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errie's review against another edition
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Child abuse, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury
lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
…a person’s tragedy doesn’t define them or cancel all the good in their life.
Wow! This book has one of the greatest character arcs I've ever read. It's so much more than a story about a war mixed with martial arts. I was surprised by how emotional it made me and how much it left me wanting more.
This book is about survival, motherhood, family, regrets, choices, bravery, responsibility, emotions, communication, and love.
Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it.
The writing in this book is beautiful. M.L. Wang has a talent for writing wonderful battle scenes, with vivid descriptions and lush world-building. Additionally, Wang is able to evoke deep-seated emotions in the reader.
Despite this small issue, I give this book 5 stars. I read it on my Kindle, but I plan to order a physical copy as well. If you haven't read The Sword of Kaigen yet, what are you waiting for?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, War, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Gaslighting
opalmars's review
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Everyone considers this book a masterpiece. I found it profoundly average. 😐
Don’t get me wrong: the world, magic and characters were interesting. And the plot sounds incredible! A boy raised to be a fighter realizing the empire he was ready to die for has been lying to its citizens for decades? The boy’s demure mother secretly being an incredible fighter? A war starting without warning and the mother and son fighting in it? It all sounds amazing on paper!!!
Emphasis on “on paper” , though… Because in reality the pacing of this story truly kills its intrigue. In the first third of the book the only things that happen are: Mamoru realizes the empire lies to its citizens, we learn Misaki was a fighter in her past, and Misaki shows her fighting abilities to her son. Other than this, all we get are some EXTREMELY clunky pieces of world-building (long monologues, a lady telling an old story, and classroom history lessons detailing everything the reader needs to know about the history of this world are not a great way of doing the exposition, btw 😬). Here's the thing: the stuff we got WAS interesting! But I’m sorry: 230+ pages into a book and only 3 “substantial” things happened??? That’s insane.
After those ~230 pages we FINALLY get something! Their village gets attacked by another country and they have to fight. And then the fight goes on for 100+ pages……………… 😐 Listen. I was happy *SOMETHING* was finally happening, but MY GOD………. A 100+ page fight scene was waaaaaayyyy too much! There were definitely interesting things in that chunk of the book (uncle Takashi dying, Misaki grabbing her hidden sword and killing a bunch of super powerful soldiers, Mamoru mastering the whispering blade and then dying?!?!?! )!!!!!! But I definitely think that sequence as a whole was way longer than necessary, and a lot of it felt like padding. It was even worse because of the whiplash I got while reading the book: 230 pages of basically nothing happening followed by 100 pages of non-stop fight scene… It just didn’t work for me, unfortunately.
We then get the aftermath of the battle, which I enjoyed: seeing the trauma these people have after losing their loved ones, the village being destroyed, the government clearly not caring about them, people realizing that the government is shady… It was all very interesting. But, once again, it went on for waaaaay too long, with very few “substantial” things actually happening –Misaki mourns Mamoru, Misaki’s friend Hyori commits suicide after birthing a child who’s father was the soldier who raped her, Misaki fights Takeru as a way to “open his eyes”, Takeru gets a stupid redemption arc (I’ll elaborate on that later because what the fuck?????), Misaki’s brother shows up, people start slowly rebuilding the village… ]. These are all interesting things! But like…….. the fight scene ends at 54%, and the next TRULY INTRIGUING (imo) thing that happens takes place at 81%! It took 170 pages for something that actually captivated me to happen, after that damn fight scene!
Actually, for some reason, most of the interesting things happen at the end of the book (and they’re never really expounded upon…).A shapeshifting spy/assassin shows up and tries to kill the MCs + a child is kidnapped (and then this spy is only brought up again 60 pages later…… 😑); Robin (Misaki’s boyfriend from school) shows up saying his wife might’ve been killed by a mythical blood puppeteer and asks Misaki to try the technique on him; he reveals the child who was kidnapped is going to be used by some bad guy who is trying to create an army of powerful thonites… ] THAT ALL SOUNDS SO INTERESTING???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! I wanna learn more about that!!!!!!!!!!! Why would you only drop those super cool things at the very end of the book???? And, mind you, none of those plot points are explored in any way! They’re just mentioned and instantly dropped. It felt like the author was setting up for some kind of sequel, but it just didn’t work at all for me, because after reading 500 pages of a very mediocre story, the author decided to tease me with what COULD’VE been an *actually interesting* book! The disrespect!!! 😒😒😒 Also, the fact that we only learn about the war at the 85% mark (only for it to never be explored in any way) is absurd, but I digress… I understand that this is supposed to be *A* war story, so it makes sense the author didn’t show much of… anything else, honestly?? But that doesn’t make this story better, and it didn’t make it any less infuriating when the author kept teasing me with a better story.
