Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

52 reviews

eleonorehilbig's review against another edition

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. 

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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

cgn's review against another edition

5.0

Wow this was fantastic. I got so immersed into the world and the characters, and I cried three or four separate times, which I don’t think I’ve ever done with a book before. The fight scenes were spectacular, but the characters were what drew me in the most. I can’t wait to get my own copy for my shelves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, and War

bookishfaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

Wow I adored this book… This is very much a blend of The Poppy War’s brutality with ATLA’s elemental magic. This book was profound, it had so many quotes that moved me, brought me to tears, made me laugh/smile, or broke my heart in half. I can’t fully comprehend that this is a stand alone novel & this is just it??? I need more of them & gah it was so fricken good. I do feel like the first 150-200 pages got quite info dumpy at times, but boy was the story ever worth it once it got into it!! I was expecting something very different from the ending as well so it’s wild to me that it was left on the note that it was, but I also found it unexpected and beautiful. I really did not know where this book was gonna go at any given moment & it absolutely kept me on my toes & I am obsessed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

poetry_shaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, War, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Miscarriage

positiveobsession__'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

The thing I always say when thinking about this book is that every character feels so real to me. Especially - obviously - misaki and mamaru. They’re so fully flushed out, so memorable well written and likeable. The world is huge - it took me awhile to catch onto some of the words and political relationships between lands but the glossary at the back and the map and layout of the social hierarchy at the front helped tremendously. The world is so interesting, the characters so likeable and the plot just so fast moving, even when it seemed it wasn’t. Wang really built up Misaki and Mamaru so well before diving into the main action of the novel and I did not mind it one bit because genuinely I was so interested in these two characters. The descriptions of the world were so clear it’s like you can fully visualize everything even the action scenes which I admit I tend to get very lost on in some books but this was just done so well. I could fully imagine what was happening. Wang is a talented writer and I cannot wait to see what she writes next. I understand for now she has put a pause on this universe she has built because her skills as an author is not up to par with what she wants to do with the series but as she grows and writes other things I hope she will come back and blow us away with some more amazing characters and world building, I’m also looking forward to her other projects in between! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Rape, and War

danielleor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Xenophobia, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Grief, Genocide, Death, and Child death

lectora_nocturna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Child death, Violence, Suicide, Miscarriage, and War

waywardtrekkie's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

Whew this was an emotional read, but a great reading start to 2022.

While I had some issues with the last ~20% of the book (primarily about an unresolved issue that I'm not sure was actually necessary), this book was fantastic. I absolutely loved the characters, with the particular focus on Misaki and Takeru's relationship as it evolved over the course of the novel.

With that being said, damn this book is dark. M L Wang is relentless with the emotional hits. I cried more times during this than I usually ever do reading a novel, and there are some definite trigger warnings to look out for if you need them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Rape, Suicide, War, and Xenophobia

purplepentapus's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Trafficking

tanah04's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Rape