Monday, May 03, 2021

2021 book 102

 M.L. Wang's The Sword of Kaigen

I love a good epic fantasy novel, and this was a GOOD one. It has two POV characters—a fourteen year old boy from a family of legendary warriors, trying to live up to their greatness.... and his MOM, who has a whole secret badass past, but is now a traditional wife and mother in a culture where women can’t even enter the dojo (this story is Asian-influenced). When a new kid comes to town and the son starts questioning everything he knows, she's torn on how much to tell him...and then things get even darker. Parts of this are straight up brutal and heartbreaking, and other parts are fist-pumpingly awesome (sometimes those parts are the same). Apparently this author has two YA books also set in this world, but I’m really interesting in seeing where she takes things next. A-.

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Content warning for rape and child death.

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