So… yeah. The story didn’t work at all for me. 😐 I genuinely don’t understand why people keep praising this author’s writing. It isn’t terrible, sure (I enjoyed the emotional scenes, the world and magic system were cool), but it sure as hell isn’t great 🤨. The pacing was a MESS and the book was full of really long, boring sections; the world-building was ridiculously amateurish (dozens of pages of history class, woman telling an old story, and never-ending monologues, are you kidding me???); there were lots of typos (I’ll forgive it bc this is self-published)… I also found all of these problems in Wang’s newest book “Blood Over Bright Haven” and now I’m wondering if terrible pacing and expository monologues are this author’s signature… Yikes. 😬😬😬 Another thing I didn’t like about the writing: the narrator would randomly “spoil” things??? This only happened a couple of times, but it really took me out of the story. Like, suddenly the narrator would just say something like “What Mamoru didn’t know was that his own mother was hiding a super special sword in their house” (which is something that only comes up in the actual plot several chapters later), or “Hiroshi would master the whispering blade a decade later” (this doesn’t even happen in the book)…. These just always felt really random, idk… 🫤
Now for the characters. I enjoyed Mamoru’s story the most – him slowly realizing the empire was lying to its citizens and having to grapple with what that means was super interesting (it’s a shame we didn’t see more of that story…). Misaki was cool. Knowing she had a badass vigilante past but was forced to hide it after accepting to marry into a family who basically didn’t view women as human beings was interesting, but also very infuriating (I just wanted her to get the fuck out of there lol). It was *extra* infuriating because, once again, the author teases us with what could be an interesting story, but then settles for the boring story. 😐 I 10000% would’ve rather seen Misaki’s past in her fighting school and working as a vigilante with her foreign friends. Also, Robin was sooo much better than Takeru!!! It almost felt insulting to get a glimpse of Robin at the end, only to be forced to accept Takeru as Misaki’s forever partner. 🤢
Speaking of which: I don’t like Takeru. He spent *15 years* mistreating Misaki: not talking to her, ignoring her emotional distress after she had multiple miscarriages, lowkey raping her, letting his father beat her, intercepting letters from her friends to completely isolate her, not helping her take care of their children + also mistreating them… the list goes on. And after all that time, Misaki tells him off for not protecting Mamoru and she duels him, and THAT’S what gets him to start “accepting her”?????? (Not even *respecting*! The word they use is “ACCEPTING”)????????? Fuckin pardon???? 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 I’m reeeeeally fucking sorry (I’m not sorry at all), but you’re NOT going to make me like this man just because he decided to “accept” Misaki after 15 YEARS of mistreating her and their children! Him having a sad home life because his parents didn’t like each other and he didn’t want that to happen to him and Misaki so he decided to just mistreat her anyways is a really bad way of explaining his actions (not like I would’ve been happy with any excuse, by the way; he sucks regardless). The author trying to give him a redemption arc just doesn’t sit right with me. Your parents didn’t like each other? Boohoo. You’re a grown ass man and you abused your wife for 15 years. I want you dead. 🤷🏻♀️ Another reviewer responded to his excuse of ~dissociating into the mountain to get away from his emotions~ with “If he's the mountain bring me the military grade TNT stat” , and I just think that sums up my thoughts.
Random thing: the fact that the map of this world is basically just an upside-down map of *our* world (and the countries pretty much line up) is pretty interesting.
