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kaylaswhitmore 's review for:
The Sword of Kaigen
by M.L. Wang
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At the behest of my husband (who easily would give this book a 5/5) I read The Sword of Kaigen on the plane to and from our trip overseas. I didn’t honestly know what to expect coming into the story—only that my husband strongly believes men should read this story to better understand the cost of motherhood and pregnancy on women—and it thoroughly surprised me.
Right from the get go, Wang’s rich and vibrant Theonite universe pulled me in with no hesitation. I’ll admit that at first—not having been familiar with her previous writing for the universe—the lore and jargon was a bit overwhelming. However, I think anyone who is familiar with fantasy fiction or power scales will be able to grasp it quickly.
Wang created a very intriguing plot full of conspiracy and adventure from the beginning, and her writing rarely left us wishing for more. I felt that her use of different narrative POVs added to the depth of the story, and I genuinely wasn’t expecting the main MC to be Mamoru’s mother as opposed to him. And the third POV that we eventually get later in the book? That was beautiful done and illuminated both the events and characters of the story in a unique light that I hadn’t thought we would get. Wang managed to take several tropes commonly seen in fantasy and give them a new spin that felt grounded in Asian culture as well as real, raw human emotion.
By way of critiques, I don’t have many. If I were to list one or two, it would perhaps be that I personally felt that while the slow-burn relationship in the story was well thought out, it may not have quite lived up to the expectation or hopes that I had come to hold for it. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it or find their endgame satisfactory—it’s more that I thought we spent so much time setting up the hardships of the relationship that I had wanted a longer, more hard-won partnership in the second half of their journey together. And I personally felt that while the work up to their union was hard-won, the actual fruition of their conflicts were a bit too clean for my tastes. Secondly, my other critique is less of a critique and more of a petty complaint, haha. There’s almost nothing more disappointing to me as an audience member than falling in love with a world, seeing the potential for its continuation, then coming to find out that the creator has no intention of adding more to it. This isn’t truly a “fault” of Wang, per se, but I did find it underwhelming that we had so many avenues left to explore by the end of the story, and yet a few pages later had her announcement that she would no longer be exploring the Theonite universe. Alas, I suppose it’s much worse to be left wanting less from an author than to be left wanting more, so even this is still a praise to Wang’s ingenuity!
Altogether, I hope to return to this book in another year or so to reread Misaki’s adventure—and this time I most likely won’t be on a public plabe where I have to conceal my tears and will be able to sob freely as I wanted to the first time lol. Congrats to Wang for writing such a fabulous story!
Right from the get go, Wang’s rich and vibrant Theonite universe pulled me in with no hesitation. I’ll admit that at first—not having been familiar with her previous writing for the universe—the lore and jargon was a bit overwhelming. However, I think anyone who is familiar with fantasy fiction or power scales will be able to grasp it quickly.
Wang created a very intriguing plot full of conspiracy and adventure from the beginning, and her writing rarely left us wishing for more. I felt that her use of different narrative POVs added to the depth of the story, and I genuinely wasn’t expecting the main MC to be Mamoru’s mother as opposed to him. And the third POV that we eventually get later in the book? That was beautiful done and illuminated both the events and characters of the story in a unique light that I hadn’t thought we would get. Wang managed to take several tropes commonly seen in fantasy and give them a new spin that felt grounded in Asian culture as well as real, raw human emotion.
By way of critiques, I don’t have many. If I were to list one or two, it would perhaps be that I personally felt that while the slow-burn relationship in the story was well thought out, it may not have quite lived up to the expectation or hopes that I had come to hold for it. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it or find their endgame satisfactory—it’s more that I thought we spent so much time setting up the hardships of the relationship that I had wanted a longer, more hard-won partnership in the second half of their journey together. And I personally felt that while the work up to their union was hard-won, the actual fruition of their conflicts were a bit too clean for my tastes. Secondly, my other critique is less of a critique and more of a petty complaint, haha. There’s almost nothing more disappointing to me as an audience member than falling in love with a world, seeing the potential for its continuation, then coming to find out that the creator has no intention of adding more to it. This isn’t truly a “fault” of Wang, per se, but I did find it underwhelming that we had so many avenues left to explore by the end of the story, and yet a few pages later had her announcement that she would no longer be exploring the Theonite universe. Alas, I suppose it’s much worse to be left wanting less from an author than to be left wanting more, so even this is still a praise to Wang’s ingenuity!
Altogether, I hope to return to this book in another year or so to reread Misaki’s adventure—and this time I most likely won’t be on a public plabe where I have to conceal my tears and will be able to sob freely as I wanted to the first time lol. Congrats to Wang for writing such a fabulous story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation
If you are sensitive to rape: About halfway through the book, a character is actively being raped. Though the description is clear about the assault, it does NOT go into detail or explicitly describe anything about the assault.
If you are sensitive to miscarriages or post-partum: Pregnancy and miscarrying are very, very present themes in this story and pertain to Misaki’s POV. She often goes into detail about how post-partum depression and her miscarriages affected her, though it’s almost always from an emotional standpoint. She does not describe the physical symptoms of her miscarriages in detail. This also is brought up fairly quickly in the story and repeatedly comes up throughout it.
If you are sensitive to suicide or suicidal thoughts: Halfway through the book, a character verbally contemplates ending their own life in the midst of grief, and then later does in fact commit suicide. While their suicidal thoughts are not described in depth and the audience is not present at the time of the suicide, the aftermath of the suicide itself is certainly shown in detail and is very heartbreaking.