The Sword of Kaigen
Ratings208
Average rating4.4
I've been super excited to read this book as it's been repeatedly recommended to me since I fell in love with [a:Fonda Lee 7705004 Fonda Lee https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1428795279p2/7705004.jpg]'s Green Bone Saga and [a:R.F. Kuang 16820001 R.F. Kuang https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1563395354p2/16820001.jpg]'s Poppy War Trilogy and I'm happy to report that I was not disappointed.The world building seemed a bit clumsy and some of the terminology confused me as most of the in-world concepts didn't come with in-text explanations, but maybe that's because I haven't read any of the other Theonite Books. I also found it best, while reading, to detach any parallels it has culturally to our world. So, yes it's a fantasy world with obvious references to our world but it is not our world and that's important to remember.That being said, I am a sucker for character driven books and can overlook most any issue with a book so long as it has strong solid characters, and believe me this book is full of them. They all grow and they all change, it was beautiful to watch each of them (more than just the main cast, even!) thaw and come into their own. I also have to say that no death in any book I've read has effected me the way Mamoru Matsuda's death did. It was devastating. His story didn't feel finished, he still had so much growing to do and so many more places to go. But thats's just the nature of death, isn't it? It's painful and wrong and rarely ever neat. So, overall, loved it. It was fun, it was painful, it made me angry and sad and all that good stuff.
Going into this book, I thought this was first and foremost a war-story and how a mother and son experienced the coming difficulties. But oh boy, how wrong I were!
This is first and foremost a story about identity, family, trauma and the consequences it has on ones identity and relations. M.L. Wang has proven herself an expert in dealing with the heavy themes of generational trauma and identity-struggles without ever explicitly shoving it in the readers face.
The story reminded me of so many elements from the ‘real world' like the political propaganda in the Sovjet Union and drug abuse in families, but this is not a story of either propaganda or drug abuse, but rather what it does to the individuals. It will make sense when you read the book, I promise!
This is a character-driven book. It is mainly centered around Misaki and her struggles to find meaning in her new existence. Everything that happens plot-wise is contributing to this, often in a very subtle way. The first 1/3 of the book might feel kinda slow, but when the action picks up, all the knowledge and insight you've been given up till then makes perfect sense and has great value in the following plot. It perfectly contributes value to the climaxes of the story: I was straight up bawling for more than one chapter, and it had me reading hours into the night, because I simply would not be able to sleep with so many strong emotions churning in me. A small warning: it might be difficult to read the middle of the book while you're pms'ing...
The magic system and the magical abilities of the main characters is not the focal point of the story, but rather a contributing element to the characterization and the characters relations. There is no epic world-building, nor an extensively actionpacked plot; it would not drive the story forward, so I never felt I missed it. There is just the right amount of action and no scene feel redundant.
The writing is beautiful and easy to read, the action sequences (yes, there are some action!) are a breeze to follow, without the scene being boring or simplistic. There are a lot of japanese(inspired?) words and frases, but there's a very handy glossary in the back to help you through, so it really only contributes to the social setting of the story.
Read this if you are a sucker for some chefs kiss perfect character arcs and stories that makes you think and feel all the feels!
It's been a while since I've read a book that I just couldn't put down. This was beautiful, heartwrenching, and also kind of felt like reading an anime play out in my head. The author packed so much world building, character building, and more in this one book that I question why fantasy authors can't write great standalones like this, instead of always going for a series. Loved it.
TITLE The Sword of Kaigen
AUTHOR M.L Wang
Genre Fantasy
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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
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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...
4.75
book was badass and i really enjoyed the character arcs. they felt so fleshed out and meaningful
it felt like a far better poppy war that touched on far more interesting themes of family and tradition and pride and sacrifice. and it was done in such an eloquent and impactful way. i never felt pandered to or that scenes were overdramatized. furthermore it had such an interesting plot arc that i dont want to spoil. the climactic scenes in this book were so excellent in the plot sequences, writing, and internal character growth. it feels rare that a book is able to make climaxes that are so deeply tied to the character arc. big big fan
only reason it wasn't a full 5 was cuz it honestly felt like a setup for the author's other series and that the external baddies felt like a faceless antagonist. also race felt kinda weird to read about but it was minor things
An ultimately good, but weirdly uneven book. Blistering fight scenes, and some good character development, but leaves a lot of unanswered questions. The whole Robin sub-plot feels out of place; almost like a cameo from another book (which I now find out it is!). It is a shame that the series has been discontinued, as it held promise, but this did feel very self-published. Maybe if this had been overseen by a traditional publisher, some of the excesses could have been reined in, and maybe the author would have felt more confident to continue. Well, good while it lasted…
This was beautiful. So much hardship but tied in with so much hope, resilience, and growth. The rawness, honesty and depth in these characters is impressive and refreshing. The world and setting is also so stunningly designed and articulated. The power system unique and vast. Truly a great novel.
