Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Sword of Kaigen

The Good:
• Complex themes of violence and family
• Poetic prose
• Well crafted fight scenes

The Bad:
• Generally clumsy world building
• Redemption arc for an abuser

You Might Like this if You Like:
• The movie Seven Samurai
• Epic battles

I really wanted to like this book. It seems like nearly everyone enjoyed it, but it just didn't gel for me.

My biggest issue was in how sloppy the world building is. This is a supposedly standalone entry in a larger universe. However, to really be standalone, I shouldn't need to be familiar with the other books to enjoy this one. It feels like a lot is glossed over little explanation, with tons of undefined terms thrown at the reader constantly. There's a glossary, but it's very frustrating to have to flip back to it every few pages. And many of the terms add nothing to the story. Was it really necessary to make up a word for an hour and 12 minutes?

Other issues I have are with the story itself. Throughout the story we see Misaki struggle with her marriage. Her husband is cruel and abusive to her and her children,

and is even shown beating their eldest son bloody in the dojo. By the end of the story, this is all ultimately swept aside, with Misaki forgiving him and the two continuing their marriage together.

It felt really dissatisfying and unearned by the character. Without any POV chapters from him, whatever character growth we were supposed to see felt like it just happened suddenly.

This combined with the slow start and Misaki's constant ragging on herself made it really hard to enjoy this book.

That said, M.L. Wang is good at writing prose and fight scenes. The multiple chapter battle that fills about a 3rd of the book was perhaps the most enjoyable, and it was where the poetry in Wang's writing shone through the most.

Content Warnings

genny's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

Whew. I thought I knew where this was going

...I fully expected Mamoru to go out into the wider world, a coming-of-age sort of thing where he learns to be critical of power structures and maybe become a vigilante like his mother was

...boy, was I wrong. I still got the commentary on race, politics, etc. that I was looking for, but halfway through the book, something unexpected happened and threw my expectations for the narrative path out the window. I loved where this went, though. The battle scenes were incredible!

The Matsuda Dragon! Mamoru's Whispering Blade! Misaki and Takeru's duel!

I was prepared for the violence in a book about war, but I didn't expect to have such strong feelings for the characters. The emotional journey that Misaki takes is so satisfying. I was holding out hope for the redemption of a certain character, and M. L. Wang delivered

without erasing their accountability or turning it into a cheesy, sudden change of heart. I'm talking about Takeru, of course. I may have melted into a puddle when he and Misaki finally saw each other. Forgive me, the "learning to love" trope gets me every time.

Everything felt intentional; none of the plot twists felt like they were put in there just for shock value.

There were little things that annoyed me. Why keep other "Earth words" like traditional Japanese honorifics but deem our units of time too unbelievable for the setting? I kept consulting the glossary because all the new terms were overwhelming in the beginning, but I did become comfortable enough to rely on context clues eventually. I also got taken aback every time there was a mention of modern technology. It's easy to forget that this isn't set "in the past", Shirojima is just a very traditional village...but that's more of a me problem. I guess I had some sort of bias against visualizing it as a part of the "modern world", even though places like that exist in my own country.

The last chapter was definitely hinting at something more, but I've heard that the Theonite books (taking place in the same setting but with different characters, if I understand correctly) have been discontinued. It may be a strange ending for some, but I'm glad that the Matsudas' story wraps up with a sense of peace.

Content Warnings

totallyshelfaware's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“I mean, I knew our government wasn’t transparent—What government is?—but I never imagined anything like this... Maybe if I’d been paying more attention.”

The Sword of Kaigen is a standalone military fantasy with elemental magic, political intrigue, intricate battle sequences, and excellent characters that utterly broke my heart and I loved every second of it.

This book is intense, fast-paced, dark, and challenging — but so rewarding. I haven't read a book that weaved together plot and character development so masterfully in a very long time.

Also the magic system! Fuck! I will confess to being a fan of elemental magic in any setting; give me a story where people can manipulate air, fire, earth, water and I am there.

But even with that bias in mind, this book truly pushes the bounds of elemental magic in a way I haven’t seen done before.

I’m so used to magic systems being unfurled to the reader at a similar pace as the protagonists and you learn the limits as they do, but it is goddamn exciting to see a book just toss that out the window.

