Status
Available
Series
Collections
Publication
(2019), 651 pages
Description
"On a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful fighters in the world, warriors capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For centuries, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire's enemies at bay, earning their treacherous spit of land the name "The sword of Kaigen.' Born into Kusanagi's legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always know his purpose: to master his family's fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen's alleged age of peace, Mamoru ralizes that he might not have much time before he has to become the fighter he was bred to be. Even worse, the empire he was born to defend might stand on a fountain of lies. Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married to the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of invasion looming on the horizon, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.".… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member OmayraV
I do not review books on grammar, punctuation, POV, or style. I do look at the plot and what makes the story resonate with me. There are no spoilers in this review.
I am upset because I wanted to like this book, but the more I read, the less I liked it. This book was recommended in Reddit, and I
On the other hand, after the climax, the story dragged down again. The climax happened too soon in the plot, and what came after was at the pace of a 100-year-old turtle. It wasn’t an engaging read.
After the climax, I wanted the story to be over; I expected the story to be over. I kept saying in my head, "when is this going to end?" I know the end had emotional scenes. But they did not have an impact on me because after the climax I wanted the story to have the let's hold our hands sing kumbaya, go over what went right, tidy things up and do it in a chapter and be over. However, all that followed felt like fluff and no reward for my effort. I will recommend this book to people who like this writer's other books or books with this style of writing where the climax happens in the middle of the book.
I am upset because I wanted to like this book, but the more I read, the less I liked it. This book was recommended in Reddit, and I
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said, “What the hell? Let me give this a try.” The first quarter of this book dragged like a Sunday Mass. The details of describing the scenery and the schools were beautiful, the world-building was refreshing and unique, and some of the characters were interesting and fun. However, I had a hard time following some of the character arcs. One thing I must say in defense of this story is that the climax was impressive! I enjoyed it tremendously.On the other hand, after the climax, the story dragged down again. The climax happened too soon in the plot, and what came after was at the pace of a 100-year-old turtle. It wasn’t an engaging read.
After the climax, I wanted the story to be over; I expected the story to be over. I kept saying in my head, "when is this going to end?" I know the end had emotional scenes. But they did not have an impact on me because after the climax I wanted the story to have the let's hold our hands sing kumbaya, go over what went right, tidy things up and do it in a chapter and be over. However, all that followed felt like fluff and no reward for my effort. I will recommend this book to people who like this writer's other books or books with this style of writing where the climax happens in the middle of the book.
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LibraryThing member UndeadWookiee
I was very surprised by this book and mad at myself for not reading it sooner, it is truly a spectacular book.
LibraryThing member infjsarah
I found this a little bit hard to get into at first as there are a lot of unfamiliar terms. Then about half way it takes a very unexpected turn and although it becomes very grim and dark at that point, I actually enjoyed the 2nd half more. I'm not sure I'll read the other 2 books in the series but
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I did like the unusualness of this novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member Narilka
I don't know what I was expecting going in to The Sword of Kaigen. Based on the first chapter, a magical kung-fu school style-story is a strong possibility. (Which would still be totally awesome, please make recommendations!) There is some of that, but it's not what The Sword of Kaigen is really
The story revolves around the Matsuda family, particularly a mother and son. Misaki, the mother, has given up her exciting and violent past as she tries to be a good wife and do her social duty to provide sons to continue the family line. Mamoru, the son, strives to live up to the Matsuda name and become the warrior for the Empire he always knows he would be. Both are about to be challenged as Mamoru's world view is shattered by an outsider and Misaki finds she has to embrace her old skills if she wants to save her family. All of this is set in a remote village high on a mountain where people hold to the old traditions and train to be the best warriors in the world.
That's about as much of a synopsis as I can give as I'm not sure I could provide any other introduction that would do the story justice. Even that feels inadequate. This is one of those books that has to be experienced. Beautifully written, the action is nail-biting and breathless combined with heart-breaking emotional scenes as a family struggles to understand each other and survive the violence of war. Even with all the action, it's a slower plot that builds to an explosive yet hopeful finale.
