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malinhalia 's review for:
The Sword of Kaigen
by M.L. Wang
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
150 pages of confusion / 150 pages of battle scenes / 350 pages of misery
Jokes aside, I can see why this is a highly rated book for many people. The writing style is mostly well done, and the characters are complex. However, I struggled with the pacing and plot structure. I know this was meant as a book in a series that is now indefinitely postponed (/cancelled), but the plot set up at the end feels like a bizarre choice. The world building can be slightly confusing at times, like the feudal Japan bait and switch. I found the fight segments same-y and tedious to read and I was skimming them towards the end of that book segment. There were times when picking this book back up didn't feel very enticing because of these things.
It has some very emotional moments though, and it's definitely a book dealing with many sad, hard topics.
Jokes aside, I can see why this is a highly rated book for many people. The writing style is mostly well done, and the characters are complex. However, I struggled with the pacing and plot structure. I know this was meant as a book in a series that is now indefinitely postponed (/cancelled), but the plot set up at the end feels like a bizarre choice. The world building can be slightly confusing at times, like the feudal Japan bait and switch. I found the fight segments same-y and tedious to read and I was skimming them towards the end of that book segment. There were times when picking this book back up didn't feel very enticing because of these things.
It has some very emotional moments though, and it's definitely a book dealing with many sad, hard topics.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse