wasn't carried through all the way to the end.
2021 isn't even halfway through and I already know this is going to be one of the best books I read this year. M.L Wang's characters are nuanced and complex and as someone who loves character-driven stories, I was blown away by how real Misaki and Marumo felt. These weren't pure individuals driven by a higher purpose; they were flawed, interesting people who had complicated and at times brutal relationships with their friends and family.
Talking only about the character development though is doing the book a great disservice. The action scenes are well-written and engaging. Wang is such a gifted writer. I can't wait to read more of her work.
This book grabbed a hold of me like few books ever have. I was wayyy more emotional than I expected reading this, and it has a lot to do with the family dynamics that are at the core of this novel. It's a coming of age story that explores what it's like to raise that child at the same time. Its the pain that loneliness can cause, and the slow loss of yourself to a role you have to play... it's moving forward in the face of grief... and so much more. I was a lot heavier than I expected it to be but I loved it.
That's not even touching on the world and the magic which were excellent... the island setting is basically a mini version of early Meiji restoration period Japan set against a much more modern mage punk world that we only really see through flashbacks.
The magic is basically Avatar the last Airbender, but that comparison doesn't take anything away from the ideas and imagination on display. It feels just as awesome here as it did there.
Loved these characters and felt so much fun for them, which made a lot of these pages really hard to read...
One thing I wish I knew is that while the story is a standalone, there are other novels set in this world and some of the characters who we don't get a ton of time with in this book appear in those books. As a result there's a lot of foreshadowing that doesn't get paid off here. That includes the ending. But don't worry, all the major plot threads are resolved by the end.
Read this book!
TITLE The Sword of Kaigen
AUTHOR M.L Wang
Genre Fantasy
—
Emotional Impact 9.75
Characters 9.75
Plot 8.25
Worldbuilding / Magic System 8.5
Dialogue / Prose 9
Official Rating 9.09
Goodreads Rating 5
Date Started 1/15/2024
Date Finished 1/18/2024
—
NOTES Amazing book, wonderful ATLA magic system with just mind blowing character work. Makes me feel what it is like to be a mother as a 24 year old man. There are some negatives for me, namely the very beginning and the very end, but the emotional Impact and characters outweigh all the negatives in this story and then some...
I was really looking forward to this book. I'd heard so many people rave about it. Wow, was I disappointed. It read like mediocre fanfiction and an Avatar the Last Airbender rip off to me.
The characters and their situations/arcs are cliche. I didn't care about any of them.
Ugh, too bad.
Loved it! Great world building. It made me interested in reading other the Theonite books.
What I really want to do is just shout “READ THIS” over and over at you until you finally agree to do it. Unfortunately, that's not really a review, so here goes. This book is one of the best things I've ever read. It's one of those books that I feel like I have emerged from the other side a better person. It is criminal that it is self-published, not because self-published cannot be great but because everyone should be able to walk into any bookstore and see this contribution to literature on the shelves. I honestly think this should be a book they teach in schools for all the deep themes it delves into.
The book follows two protagonists, Misaki and her teenage son Mamoru. Misaki was once a bad-ass teenage crime fighter in a foreign land, but she has returned to her patriarchal, traditional homeland Kaigen to become a housewife and mother in one of the most powerful families. Misaki doesn't want to be a mother and longs for the days where she could fight. Mamoru is just coming into manhood and is dealing with the pressure of living up to his father's name, as well as facing some revelations of how his government may be lying to them and how that fits into his evolving worldview.
That's all the plot synopsis you really need because the plot is not the reason to stay with this book. Although the world is interesting and the combat scenes are incredibly exciting (Wang has a martial arts background and it shows), the characters are just so rich and complex. This is a brutal, harrowing story that will be hard to get through emotionally in some parts. But through pain, comes growth, pleasure, vindication, and understanding. This book examines the human condition and the effects that war has on a society, a village, a person. But it also explores motherhood in such a raw, honest, and gripping way that I have never seen done before. Misaki is such a greatly drawn character, I felt her struggles as if they were my own. Considering she's a 35-year-old mother of four in feudalistic Japan, that is quite a feat.
Besides that, one thing I never see talked about with this book is what Wang is showing with the male characters. The way men are socialized, even in today's society, leaves many unable to show emotion or properly communicate how they're feeling. How is that exacerbated in an honor culture of warriors who are supposed to be the greatest manly men of all time? How does that pressure fold in on itself and devour someone? How does a person survive this culture mentally stable? This book really shows something that most media glosses over: these men are traumatized. And in a book that examines trauma of all kinds, I was blown away by how this was handled.