So why only 4 stars? I honestly think it's just timing. The world is in such a state that I am struggling to read more serious books at the moment, even one as beautiful as The Sword of Kaigen. I don't doubt this had 5-star potential had I read it pre-pandemic.
The final chapter feels like it should be a hook to a larger series though the story stands well enough on its own. When I looked up the other Theonite books, that series goes in a YA direction that I'm not interested in. Hopefully ML Wang will write a follow up one day. The Sword of Kaigen is a self-published gem. I'm rather surprised it hasn't been picked up by a big publisher yet.
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about. This is a wonderful family drama set in a Japanese inspired fantasy world. The story revolves around the Matsuda family, particularly a mother and son. Misaki, the mother, has given up her exciting and violent past as she tries to be a good wife and do her social duty to provide sons to continue the family line. Mamoru, the son, strives to live up to the Matsuda name and become the warrior for the Empire he always knows he would be. Both are about to be challenged as Mamoru's world view is shattered by an outsider and Misaki finds she has to embrace her old skills if she wants to save her family. All of this is set in a remote village high on a mountain where people hold to the old traditions and train to be the best warriors in the world.
That's about as much of a synopsis as I can give as I'm not sure I could provide any other introduction that would do the story justice. Even that feels inadequate. This is one of those books that has to be experienced. Beautifully written, the action is nail-biting and breathless combined with heart-breaking emotional scenes as a family struggles to understand each other and survive the violence of war. Even with all the action, it's a slower plot that builds to an explosive yet hopeful finale.
So why only 4 stars? I honestly think it's just timing. The world is in such a state that I am struggling to read more serious books at the moment, even one as beautiful as The Sword of Kaigen. I don't doubt this had 5-star potential had I read it pre-pandemic.
The final chapter feels like it should be a hook to a larger series though the story stands well enough on its own. When I looked up the other Theonite books, that series goes in a YA direction that I'm not interested in. Hopefully ML Wang will write a follow up one day. The Sword of Kaigen is a self-published gem. I'm rather surprised it hasn't been picked up by a big publisher yet.
Show Less
LibraryThing member majkia
I just never felt engaged with the characters or the plot.
LibraryThing member chirikosan
Whew! What a ride!
This is I believe my 3rd SPFBO 2019 finalist read, and I can clearly see why The Sword of Kaigen is one of the top three choices that might win the competition. When you look at the map of the world of Duna, it seems like a strange mishmash of unfamiliar places. Look more closely,
Most of the story occurs in a little town called Takayubi, a part of an archipielago of islands belonging to the Kaigen Empire which speaks Kaigengua (sounds very similar to Korean). The Shirojima peninsula of islands in Kaigen is reminiscent of Japan. Within these lands filled with frosted mountains is a culture inspired in ancient Japan where water controlling warriors marry women from similar powerful noble families to breed the most magically powerful children and train their sons in the sword extensively in order to protect their land from the Ranga invaders (similar to China in our world who are capable of using wind magic).
Among these many families, the story centers on the powerful and ancient Matsuda family whose head of the family passes the knowledge of an ice sword capable of slicing steel called the Whispering Blade. We get to meet the carefree current ruler of the family Takeshi and his robotic but equally powerful younger brother Takeru. Mamoru is one of the two MCs of this story and he is Takeru's first son. At 14 years of age, he is a promising swordsman and water magician called a jiyaka in his own right. But being good is not enough for him. He wants to master the Whispering Blade at all costs but he has so far been unable to unlock the secret towards summoning the full fledged blade. It is one of those things you have to learn on your own and Mamoru's school sword teacher Yukino Dai claims he is almost there. Meanwhile, Mamoru's life will start to suffer a drastic change when a city boy from another much more modernized region of Kaigen named Kwang Chul-Hee has moved to Takayubi alongside his father to install cellphone towers (apparently Kaigen is one of those oddball rural places where the internet and modern medicine are oddities). Chul-Hee causes an initial disagreement with Mamoru when he tells him a lot of the Empire propaganda they are being taught at school are lies. Mamoru then starts to have an internal struggle between being loyal to the cultural customs of the people he loves so much and the disturbing stories that might be true afterall.
The book has a second protagonist, and quite frankly a very shocking one. We usually get stories starring angsty teenagers or full fledged adult males that have reached their combat pinnacle. It is very odd that an epic fantasy would star a humble middle aged housewife. Many books make moms dull filler characters because quite frankly, what kind of a mother would let her children go to war? And how can you make a person whose job is to raise babies seem... well... interesting? This is one part where this book shines because Misaki is such a multilayered character. Once you peel off the demure smile as she obey's Takeru's arsinine orders, you meet a conflicted woman who battles between tolerating an unhappy marriage and a fierce opinionated warrioress just itching to hatch from her shell for the fake of saving Mamoru from his own self destruction as he starts to unravel the truth of his country. Misaki is no saint and she admits it. She barely tolerates even touching her own children and wonders the what ifs of her life if she hadn't married Takeru. She compares her emotionally distant husband to the outspoken Takeshi and his happy marriage with the even more boisterous fisherwoman turned noblewoman named Setsuko. Misaki hates herself for feeling so much hatred at herself and yet her she is with her very confused teenage son Mamoru who is begging her to offer him her guidance.
A good portion of the book, I felt rather indifferent towards Takeru. He was never violent towards his family, but by being so rigid with his ideas, he only hurts those around him. But he is no weakling. When it comes to fight, I instantly started to like his calculating style which nicely complemented with Takeshi's brash out-in-your-face magic. It is much later into the story where Misaki starts to dig into Takeru's real self hidden deep under a block of ice that I really started to appreciate him and know there is greatness.
Robin's chapters threw me off at first, but they are very important to understand why Misaki is so frustrated with her life. I really enjoyed how this book is so much about how to make a marriage work between two equally proud and difficult people once they found a common goal. This book would definitely make a great movie or tv series, and considering most of the cast are POC, it would lure a lot of attention. If there is any bad side to the book, it is the massive length. The book literally feels like it is 600 pages long and the first 25% is spent building the complex life of Mamoru and Misaki which is no small feat. Other than that, if The Sword of Kaigen wins the SPFBO 2019, I would applaud the win because it has been surely worthy of all of the hype it has been garnering. Enjoy!
This is I believe my 3rd SPFBO 2019 finalist read, and I can clearly see why The Sword of Kaigen is one of the top three choices that might win the competition. When you look at the map of the world of Duna, it seems like a strange mishmash of unfamiliar places. Look more closely,
Show More
and you will soon realize the map placed North and South upside down for some odd reason. Switch the map into a proper North direction and you will soon gasp and be taken as a fool the whole time. The world of Duna looks around 70% identical to the continents on Earth just with very differently named countries. When I made this realization, it soon reminded me of the anime Hunter x Hunter whose author decided to imitate Earth's continents and just move them around all over the place.Most of the story occurs in a little town called Takayubi, a part of an archipielago of islands belonging to the Kaigen Empire which speaks Kaigengua (sounds very similar to Korean). The Shirojima peninsula of islands in Kaigen is reminiscent of Japan. Within these lands filled with frosted mountains is a culture inspired in ancient Japan where water controlling warriors marry women from similar powerful noble families to breed the most magically powerful children and train their sons in the sword extensively in order to protect their land from the Ranga invaders (similar to China in our world who are capable of using wind magic).
Among these many families, the story centers on the powerful and ancient Matsuda family whose head of the family passes the knowledge of an ice sword capable of slicing steel called the Whispering Blade. We get to meet the carefree current ruler of the family Takeshi and his robotic but equally powerful younger brother Takeru. Mamoru is one of the two MCs of this story and he is Takeru's first son. At 14 years of age, he is a promising swordsman and water magician called a jiyaka in his own right. But being good is not enough for him. He wants to master the Whispering Blade at all costs but he has so far been unable to unlock the secret towards summoning the full fledged blade. It is one of those things you have to learn on your own and Mamoru's school sword teacher Yukino Dai claims he is almost there. Meanwhile, Mamoru's life will start to suffer a drastic change when a city boy from another much more modernized region of Kaigen named Kwang Chul-Hee has moved to Takayubi alongside his father to install cellphone towers (apparently Kaigen is one of those oddball rural places where the internet and modern medicine are oddities). Chul-Hee causes an initial disagreement with Mamoru when he tells him a lot of the Empire propaganda they are being taught at school are lies. Mamoru then starts to have an internal struggle between being loyal to the cultural customs of the people he loves so much and the disturbing stories that might be true afterall.
