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A review by lucybbookstuff
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
I was going back and forth between 4.75 and 5 stars... but I sucked it up and gave it the full 5, because this book is simply outstanding. There were some worldbuilding issues, which was the only thing holding me back, but that doesn't take away from everything else that made it such a worthwhile read.
- The character work. Absolutely phenomenal. The arcs that these people go through. Omg. The main protagonist is very morally gray, but she really struggles with it and has such an impressive journey. I can't speak about the others without spoilers.Mamoru was so loveable, which made his arc so devastating. His death wasn't unexpected, but I was not expecting it so early, yet it didn't feel misused. It was so sad, but it was NOT for nothing. Takeru's arc was the biggest surprise, yet she dropped subtle hints throughout that there was more to him. She just made it so easy from Misaki's POV to hate him, so I was always second guessing myself with him.
- The action sequences. I'm not super into action, nor do I know a thing about martial arts, but she filled these scenes with such emotion and it was never just violence for the sake of violence. They always served the plot and the themes. PLUS they were super cool and badass.
- The prose. Some of the big picture writing was a bit off for me, but her prose was beautiful. Not too flowery, quite easy to read, drove the story well, and still delivered some absolutely stunning lines.
- The themes. I won't get too much into this, I'll just say that the themes were extremely well-explored. Thinking for oneself, learning to live with uncomfortable emotions, the lengths some go to protect their family... to name just a few.
- The emotion. My god, did this book make me feel things. Wang masterfully manipulated my emotions throughout. Exasperation, humor, affection, hatred, excitement, total devastation. It can be hard for a book to actually get tears not just TO my eyes, but OUT OF them. This book did it.
Like I said, my only issues were with worldbuilding. It's a very complex world that would take a very intelligent mind to create. But I could definitely feel that this was a prequel to a different series, which was written when the author was quite young, and she has since discontinued said series, citing worldbuilding issues. 🙃
Mainly, I didn't really understand the motivations of the Empire, and it was never fully explained. That was distracting and frustrating throughout.I couldn't understand the reasons behind keeping everyone SO in the dark about other countries' movements. It seemed weird that the people on the peninsula are expected to hold the fort against invaders, yet they know nothing about how to fight them. It also seems weird that this Empire is so protective of their secrets, yet they allow their people, and the people of most other countries, to come and go freely. That's not really conducive to keeping out information.
Also, this was more science fictiony than expected, which makes sense when I read about the Theonite series, BUT I felt that the modern tech didn't really serve a purpose in this book. All of that could have been reworked to have more classic fantasy explanations. But that wasn't a dealbreaker. Just felt unnecessary.
ANYWAY, all the positives absolutely outweigh the negatives. Such an incredible book, and accomplished so much for a standalone that is technically a prequel. Highly, highly recommend.
EDIT 2 months later: UGH I am downgrading it to 4.75. The more I've ruminated on it, the more I can't let it off the hook for all the worldbuilding issues. I do think all of these issues could be fixed if Wang ever reworks to the book to be a true standalone and disconnects it from the Theonite series. But for now, in this form, these issues do unfortunately take it down a notch for me.
- The character work. Absolutely phenomenal. The arcs that these people go through. Omg. The main protagonist is very morally gray, but she really struggles with it and has such an impressive journey. I can't speak about the others without spoilers.
- The action sequences. I'm not super into action, nor do I know a thing about martial arts, but she filled these scenes with such emotion and it was never just violence for the sake of violence. They always served the plot and the themes. PLUS they were super cool and badass.
- The prose. Some of the big picture writing was a bit off for me, but her prose was beautiful. Not too flowery, quite easy to read, drove the story well, and still delivered some absolutely stunning lines.
- The themes. I won't get too much into this, I'll just say that the themes were extremely well-explored. Thinking for oneself, learning to live with uncomfortable emotions, the lengths some go to protect their family... to name just a few.
- The emotion. My god, did this book make me feel things. Wang masterfully manipulated my emotions throughout. Exasperation, humor, affection, hatred, excitement, total devastation. It can be hard for a book to actually get tears not just TO my eyes, but OUT OF them. This book did it.
Like I said, my only issues were with worldbuilding. It's a very complex world that would take a very intelligent mind to create. But I could definitely feel that this was a prequel to a different series, which was written when the author was quite young, and she has since discontinued said series, citing worldbuilding issues. 🙃
Mainly, I didn't really understand the motivations of the Empire, and it was never fully explained. That was distracting and frustrating throughout.
Also, this was more science fictiony than expected, which makes sense when I read about the Theonite series, BUT I felt that the modern tech didn't really serve a purpose in this book. All of that could have been reworked to have more classic fantasy explanations. But that wasn't a dealbreaker. Just felt unnecessary.
ANYWAY, all the positives absolutely outweigh the negatives. Such an incredible book, and accomplished so much for a standalone that is technically a prequel. Highly, highly recommend.
EDIT 2 months later: UGH I am downgrading it to 4.75. The more I've ruminated on it, the more I can't let it off the hook for all the worldbuilding issues. I do think all of these issues could be fixed if Wang ever reworks to the book to be a true standalone and disconnects it from the Theonite series. But for now, in this form, these issues do unfortunately take it down a notch for me.