Everyone in the Sword of Kaigen is already highly skilled at the magic they wield and instead of a slow discovery arc with you in the protagonist's sidecar, you get an exploration of the different ways in which this expertise manifests.

<i>During</i> vividly-described high-stakes battle scenes.

Yeah, I know. More books like this, please!

And while I loved the action sequences and political intrigue, where this book really shines is in the character arcs.

We follow two main POVs in The Sword of Kaigen — Mamoru and Misaki, both belonging to the Matsuda family.

Mamoru is a 14-year-old who has been trained his entire life to be the perfect Matsuda warrior until certain events force him to confront the fact that the world isn’t what he’s been led to believe it is.

What follows is a series of truly bold writing choices, which I will leave you to experience yourself because I’ll be doing M.L. Wang a disservice to even attempt to describe his arc further.

And Misaki — oh, how do I talk about Misaki without writing sonnets in her name?

I love everything the author did with her character and probably cried for 6 hours straight over Misaki’s struggle to balance her past as a self-reliant warrior and her present as a mother of four in an extremely traditional and misogynistic household. The push and pull between trying to fit into what people in the village of Takayubi expected of her and what she thought herself to be? Exquisite.

It was also so refreshing to see the ‘mother’s love’ trope being subverted. I’m so tired of mothers in fiction being portrayed as paragons of love and selflessness and to see Misaki make conscious and realistic decisions about what motherhood meant for her at each step? A joy to watch.

It’s not all pain and despair, though, and this book balanced dark and lighter moments wonderfully. My favourite being the subtle injections of humour in Misaki's internal dialogue:

At breakfast, she served him his tea with her usual smile and he accepted it with his usual straight-faced indifference.

“Good morning, Misaki!” Takashi greeted her as though nothing was wrong.

“Good morning, Nii-sama,” she said and poured the hot tea in his cup instead of his lap.

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There are so many moments of just .. joyful human connection sprinkled across this book and I honestly think that’s what brings it all together for me. You end up caring deeply for everyone in this little village and that is something that happens so naturally that it takes you by complete surprise. Every character’s decisions, motivations, and growth in response to the plot and each other happen so organically.

All of this to say: if you want a book that will tear your soul into bits and then slowly piece them back together in a way that is reminiscent of a blend between Avatar the Last Airbender and The Stormlight Archive (both the highest praises that I can think of): pick this one up.

Content Warnings

m_________'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia and Racial slurs

WOW WAS THIS BOOK GOOD. First, I want to list out some of the major content warnings for the book (there are out of context spoilers here): \ \ \ \ \ \ physical/verbal/emotional abuse, violence/gore, death, death of children, rape, suicide/suicidal ideations \ \ \ \ \ REVIEW/RANT/GUSH: I was so impressed by The Sword of Kaigen. Everything is done incredibly well: character work, world-building, action sequences, the elemental magic system, the prose - I loved it all. This book is certainly not short, but I genuinely never felt bored by it and, if not for pesky things called sleep and school, would have absolutely devoured it in one sitting. M. L. Wang is not afraid to go there in this book - actually probably even a step past there - and it definitely caught me by surprise in many sections. If there was one stand-out feature, it would be the character work. To give specifics would be spoiler-y, but I love M. L. Wang's characterization and depiction of how various characters struggle with their identity, legacy, and guilt throughout the novel, as well as their progression and the healing they seek in themselves and their relationships. The characters felt so real to me, especially in terms of their morality, in a way that very few characters do. They are all very complex, but their moral complexities are not larger than life, they simply are, and I found that refreshing, particularly in a fantasy novel. In particular, her portrayal of Misaki and her growth from a teenager, to the start of the book, to beyond, is so, so superb. The book follows a very interesting structure where what people would consider the climax of the book occupies its middle chunk, not the just-prior-to-the-end chunk, and it worked SO WELL. It allows the latter part of the book to become very character driven, and I think it was integral to portray what happened after *climax which I won't describe in further detail*. This plot structure definitely wouldn't work for every book or author, but it is absolutely perfect in this case. Lastly, I am also just so impressed by the way the author elicits emotion through her writing. It is not a stretch to say that I sobbed through nearly 50% of the book - and I really don't cry that often while reading (there are notable exceptions, clearly). Despite it being a standalone, everything felt so actualized and real in a way many others can't do in full length series. Highly, highly recommend!!!

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