The book has a second protagonist, and quite frankly a very shocking one. We usually get stories starring angsty teenagers or full fledged adult males that have reached their combat pinnacle. It is very odd that an epic fantasy would star a humble middle aged housewife. Many books make moms dull filler characters because quite frankly, what kind of a mother would let her children go to war? And how can you make a person whose job is to raise babies seem... well... interesting? This is one part where this book shines because Misaki is such a multilayered character. Once you peel off the demure smile as she obey's Takeru's arsinine orders, you meet a conflicted woman who battles between tolerating an unhappy marriage and a fierce opinionated warrioress just itching to hatch from her shell for the fake of saving Mamoru from his own self destruction as he starts to unravel the truth of his country. Misaki is no saint and she admits it. She barely tolerates even touching her own children and wonders the what ifs of her life if she hadn't married Takeru. She compares her emotionally distant husband to the outspoken Takeshi and his happy marriage with the even more boisterous fisherwoman turned noblewoman named Setsuko. Misaki hates herself for feeling so much hatred at herself and yet her she is with her very confused teenage son Mamoru who is begging her to offer him her guidance.
A good portion of the book, I felt rather indifferent towards Takeru. He was never violent towards his family, but by being so rigid with his ideas, he only hurts those around him. But he is no weakling. When it comes to fight, I instantly started to like his calculating style which nicely complemented with Takeshi's brash out-in-your-face magic. It is much later into the story where Misaki starts to dig into Takeru's real self hidden deep under a block of ice that I really started to appreciate him and know there is greatness.
Robin's chapters threw me off at first, but they are very important to understand why Misaki is so frustrated with her life. I really enjoyed how this book is so much about how to make a marriage work between two equally proud and difficult people once they found a common goal. This book would definitely make a great movie or tv series, and considering most of the cast are POC, it would lure a lot of attention. If there is any bad side to the book, it is the massive length. The book literally feels like it is 600 pages long and the first 25% is spent building the complex life of Mamoru and Misaki which is no small feat. Other than that, if The Sword of Kaigen wins the SPFBO 2019, I would applaud the win because it has been surely worthy of all of the hype it has been garnering. Enjoy!
Show Less
LibraryThing member chirikosan
Whew! What a ride!
This is I believe my 3rd SPFBO 2019 finalist read, and I can clearly see why The Sword of Kaigen is one of the top three choices that might win the competition. When you look at the map of the world of Duna, it seems like a strange mishmash of unfamiliar places. Look more closely,
Most of the story occurs in a little town called Takayubi, a part of an archipielago of islands belonging to the Kaigen Empire which speaks Kaigengua (sounds very similar to Korean). The Shirojima peninsula of islands in Kaigen is reminiscent of Japan. Within these lands filled with frosted mountains is a culture inspired in ancient Japan where water controlling warriors marry women from similar powerful noble families to breed the most magically powerful children and train their sons in the sword extensively in order to protect their land from the Ranga invaders (similar to China in our world who are capable of using wind magic).
