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tokiberry's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
The Sword of Kaigen
⤷ ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
⤷ ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
✶⋆.˚ “Most strong things are rigid. If you are water, you can shift to fit any mold and freeze yourself strong. You can be strong in any shape. You can be anything.”
I pushed back reading this book because of how overwhelming it felt.. Once I finished it, I was flooded with emotion. The world-building, characters, and flow were perfect. What a masterpiece! I felt like I couldn’t stop reading once we got to the war scene because despite not knowing much about certain characters, you’d feel attached to the village and the villagers once everything went down. M.L. Wang’s portrayal of the characters’ emotions of pain and loss is so vivid that you can almost feel the heartache and sorrow of these characters.
I highly encourage readers to immerse themselves in this remarkable work.
❝ Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it. ❞ ꕤ
୭ ˚.⁺⊹ .ᐟ
₊⊹ post-read: i’m not surprised that this is a five. but wow, oh, wow. what an amazing read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
bonzai's review against another edition
emotional
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
4.5
Check content warnings (this is not an extensive list but rather broad topics) : war, violence, grief, child death, miscarriage, suicide, rape, child abuse
This was a heavy and emotional story the entire way through. I really liked following the different POV’s between son, mother and a bit of the father because it gave a more complex and layered perspective on the same events. How could anyone who enjoyed this book not love Misake and validate the feelings/struggles of being a woman in this patriarchal society. An elemental magic system is always a fun one to dive into (definitely wanted even more), and I’d totally be into reading more books from this world if the author ever decides to revisit it. There are huge themes on familial/societal expectations and different forms of grief that I think any reader could relate to. There were multiple scenes depicting loss of loved ones and how characters can honor those efforts and sacrifices while continuing to go on. Any good war story also touches upon how a government censors and essentially lies to citizens in order to keep them complacent/ignorant alongside great action scenes. There are some plot holes that would’ve suggested other stories were going to be written and expanded upon, but I was fairly satisfied with the ending. Overall, for me, it was a page turner and one I would recommend to others.
This was a heavy and emotional story the entire way through. I really liked following the different POV’s between son, mother and a bit of the father because it gave a more complex and layered perspective on the same events. How could anyone who enjoyed this book not love Misake and validate the feelings/struggles of being a woman in this patriarchal society. An elemental magic system is always a fun one to dive into (definitely wanted even more), and I’d totally be into reading more books from this world if the author ever decides to revisit it. There are huge themes on familial/societal expectations and different forms of grief that I think any reader could relate to. There were multiple scenes depicting loss of loved ones and how characters can honor those efforts and sacrifices while continuing to go on. Any good war story also touches upon how a government censors and essentially lies to citizens in order to keep them complacent/ignorant alongside great action scenes. There are some plot holes that would’ve suggested other stories were going to be written and expanded upon, but I was fairly satisfied with the ending. Overall, for me, it was a page turner and one I would recommend to others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War
Moderate: Rape
maylee3's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Murder
Minor: Rape
reguri's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Takerus redemption arc was so bad it singlehandedly brought this down to 3... So much potential character growth lost. I found writing Misaki as attracted to him for "standing up for himself/them" disgusting:
Marital rape & knowingly trying to kill her over and over with pregnancies he failed to tell her were expected to kill her (and kept trying after miscarriages, despite already having a son) is all fine because he was emotionally suppressed. That's just touching the surface of what he's done. And now that she can object to his sexism and he stopped acting cowardly he's kinda hot? It felt like a joke after all the build up to Misakis character and growth.
The book also places blame on Misaki for the abuse she endured in her marriage, somehow trying to portray their dysfunction as equal. It does a really poor job of what *I think* it was trying to do with this storyline.
It's been a long time since I've read a book that's left me feeling this disappointed.
The middle section of this book was great, so it was sad to experience the book drop off that hard in the latter part.
The book also places blame on Misaki for the abuse she endured in her marriage, somehow trying to portray their dysfunction as equal. It does a really poor job of what *I think* it was trying to do with this storyline.
It's been a long time since I've read a book that's left me feeling this disappointed.
The middle section of this book was great, so it was sad to experience the book drop off that hard in the latter part.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, and War
serena_hien's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
nusta's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Miscarriage and Xenophobia
dangomi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.0
This book was a good mix of action, history, conflict, and love. I really felt for the characters and the story destroyed me emotionally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
arabellafleetwood's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-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
3.75
Great hig fantasy. Sad it won't have a followup novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, War, and Classism
Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
katrinarose's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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 the character development I wish every high fantasy had! And not only is Wang incredible at writing characters, but she also writes the best fight scenes I’ve ever read (it probably helps that she does martial arts herself). This book broke my heart in a million pieces and put it back together again. It’s been a while since a book gripped me like this. I can’t wait to read her other books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia and Kidnapping
tracy713's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Suicide