My only reason for not giving it a full 5 stars was that I thought the pacing was a bit inconsistent through the middle, but otherwise really, really enjoyed it.
Contains spoilers
**SOFT SPOILERS**
Think ATLA, while tackling the concept of war realistically. Paints an almost "too-real" picture of what the aftermath of war looks like and does not sugarcoat it at all. Very well-written and enticing read all the way through.
Onto my very nitpicky "Minus 1/2 a star." The world-building is amazing...but falls apart from the nature of it being a stand-alone novel. A lot of the world-building and references to the author's previous works can be a little confusing at times, unless you've read the other Theonite novels. While it's not necessary, I think it would help to read the other novels first. It is through and through a stand-alone novel, just hard to follow at times.
My other gripe is how she "deals with a certain character." All the characters in the first half of the book are very bland, with readers only seeing growth for one character in specific. I got drawn to this character and enjoyed his growth...only for him to be killed off. Thankfully, the second half of the book was very well-written and I actually ended up enjoying it more than the first half. However, killing off the only character with character development did not sit well with me.
Overall, an amazing read. Just very nitpicky points.
I ended up liking this book a lot more than I expected to at the beginning. It's pretty rough and traumatic, mind you, but for the most part, it's well written with complicated characters and a very mature understanding of grief and motherhood.
That said, I think it suffers from two aspects of being a self-published book that might have gotten caught be a professional publisher. One is it's really long, and some parts do drag a bit. The other is the mixing of English/Japanese/made up language. The Japanglish made me feel like I was reading fanfiction, and it just didn't make sense given that other words (like the units of time) are completely made up. It feels a bit like fantasizing an actual culture, which was grating. I don't know much about the author's background, but the author blurb says she's from Wisconsin, so that gives me a bit of pause. And the made up words were really annoying when the work is supposed to be translated anyway.
That sounds rather negative, and all in all, I really did find myself coming back to this story to see what happened next. It's brutal though, and particularly hard to read in light of the horrific events in Gaza, so really check the content warnings before you start if that is something you need.
This book was absolute perfection. There are reviews on this book and on this site that will blow anything I ever write about it right out of this universe. Read them because they are on point. This book gave EVERYTHING. There is political intrigue, magic, suspense, ACTION, gut wrenching/ heart ripped right out of your body moments, tender moments, hateful moments, grateful moments...
Ugh it has all the things I needed a great high fantasy to have and most importantly, GREAT WRITING!
Yes, I did the kickstarter thing. Yes, I spent way much more than... we are not going to talk about it.
Read this book as part of the Books with Brandie Shanae book club on YouTube.
Asian inspired fantasy. The author tugs at your emotions. Characters and action were well written.
There is a lot of hype going into this book as I had not heard a SINGLE bad thing about this book, and I'm happy to say it lived up to it and more. I intentionally didn't look much into what the book was about and I have been on a Sanderson kick for years, so this was the first non Sanderson I've read in a long time so it was a bit jarring, but it shows how well written it is when I fell in comfortably into the book anyways.
The world building is pretty well done, not the best I've ever seen, but the main focus was on the characters and the story they go through. The magic system isn't defined thoroughly like a Sanderson book but it is well done. If you like Avatar you'll like this.
The story is really following a family, and what cultural expectations does on an individual level. For me personally this hit very close to home and I felt like if I was in this world I could see myself going through the same issues. The emotional notes ended up hitting so hard I could feel my heart racing and it wasn't even in the action sequences.
Which brings me to the action scenes. They were written incredibly well, in my opinion some of the best action writing I've ever seen. She didn't shy away from writing details, but didn't go overboard with describing everything to death. The emotional notes hit here too and I was enthralled all the way through. The character work is done very well to where the (main) antagonist was setup as someone you were supposed to hate, and even when I knew they had some history that made them that way I still couldn't help but hate them. But as their history was explored you also grew to sympathize with them. Brilliant story telling.
This book is a MUST read for any fantasy fan and if this is indicative of ML Wang's future works she is now a must read author for me
The exposition dumps were pretty hard to get to and I didn't find myself attached to any characters. Also after finishing the Farseer Trilogy I'm in a bit of a fantasy slump. I think I might come back to this with an audiobook so I can get through the beginning faster.
This book is the June read for the Sword and Laser podcast. The Sword of Kaigen is a fantasy war story set in a country that feels very similar to Japan. The plot follows a traditional warrior family who are trying to make their family customs and traditions stay true while technology begins to appear in their lives. The various warrior societies have access to magic connected to various elemental forces (water, fire, air, etc). (If you mash up a samurai story with The Last Airbender you're probably in about the right zone.) We follow a few of the family members in particular and in so doing learn about the world and the particular family dynamics.
