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

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Sword of Kaigen takes place in another world in which some people are born with different powers based on their heritage, a lot like Avatar: the Last Airbender. The main characters of the book are fourteen year old Mamoru and his mother, Misaki. Shirojima, their home, is very traditional, and women are expected to be housewives, raised to cook, clean, sew, take care of children, and that’s about it. They can only learn to read enough to read basic signs and recipes. Misaki, however, is different, even though her family doesn’t know it. In this world, there are great bloodlines that are said to have gotten their powers from the gods themselves. Misaki and her husband are from two of those bloodlines, and her husband’s bloodline is the most powerful of the jijakalu, the race of theonite that can control water and ice. Bloodline techniques are secret techniques that are passed down through the family, because typically that family is the only one that can achieve that technique. The Matsuda family technique is the Whispering Blade, a blade of ice that can cut through anything, even metal. Misaki’s family technique allows them to control their own blood, and for those powerful and willful enough, they could even control their own blood to force their body to limits that aren’t human.

When Misaki was young, her father trained her alongside her brothers, and sent her to a theonite school far from Shirojima where she learned to fight, and was a vigilante alongside her friends.

However, she was forced to come back, and marry Matsuda Takeru, the second son of the Matsuda family, and the youngest in history to achieve the whispering blade.

When Misaki returned to Shirojima, she buried her history of vigilantism and her fantasies of being a warrior,

and became a housewife, giving birth to four sons. 

What I love about this book is the way that Mamoru learns about the real world, and his reaction to it. Shirojima is blindly loyal to the empire, unaware that if a war is to start, they are, as the sword of kaigen, meant to be the first line of defense, and a sacrifice. The Emperor doesn’t care about them, but they don’t know that. As Mamoru starts to realize this, it shatters his world. Him and everyone he cares about are being lied to about everything. The history they teach is wrong, and he knows he can’t say anything, because at best, no-one will believe him, and at worst, he will be punished for spreading that kind of information. Mamoru has to deal with this basically all by himself, at the age of fourteen. Because he’s a Matsuda, he can’t show weakness. His mother, Misaki, has the opposite problem. She’s not allowed to be strong.

The turning point of the story is when Shirojima is attacked, and during the attack, Mamoru dies. He died with honor, taking down the strongest opponent using his whispering blade, becoming the youngest in history to ever form the whispering blade, though no-one would ever know it. 

The death of Misaki’s eldest son, and the supposed apathy of her husband, and the disrespect of the empire towards all of those who died in Shirojima devestates and angered Misaki, until she finally revealed herself to her husband, challenging him to a duel. During the duel, Takeru confesses that he had been so apathetic towards her because he hadn’t wanted to treat her the same way his father treated his mother.

I really enjoyed how this book showed how their whole family had issues, despite trying to appear perfect on the outside. Mamoru struggled with trying to be a perfect Matsuda, Misaki struggled with trying to be the perfect housewife, and deal with all her supposed failures, and the family she wasn’t sure she loved,

and Takeru hiding from his emotions his whole life so that he wouldn’t have to deal with the pain.