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
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In the snowbound mountain province of Shirojima at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire, fourteen-year-old Mamoru Matsuda trains with his father in the family sword and water magic, while his mother Misaki carries the memory of her old life as a foreign warrior before an enemy fleet appears in the bay.
Yes. The Sword of Kaigen won the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) in 2019, propelling M.L. Wang to wider readership. The novel was self-published in 2018 before traditional reissue.
No. The Sword of Kaigen is a standalone within M.L. Wang's wider Theonite universe. The series Theonite is YA-leaning and connected; The Sword of Kaigen reads as a self-contained adult fantasy.
The Sword of Kaigen was written by M. L. Wang, published in 2019 by Independently published.
The Sword of Kaigen is 649 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Sword of Kaigen takes most readers 10 to 14 hours to finish.
The Sword of Kaigen is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.