I seem to have been on a streak of somewhat dark books, and this one is no exception. Obviously, when the title involves the words “sword” and “war story,” you should probably expect some violence is going to be included. In general, I liked this book, and it managed to really surprise me a few times. But there were a few issues with the plot/writing that were a bit heavy/clumsy and took me out of the story at times. Overall, though, a good book!
Brilliant. Heartbreaking. Perfection. And I surprisingly really liked the battle scenes too. I liked the marrying of modernity with old school, I'm not sure I've seen it so well done in any fantasy I've encountered. The book did not end at all like how I thought it would, and maybe if it were any other book I'd have a critique of the plot structure, specifically the placement of the climax, but man-o-man ML Wang created a work of art that absolutely worked. It was just superb, it checked all the boxes for me on character depth, character relationships, complex topics like grief and forgiveness, plot, world building, action, tears upon tears - chef's kiss. This is a gut wrenching book, so I don't think this will be for everyone. It also took me a bit to get into it, but it turned into quite the ride.
Definitely a favourite. Bold storytelling and beautifully written. Sad there won't be any sequels.
Well Dayum!!
I know this is a book that lots of people love but I DID NOT expect to like it as much as I did!
The beginning of this book focuses on setting up the world, the characters, the magic system and the lore and I personally really enjoy when the pacing starts off slightly slow.
I was invested in the story and all the characters almost instantly. The writing is extremely accessible and the character growth (of all our MCs) throughout this book, chef's kiss! They're so believable and relatable and I loved them all so much!
Now, you should know, I'm not a huge fan of extremely long action sequences but my goodness was this book an exception to that rule! The magic and the use in battle, urg! I have no words! The execution is absolutely brilliant! I had goosebumps throughout! No joke! Phenomenal fight scenes!
This book brought me so much pain and I enjoyed it so much!!
An east asian-inspired fantasy book, where each race has the ability to control an element - in the case of the Kaigenese (based off of the Japanese), it's the ability to wield water/ice.
The technology in the world is on par with ours (satellites, mobile phones) but for some reason the Kaigenese are very traditional and don't use any technology at all, so the book is essentially transporting you back in time a couple of hundred years.
One of the main characters, Misaki, is a housewife, with no real say in how things are run, even in her own home. Initially this sexism kind of sucks but through the course of the book you learn that Misaki is actually a badass so it's not too bad.
Overall it was a great book with a lot of character development.
My one nitpick would be I'm not a big fan of foreign words inserted into the text e.g random words like “mother” or “damnit” are translated into Japanese. Right at the end, there's a serious conversation in a formal setting, and there are full sentences written in Japanese where they're talking with slang/very casually which felt very very out of place. Just stick to English!
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
Beautiful and powerful.
You may have snot running down your face while ugly crying at parts of this book, but it will be worth it.
Wow!! This is how fantasy is done! It has been awhile since I have enjoyed an epic fantasy novel this much. I came across a recommendation for this book while searching for Japanese-inspired fantasy books, of which I feel there are too few, and was not disappointed. It respectfully infuses Japanese culture into a fantastical world where elemental magic is an intrinsic part of the people and their society, BUT the heart of the novel is in its characters and the emotion that just seems to drip off the pages through them. The Sword of Kaigen was an almost perfect balance between magic, action, political intrigue and wonderfully flawed, but likable characters that grabbed me by the heart and didn't let go through over 600 pages. The characters just felt so real, in their doubts and convictions and their natural growth. I loved the theme of how perspective can change people and how it can change their view of other people. How seeing something from a different perspective can make you realize truths you were blind to before and help you to push through to a better future with that knowledge. The Sword of Kaigen had heartbreak and made me cry a few times, but it was also imbued with a whole lot of hope as well, and that is something I like best even in the darkest stories. I wouldn't necessarily say this is dark novel, but it certainly wasn't light either. Not everyone is safe and stakes are high for all involved, but that gives it the weight it needs to tell the emotional side of the story and make it much more impactful at the end. I wish more fantasy was this good at handling characters. There were no cliches here and a wide variety of experiences, ages and outlooks. Having a mother of four be one of the main characters in a fantasy story is truly rare and a fantastic treat. Now that doesn't mean that the fantasy elements went by the wayside though! The magic was interesting and well explained, the action and fight scenes were intense and the world was an interesting mix of magic and technology, old world and new. I can't give this book high enough praise! I truly enjoyed it from start to finish and will miss the characters and the world they inhabited now that it's over. I cried, laughed and felt their emotions with my own and that's the true mark of a great story.