The attention to social order Kaiganese society is patriarchal, boys train to be warriors at the school, girls are raised to be obedient wives to provide children that will bring new generations of warriors to protect the mighty empire. What can take some authors a trilogy of books to accomplish, M. The world building in Sword of Kaigen is astonishing. Wang has created a rich, complex and engrossing world which draws you in to the point where you can feel the snow between your fingers, smell the blacksmiths smelters and breathe in the sea air. Embedded in Eastern philosophy and mysticism, Japanese social culture and belief, M. With the rumblings of war in the wind, the once peaceful lives of the Matsuda’s is about to be shaken to its very core.

They are the first and last defence of the Kaiganese Empire and live by a strict moral code in a feudal system. The book follows the Matsuda family, leaders of a warrior clan who live in the mountain village Takayubi. I read this as part of Literature and Lo-Fi’s fantastic month long event, ‘February She Wrote’, promoting and celebrating female authors and authors who use the She/Her pronouns and wow, what a book to start this event with. I’m a broken man, but a better one because of this book. Wang grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go for 600+ pages of intense, emotionally charged, exquisitely constructed storytelling. Then Sword of Kaigen came along and completely and utterly changed the way I think about the fantasy genre. I have read fantasy books that have blown me away, taken me to worlds of incredible depth and imagination and introduced me to characters that have had a profound impact on my life. I am in my near-mid 40’s and read Lord of The Rings at the age of 15. I’ve been reading fantasy for a long time. Please be aware I talk about grief and mental health in this review and it turned into quite a personal piece of writing for me. This review has taken me a few days to write. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. You learn over time that the world isn’t broken.

The sword of kaigen review