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canasmh 's review for:
The Sword of Kaigen
by M.L. Wang
Wow. This book hit me hard. It may draw heavily from Japanese culture, but don’t go in expecting a shonen-style adventure. The Sword of Kaigen is honest about the weight of war: heartbreak, loss, and the kind of endings that don’t wrap up neatly. The second half does slow down, but I think that worked well for me. It gave the story room to breathe and showed how people actually live with grief and the aftermath of tragedy.
The worldbuilding and magic system are fantastic, and the characters felt so real. I also loved the unexpected layers, like the chilling hints of systematic brainwashing reminiscent of Orwell’s “1984”. If I had one gripe, it’s the last chapter—it didn’t add much and almost felt like it was setting up a sequel, even though this is meant to stand alone.
Still, I laughed, I cried, and I definitely shed a few thug tears along the way. This book took me through such a wide range of emotions, and that’s what made it unforgettable.That said, here is perhaps my favorite line that somehow seems to capture the general narrative of the book (slight spoiler):
“A decade later, a fifteen-year-old Hiroshi would become known as the youngest swordsman ever to master the Whispering Blade. What the world would never know, was that he was the second youngest.”
The worldbuilding and magic system are fantastic, and the characters felt so real. I also loved the unexpected layers, like the chilling hints of systematic brainwashing reminiscent of Orwell’s “1984”. If I had one gripe, it’s the last chapter—it didn’t add much and almost felt like it was setting up a sequel, even though this is meant to stand alone.
Still, I laughed, I cried, and I definitely shed a few thug tears along the way. This book took me through such a wide range of emotions, and that’s what made it unforgettable.That said, here is perhaps my favorite line that somehow seems to capture the general narrative of the book (slight spoiler):
“A decade later, a fifteen-year-old Hiroshi would become known as the youngest swordsman ever to master the Whispering Blade. What the world would never know, was that he was the second youngest.”