The Sword of Kaigen

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.