Don’t get me wrong: the world, magic and characters were interesting. And the plot sounds incredible! A boy raised to be a fighter realizing the empire he was ready to die for has been lying to its citizens for decades? The boy’s demure mother secretly being an incredible fighter? A war starting without warning and the mother and son fighting in it? It all sounds amazing on paper!!!
Emphasis on “on paper” , though… Because in reality the pacing of this story truly kills its intrigue. In the first third of the book the only things that happen are: Mamoru realizes the empire lies to its citizens, we learn Misaki was a fighter in her past, and Misaki shows her fighting abilities to her son. Other than this, all we get are some EXTREMELY clunky pieces of world-building (long monologues, a lady telling an old story, and classroom history lessons detailing everything the reader needs to know about the history of this world are not a great way of doing the exposition, btw 😬). Here's the thing: the stuff we got WAS interesting! But I’m sorry: 230+ pages into a book and only 3 “substantial” things happened??? That’s insane.
After those ~230 pages we FINALLY get something! Their village gets attacked by another country and they have to fight. And then the fight goes on for 100+ pages……………… 😐 Listen. I was happy *SOMETHING* was finally happening, but MY GOD………. A 100+ page fight scene was waaaaaayyyy too much! There were definitely interesting things in that chunk of the book (
We then get the aftermath of the battle, which I enjoyed: seeing the trauma these people have after losing their loved ones, the village being destroyed, the government clearly not caring about them, people realizing that the government is shady… It was all very interesting. But, once again, it went on for waaaaay too long, with very few “substantial” things actually happening –
Actually, for some reason, most of the interesting things happen at the end of the book (and they’re never really expounded upon…).
So… yeah. The story didn’t work at all for me. 😐 I genuinely don’t understand why people keep praising this author’s writing. It isn’t terrible, sure (I enjoyed the emotional scenes, the world and magic system were cool), but it sure as hell isn’t great 🤨. The pacing was a MESS and the book was full of really long, boring sections; the world-building was ridiculously amateurish (dozens of pages of history class, woman telling an old story, and never-ending monologues, are you kidding me???); there were lots of typos (I’ll forgive it bc this is self-published)… I also found all of these problems in Wang’s newest book “Blood Over Bright Haven” and now I’m wondering if terrible pacing and expository monologues are this author’s signature… Yikes. 😬😬😬 Another thing I didn’t like about the writing: the narrator would randomly “spoil” things??? This only happened a couple of times, but it really took me out of the story. Like, suddenly the narrator would just say something like “What Mamoru didn’t know was that his own mother was hiding a super special sword in their house” (which is something that only comes up in the actual plot several chapters later), or “Hiroshi would master the whispering blade a decade later” (this doesn’t even happen in the book)…. These just always felt really random, idk… 🫤
Now for the characters. I enjoyed Mamoru’s story the most – him slowly realizing the empire was lying to its citizens and having to grapple with what that means was super interesting (it’s a shame we didn’t see more of that story…). Misaki was cool. Knowing she had a badass vigilante past but was forced to hide it after accepting to marry into a family who basically didn’t view women as human beings was interesting, but also very infuriating (I just wanted her to get the fuck out of there lol). It was *extra* infuriating because, once again, the author teases us with what could be an interesting story, but then settles for the boring story. 😐 I 10000% would’ve rather seen Misaki’s past in her fighting school and working as a vigilante with her foreign friends. Also, Robin was sooo much better than Takeru!!! It almost felt insulting to get a glimpse of Robin at the end, only to be forced to accept Takeru as Misaki’s forever partner. 🤢
Speaking of which: I don’t like Takeru. He spent *15 years* mistreating Misaki: not talking to her, ignoring her emotional distress after she had multiple miscarriages, lowkey raping her, letting his father beat her, intercepting letters from her friends to completely isolate her, not helping her take care of their children + also mistreating them… the list goes on. And after all that time, Misaki tells him off for not protecting Mamoru and she duels him, and THAT’S what gets him to start “accepting her”?????? (Not even *respecting*! The word they use is “ACCEPTING”)????????? Fuckin pardon???? 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 I’m reeeeeally fucking sorry (I’m not sorry at all), but you’re NOT going to make me like this man just because he decided to “accept” Misaki after 15 YEARS of mistreating her and their children! Him having a sad home life because his parents didn’t like each other and he didn’t want that to happen to him and Misaki so he decided to just mistreat her anyways is a really bad way of explaining his actions (not like I would’ve been happy with any excuse, by the way; he sucks regardless). The author trying to give him a redemption arc just doesn’t sit right with me. Your parents didn’t like each other? Boohoo. You’re a grown ass man and you abused your wife for 15 years. I want you dead. 🤷🏻♀️ Another reviewer responded to his excuse of ~dissociating into the mountain to get away from his emotions~ with “If he's the mountain bring me the military grade TNT stat” , and I just think that sums up my thoughts.
