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

5.0

Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it.

when i say that this is the best book i've read all year, i'm not joking.
i've had to read a lot of lackluster fantasy and i've gotten the chance of experiencing amazing worlds in better fantasies. but nothing compared to this.
it was like i was completely immersed in an entirely new world and culture. i typically have a hard time visualizing books, but i could see this. it wasn't just that i was reading words on a page-i was living it. the writing style is incredibly easy to understand and at the same time packed with such complex undertones.
at times it was hilarious. i'd laugh at what was happening because the humor would translate so seamlessly into the prose. and then other times i'd find myself visibly shaking as if i was watching an action movie. nothing ever went the way i thought it would go.
it's embarrassing, actually, seeing the way my thoughts geared as i was reading it. i wrote the majority of them down, and there's a jarring difference between almost every single one of them. in one moment, i was sure i hated a character, and in the next they became my favorite. it was like ml wang was toying with me, and i can't even be mad at her for it. seriously, i will defend every character from this series with my life.
the characters...jesus christ. every single one of them was so complex in nature. ml wang would lead you to think of them a certain way and then tear you apart when you thought you understood them. from Misaki, an ex-crime-fighting swordswoman who now lives as a housewife torn between her past and her present, Mamoru, her oldest son growing into his power and knowledge, to even Takeru, her cold, seemingly uninterested husband. every single one of them packed a punch i could have never expected. they all blended into their world and yet they managed to also feel real.
emotionally speaking, this was something else. there have been times where i read a book that has an incredibly depressing event and I'll cry for a bit and then feel empty. it's not that it wasn't sad, it's just that it didn't affect me. it just left me feeling numb. this was not that.
i felt this book. it wasn't just that i full-on sobbed at some parts, i kept that feeling with me. it wasn't the resounding emptiness that i was used to. i grieved and longed for the characters. i still tear up just thinking about certain phrases. this book was everything i wanted this year and everything i never got until now.
seriously, this was amazing. there aren't enough words in the English language to describe how i felt reading it. esta es una historia que siempre se va a quedar conmigo. there isn't another fantasy book i would recommend more than this. an asian own voices high-fantasy with a strong female lead, a simple-to-understand magic system, and character dynamics that felt real.
this was outstanding.