Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

46 reviews

ichinoot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Beautifully written story about the tragedies and reality of war, in a world so different from our own, but still so grounded and human. An incredibly emotional story mixed with an amazing power system and very well written action, you will most definitely not want to put this book down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Murder, Gore, Suicide, Death, War, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Genocide, Sexual assault, Self harm, Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Infertility

susanatherly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, War, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Vomit, and Child death

j_schley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Mental illness, Child death, Violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Pregnancy

kschauer18'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Gore, Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Rape, Child abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Miscarriage

mqabbadbest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Rape, Torture, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

parasihir's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

Probably the first book in 2024 that makes me spill tears with extra enormous effort to not let out a scream. It hurts me real bad. Everything flows perfectly. Even at the first chapter, I actually had a great time savoring the world-building, the terms, the magic with painstaking effort to go back and forth from the book to the glossary. Yes, I open it on another tab, but it was still a little bit of effort because I wanted to understand everything. It made me that interested and immersed in the story.

Since the very moment I read the way Mamoru jumped to go to his school, I know I love that boy.

And my biggest devastation comes from the way he stayed true to his name. To protect. Nyama to you, the Protector. Nyama to you, Son, Brother, Friend. Nyama to you, Soldier. You did your part. I love you so much.

And I absolutely head over heels for Misaki. My MOTHER.

The way everything unfolds leaves me with hunger. I need more. I need it. So I just read, read, read and then suddenly (not so sudden), everything that was once broken becomes better. Not the best. But better. Life, I suppose, does go that way. A little better than yesterday.

The Sword of Kaigen has every elements you can ask for in a fantasy book. A good world-building, a wonderful magic system (it is actually not that complicated once you take notes of it), a amazing characterization of all characters, a admirable relationship (of all kind, I mean it), a real plot, and the best ending you can ask for. It has been a long time since I actually finish a fantasy book with a new whole concept like this. A new world, though M.L. Wang seems to write it based on East Asian culture. Hard to grasp at first, but perfect when you get to understand it.

If you want a real good book to read to keep you focused in turning the pages as it hooks you in the story, The Sword of Kaigen is the best choice. Trust me. And also,  may you will find this book as gorgeous as I find it, if you decide to pick it up, of course. Love you!

Nyama to you, my fellow reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, War, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Cursing, Grief, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Suicide, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping

abirdiebooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, War, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Rape, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Sexism

jassiecones's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

What a deeply emotional, cinematic story about purpose, family, duty, love, and protecting what you love and care about. This book has everything you could want from a fantasy with the highest amount of emotional impact (you will be sobbing). This world, its magic, and the people that inhabit it were so clearly thought out and established, and you really do love each moment we have with not only main characters, but everyone along the way. Wow wow WOW

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Child death, Gore, Violence, War, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

kmarkus15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Avatar universe for adults. There are a lot of things to like about this book but a couple flaws that bogged it down. My two main issues are with the combat scenes and the ending. 

The combat is far too introspective slowing it down till a single duel seems to take hours. While the combat being described is very cool the way it is written makes me think someone is hitting pause before every move to describe every single aspect. This drastically reduces the excitement of the scene. 

The other issue is with the ending which sets up a sequel that doesn’t seem related to most of this book. There are questions posed only in the last 1/4 that aren’t relevant to the rest of the story making it feel disjointed and incomplete. While that story sounds interesting I’m not sure how why it is related to this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, War, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

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

I loved this book so much! It was a huge emotional rollercoaster and my heart broke for too many characters. Misaki's journey and character development through out the book was brilliant and felt very personal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, War, Child death, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Xenophobia, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy