Book Dragon Banter

Hidden Strengths: Examining Characters in The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang

• Zinzi Brookbree • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Hidden Strengths: A Deep Dive into 'The Sword of Kaigen' | Book Dragon Banter

In this emotional episode of the Book Dragon Banter podcast, hosts Zinzi Bree, Sage Moreaux, and Katherine Suzette dive into 'The Sword of Kaigen' by M.L. Wang. Join us as we discuss how M.L. Wang expertly crafted this heart-wrenching, Japanese-influenced fantasy that tore at our hearts. We explore the richly detailed world-building, compelling character arcs, and intense scenes that made this book unforgettable. From the touching mother-son relationship to the deep female friendships, we break down every aspect that makes this a must-read. Was there a moment when you needed tissues? We certainly did. Let's talk about it!


The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

https://mlwangbooks.com/


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For Write with me— Zinzi Bree, email: bookdragonbanterpod@gmail.com

Book Dragon Ink Retreats: https://www.bookdragoneditorial.com/ink-retreats


00:00 Introduction and Hosts

00:09 Book of the Month: The Sword of Kaigen

01:08 Cultural and Publishing Insights

01:57 Author Background: M. L. Wang

02:48 Audiobook vs. Ebook Differences

05:16 Spoiler-Free Recommendations

08:11 Content Warnings and Explicit Themes

09:18 Spoiler Discussion Begins

10:38 Character Arcs and Development

16:00 Narrative Structure and Cultural Context

25:20 Character Arc Critique

25:53 Empathy for Maki's Struggle

27:47 Misaki's Love Interests

29:35 Friendships and Female Bonds

30:53 Hyori's Heartbreaking Story

32:55 Mamoru's Disillusionment

36:24 Misaki's Realization and Growth

52:57 World Building and Magic System

58:41 Final Thoughts and Recommendations



Get in touch with us!

Zinzi Bree:

Welcome back to Book Dragon Banter podcast where we three, discuss books. I am Zinzi Bree. With me are Sage Moreaux and Katherine Suzette. This month we read The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang, Wang.

Katherine Suzette:

Let's talk about how Wong broke all of our hearts.

Zinzi Bree:

There's gonna be a whole ton of, I'm trying to pronounce these things correctly and I'm butchering them, and I apologize, but I'm gonna try, I'm gonna do my best.

Sage Moreaux:

Likewise. I will likewise be butchering.

Zinzi Bree:

that likewise

Sage Moreaux:

Not on purpose.

Zinzi Bree:

Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If you read the book beforehand, did you, did you need as many tissues as I did because I, I actually counted the pile of tissues that I had on the floor after reading this book. and there was more than 20 tissues that I went through in, in this one. I

Katherine Suzette:

a strange fact, but Wow.

Zinzi Bree:

reached my chest.

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah, they did.

Zinzi Bree:

For book club with book Dragon Banter. We are doing books that are culturally and geographically influenced by different places all across the globe, in their fantasy theming. So for Sword of Kaigen, it has a very distinctly Japanese flavor. That was part of why I picked it, for us to do as well as it was very highly rated. I did not know. going into it that it was self-published. I thought it was a traditionally published

Katherine Suzette:

Oh really?

Zinzi Bree:

and then found out Yes, partway through reading that it was self-published, and not traditionally published. And that changes the lens on, what I will be critical of and not critical of. Because with traditionally published, I would've had different expectations of the book than I do now, knowing that it was self-published. It changes my perspective.

Katherine Suzette:

It might change mine a little bit as well.

Sage Moreaux:

The author M. L. Wong is an author, martial artist and self-described recluse, currently hiding somewhere in Wisconsin with her maroon belied, parakeet, Sulu. My understanding is that she does not spend a lot of time on social media. However, I do believe you can follow her parakeet ulu if you are interested. Her books include Blood Over Bright Haven, the Sword of Kaigen and the Volta Academy Chronicles, which she published under Maya Lin Wang. You can find out more on her website, M. L. wang books.com. And also this book that we just read, the sort of Kaigen won the 2019 2020 Self-published Fantasy Blog off, which is an annual literary contest run by author Mark Lawrence, to promote self-published fantasy books. I thought that was cool.

Zinzi Bree:

That is cool. I didn't know about that.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

I did this both as an audiobook, and as an ebook. I bounced between the two.

Katherine Suzette:

Oh, so not at the same time, but like back and forth.