Random thing: the fact that the map of this world is basically just an upside-down map of *our* world (and the countries pretty much line up) is pretty interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Grief, and Misogyny
Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Rape
readandfindout's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
4.75
I know virtually everyone I've seen read this didn't read the original Theonite books first, but I definitely think it's the way to go! The story connected with me more than it might have without the context of the Theonite series.
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gore, Death, Violence, Murder, Child death, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Racism and Miscarriage
alexalala's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
WOW guys I've never been drawn into a book so much in a long time. I read this 651 page book in just 2 days.
Misaki has put down her sword to become a housewife in the greatest warrior family in Kaigen. Her son is trying to live up to the shadow of his older relatives and facing the fact that his worldview may be propaganda. When everything in their Japan-inspired world changes, they all must grow and face the challenges that come with finding out your world isn't what you thought it was.
The good: I INHALED this book in just two days, which for me was very fast for a 651-page book. The characters sucked me right in and I was rooting for them throughout. Misaki especially stood out as an incredible character who grows, leads, and teaches with grace throughout the book. Given that about half this book is a battle scene, I was amazed with the author's ability to keep the narrative going and keep the reader on their toes with everything that happens. I've never read a better battle sequence in any other fantasy book. The worldbuilding is subtle and easy to pick up. The writing is also beautiful and its take on relationships, motherhood, and family duty to your community was very beautiful as well.
The meh: THIS SERIES IS DISCONTINUED! The author has decided to table the universe so some threads that are left open at the end of the book likely won't be answered. There are a few short stories that should be emailed to me soon, but for now, I haven't gotten anything. I want more of this universe or a standalone that doesn't leave you with questions unanswered. The last 100 pages felt like a lead-up to something that is never coming. I was sure this would be a 5-star read until this ending.
The verdict: This is an incredible, immersive, experience that centers on relationships and duty - you will enjoy it if you like themes of motherhood, battle and war, state propaganda, powerful warriors, and family.
Misaki has put down her sword to become a housewife in the greatest warrior family in Kaigen. Her son is trying to live up to the shadow of his older relatives and facing the fact that his worldview may be propaganda. When everything in their Japan-inspired world changes, they all must grow and face the challenges that come with finding out your world isn't what you thought it was.
The good: I INHALED this book in just two days, which for me was very fast for a 651-page book. The characters sucked me right in and I was rooting for them throughout. Misaki especially stood out as an incredible character who grows, leads, and teaches with grace throughout the book. Given that about half this book is a battle scene, I was amazed with the author's ability to keep the narrative going and keep the reader on their toes with everything that happens. I've never read a better battle sequence in any other fantasy book. The worldbuilding is subtle and easy to pick up. The writing is also beautiful and its take on relationships, motherhood, and family duty to your community was very beautiful as well.
The meh: THIS SERIES IS DISCONTINUED! The author has decided to table the universe so some threads that are left open at the end of the book likely won't be answered. There are a few short stories that should be emailed to me soon, but for now, I haven't gotten anything. I want more of this universe or a standalone that doesn't leave you with questions unanswered. The last 100 pages felt like a lead-up to something that is never coming. I was sure this would be a 5-star read until this ending.
