Scan barcode
bittcr4k's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.75
The pen man ship was like a dance, rhythmic and well articulated. I think I can compliment this book for its deep characters and there are many, by no means the author had a small cast and all characters got brilliant character arcs. For a character driven book the plot was great, to be honest I wish to see some cast again but sadly, the author says this series is discontinued. The author has great skills but they need to get a real editor.
The only issue for me was the ending. Why must you leave us with so many unanswered question, why?
The only issue for me was the ending. Why must you leave us with so many unanswered question, why?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, Abandonment, War, Pregnancy, Suicide, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Classism
nyquilla's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, War, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
insomniacsun's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Partiamo col dire che questo libro mi ha fatto singhiozzare miserabilmente. Scoprire che questo era uno spin-off di una serie interrotta mi è un po' dispiaciuto, ma dopo aver letto il motivo, rispetto e ammiro la decisione dell'autrice. Il suo nuovo libro è un'aggiunta sicura alla TBR.
Con il cuore infranto e l'anima in pace, dedico una standing ovation a Wang per la sua capacità di sviluppare i suoi personaggi e i loro rapporti in modo così umano e struggente, senza soffocarli con elementi del worldbuilding tipici dei romanzi epic fantasy, bilanciando con maestria magia e protagonisti accattivanti. Per quanto abbia trovato l'arco narrativo di Takeru un po' più sbrigativo di altri, questo non l'ha reso comunque un personaggio debole, narrativamente parlando.
Per quanto la trama e il suo sviluppo meritino pieni voti, alcune scelte stilistiche mi trattengono dal farlo: la scoperta dei legami di questo libro con una precedente serie ha reso più sensati alcuni miei problemi con la prima parte, quali l'eccessiva esposizione storico-politica in alcuni paragrafi. Suppongo che avrebbero dovuto rappresentare un semplice ripasso o un nuovo POV di una realtà che il lettore aveva già presente, ma da neo-lettrice di questo mondo l'ho trovato un po' ostico.
Con il cuore infranto e l'anima in pace, dedico una standing ovation a Wang per la sua capacità di sviluppare i suoi personaggi e i loro rapporti in modo così umano e struggente, senza soffocarli con elementi del worldbuilding tipici dei romanzi epic fantasy, bilanciando con maestria magia e protagonisti accattivanti. Per quanto abbia trovato l'arco narrativo di Takeru un po' più sbrigativo di altri, questo non l'ha reso comunque un personaggio debole, narrativamente parlando.
Per quanto la trama e il suo sviluppo meritino pieni voti, alcune scelte stilistiche mi trattengono dal farlo: la scoperta dei legami di questo libro con una precedente serie ha reso più sensati alcuni miei problemi con la prima parte, quali l'eccessiva esposizione storico-politica in alcuni paragrafi. Suppongo che avrebbero dovuto rappresentare un semplice ripasso o un nuovo POV di una realtà che il lettore aveva già presente, ma da neo-lettrice di questo mondo l'ho trovato un po' ostico.
L'altro aspetto che ho trovato un po' grezzo, è stato l'approccio alla lingua.
Prima di tutto il modo di rappresentare più dialetti in una stessa conversazione era troppo limitato: finchè si trattava di un'altra lingua solamente, il corsivo andava più che bene. Il problema è partito nell'ultimo terzo del libro, dove più lingue erano parlate simultaneamente. La presenza di traduttori nella mischia poteva essere usato meglio e avrebbe aiutato l'evitare transliterazioni ripetitive con cui l'autrice ha cercato di risolvere la questione.
Inoltre, ho trovato confusionaria la decisione di non tradurre tutto dal giapponese, che era la lingua considerata principale dal libro: è stata una saggia scelta nei numerosi casi di espressioni e suffissi unici alla lingua, ma mi è rimasto impresso come un semplice conto alla rovescia sia stato semplicemente romanizzato invece che tradotto.
Detto questo, the Sword of Kaigen rimarrà uno di quei libri a cui non smetterò mai di pensare per il livello d'intensità e coinvolgimento che ha saputo mantenere fino alla fine, soprattutto considerando il mio grande debole per i rapporti familiari intriganti.
Prima di tutto il modo di rappresentare più dialetti in una stessa conversazione era troppo limitato: finchè si trattava di un'altra lingua solamente, il corsivo andava più che bene. Il problema è partito nell'ultimo terzo del libro, dove più lingue erano parlate simultaneamente. La presenza di traduttori nella mischia poteva essere usato meglio e avrebbe aiutato l'evitare transliterazioni ripetitive con cui l'autrice ha cercato di risolvere la questione.
Inoltre, ho trovato confusionaria la decisione di non tradurre tutto dal giapponese, che era la lingua considerata principale dal libro: è stata una saggia scelta nei numerosi casi di espressioni e suffissi unici alla lingua, ma mi è rimasto impresso come un semplice conto alla rovescia sia stato semplicemente romanizzato invece che tradotto.
Detto questo, the Sword of Kaigen rimarrà uno di quei libri a cui non smetterò mai di pensare per il livello d'intensità e coinvolgimento che ha saputo mantenere fino alla fine, soprattutto considerando il mio grande debole per i rapporti familiari intriganti.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Body horror, Suicide, Miscarriage, Grief, Rape, Violence, and War
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
jodiemitch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-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
This is easily the best book I have ever read. For this to be a debut novel for ML Wang is incredible. She is brilliant. The characters are so complex and deep. You fall in love with the chat here, and you hate others. You feel the raw emotions that Misaki feels and you share her reactions all throughout the book. I have a feeling I will never read anything like this book again. This is a true masterpiece.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Miscarriage, Grief, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and War
novelideea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Minor: Violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Classism
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 against another edition
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
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