Zinzi Bree:

no. Oh. So I actually did some of it at the same time, and there were. There was a sentence that the audiobook narrator read that I checked the ebook and it was not in there. And then there was a different, there was later another

Sage Moreaux:

Wow.

Zinzi Bree:

that had the word work and he used a different word, than what it's

Katherine Suzette:

Oh,

Zinzi Bree:

So there is actually a slight difference between the audiobook. Off of Audible by Andrew Tell, and the ebook copy currently available, on Kindle, which is

Katherine Suzette:

interesting.

Sage Moreaux:

I have the soft cover.

Katherine Suzette:

it for audio and changed some things, like some editorial stuff,

Zinzi Bree:

I

Katherine Suzette:

if it was an accident.

Zinzi Bree:

that, or maybe because it's self-published. If M.L. Wong just did an update with better editing if there were typos this is a 600 page book, right? In that amount of time, I'd expect to see at least one or two typos, and I don't remember seeing typos, but I do remember the discrepancy between the audiobook, having, having just slight tweaks of, and they weren't, they weren't hugely informative things. They were just, maybe there was a duplicate sentence here or something that needed to get cut.

Katherine Suzette:

Interesting.

Sage Moreaux:

find one typo. I have this edition, which is a soft cover from 2018.

Zinzi Bree:

Okay. So Katherine, did you do audiobook then?

Katherine Suzette:

I did, and I did only audiobook. And so I noticed some things that I would've pointed out as an editor for the author. But again, now that I know that they're self pub, it makes a lot more sense that these things made it into the final version, but all the same. I'll find things in Trad pub as well. So, perfection not required for me to enjoy the story,

Zinzi Bree:

hmm.

Sage Moreaux:

I noticed that as a writer, I've started reading differently. I used to just read purely for Enjoyment, and now I read for enjoyment and character development and story structure. And I imagine as an editor for Katherine, it's like exceedingly more

Zinzi Bree:

yeah.

Katherine Suzette:

I can just read for enjoyment. Like I just read a nine book series that were cozy, that were pretty horrendously written, but they were hilarious and I enjoyed the characters and the banter. So I was like, it fits the vibe so I'm going with it. But also, if I were to be hired as an editor for that particular book series, it'd be a lot better.

Zinzi Bree:

wow.

Sage Moreaux:

Love it.

Katherine Suzette:

Still enjoyed it. Still enjoyed it.

Zinzi Bree:

Back to this book in particular. Spoiler free recommendations. What is your, for someone who listens to us and then based on what we say here, they may or may not go read the book, what would your guys' recommendations? What were your, are your spoiler free thoughts?

Katherine Suzette:

If you like books that want to, that

Zinzi Bree:

I.

Katherine Suzette:

that wrench your emotions around in a very good way, it's beautifully done. Then this is absolutely the book for you. This is also a book that doesn't focus on the character we think it's gonna focus on. It focuses on, sorry, this is a tiny bit of a spoiler, but it focuses more on the mother character. So for people who. Want to relate to the mc a little bit more, and maybe they're a little older or something like that, then I absolutely think this is really good too.

Sage Moreaux:

I was gonna say, if you like, um, badass female characters who are. Good at wielding swords as well as magic who are determined and extremely emotionally strong. But go through an emotional arc. Then this book would be for you. Also, tons of great martial arts scenes. Tons of great like fighting with swords and magic.

Zinzi Bree:

I would like to say, if you want, if you watched avatar the Last Airbender, but wanted a grownup version where it's the Air Nation that attacks and not fire nation, with a whole lot of grit and realism and some very, very cinematically written fight scenes, And then you don't mind having the camera for the most part follow a woman's perspective, a mother's perspective. this book might be for you. This is a writer who is I didn't feel like she was poetic. She's cinematic. I was

Katherine Suzette:

Yes,

Zinzi Bree:

watching this book in my brain like a

Katherine Suzette:

Absolutely.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

Pretty much the whole time, like from the get go.

Sage Moreaux:

Agree.

Zinzi Bree:

If you like books like that, this might be for you

Katherine Suzette:

Also think that it was a really great example for you to pull in the, um, Avatar the Last Airbender, because I kept thinking that along the way. But M. L. Wong did bring in various versions of those, of the elements and the talents that come out of that, that are not found in the Airbender series. So I thought that her choices there were excellent and very interesting.

