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  • The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story

  • Written by: M. L. Wang
  • Narrated by: Andrew Tell
  • Length: 24 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (122 ratings)

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The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story cover art

The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story

Written by: M. L. Wang
Narrated by: Andrew Tell
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Publisher's Summary

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, f14-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?

©2019 Miracle Wang (P)2020 Miracle Wang

What the critics say

"The Poppy War's darkness meets The Last Airbender's Elemental Magic...I haven't been so emotionally moved by a book in a long while." (JC Kang, USA Today best-selling author of The Dragon Songs Saga)

What listeners say about The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story

Average Customer Ratings
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Great!

Loved it! Worth the hype. Everybody talks about how great it is. They are right.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Solid story, could have done without the ending

The final hour or so of the audio book seems more like a self-help book on grief than a proper story. Aside from that, well worth the listen.

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Highly Recommend

Took me a little while to get really invested in the story, but once I did I couldn't stop listening.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Took some time to get used to the terminology, but amazing journey

Highly recommend for any fantasy Japanese inspired fiction. A great read through to the end, emotional and powerful and sad.

Wish there was more.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

voice actor needs help

Great fight and battle scenes, emotionally rich, fascinating story and good character developments. The worst part was having to listen to the narrator utterly butcher Japanese (and Japanese-based words), which could have been avoided if the actor had cared enough about his job to do a little bit of research and practice into Japanese pronunciation. Move past the cringeworthy affectations of female voices and awful pronounciation and enjoy the rest of this rich tale.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Unexpected Find

Just a fantastic story full of emotion and action. Narrator was smooth and consistent too. Hope to see more works from the author on here soon.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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so original!!

I really liked the originally of the story and another cool thing was the way people had powers, unique I think

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    5 out of 5 stars
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THE BEST STANDALONE FANTASY I'VE READ

Everything is just the right amount of perfection.I can't believe it all ended now :(

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Ali
  • 2022-07-14

Amazing story. I really hope there will be more!

A little lacking on the "Show, don't tell".
World building is perfectly balanced with dynamic characters that make you feel everything they feel. You will cry.

Narration was a little weak. Voices weren't consistent. Tones and pacing was good!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Saved by its latter half

This book is an example of why I find it hard to DNF books when I don't like them, the end could definitely turn things around. This is a very hard book to review, which is nothing compared to how hard it was to read at points. There's a lot of violent and gory scenes here. It was brutal to the point where there were parts where I questioned my decision to go on because it got too much for me. It was really painful. And there was a lot of infuriating sexism that made my blood boil. But then, after the early climax things started to change and I started to actually like it, and in the end, I was glad I didn't stop reading because I really enjoyed everything after the first climax had ended with all its gore. The rest was a beautiful character driven story of people handling their traumas and loss.

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2 people found this helpful