The Sword of Kaigen

"I’ll try to keep this short, it was a great great book highly recommend it. If you’re looking for an action packed fights non stop like the “rage of dragons” you won’t find that here. What you will find is a magical system such as the last air bender which i loved. You’ll find great characters that you care about and a world you’ll enjoy. There’s fantastic fight scenes in this too, i really enjoyed this one. It’s a longer book for me roughly 614 pages but i read it rather quickly and outside my genre. Again highly recommend!"

"I just finished this today! It took a little bit for me to really get pulled into the story but now I’m so sad it’s over! It was amazing. I can’t wait to read ML Wang’s other books."

"I heard about this book through TikTok as: Do you like a badass assassin mom that kills anyone that would harm her family? Do you like government conspiracies that make you question which side of a war you’re fighting on with culturally diverse countries with elemental powers like Avatar the Last Airbender? Would you be glad to know this is just a standalone prequel to a whole series so if you wanted more you could read more but if don’t have the stamina then this single book is enough? I had a fun time and burned through this and I’m glad there is more. Try it out if this is your flavor."

"I could not figure out if this was going to be a 4 or 5 star once I hit the last 20%, the ending definitely locked it in for me.<br/><br/>Misaki’s emotional and physical battles were beyond me, I felt every emotion she exerted as if they were mine.<br/><br/>After everything she has been through I totally understand her outcome even though I don’t fully agree with it.<br/><br/>It is a very great book though, Mamoru’s coming of age challenges he’s faced and watching him grow from them."

"I really lost myself in this one. I felt all the bitterness, regret, pride, rage, hurt, bravery and comfort the character did. To see Misaki learn how to appreciate her life and let go of the past, Takeru learn how to face his humanity, or Mammoru’s disillusion of the empire. The development was spectacular, and watching the relationships form between characters was beautiful. All in all, this was a pretty tragic telling, but it was not without its warmth, which I think is what makes it important to remember."

"Very few books leave me speechless. Only a truly great story can have you gasping and feeling the characters pain and heartbreak as if it were your own. This book is an intricately woven tale of sadness, hope, and humanness."

"This book is an example of why I find it hard to DNF books when I don't like them, the end could definitely turn things around. This is a very hard book to review, which is nothing compared to how hard it was to read at points. There's a lot of violent and gory scenes here. It was brutal to the point where there were parts where I questioned my decision to go on because it got too much for me. It was really painful. And there was a lot of infuriating sexism that made my blood boil. But then, after the early climax things started to change and I started to actually like it, and in the end, I was glad I didn't stop reading because I really enjoyed everything after the first climax had ended with all its gore. The rest was a beautiful character driven story of people handling their traumas and loss."

"<b>A skilled water-bender and fighter with traditional family values is forced into a loveless marriage and hiding her past.</b><br/><br/><p>Such a sweet book and such a surprisingly sweet ending. I honestly was not expecting the ending, or honestly even the last several chapters. <spoiler>Mamoru dying came as such a huge shock to me but I will admit the mourning of Mamoru was drawn out. I felt like at a certain point in the book nothing was really happening except for the characters feeling very strongly about the Ranganese attack and the government's lack of support.</spoiler> I really thought the scope of the novel would be a little larger<spoiler>, and I suspect it's meant to be especially with the last chapter opening up all those cans of worms</spoiler>. I really feel like there's supposed to be a book 2, potentially exploring more of the world Wang has built, possibly through Robin's eyes, but at this point in time there's no such thing. The Sword of Kaigen is very much a standalone novel. So judging it as a standalone novel, of course it leaves me feeling a bit dissatisfied because I'm missing critical plot points like <spoiler>why the Ranganese chose to attack now, who's in league with them, how the litigi fall into place and what this means at a global scale</spoiler>. Those were my only points of criticism. My rating for this book is somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I really enjoyed the bending. Super cool concepts overall and I think it really offered some interesting original ideas in this area. For example I loved that <spoiler>the air benders are seen as evil and off balance</spoiler>. I LOVED the Takeru POV and I loved meeting Kazu and how he kind of tried offering Misaki help but she refused. <spoiler>I love that she saved herself and I love how mature her decisions were. I also surprisingly love that Takeru tries, really tries, and completely changes up his tune. The character development was immaculate and I really appreciated that she didn't just run off to be happy with Robin. It was refreshing to see how her marriage and life finally became whole after she just accepted her lot and came to appreciate and be grateful for what she has left. Really loved her development. I also really loved that Takeru invited Robin and she had a chance to finally tie up her own loose ends regarding Robin.</spoiler> </p><br/><br/><spoiler><p>I laughed when Setsuko started flirting with Robin despite not sharing a common language, that's honestly hilarious. Loved Daniel, he's so cute. Love Misakis advice to Robin to not regret Daniel or see him as a mistake, but instead live for him for however long they have together because the greatest disservice he could do is to not be his father. Like word. So cute. Love that.</p><br/><br/><blockquote>“I spent a lot of time regretting,” she admitted. “I had a brilliant son, loving friends, and a whole family growing up all around me. And I was too wrapped up in my own regret to cherish it. I didn’t take ownership of that life until it was all slipping through my fingers and it was too late.”</blockquote><br/></spoiler><br/><br/><p>Like... Crying. This is the message.</p><br/><br/><p>More than anything, this book is a reminder to accept our situation and be grateful, otherwise the negativity in our life will always consume us. I really like that and I wasn't expecting such a down to earth message to come out of a fantasy book about an ex-warrior housewife. Good book.<p>"

"Have tissues handy! Best book I’ve read in years "