Zinzi Bree:

Yeah. I would not in any way be like, this is fan, like fan fiction where it's, no, it is not, it is not

Katherine Suzette:

No. There we go. Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

Avatar, the last Airbender is a really easy pop cultural reference to give a vision for what this story is like. But it's not the only one. There's, there's loads of anime that deals with, elemental powers, that are, that are other good comparisons. It just, one is the most prevalent to me from my experience with them. Content warning, awful things happened. This is a

Katherine Suzette:

yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

Um,

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

really terrible things happen and we are gonna talk about them. Podcast is explicit because there was murder there was gore, there was sexual assaults. In the course of this story and we're gonna talk about those things.

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah,

Zinzi Bree:

Be aware that's coming up.

Katherine Suzette:

it wasn't like super graphically in detail described, but it was, it was there. So depending

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah,

Katherine Suzette:

depth of which you're comfortable with those things, being on a page, this one was, was not in hyper detail. It wasn't hyper-focused in on those things, but it was impactful for sure.

Sage Moreaux:

I agree that it wasn't like super intense with the Gore descriptions, but I also think that like, because of her style of writing it, like every description kind of got you, uh, in the chest a little bit. Even though the description itself wasn't highly detailed, you could feel the feeling of the intensity of it.

Katherine Suzette:

I was definitely crying while doing the dishes, reading certain parts,

Zinzi Bree:

spoilers from here on out. All the spoilers, just to be clear. All the spoilers good. Golly.'cause I got a lot to talk about.

Katherine Suzette:

Right.

Zinzi Bree:

I, I have to start with not, not only did I have, and yes. Okay. Weird fact I counted my tissues that from this, because I was, I was reading this, I was. Sitting on my bed my husband was next to me and he was just like on TikTok or something, and he looks over at me and there's just like silent tears streaking down my face and he's oh, babe. And he started, he started holding my hand as I'm sitting there crying and at one point he left the room just got to this, I got to a spot in the book, and, and we can, we can talk about this more as we're going through like the story and what happens, but. I wanted to throw, if I had had the physical book, I would've thrown it, but it was on my Kindle and it's too expensive to throw. But if I had the physical copy, I'd have fricking shucked that thing across the room. And I ended up taking, uh, I will, I will, I will post it Here. I took a photo of, this is my angry look. Tear streaked face. That's what it's gonna look like for you, for people who are audio and can't see it on YouTube.'cause I will put it here, but this is my look of hatred and admiration for the

Sage Moreaux:

Hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

just ripped my heart out

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Katherine Suzette:

Hmm. Yeah. Speaking of admiration, the way that M. L. Wong tackled the bittersweet reality of the MCs arc, I think that's what pulled on me the deepest,

Zinzi Bree:

the main character you're, you are referencing is Misaki,

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

mis Okay. I take issue. This is an a, a narrator problem,

Katherine Suzette:

Oh.

Zinzi Bree:

saying Masaki. And every time I have seen that we're that name spelled, and when I've watched Japanese shows, it's misaki. For me is misaki is probably how I will say it forward and, and say,

Katherine Suzette:

I'll probably say Misaki.

Zinzi Bree:

and how you read it in your brain.

Katherine Suzette:

hoping that the author approved it. And also I am extraordinarily American. So I'll pronounce it, since I learned Italian, I'll pronounce Italian things correctly, like bruta, like you can't call it bruta or whatever else it is that

Sage Moreaux:

I call it.

Katherine Suzette:

or bruta like some people do. So it's Bruta. Bruta, yeah. So or that kind of thing. Yeah, like I will

Sage Moreaux:

Hmm

Katherine Suzette:

those things correctly'cause I've actually learned. But other than that I tend to bring my fully American, like misaki because the accent is what I'm familiar with and

Sage Moreaux:

mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

mis.

Sage Moreaux:

also,

Katherine Suzette:

that

Sage Moreaux:

I also thought Masaki,

Katherine Suzette:

mis.

Sage Moreaux:

we'll have to read an Italian book at some point. Italian fantasy.

Zinzi Bree:

Yeah. Ooh, I look forward to that. So our, our main characters in this story was Mamoru and Taaka. Not

Sage Moreaux:

Taru

Zinzi Bree:

Not

Katherine Suzette:

Oh,

Zinzi Bree:

Taru. Yeah.