Among these many families, the story centers on the powerful and ancient Matsuda family whose head of the family passes the knowledge of an ice sword capable of slicing steel called the Whispering Blade. We get to meet the carefree current ruler of the family Takeshi and his robotic but equally powerful younger brother Takeru. Mamoru is one of the two MCs of this story and he is Takeru's first son. At 14 years of age, he is a promising swordsman and water magician called a jiyaka in his own right. But being good is not enough for him. He wants to master the Whispering Blade at all costs but he has so far been unable to unlock the secret towards summoning the full fledged blade. It is one of those things you have to learn on your own and Mamoru's school sword teacher Yukino Dai claims he is almost there. Meanwhile, Mamoru's life will start to suffer a drastic change when a city boy from another much more modernized region of Kaigen named Kwang Chul-Hee has moved to Takayubi alongside his father to install cellphone towers (apparently Kaigen is one of those oddball rural places where the internet and modern medicine are oddities). Chul-Hee causes an initial disagreement with Mamoru when he tells him a lot of the Empire propaganda they are being taught at school are lies. Mamoru then starts to have an internal struggle between being loyal to the cultural customs of the people he loves so much and the disturbing stories that might be true afterall.
The book has a second protagonist, and quite frankly a very shocking one. We usually get stories starring angsty teenagers or full fledged adult males that have reached their combat pinnacle. It is very odd that an epic fantasy would star a humble middle aged housewife. Many books make moms dull filler characters because quite frankly, what kind of a mother would let her children go to war? And how can you make a person whose job is to raise babies seem... well... interesting? This is one part where this book shines because Misaki is such a multilayered character. Once you peel off the demure smile as she obey's Takeru's arsinine orders, you meet a conflicted woman who battles between tolerating an unhappy marriage and a fierce opinionated warrioress just itching to hatch from her shell for the fake of saving Mamoru from his own self destruction as he starts to unravel the truth of his country. Misaki is no saint and she admits it. She barely tolerates even touching her own children and wonders the what ifs of her life if she hadn't married Takeru. She compares her emotionally distant husband to the outspoken Takeshi and his happy marriage with the even more boisterous fisherwoman turned noblewoman named Setsuko. Misaki hates herself for feeling so much hatred at herself and yet her she is with her very confused teenage son Mamoru who is begging her to offer him her guidance.
A good portion of the book, I felt rather indifferent towards Takeru. He was never violent towards his family, but by being so rigid with his ideas, he only hurts those around him. But he is no weakling. When it comes to fight, I instantly started to like his calculating style which nicely complemented with Takeshi's brash out-in-your-face magic. It is much later into the story where Misaki starts to dig into Takeru's real self hidden deep under a block of ice that I really started to appreciate him and know there is greatness.
Robin's chapters threw me off at first, but they are very important to understand why Misaki is so frustrated with her life. I really enjoyed how this book is so much about how to make a marriage work between two equally proud and difficult people once they found a common goal. This book would definitely make a great movie or tv series, and considering most of the cast are POC, it would lure a lot of attention. If there is any bad side to the book, it is the massive length. The book literally feels like it is 600 pages long and the first 25% is spent building the complex life of Mamoru and Misaki which is no small feat. Other than that, if The Sword of Kaigen wins the SPFBO 2019, I would applaud the win because it has been surely worthy of all of the hype it has been garnering. Enjoy!
This is I believe my 3rd SPFBO 2019 finalist read, and I can clearly see why The Sword of Kaigen is one of the top three choices that might win the competition. When you look at the map of the world of Duna, it seems like a strange mishmash of unfamiliar places. Look more closely,
Show More
and you will soon realize the map placed North and South upside down for some odd reason. Switch the map into a proper North direction and you will soon gasp and be taken as a fool the whole time. The world of Duna looks around 70% identical to the continents on Earth just with very differently named countries. When I made this realization, it soon reminded me of the anime Hunter x Hunter whose author decided to imitate Earth's continents and just move them around all over the place.Most of the story occurs in a little town called Takayubi, a part of an archipielago of islands belonging to the Kaigen Empire which speaks Kaigengua (sounds very similar to Korean). The Shirojima peninsula of islands in Kaigen is reminiscent of Japan. Within these lands filled with frosted mountains is a culture inspired in ancient Japan where water controlling warriors marry women from similar powerful noble families to breed the most magically powerful children and train their sons in the sword extensively in order to protect their land from the Ranga invaders (similar to China in our world who are capable of using wind magic).
