A review by lostpaperbacks
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

adventurous emotional reflective 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

My first experience with High-Fantasy. An absolute delight. This Militaty / political fantasy is perfect for me, I'm not one to obsess over the romance fantasy genre. Usually with YA fantasy, I'm used to discovering the powers of the world or the magic systems at a slow pace as the MC. Slow and just discovering. With this we're just dumped in the middle of their journey, the characters are all powerful and skilled already. With the battle-climax smacked-dabbed in the middle of the book,  it's refreshing.

Love the writing, it's simple and easy to understand the story flow (though the pacing was a bit inconsistent but that's not a problem) and the dialogues are just so good. The characters are so loveable, I'm attached to them already after a few chapters in. The world is wonderful and I'm geeking over the fact that they have elemental magic AND Japanese martial arts. This makes me very interested to continue the Theonite world. 

Now for the characters, Misaki is now on my top favourite list. Hands-down one of the most badass ever. I deeply enjoyed her conversations with other characters and how she slowly came to understand a mother's love. I'm here totally invested with her relationship with Takeru. I think it describes an arranged-marriage just the perfect way. None of the suddenly possesive "she's my wife" moment, but much deeper and mature. 

Lastly, I'm a bit bitter that none of them would know what Mamoru achieved, I want to shout it out loud and give him a big big hug.