Name: The Sword of Kaigen
ISBN: 9781720193869

The Sword of Kaigen

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.’ Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies. Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface. When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

What Hacker News says

sanman8119Dec 2024

Fiction: Sword of Kaigen M.L. Wang

Non-Fiction: The Will to Changs Bell Hooks

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asicspSep 2024

* "The Sword of Kaigen" by M.L. Wang

* "The Green Bone Saga" by Fonda Lee

* "The Weirkey Chronicles" and "Street Cultivation" by Sarah Lin

See also:

* Middle East/Middle Eastern SFF: https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/128ozc6/the_2023_r...

* Set in Africa: https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/ttrhvf/the_2022_rf...

* Set in Asia: https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mhz3k7/the_2021_rf...

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JemaclusDec 2022

I do!

- Django Wexler's THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS - flintlock fantasy with demons! First book is titled "The Thousand Names"

- Robert Jackson Bennett's THE DIVINE CITIES trilogy, of which the first book is THE CITY OF STAIRS. For what it's worth, everything Robert Jackson Bennett writes is fantastic. He's one of the authors I consider to be at Sanderson's level (or better!) without much of the acclaim.

- Will Wight's CRADLE series, starting with UNSOULED. Like a lot of long-running series, first book is standard fantasy fare, but starting with the second book it turns into its own incredible world. If you like Dragon Ball Z and Chinese wuxia genre, this is fantastic.

- Max Gladstone's CRAFT SEQUENCE - Imagine legal contracts as magic. A secondary world urban fantasy, wildly imaginative, mostly involving mysterious events and the characters that investigate them. First book is THREE PARTS DEAD.

- Sebastien de Castiel's THE GREATCOATS series was described as the "Scott Lynchiest book since LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA." I don't really but _that_, but I did thoroughly enjoy the series, and have read everything else de Castiel has published on the strength of these books. Really good!

- Scott Lynch THE GENTLEMEN BASTARDS, of course, has to be on the list, with the first book being THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA. The series is unfinished, sadly, but the way the stories are structured, you don't really miss it. LIES is one of my favorite books ever

- Dan Wells' I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER follows a sociopathic kid named John Cleaver who... well, he's not a serial killer but he kinda wants to be. And it turns out he can hunt demons. Horror stories, but very well done. The series is complete. There's also a movie version of the first book!

- Josiah Bancroft's THE BOOKS OF BABEL are my favorite reads of 2022. It follows a schoolteacher who loses his wife on a tourist trip to the legendary Tower of Babel. Wildly imaginative, engaging characters, and a crazy trip! Series is complete and the first book is SENLIN ASCENDS.

- Fonda Lee's THE GREEN BONE SAGA is a secondary world fantasy following Godfather-style mafia families on an Asian-inspired island. Jade gives them super powers, which they use to enforce control over the island. Very political and violent. Trilogy is complete and the first book is JADE CITY!

- For a standalone novel, check out M.L. Wang's SWORD OF KAIGEN, which is another secondary world fantasy following a Japanese-inspired honorable patriarchal society that more or less refuses to modernize with the rest of the world, but this island is the first line of defense against invaders. And, of course, there are invaders. Really good, character-driven story.

- Michael Livingston's THE SHARDS OF HEAVEN is an alternate history fantasy following the children of Cleopatra, a few Roman soldiers, and Augustus Caesar as they hunt down magical artifacts known as the Shards of Heaven. Very well done, historically accurate (as much as it can be). Criminally underrated, IMO.

- Evan Winters' RAGE OF DRAGONS is an African-inspired fantasy, with a character who grinds for power in a way that reminds of old-school video games. It's NOT a LitRPG -- it's straight up fantasy -- but the mechanic there makes me think of it. It's also a straightforward revenge fantasy ("you killed my father, prepare to die"), but it's told very well and both of the books so far are fantastic. Third book coming soon!

- C.L. Clark's THE UNBROKEN is also an African-inspired fantasy, focusing on an imperial regiment that occupies a city in order to stabilize it, and one of the soldiers falls in love with the princess. It's sapphic, but I really enjoyed it.

- Charlie Jane Anders' ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY is where urban fantasy meets science fiction. A witch and a wizard become friends in San Francisco and their lives intertwine over the years until they come face to face in a final confrontation. One of my favorite books. Anything by Charlie Jane Anders is gold, for what it's worth. Instant buys for me.

- Mary Robinette Kowal is better known for her LADY ASTRONAUT series, which I thought were good (Sanderson-level), but I really enjoyed her most recent book THE SPARE MAN which is a murder mystery... on a cruise ship! in SPACE! A SPACE CRUISE SHIP! I wound up devouring the entire book in a single night, from about 10pm-4am.

- Lindsay Buroker's DEATH BEFORE DRAGONS series is an urban fantasy set in Seattle. I wouldn't say Buroker is better than Sanderson, but she publishes more often -- typically 6 books per year -- and they're all really enjoyable reads. Not going to win any awards or anything, but if you want reliably enjoyable and cheap reads, she's your girl. DEATH BEFORE DRAGONS is her best, so far, but I've read all 60+ books in her catalog and I would recommend any of them to anyone who tires of the huge, epic fantasy worlds and wants something simpler. If Sanderson's Cosmere is STAR WARS, then Buroker's books are episodes of FRIENDS.

- Daniel Green's LAWFUL TIMES series is surprisingly good. The first book, BREACH OF PEACE, is a novella, and it's dark and has horror-vibes. The second book is even better, though. I'm really looking forward to book three!

Hope that helps. If you have more specific types of fantasy or sci-fi that you like, let me know and I can recommend some more :)

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asicspDec 2019

I mostly read fantasy books and this year I got Kindle Unlimited subscription and checked out a lot of self published books. Top 3 among them would be:

* The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

* Cradle by Will Wight

* Arcance Ascension by Andrew Rowe

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asicspOct 2019

Having a good community also helps to separate the good books from others. I mostly read fantasy and the community on reddit is so good to get recommendations, participate in polls, interact with authors, etc. There's also a yearly contest where 300 self published books are reviewed by bloggers. Here's a recent poll [1] and here's a somewhat older thread for recommendations [2]

I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription this year and some of my favorite series are:

* Cradle by Will Wight

* Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe

* Heartstrikers by Rachel Aaron

* Worm by Wildbow (I'm counting webserials as self published too)

* The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/cwz83u/the_rfantas...

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/7lib3d/what_are_so...

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