kana 1) a Yammaninke negative imperative, similar to English ‘don’t’ 2) a Yammaninke auxiliary verb meaning ‘shouldn’t.’ Nadamui a town on one of the farthest southern islands of Shirojima, meaning ‘Hill of Tears’ in the local dialect. The Sword of Kaigen has some of the most vivid and cleverly choreographed action sequences that I have ever read, keeping me on the literal edge of my seat most of the time. But some of the book’s most memorable moments occur in stillness, when the author will drop scalpel-sharp insights, striking, with the precision of a well-sent arrow, at so much of what ails not only her fictional world but also most areas all over the world today. ( ”What sort of a man closed his eyes to the world and called it clarity”) The true monsters of The Sword of Kaigen are, after all, eerily familiar: propaganda, disparity, militarism, and the ways countries can both liberate and dehumanize. Congratulations to M.L Wang - The Sword of Kaigen is the SPFBO champion for 2019 with the joint-highest score in the contest's 9 year history (from ~3,000 books!) A lot of frustration and tension is generated by the constraints of the society imposed on characters who we want to have the freedom to flourish / be happy, and by the failure of characters to communicate - but not in any artificial way but because people are complex and flawed and often fail to understand each other's motives and feelings.

While the relatively modest scope of this harrowing tale might sound discouraging, do not be deceived as The Sword of Kaigen is a novel of rare density and potency. The pacing is relentless in spite of retrospective flashes. The chapters are short but well crafted and with a superbly balanced description to reflection to action ratio. It is 3:27 AM and I finished reading the book. There are 73 people among my friends who want to read it too. If you are one of them, do this today. If you are not—do it anyway. I may have had fun ( so much fun!) working on my various spin-offs this year, even nearly finishing some, but fun doesn’t constitute a cohesive universe. Between the size of Theonite’s cast, the breadth of its world, and the complexity of some of its content, I’m just not ready to pull it all together. Not at my current skill level. And continuously trying to spin-off from a story that itself isn’t working is not a good strategy. So, even though this breaks my heart…However, there were certain passages that were excruciating to absorb. One chapter, “The Shelter,” is so well-written and disturbing that it felt like I was suffering similar horrors to what the characters were experiencing. This is one of Wang’s strongest assets as a writer: she is skilled at connecting the reader with the harrowing experiences of its characters as they are dragged through traumas and painfully raw revelations. It is admirable how Wang exemplifies great strength in crafting these vivid descriptions out of such severe emotional moments. It is always impressive when a writer like Wang willingly volunteers themselves to empathize with such difficult mindsets and translates these experiences into print form. Joyakalo the tenth month of the twelve-month Dunian calendar, named for the mythical human ancestor Joya from the Donkili (roughly coincides with Earth’s April). Falleyaa Yammanka religion centered on the Falleke (the marriage between God, Kiye and Goddess, Nyaare). nanjutsuan ancient fighting style developed in the southern part of the current Ranganese Union (then part of the Kaigenese Empire). Sizwe the southernmost country on the continent of Kelendugu, populated mostly by tajakalu, a former imperial power and old rival of Yamma’s.

To say that this book was thrilling is an understatement. I’m not joking. The Sword of Kaigen is one of the most intense books I’ve ever read. I gritted my teeth, I clenched my fist, and I was constantly breathless. Wang knows how to write catastrophic elemental magic and implement extraordinary heart-hammering scenes very effectively. If you love The Poppy War, shonen anime/manga, or elemental magic battles— Avatar: The Last Airbender for example—you seriously have to read this book. Ice magic, wind magic, blood manipulation, and terrific duels; without writing skills of a certain caliber, the battles in this book could’ve been really frantic and too hard to follow. However, that wasn’t the case with this novel because Wang’s prose was easy and delightful to read. Her prose may not be poetic but it is vivid, simple, and flows without any obstruction. flea Yammaninke word said when presenting something to someone, similar to English ‘here’ (i. e. ‘here it is’ or ‘here you go’).On a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’ The Sword of Kaigenfocuses on a mother and son. As we watch each of them grow individually, we also watch them grow closer to each other, and subsequently, to their other family members. sub-theonitea person who has special abilities but does not qualify as one of the original types of theonite (tajaka, jijaka, fonyaka, or the now extinct senjaka and kabaka) such as littigiwu, sondatigiwu, and fankatigiwu.

Koro a prefix for a member of the manga koro or kele koro kafo, similar to the English ‘Mr.’ or ‘Ms.’It's a mature book in the way that it presents, understands, and resolves various conflicts, showing every one on whom the spotlight lingers to be deeply human. There are no mustache twirling villains here.