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A review by pagesplotsandpints
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
3.75
<b>Read Completed 5/10/24 |</b> 3.75 stars
This was a very entertaining read, until the end of the book where it felt like it should have been a series instead of a stand alone. It's very confusing unless you know that THE SWORD OF KAIGEN is technically a prequel to some young adult books that featuring a widely small side character of TSOK about 11 years later. I read that it was a prequel maybe halfway through my read, but I was disappointed that the ending really did feel like it was unfinished if you haven't read the other series because I had so many more questions and I felt like it did the rest of the book a great disservice because the rest of it was very enjoyable. This left it feeling open and unfinished. I'm not mad at the author -- she designed it this was and I feel like this book kind of blew up in a good way. I'm mad at everyone else who read this before me, telling me it was a stand alone because A) it's really not if it's a prequel to another series and B) the way it ended, you're telling me you were satisfied with that without reading the other series? I don't believe you.
Mostly, I'm mad that this shaped my feelings for the book because now I'm mad instead of being happy with the rest of the experience that I had, which really was enjoyable. This was wildly character-driven, which I didn't mind. It reminded me of the beautiful character-driven story and relationships of The Green Bone Saga combined with the magic and feel of The Stormlight Archive. I had a really great time getting to know all of these characters and watching them grow throughout the book. I really could have been invested in this if it was a series, but I guess this just makes me interested for the author's future books!
I had a little trouble with some of the pacing. The most action-packed sequence happened halfway through the book, and that was really the tipping point for all of the action. With that being halfway and a major THING happening that was bittersweet, I just lost all momentum to finish the book. I still did, and I still wanted to, but it felt slow and like I was pushing much harder to finish because there was still so much left to go.
There were a lot of good things about this book, but I still think the book community overhyped this for me 😅 Mostly because of the plot. We don't get answers! There's the big hoopla about the government hiding things from this community, covering things up, making them vulnerable, and we don't really get more details about their reasoning for it and what else is happening outside of this slice of life. I liked that there were some more modern aspects in the book, but I was still confused a little bit exactly how much technology the rest of the world had and why it wasn't used here. Obviously I already had my complaints about the ending, but there's clearly a bigger plot and I wish it wasn't introduced here, or it was explained in further detail because this just felt like a cliffhanger for the next book that doesn't exist.
I can't say that I'd recommend this book as a fantasy stand alone, because it's really not. There are things that don't get resolved here that are introduced and that really bothered me. I'm mostly mad that these are the feelings I'm left with now because there was so much good in this book too.
This was a very entertaining read, until the end of the book where it felt like it should have been a series instead of a stand alone. It's very confusing unless you know that THE SWORD OF KAIGEN is technically a prequel to some young adult books that featuring a widely small side character of TSOK about 11 years later. I read that it was a prequel maybe halfway through my read, but I was disappointed that the ending really did feel like it was unfinished if you haven't read the other series because I had so many more questions and I felt like it did the rest of the book a great disservice because the rest of it was very enjoyable. This left it feeling open and unfinished. I'm not mad at the author -- she designed it this was and I feel like this book kind of blew up in a good way. I'm mad at everyone else who read this before me, telling me it was a stand alone because A) it's really not if it's a prequel to another series and B) the way it ended, you're telling me you were satisfied with that without reading the other series? I don't believe you.
Mostly, I'm mad that this shaped my feelings for the book because now I'm mad instead of being happy with the rest of the experience that I had, which really was enjoyable. This was wildly character-driven, which I didn't mind. It reminded me of the beautiful character-driven story and relationships of The Green Bone Saga combined with the magic and feel of The Stormlight Archive. I had a really great time getting to know all of these characters and watching them grow throughout the book. I really could have been invested in this if it was a series, but I guess this just makes me interested for the author's future books!
I had a little trouble with some of the pacing. The most action-packed sequence happened halfway through the book, and that was really the tipping point for all of the action. With that being halfway and a major THING happening that was bittersweet, I just lost all momentum to finish the book. I still did, and I still wanted to, but it felt slow and like I was pushing much harder to finish because there was still so much left to go.
There were a lot of good things about this book, but I still think the book community overhyped this for me 😅 Mostly because of the plot. We don't get answers! There's the big hoopla about the government hiding things from this community, covering things up, making them vulnerable, and we don't really get more details about their reasoning for it and what else is happening outside of this slice of life. I liked that there were some more modern aspects in the book, but I was still confused a little bit exactly how much technology the rest of the world had and why it wasn't used here. Obviously I already had my complaints about the ending, but there's clearly a bigger plot and I wish it wasn't introduced here, or it was explained in further detail because this just felt like a cliffhanger for the next book that doesn't exist.
I can't say that I'd recommend this book as a fantasy stand alone, because it's really not. There are things that don't get resolved here that are introduced and that really bothered me. I'm mostly mad that these are the feelings I'm left with now because there was so much good in this book too.