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

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:  

<blockquote><b>
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.
</b></blockquote>

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. 




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