Katherine Suzette:

O

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah. Can I just say that I was reading along and I was taking like all of these notes on who was who and what the heck, because there was so many different, I'm sure, culturally accurate or influenced culturally nicknames for people and honorifics and so forth. And then like halfway through I was like, wait a minute. I can't believe there's not a glossary. There is completely a glossary. And I just,

Zinzi Bree:

and there's a cast of characters on

Sage Moreaux:

yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

pulled up the cast of

Sage Moreaux:

By the time I realized that I had already figured everything out, the maps and stuff were in the front. I would've liked the glossary and whatnot in the beginning so that I found it.'cause I am so adverse to reading that and spoiling something for myself by looking on the last page that I didn't look in the back to see if there was a glossary. So

Zinzi Bree:

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux:

there, there is, I don't know if you listen to the audio book, if you get that. Um.

Katherine Suzette:

not get that.

Zinzi Bree:

the, audio book does not have the glossary. It does not have the, author's note that's at the end either. And the ebook actually has on the front it goes, Hey, if you're reading this on a, on an e-reader, it will be difficult to access the glossary while you are reading because it's at the back of the book. Here's a link to the webpage. And she has the glossary on a webpage. But that was, the glossary is separate from the cast of characters. But I would've loved also seeing the link to the cast of characters. Because even just looking at the cast of characters, you've got Zuki Taka, Takashi Taru, Misaki Maru, like so many names also begin with the same letter that our main characters. And I know that's that's a naming. Device, that's culturally relevant. It

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

it also makes it difficult as a reader who's not familiar with those, to keep everybody straight in your head,

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Katherine Suzette:

Definitely with the audio, I had to figure out contextually sometimes who was talking because I would hear the first sound and put one of the characters, like images in my head and then they'd keep talking. I'd be like, oh no, it's that one. Okay, got it.

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm. So our, our main characters were Maru. Misaki and Takeru. T-A-K-E-R-U. And it does actually say that in the, like on the back of the book, it mentions all three of them. So that's not that it's

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

what is, what was a surprise to me because it opens with Mamoru. Then when it switched to Misa Key's perspective and that she is the majority perspective that we get the story from, I was not expecting that. And for her to be a mother, for her to be a mother of four children, for her to be, not a, she's not some spring chicken, it's not just one baby that she's had. this is a woman who's timeline wise in her, like between thirties and forties is what I, the math that my brain did,

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

And also Takeru is older, so there's, there's an age gap between them and that's not fully explained how much of an age gap it could. It could be 10 years, it could be 15. Didn't feel like the way he was, he was portrayed as it being more than maybe 15 years. Her senior,

Sage Moreaux:

I would say 10, but it doesn't specify.

Katherine Suzette:

probably,

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

But it's just to have character represented in fantasy when I have never that

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Katherine Suzette:

yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

alone makes this book such a standout. And then to how masterfully her arc is handled,

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

Between the starting point of the, of the story where she's in a place of really resenting her entire life, but putting on a false persona of smiling obedience, to where she ends up at the end of the story. in a place of acceptance and, and genuine love for her life and, what the future holds because of, the experience that she goes as that she goes through. but in the meantime, story starts with, Mamoru and he's a 14-year-old boy going off to training school for the martial arts, like that opening felt so typical, like going into that's oh, I've just clicked onto an anime and here's the starting scene, the kid's going off to school.

Sage Moreaux:

Yep.

Zinzi Bree:

So this other and unexpected point of view, was just that much more shocking because the introduction is so familiar, and. have to compliment the author in that, not using Maru, but using Chul-hee, the friend who

Katherine Suzette:

I.

Zinzi Bree:

the new friend that comes into school, and is the out outside perspective that, breaks the illusion that Mamoru is under about, his family and even his, his town's place in the world and, and how important they are to the Empire. But like Chul-hee being that outsider and having those conversations was such a great way to introduce the world to the reader

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

Mamoru was introducing it to Chul-hee. And then we were also getting characterization Chul-hee where he's scoffing at it all and, and making these sly comments about how, oh you're not as great as you think you are. You don't know the truth kind of stuff.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

And we do get, sorry, I'm just monologuing here. We do get Takeru's perspective in one chapter in one part of a scene, and that's just once in the, in the entire book.

Sage Moreaux:

Which I was very grateful for.

Zinzi Bree:

yes I

Katherine Suzette:

Honestly. Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

was ne it was needed um for for the scene that was happening

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

and I I wonder if it would have felt different there had been more of that interlaced in this story

Sage Moreaux:

I definitely think so, because to me he was almost like a minor antagonist all along. Yeah, he was the dad, the husband, but he was this cold man that his wife was afraid of. His children were afraid of, they didn't wanna disappoint him, they wanted to show that they could, and he was seemingly very easily disappointed in them. And so that before the actual battling started, that was kind of like that. And, the disconnect around their their town and the re the way that the rest of the empire was perceived through the eyes of the friend. I forget his name, but those were like the two antagonistic elements to me at first, other than Masaki whole own like inner.

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

Strife that she was going through. But if you had Taru seated in earlier, then you would've had a completely different perspective of his characterization. I think you would've liked him as soon.'Cause I did end up liking him towards the end, and for the longest time I was so angry with him and felt a lot of, a lot of disappointment in him as a father and a husband and a town leader.

Zinzi Bree:

And and you're supposed to feel that because that's part of what Misaki is experiencing and dealing with and is and leads up to

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

second climax in this store Because this didn't have I don't to me it didn't have just one big one It had two there was one bigger than the other as far as one was an action climax and one was an emotional climax

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

there were two in in the context of the story And I structurally wish that was not the case because that did make the book feel unbalanced It did make the end of the book And there were there were also I Knowing that this was self-published knowing that the original vision for this story was that it was not a standalone it was a prequel And that meant it had to have ties leading into other things that were gonna happen in the world and other characters that were gonna be followed I understand why there's other characters and some plot threads featured in the story but I genuinely wish there was a version of this that was maybe 150 pages less where those threads and additional characters and things were cut and set aside and that we did have this very distilled focused without those trailing threads that that went off into nowhere Because the series is the book and the series is discontinued for the foreseeable future according to the author and her website

Katherine Suzette:

Okay. It did read like a prequel and I kept feeling that way and I did not know that until this moment with you telling me that it was originally intended to be that way. But I was absolutely thinking all throughout, I was like, okay, this is really, really good. And I feel like it sets the basis for this world, this bittersweet arc, the acceptance of things as they are instead of, making people get their comeuppance and getting what you actually genuinely want in life. And, um, things like that. It was setting the world up. It was setting Hiroshi up to have his, his arc as opposed to Mamoru who. I thought was going to have the arc maybe Tero would.

Zinzi Bree:

an arc It's just it's a a

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah, it's,

Zinzi Bree:

in in this span of the story

Katherine Suzette:

yeah, and it's believable and it's good. His arc is really well done. It's at the beginning I thought his arc was gonna be the one to finish the story and that the mothers was going to inform his, as opposed to the other way around. Like his

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette:

the mother's emotional changes and her arc. And also I thought the structure was interesting where Misaki past actually starts before her current perspective. So we don't get her current POV until, in a way, I think most of her past catches up with her current. So we, we have an understanding of her past before we get her current POV. There's still past interspersed in her POV, but we have. information that informs us as to why she's trapped and maybe a little bit resentful. I don't think she was ever hateful, but she was so disappointed and, trapped by her culture really in the, in what she,

Zinzi Bree:

hmm

Katherine Suzette:

in this marriage.'Cause she wasn't willing to go against her parents. She wasn't willing to go against the culture, and she was supposed to fit this ideal. And

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Katherine Suzette:

that's, really what it was. I, I do think that there was fear of her husband and everything. I was so mad at him. I don't know if I ever grew to like him. I grew to empathize with him, but I don't, I don't think the man suffered enough. I really don't. He, he changed like a light switch who changes like a light switch. His arc was, I'm bad, I'm bad, I'm bad. Then they start to empathize with me a little bit'cause they learn a little bit more. I apologize on my knees. And then all of a sudden I am engaging with my family and my wife the way that I should have for 15 years and it's just like magic.

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah, I see that a little bit. I felt like he did not change as much as he probably would over time. I thought that she was like kind of, he was more open to her prodding him, and she was more understanding of where he was coming from. I felt like she was so afraid of his ness and his coldness, and that was him disassociating as a, a coping mechanism. And I felt like that when she recognized what that was and finally understood it, then she, instead of feeling like it was her. His reaction to her, she started to realize that it was him. And so she's felt more confident to kind of push him and not to let him, not to quiet down in his presence. And so I thought that she was gonna, help him kind of come out of his shell and become a better role model over time. And I do feel like the last few chapters took, I mean that all, like the whole beginning was like the course of a few weeks, and then

Zinzi Bree:

mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

last few chapters were like a year. Yeah. So I, I think he did, I mean, he seemed like he changed quickly, but I think he, it was a little bit of a time sped up thing.

Katherine Suzette:

That's.

