The Sword of Kaigen

Going into this book, I thought this was first and foremost a war-story and how a mother and son experienced the coming difficulties. But oh boy, how wrong I were!
This is first and foremost a story about identity, family, trauma and the consequences it has on ones identity and relations. M.L. Wang has proven herself an expert in dealing with the heavy themes of generational trauma and identity-struggles without ever explicitly shoving it in the readers face.
The story reminded me of so many elements from the ‘real world' like the political propaganda in the Sovjet Union and drug abuse in families, but this is not a story of either propaganda or drug abuse, but rather what it does to the individuals. It will make sense when you read the book, I promise!

This is a character-driven book. It is mainly centered around Misaki and her struggles to find meaning in her new existence. Everything that happens plot-wise is contributing to this, often in a very subtle way. The first 1/3 of the book might feel kinda slow, but when the action picks up, all the knowledge and insight you've been given up till then makes perfect sense and has great value in the following plot. It perfectly contributes value to the climaxes of the story: I was straight up bawling for more than one chapter, and it had me reading hours into the night, because I simply would not be able to sleep with so many strong emotions churning in me. A small warning: it might be difficult to read the middle of the book while you're pms'ing...

The magic system and the magical abilities of the main characters is not the focal point of the story, but rather a contributing element to the characterization and the characters relations. There is no epic world-building, nor an extensively actionpacked plot; it would not drive the story forward, so I never felt I missed it. There is just the right amount of action and no scene feel redundant.
The writing is beautiful and easy to read, the action sequences (yes, there are some action!) are a breeze to follow, without the scene being boring or simplistic. There are a lot of japanese(inspired?) words and frases, but there's a very handy glossary in the back to help you through, so it really only contributes to the social setting of the story.

Read this if you are a sucker for some chefs kiss perfect character arcs and stories that makes you think and feel all the feels!