I could go on for days and not finish all the thoughts I have about this book. I kept pausing to consider the things that were being said or thought and really weighing them.
Some other minor things I enjoyed:
-The unorthodox structure was super well used. The middle of the book is the “end” of most books. This allows the characters to really decompress from the action and rebuild.
-Misaki's sister-in-law Setsuko was great. I understand why we had to follow Misaki, but I think Setsuko is the type of supportive person that I want in my life.
-The characterization of Misaki's husband Takeru is SUPERB. He's a slow burn and not the best person, but very well written. Thoroughly impressed by Wang's writing here.
-All the villains in this book are unnamed, but they are NOT treated as cannon-fodder/redshirts. The fights are visceral with each combatant. This is something SO rare in media, and I get why, but it's also dumb. Almost always in battles, you don't know the name of the person you're fighting, but that person can still be a badass.
This book isn't perfect, however. Wang gave herself worldbuilder's disease, probably because she's been building this world for most of her life. A lot of the details in the beginning are in info-dumps, and a lot of that is unnecessary anyways. She also created a ton of new words for things that is probably not necessary. The biggest offender is new words for units of time- which is a mistake, I think. I read the whole book and I still had no idea what any of those words meant. And the logic doesn't hold up, anyway: If you are writing the word “sword”, you are telling me, the English-speaking reader, that the object is a sword, even if the person in the story may be using a different word. So saying “kukoo” or “Bloopy” instead of “minutes” or “hours” just breaks immersion and doesn't serve any purpose. However, these are small gripes. I believe the book presents a bit of a learning curve because of all this, but once you're in the narrative, it ceases to matter.
I will be recommending this book to people for years. Please read it.
Wowowowowowowow. What a masterpiece.
I think this may the first self-published book I've ever read. Going into it, I assumed that meant that the book would be less polished. I have to say, that isn't the case with this story.
This story follows a very powerful warrior family in a remote area of their country. They have the ability to control water, which they use to defend their village and their Empire. The two main points of view are Mamoru, the oldest son of this family, and Mitsuki, the mother. In this patriarchal society, Mitsuki is relegated to the role of the quiet caretaker, even though before she married into this family, she was a badass warrior. Mamoru is trying to live up to his family's prestigious reputation. When their village is attacked, devastation ensues. We follow this family as they try to cope with the devastation wrought. They have to grapple with an Empire that lies to them, their honor, and they interpersonal relationships.
This book is honestly a masterpiece in character. I was so invested in these characters and their relationships with each other. Everyone was so complex, with no “superior” hero character. Everyone was morally grey and confused. The plot was interesting and not too complex, while never boring. This book was heavily interested by Japanese culture, which created an incredible setting for these characters to live and interact within. I cannot recommend this book enough. Fantasy lovers everywhere should be reading this novel.
TW: abusive relationship, amputation, assault, blood, bones, child abuse, child death, death, depression, emotional abuse, famine, fire, gore, hallucinations, kidnapping, miscarriage, misogyny, murder, physical abuse, pregnancy, rape, suicide, terrorism, violence, war
It's so difficult to put to words all that I feel about this book. It definitely defied all my expectations. Being a mother of a 8yo and 4yo boys, I almost wanted to just stop reading the book altogether at some points and even took a few days' break in reading at some point, because it was too heartwrenching for me.
But in some weird way it was worth it. Almost all of my questions that I had in the first part of the book were answered in the end. And it feels right.
Ok, I have mixed feelings of this book.
The issues:
1. Pacing. It felt like there were 3 parts to this book: Character intros, main conflict, character development. This stuff in these parts were not bad, but it didn't always feel like a uniform story.
2. The Japanese style language in the book was a bit hard to read sometimes. Also, there is a lookup in the back for a lot of these. This style might be a pro for some, but it took away from the story for me.
3. The 3rd part of the book seemed to drag on too long.
4. The ending. I turned to the next page to keep reading and the book just seemed to stop. It didn't seem the story was resolved at the end.
All that being said, I still really liked the book. Incredible character developments! And the conflict in the middle was really well described.
4/5 stars and I would recommend to a friend after prefacing some of the issues I described above.