This was a buddy read with Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog and you can check out her review HERE!

TL;DR: This was an epic Asian inspired fantasy with intricately developed world-building and incredibly complex characters. The magic system was akin to Avatar but deadlier, the complicated family relationships reminded me of The Green Bone Saga, and the epic fight scenes gave me the same visuals and feelings from when I read The Poppy War series. Of course, the overall emotional connection that I felt throughout the read also reminded me of all of the above, so if you loved any or all of the aforementioned books, I have no doubt that you’ll find something to enjoy in these pages too.

Do I even have the words to adequately express how much I loved The Sword of Kaigen? What can I say about this that others haven’t already said and done so much better than I could? I already know it’s going to be one of my Top 2025 reads. This is another rambly gushing review so buckle up babes, you’re in a for a long ride! 😂

There’s a compulsively readable quality to Wang’s writing that made this such an easy read despite being full of newly made-up terms and a language for this world that the author has created. That said, I have to admit that I was pretty lost for a good 20ish% of the book—I loved what I was reading but the world-building was info-dumpy and Wang introduced us to it as if we should already be familiar with it. I won’t lie: it was a lot to take in and I wasn’t sure how to process everything! It took time to wrap my head around everything and for a good chunk, the glossary was my best friend, and I was constantly flipping back and forth trying to remember what Wang was talking about when they mentioned terms like jijakalu, fonyaka and dinma. Aside from the language, we’re also introduced to the sociopolitical climate in many of the regions but especially in Kaigen, and more specifically in Takayubi. This mountain village houses some of the most powerful warriors in this world, with the blood of gods flowing through their veins, but it is also one of the most traditional villages that still strictly adheres to the old-school tenets of duty and honour to Empire first and foremost.

This story is a decently balanced mix of plot and character and though I enjoyed Wang’s world-building, it was undoubtedly the characters that made me feel invested in this story. Our main characters and POVs are Misaki and Mamoru, mother and son, although now that I think about it more, I feel this was more Misaki’s story than his. That said, I loved them so both so so much that I ache with it and I know they’re characters who will stay with me for a long time to come!

Misaki was such an incredible woman and her arc is probably one of the best that I’ve read in what feels like a long time. You see her grow from a young woman full of enthusiastic blood-thirstiness attending a foreign magical school to being a young woman accepting the filial cards she’s handed to becoming a mother stuck in the past and struggling with motherhood, and finally, to a woman who accepts and finds peace within herself and her situation. I’ve used the word complex a lot so far but it applies perfectly to Misaki. She gets put through so much in the time that we know her and I was fully invested in her journey. If I were her, I probably would’ve stabbed a whole lot more people for how they treated her—low-key, the men in this book deserve hell!—and though she’s also flawed, I loved how realistically she’s depicted. I think my favourite part of her arc was the exploration of her relationship with her sons, especially with Mamoru, as I feel it’s not very often that you read about mother-son relationships, especially in fantasy. I loved how maternal love and motherhood was explored through Misaki, and I feel it was so well done.

I can’t talk about Mamoru without getting stupidly emotional but I loved this young man so much. He’s an incredible son, an amazing brother, and an immensely powerful and talented warrior. His arc was also done masterfully, as we follow his journey through the shattering of his world beliefs. It was so interesting to experience this from the perspective of such a principled young man who lives, breathes, and bleeds tradition. Despite the total reality shift, I loved seeing him rally and find faith in what he believes in, coming back to himself as an even better human, son, and protector. He deserves everything!!! 🥹

Aside from Misaki and Mamoru, there were so many others that we meet from the village and beyond who helped make this story come alive. There was so much love and heartbreak shared between the characters through everything they survive. Perhaps the secondary character who I had the most mixed feelings about was Takeru. I won’t go into detail but I’ll just say that I can appreciate what Wang did with his character, while I also still kind of hate how it happened, lol.

I can honestly keep going and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of what this book did to me. I was so inadequately prepared for the way this book would fling me over the cliffs of despair and absolutely gut me with each chapter after the halfway point. I’m not even exaggerating when I say I didn’t stop crying from about the 50% mark and when my tears did subside at various points, it wouldn’t take more than the mention of a character’s name, a certain word, or an emotion, to set me off again. I was a hot mess and 100% that meme about “readers reading to relax” followed by shots of angry, heartbroken, ugly crying reactions to books.

I will say that I do wish the ending had been less abrupt or that this was actually the first book in a series because of how weak it felt in comparison to the rest. New information is introduced towards the end that leads to nowhere, which confused me because it set up so perfectly for a sequel. So yes, there were elements that could’ve been better explored and issues that could’ve been further addressed; however, I was too in my feelings over the characters to mind at all. I am aware this wasn’t the perfect debut however, the story was perfect for me. Becky has a much more balanced review than mine so please do check it out for a more well-rounded, and less rambly/gushy perspective. This was an awesome book to buddy read because I needed to have someone to rage with and cry to, haha. 😆

Overall, I can see why those who loved this book loved this book and I’m so glad that I can count myself among them. I would definitely recommend this debut (and if you’ve read this far into the review, you’re a legend)!

Have you read The Sword of Kaigen or is it on your TBR? 😉

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