The verdict: This is an incredible, immersive, experience that centers on relationships and duty - you will enjoy it if you like themes of motherhood, battle and war, state propaganda, powerful warriors, and family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, War, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual violence, Genocide, and Sexual assault
jnobrien21's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I'm not usually one for action/fighting books, but this book was really well done. The action was well described and didn't overpower the plot. There were also emotional parts. Even though it's a long book, I couldn't put it down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, Violence, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy and Rape
mjadeh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, and War
alyssasaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, War, and Blood
eleonorehilbig's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
the story, the characters and their development, the resolution of the story as nearly a third of the book deals with what comes after were handsdown a 5 star read for me. i also absolutely loved how the women were written. i mean the duel at the end was an absolute masterpiece
however - i absolutely HATE infodumps. pages upon pages of it. we're reading through an actual history lesson that one of the main characters attends ffs.
however - i absolutely HATE infodumps. pages upon pages of it. we're reading through an actual history lesson that one of the main characters attends ffs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, and War
lilifane's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I expected an epic fantasy adventure. What I got instead was emotional damage.
Because I ignored the subtitle of the book. "A Theonite War Story" should have prepared me for... an actual war story. With all the gruesome horrors of war. Yeah, that's on me. Probably not the best time to read the book given the current global situation, either.
But! I really really really loved it. I hated it, but I loved it. It hurt, but it was SO good.
The character work is exceptional. It's fantastic, maybe even the best I've ever encountered. The main characters and points of view are a mother and her firstborn son. And I loooooove them both with all my heart. But all the side characters are amazing as well. All of them are flawed, which makes them so real.
But since this is such a character-driven story, the plot and action take a very long time to develop. Even then, I would say the climax of the story is in the middle of the book, with epic and creative magic/battle sequences. The second half mainly deals with the aftermath. And it's so impactful and painful. Because you care so much for these characters, it physically hurts to see them suffer and process the trauma. But the character arks, their development, the way relationships and dynamics change are worth it in the end, at least they were for me.
I can't say I enjoyed the direction the plot took. I wish it had gone in 10 different directions tbh. But I realize that this wasn't about the plot, but about the effects that war has on the individuals who have to live through it. It's also about love and duty, about community and survival, family and friendships.
Although the characters are what makes this book so special, I really enjoyed the world building and atmosphere. The mix of fantasy elements, magic and traditional values with advanced technology reminded me a little of Studio Ghibli movies, especially the ones that have war as a theme as well. And the action sequences are actually really good. I usually don't care for action unless it's interesting and can hold my attention. Which is the case here.
I don't know if I can recommend this book to anyone. But definitely to people who value character-driven stories and like to suffer. Just check trigger and content warnings beforehand, please.
Because I ignored the subtitle of the book. "A Theonite War Story" should have prepared me for... an actual war story. With all the gruesome horrors of war. Yeah, that's on me. Probably not the best time to read the book given the current global situation, either.
But! I really really really loved it. I hated it, but I loved it. It hurt, but it was SO good.
The character work is exceptional. It's fantastic, maybe even the best I've ever encountered. The main characters and points of view are a mother and her firstborn son. And I loooooove them both with all my heart. But all the side characters are amazing as well. All of them are flawed, which makes them so real.
But since this is such a character-driven story, the plot and action take a very long time to develop. Even then, I would say the climax of the story is in the middle of the book, with epic and creative magic/battle sequences. The second half mainly deals with the aftermath. And it's so impactful and painful. Because you care so much for these characters, it physically hurts to see them suffer and process the trauma. But the character arks, their development, the way relationships and dynamics change are worth it in the end, at least they were for me.
I can't say I enjoyed the direction the plot took. I wish it had gone in 10 different directions tbh. But I realize that this wasn't about the plot, but about the effects that war has on the individuals who have to live through it. It's also about love and duty, about community and survival, family and friendships.
Although the characters are what makes this book so special, I really enjoyed the world building and atmosphere. The mix of fantasy elements, magic and traditional values with advanced technology reminded me a little of Studio Ghibli movies, especially the ones that have war as a theme as well. And the action sequences are actually really good. I usually don't care for action unless it's interesting and can hold my attention. Which is the case here.
I don't know if I can recommend this book to anyone. But definitely to people who value character-driven stories and like to suffer. Just check trigger and content warnings beforehand, please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Medical content, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Racism, and Rape