Sage Moreaux:

don't think he suffered enough. He didn't seem sad enough about his son, but, he also just didn't have a lot of emotion. He stuck it into the mountain,

Katherine Suzette:

okay. There's, he was also trapped by the culture in a way. Like he has to these roles and these ideals for the culture and the village that he ended up in charge of. Okay, fine. And it did take them a year before they like held hands, before she kissed him, that kind of thing. So there was a progression. It just didn't feel like there was enough. For me arc with him, for me to end up liking him. I empathized with him and I, I approved of his choices the changes that he made. I approved, I never grew to the point where I was like, okay, I like that you guys are together. I like that go run off with the other guy. I like that you chose this life. I understand it and it's very realistic, but I was, I was never truly happy with that relationship.

Sage Moreaux:

I wanted to say about, Maki that I was so impressed with the author's, handling of her arc and

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

as a American woman who is a mother and a wife, I really. Empathized with her character in the way that she, and like, not like I feel trapped like this, but this constant tugging between being a parent, being a mother, and the things that I wanna do as an individual, being a wife. And, I, the, her scenario was so patriarchal. I don't feel like I am in that position at all. But I could still understand like this kind of tug between yourself as an individual. And now your responsibility as a mother is huge. And the way that the author handled it was so beautifully done. And her resistance to her children and her her like gradual. Connection to them that came as, she warmed up to the idea of where that she didn't have to struggle. She could become herself, she could be herself, and also be a loving mother. And like the way that that changed over time was so beautifully done. And very, as a, like I said, as a mother and as a woman, I could see so much connection with that. Even though I don't have magic, I don't sword fight. I don't live in a super patriarchal society with no technology, et cetera. But the like core struggle felt very relatable.

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah. To be fair, I am bringing the unmarried, perspective, like pre-marriage, like girl, why? Why stay with a guy who cannot love you in the way that you deserve to be loved? I understand. Again, I understand her choices and I approve of them. I just am not happy that she's not, on fire, so to speak for her, for the man in her life. I'm sad for her,

Zinzi Bree:

something that I thought was really beautifully addressed that the author did was so our main character Mizuki has two love interests basically her husband that she's married to and then a literal old flame from the past Robin and we get a scene that is her and Robin and what that looks like between their two elemental

Katherine Suzette:

I see fire.

Zinzi Bree:

the what the word Yeah The and it's it's ice and fire and it's melting and there's steamy and there's heat but then we get another scene towards the end of the book that is Misaki making the choice to kiss her husband Takeru that she is able to it's different It is cold but there's also underneath the cold there is like the bubbling of of the sauna and the spring and there's a different kind of warmth and comfort and I thought that was really beautifully

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

to show those two different relationships and different experiences And her there is a line even in the book where she says that she's able to hold her love for both of them. Like she's choosing Toro she's staying with that life That's the life that she's chosen that's her home is that town and him and her children. But she doesn't she doesn't lose her love for Robin It's it's something she holds both

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah. It was really beautifully handled.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

The things I the most in this book are The cinematic language and then the characterization I don't feel like there was a single character in here who did not feel distinct like their own person. Nobody while there are characters that definitely had flat arcs where they did not change like set Suki I believe which is the sister-in-law

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

um like she she goes through loss She stays mostly the same She gets a little bit more energetic afterwards um after the loss of her husband and now she just has her daughter that she has to raise so she just she she takes her loss and moves more into herself and her boisterous personality and that serves them in the end as they're trying to recover the else I wanna bring up here is the I also really loved the friendships

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

into this story between Mizuki hori and Setsuki

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

I don't experience again in fantasy many books that have strong f female friendships that are also married friendships where like you can you can talk about you can talk about your spouses you can talk about your children you can talk about your past or your ambitions that you had that you let go of or the things that you're still ambitious for even now while still trying to maintain the mantle of being a mother and motherhood and running a household and I I just I loved the bond and the friendship that got displayed between those three women in this in the course of the story. Speaking of Hori this well it was not the main thing that made me cry I feel like her storyline was important because in war are raped and sometimes the women survive and then they are pregnant with the the child of their rapist

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

what happens to this particular character and it was really heartening to see how her friends rallied around her in the time while she was pregnant While they didn't know whether it was her husband's and that seed of hope that that line would continue or whether it was the rapists Child and it does end up being that And so he already chooses to she considers killing the child when she clearly knows that it was not her husband's and she chooses not to She chooses mercy but she also chooses to kill herself because already in this society with a being as patriarchal it is even with the women saying we'll help you we'll raise it together

