Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Sword of Kaigen

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of reading this book. I'll go into more specifics of what I did and didn't like below, but that will have spoilers. If you like the fantasy genre in general, I do think you should give the book a read.

What I liked: The book is well written. The world building is fantastic. The genre is not one I am super familiar with, but I did not feel confused while reading it. I liked the diversity and complexity of the characters, even the ones I didn't really "like".

[This book is from the POV of a woman living in a very traditional society...one where she isn't allowed to question her husband or men, isn't allowed to do some of the things she greatly enjoyed doing, is in an unloving arranged marriage, is only valued for the male children she gives birth to, etc. Wang writes about it in a complex, respectful way that I believe is meant to help readers understand it in some ways. It was challenging to read it, but again, still something I appreciated.

]

What I didn't like: The pacing of this novel struggled quite a bit, especially at the beginning. I stuck with it because I knew this going in.

[Plot wise, I really, really didn't like the way the author killed off a main character. We open the book with Momoru and his POV. We spend a good part of the first half of the book with him. Then he just dies and we're expected to spend the rest of the book with his mom and one chapter with his dad. It didn't work for me. Child death and main character death is always going to be a hard sell for me and Wang 100% didn't sell me on the necessity of it. I almost DNFd the book because of this choice. And I would never pick up a book knowing the author made this sort of choice...killing off the voice of a main POV character mid-book. It was incredibly jarring as a reader. If he needed to die, then the book should not have been written from his brain. Likewise, it felt like Wang was trying to sell to people who are not from the tradition, the idea that the extreme patriarchal ideals of the society of our main character, are not actually oppressive to women. But I don't think she achieved it. I felt oppressed for half the book, on behalf of the main character, as she watched tragedy after tragedy befall her without having a voice. Yes, she got one in the end, but I still just had trouble with it. And then the whole plot with Robin at the end felt forced and weird.

]

Overall, I think this is a very worthwhile and at times, challenging read despite some of my issues with it.

Content Warnings

lesliehirgelt's review against another edition

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challenging 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

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jasmine_470's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

Context:

I used my free Kindle Unlimited trial to finally get around to reading The Sword of Kaigen, which has been on my TBR for a couple of years now. In case you were confused like I was, this book is a STANDALONE—I confused Wang’s recent standalone Blood Over Bright Haven for a sequel.

Review:

Whew! I did not know what I was getting into with this book. I’m someone who enjoys my fantasy on the lighter side with moments of darkness rather than books that feature a lot of violence and trauma. Needless to say, I was not prepared for the sheer amount of violence and emotional devastation that lay in store for me in The Sword of Kaigen. Despite not being exactly my cup of tea in this regard, this book is one of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read. I have so many good things to say about it, so I’m going to make a bulleted list to make sure I touch on everything.

· The writing is incredibly cinematic. I could easily visualize everything that happens in this book, to the point where making it into a movie out would be redundant. I felt this to be true even for the action scenes, which I normally struggle to visualize in fantasy stories. Typically, I find them boring and confusing. However, Wang is a master of writing exciting, comprehensible, high-stakes action, which is a good thing because this book is chock full of action scenes!

· Holy cow, this book is full of some of the best-written characters I’ve read in a fantasy book. All of the characters—from the side characters to the protagonists—are complex, interesting, and believable. Every story beat with these characters is earned, making for a phenomenally emotional story.

· The pacing and organization of The Sword of Kaigen is flawless. Every story beat occurs exactly when it is most effective. Wang seems to have an intuitive grasp for how long each scene should last; nothing feels rushed or glossed over, but at no point does the story drag.

· The worldbuilding takes a familiar structure of elemental magic (very similar to that found in Avatar: The Last Airbender) but adapts it in a unique and original way that combines traditional elements of Japanese culture with modern technology.

· The Sword of Kaigen provides an emotionally cathartic exploration into themes of family, loyalty, honor, and grief. It damn near emotionally destroyed me in the process, but if that’s something you like in a book, you should definitely pick this one up.

· This book manages to explore feminist themes and create strong female characters without falling into traps of preachiness, shallowness, or stereotypes. It shows rather than tells, something so many modern books with feminist themes fail to do.

If I had one criticism of The Sword of Kaigen, it’s that it rather clumsily handles elements the racial dynamics in its world. For example, the substitution of white people for positions of subjugation that BIPOC people often face is insensitive at best. At other points, the book has its characters spout rhetoric of racial/blood supremacy without fully pushing back against these inherently racist concepts. (The same can be said for the characters’ problematic ideas about pregnancy/miscarriage). I was able to overlook these missteps for the most part because they do not seem malicious and play a minor role in the plot. That being said, I hope Wang learned from this book and does better in the future.

In sum, The Sword of Kaigen is a masterpiece of fantasy and storytelling. I would recommend it to anyone who feels prepared to handle the book’s immense amount of violence and pain.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like The Sword of Kaigen if . . .

