Synopsis:

A mother struggling to repress her violent past,
A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

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?

High 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.

Review:

I definitely felt like I was the last person to pick this up, but it was so worth the wait.

It’s been a while since I have read a book where I fell in love with the characters almost immediately. M.L. Wang is honestly fantastic at character work – every single character in this book felt real and had depth. It is our two main characters though, Mamoru and Misaki that absolutely leap off the pages with life. Following the development of these two was amazing and I was so incredibly invested in them from the first moment. Misaki especially was one of the best characters I’ve read and I still think about her! Seeing her reclaim herself through the book was fantastic.

The story and pacing of this book are intense. It’s action-packed from start to finish, with some of the best battle sequences I’ve read, and I truly went on a full rollercoaster of emotions while reading. I clenched my jaw with tension, I cried (genuinely does not happen to me!) and I smiled.

We get a lot of backstory and learn about this large world right from the off with complex magic and cultural details, but I was never lost or confused and I think that is down to Wang’s wonderful prose. It’s simple but vibrant and allows the story to flow really effortlessly. As a standalone too I found it really well balanced with nothing unnecessary to the plot stuffed in.

I honestly cannot praise this book enough, and I will absolutely be reading anything M. L. Wang puts out! I am certain that I will also be rereading this several times over.

“It was the love for one’s family that could either make a person stronger or destroy them completely…”