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

character after she suffers her assaults can't get past the shame of it even though it's not her fault at all. But that is that is part of the struggle is what what did I do wrong and so seeing storyline was difficult but I think it's important and I was Was very curious what the author would've chosen to do with a child from that union who is a wind child and she's a kind of a walking memorial of all that happened in this town and I was just curious if the author would have chosen to bring that character back in in the course of the series and give her her own story

Sage Moreaux:

I definitely thought that that. Child was being planted as a seed for a future story, as well as the child that was an orphan who was who disappeared, who was

Zinzi Bree:

hmm Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

taken. Because I, first of all was surprised that there wasn't more rape referred to. Presumably some of that might have happened. And I was glad not to have to read it on the page'cause that's really difficult. But if, and if there hadn't been any, it would've felt unrealistic also for the situation. I also felt like the way that he, he was dealing with the desperate shame that she felt was so heartbreaking, and I was not at all surprised when she committed suicide. I was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier. I kept expecting, when they didn't know where she was and, you know, I kept expecting, like she'd stopped eating and was wasting away or like something, she'd walk off a cliff, you know?

Katherine Suzette:

The author does a really great job with that foreshadowing. That is often difficult, her talent with this foreshadowing these seeds that she planted throughout the story is excellent. I know that the story is discontinued. That's what you, you told me. And I feel disappointed about that because I would love to see what happened

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Katherine Suzette:

The second son. So when Mamo passes, there's this thought that he's the first one at that age, at that, that young age to use

Zinzi Bree:

up I highlighted the line these are both gonna make me cry So just caveat there line that Misaki says to her friend Uri while she's pregnant and and doesn't know which is a person's tragedy doesn't define them or cancel out the good in their life and For you Katherine what you're talking about this line was the one that I saw that was a spoiler for me but it's a decade later A 15-year-old Roshi would become known as the youngest swordsman ever to master the whispering Blade What the world would never know was that he was the second youngest

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah, I had highlighted this line, the Dragon Killer ripped the blade free and mama ru watched his own inside spill from his body. And I was also gutted at that moment. I never expected the book to start with the character who would then like be killed halfway. That's halfway through the book. He dies halfway through. And I didn't, like Katherine said earlier, I expected that his would be the arc. I thought, I thought a whole other thing was gonna happen with their family. but you, when I read that, I was like, what? No, he can't die. Something's gonna happen to save him. But then I was reread the, the quote and I was like, you can't watch your own inside spill from your body and survive. So he did. I, and then we get to that, that, um, quote.

Zinzi Bree:

But that that one is is highlighted 3,333 times currently on Kindle And I can't imagine that's the only places it's highlighted but his Death and mesa's grief dealing with it I think is part of what's so powerful about the story and rips my heart out as my my oldest is a son and he's seven so I he has his personality he's got his warmth and there's a special bond that some of us get to have with our sons And having that experience myself. To see misaki only get a glimpse of what the specialness that you can have

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

so close to this loss

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

because it's A matter of I don't know maybe a week or two where she her she finally gets to be open with her son a little bit about who she is and what her past is

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

And then the war comes to their doorstep and he has to stay at the front lines to protect And his name Maru actually is protect and his sword gets named after him the protector And for just for that having such a short window is also part of her arc of her realizing how much she lost because she couldn't let go of the old life that she wanted chose to resent her parents resent her husband resent being in the position that she is and Some of that resent really should have been for and probably was for herself because made the choice She Robin came for her She had had the opportunity to leave with him and run and choose a different life and she didn't she decided to stay then missed out on years and years of a different kind of relationship with her children.

Sage Moreaux:

I really feel like,

Zinzi Bree:

devastated

Sage Moreaux:

go ahead.

Zinzi Bree:

her when she gets that realization of what she missed out on Good thing we had our our tissue boxes All right Somebody else talk so I can cry

Sage Moreaux:

I really felt like she thought of her children and maybe it would've been a little different if she had had any daughters. But I thought that, especially starting with mom Ru she thought of her children as her husband's children more than as her own children. And I think that she didn't bond with them. It was it that was so devastating. She didn't bond with them as she could have because she kind of lumped them in the category as being her husband and therefore cold, not somebody she couldn't emotionally connect to. And it was, yeah, brutal.