Among these many families, the story centers on the powerful and ancient Matsuda family whose head of the family passes the knowledge of an ice sword capable of slicing steel called the Whispering Blade. We get to meet the carefree current ruler of the family Takeshi and his robotic but equally powerful younger brother Takeru. Mamoru is one of the two MCs of this story and he is Takeru's first son. At 14 years of age, he is a promising swordsman and water magician called a jiyaka in his own right. But being good is not enough for him. He wants to master the Whispering Blade at all costs but he has so far been unable to unlock the secret towards summoning the full fledged blade. It is one of those things you have to learn on your own and Mamoru's school sword teacher Yukino Dai claims he is almost there. Meanwhile, Mamoru's life will start to suffer a drastic change when a city boy from another much more modernized region of Kaigen named Kwang Chul-Hee has moved to Takayubi alongside his father to install cellphone towers (apparently Kaigen is one of those oddball rural places where the internet and modern medicine are oddities). Chul-Hee causes an initial disagreement with Mamoru when he tells him a lot of the Empire propaganda they are being taught at school are lies. Mamoru then starts to have an internal struggle between being loyal to the cultural customs of the people he loves so much and the disturbing stories that might be true afterall.
The book has a second protagonist, and quite frankly a very shocking one. We usually get stories starring angsty teenagers or full fledged adult males that have reached their combat pinnacle. It is very odd that an epic fantasy would star a humble middle aged housewife. Many books make moms dull filler characters because quite frankly, what kind of a mother would let her children go to war? And how can you make a person whose job is to raise babies seem... well... interesting? This is one part where this book shines because Misaki is such a multilayered character. Once you peel off the demure smile as she obey's Takeru's arsinine orders, you meet a conflicted woman who battles between tolerating an unhappy marriage and a fierce opinionated warrioress just itching to hatch from her shell for the fake of saving Mamoru from his own self destruction as he starts to unravel the truth of his country. Misaki is no saint and she admits it. She barely tolerates even touching her own children and wonders the what ifs of her life if she hadn't married Takeru. She compares her emotionally distant husband to the outspoken Takeshi and his happy marriage with the even more boisterous fisherwoman turned noblewoman named Setsuko. Misaki hates herself for feeling so much hatred at herself and yet her she is with her very confused teenage son Mamoru who is begging her to offer him her guidance.
A good portion of the book, I felt rather indifferent towards Takeru. He was never violent towards his family, but by being so rigid with his ideas, he only hurts those around him. But he is no weakling. When it comes to fight, I instantly started to like his calculating style which nicely complemented with Takeshi's brash out-in-your-face magic. It is much later into the story where Misaki starts to dig into Takeru's real self hidden deep under a block of ice that I really started to appreciate him and know there is greatness.
Robin's chapters threw me off at first, but they are very important to understand why Misaki is so frustrated with her life. I really enjoyed how this book is so much about how to make a marriage work between two equally proud and difficult people once they found a common goal. This book would definitely make a great movie or tv series, and considering most of the cast are POC, it would lure a lot of attention. If there is any bad side to the book, it is the massive length. The book literally feels like it is 600 pages long and the first 25% is spent building the complex life of Mamoru and Misaki which is no small feat. Other than that, if The Sword of Kaigen wins the SPFBO 2019, I would applaud the win because it has been surely worthy of all of the hype it has been garnering. Enjoy!
Show Less
LibraryThing member spiritedstardust
4.5
Blood and ice wielding descendants, small mountaintop village and loads of political scheming and bloody battles.
The sword wielding badass Misaki reminded me a lot of Kiddo from Kill Bill. This book was filled with a TON of grief though- spent the second half constantly crying.
It took me a while
I’m sorry, but this dude did SO MUCH unforgivable stuff to her that I just cannot ignore or forget.
Blood and ice wielding descendants, small mountaintop village and loads of political scheming and bloody battles.
The sword wielding badass Misaki reminded me a lot of Kiddo from Kill Bill. This book was filled with a TON of grief though- spent the second half constantly crying.
It took me a while
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to get into it but the reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because of the romance. I’m sorry, but this dude did SO MUCH unforgivable stuff to her that I just cannot ignore or forget.
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Awards
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (Finalist — 2019)
Language
Original publication date
2019