· You want an incredible character-driven story led by an immensely strong—yet complex— female protagonist

· You find family dynamics and motherhood to be interesting themes in fantasy novels

· You like well-written, creative, and exciting action scenes

· You love elemental magic systems

· You want a fantasy book that combines ancient customs and beliefs with modern technology

· You want a book that will emotionally destroy you and then build you back up

You might not like The Sword of Kaigen if . . .

· You don’t have a strong stomach for violence or the host of other heavy topics present in this book

· You want a book that will take you across many different locations in its world

· You don’t like morally gray protaganists

Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I had been looking forward to reading this book for so long because everyone raved about it... As I do with most books I read, I went in knowing very little: basically that it was loosely based on Japanese history/culture (apparently feudal Japan specifically). In my opinion, even if I had read the blurb for this book prior to reading I think I still would have had incorrect expectations going in.

Unfortunately I felt like I read 3 different books that felt a bit disjointed.

The first ~1/3 of this book is fantastic - good world building and character introductions, multiple povs to round out the perspective, very cool magic and I thought we were being set up for such a cool adventure.
The second ~1/3 was one long battle/war scene. This is maybe a "me" thing because typically battle scenes are really not my favorite thing to read, but this went on FOREVER. Even with the magic being super cool to read, at some point I was just really over reading about it and it felt rather repetitive.
The deaths in this section also felt mostly like for shock value to me
The last ~1/3 after this battle the book took a sudden turn into a super character driven not-plot where we just follow the aftermath of the battle where they are rebuilding this town and it was honestly boring. As my friend said "the culmination of this epic fantasy is….logging and building a school….."
ALSO I HATED the Takeru redemption "arc" cause it's not an arc, it was a complete 180 out of nowhere with no build up and sorry I do not sympathize with him! His character development was not nuanced enough for me to care, and in the end he was still doing dumb things. IMO if Takeru had been explained to be mainly just distant/cold but not outright abusive to Misaki/the children this change would have made more sense.

I guess I just didn't expect to literally not leave this one small town the entire book (Misaki's flashbacks do not count imo). The men in this book were all incredibly insufferable and useless. Misaki was also a bit frustrating to read at times because while I can understand why she entered into this marriage based on societal expectations, I cannot understand how she became a completely different person for 15 years.

After finishing I did some research and realized this book was written as a prequel to a YA series this author wrote that I guess holds the more conclusive ending to the empire etc??? But that made this read not like a completed standalone because at the end I still had a lot of questions about how things in this world would get resolved.

The audiobook narrator mispronounces words which was very irksome as someone who speaks some Japanese. These are not words that were made up by the author, but real Japanese words that were being used in their original context. I found actually the narration was inconsistent with some pronunciation.

Content Warnings

anastasiamakes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

I can be nervy about self-published books, but I'm so glad my book club chose to read this. Such amazing scope, fantastic worldbuilding and remarkable characters.

The start was a little slow for me, and I didn't feel all of the side-backstory stuff (or their resolutions) blended in super well with the rest of the book; but a great read overall. I felt *so many feelings* reading this.

Content Warnings

zeldazonks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

An incredible book, I cried 3 times reading this. I have to admit that it ever so slightly lost me towards the end, I also would be so up for this to be a series so I'm gutted that I won't get more. The writing was beautiful, the journey we go on with the characters is so good (especially Mamoru) and the lore/world building was just amazing. I spent 75% of this book convinced it would be a 5* read but I do have a few gripes:

1) for some reason the very specific way that Misaki's extra curricular activities (trying to avoid spoilers) are written felt really incongruous with everything else and were kind of cringe to me. The superhero vibes were just jarring.

2) I on the whole didn't mind the redemption arc of the husband, I spent a lot of the book waiting for it to happen because otherwise he would have been so cartoonishly villainous, but I think Misaki was very quick to forgive a specific incident involving Mamoru.

3) I don't know if it's because it was meant to be a series and then plans changed, but there's so much set up for plot lines for future books and so the end kind of lagged for me compared to how incredible the first 2/3 of the book were.

Having said that, the first 2/3 were so good, that I still loved it.

Content Warnings

abirdiebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I feel like I just read 2.5 mostly finished books instead of one cohesive story. This could have benefited from M.L. Wang waiting to get a bit better at building a story and world, a few more rounds of editing and some thrown out plot points. This feels like it should have been somewhere in the middle drafting stages (storywise, mostly not writing wise) and not a finished product. It IS sad that we won't get more though. If this book had been worked on longer and published later and as part of a more cohesive series set up it could have been excellent.

Potential triggers:

The casual moments of domestic abuse, both in thought, conversations, and actions could have absolutely either disappeared or been handled differently. The mention but complete lack of real discussion regarding marital rape was just. No

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