Katherine Suzette:

I think again, it was another really excellently done kind of thing to. Culturally separate out sons from daughters and the mother's purview in, in raising them. And that's why she so badly wanted a daughter because she wanted to connect with another human to be able to share her self that she can't share with her sons prior to realizing that she actually can do that. It might break cultural norm, but she actually can much like her father did with her as his daughter. Thought it was really interesting when her family came into the plot, little late to the rescue as is so often realistic in life. She was reminded of the family that she grew up in, how they interacted with and treated each other. And it made her feel more bitterness for what she was experiencing now because as long as she wasn't faced with that in her, in proximity, then she could ignore and pretend that that's all in the past. But being faced with it again, there was some bitterness, but it also forced her Between that and Ma Maori's death, it forced her to confront reality and like her role in her reality and how she can change her perspective and her choices from then on. And her choice to connect with baby. And Hiro, she, in a different way, was encouraging and positive. And her kind of forcing Tero to do the same was really positive.

Sage Moreaux:

I agree. When her brother arrived, it was lovely because he had such a different relationship with her than any of the men of, her husband and his household. So she was, she was in this house and society where she was seen as a wife and as subservient. But when she was growing up as the, I guess maybe the oldest daughter, she wasn't, she was like herself, right. Even before she went off to school and bringing the brother in and seeing how he didn't treat her just as like a subservient woman. He thought of her so highly and loved her so much, and I thought that was really lovely. Beautifully done too. And, the brother had this very distinct personality as well. And so every single character that came in added to one another's, like he really added to Mesa's, persona and her character arc. Yeah. I also wanted to add the thing about the, the friendships between the women was so great because like they, they saved, she said that when her sister-in-law came into the house,

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

like saved her from the despair of the miscarriages that she had gone through that she very much felt responsible for. And it was so that is such a true thing that friendships between women can be this like very powerful, very sustaining piece of life. And I just really appreciated that that was brought in. And all the three women were very different from each other, but they all treated each other with love and respect and raised their kids together. It was so heartwarming.

Zinzi Bree:

something I I wished for the breadth of the story for the arc that misaki goes on would've loved if this had been a duology.

Katherine Suzette:

I could see it as a duology as well, I think one of the things I complain about a lot with books, is that climaxes and the endings of books are separate. Maybe for the second book more with take's arc. Because I would've liked to see him make some choices internally, would've liked to see him, struggle and make choices for his and his family's betterment that aren't just, oh, and this is what happened. Epilogue style.

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

Imagine how different those two books would've been, because the one would be so much action and the other one would be so much emotion.

Zinzi Bree:

mm-hmm That's true

Sage Moreaux:

be, it'd been really interesting if she had chosen to do it that way. I kind of felt like I wanted it to. Wrap up a lot faster after the, after the dual between Masaki and Roo, like after that I was enjoyed every word that I read. The writing is lovely, the storyline was lovely and the characters and everything, but I was like, and I feel like we're done. all the Robin coming back, I didn't actually need that. I felt like just a couple of scenes of seeing the two, the husband and wife managing together and and her accepting her role and everything like that would've been enough for me. But I still have, you know, three or four chapters to go here and they're kinda long chapters and I don't expect that much is actually going to happen. I feel like after the dual between the two of them and then they got attacked by the assassin, which also felt like a lead into another storyline. So that probably wasn't necessary, although they did confront that person together. So that was like a unity building moment. And then you could have had a epilogue, although the business with HII was important and I felt like that those extra chapters to give the time for her to give birth and have that suicide choice was important to bring into the page.

Katherine Suzette:

I

Sage Moreaux:

I'm wondering if. Oh, you didn't need Robin.

Katherine Suzette:

I did. I, I would've been upset. I would've been like, they planted so much on that thread. There

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette:

kind of resolution. I don't know that he needed to come back on the page necessarily, but I needed to learn. How that was resolved of maybe it was in a letter to her by one of those friends or something like that. But like I wanted Robin, so I liked the, the longer epilogue final scene. And this is a great example of wait, every reader is different. All of our opinions are different.

Sage Moreaux:

Yep.

Katherine Suzette:

love and hate the same book. And I didn't hate it though. I love it

Sage Moreaux:

I also thought her, like she did decide to go into an arranged marriage with a man that she maybe never even met before.

Katherine Suzette:

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux:

Arranged marriage is still common enough around the world that there is an understanding of, that you grow to love each other. That it's not the American romantic ideal but it's this concept of choosing to be with someone for a specific reason that is not romantic, and that you grow to love them hopefully over time as you build your life together. And that is what happened for her when she let go, a lot of, of the baggage of her past and a lot of her own, like hatred towards herself. And she understood why Takeru was so distant. And he saw her as like a different person also, when she started showing herself as this fighter, he didn't know how. Much of a badass she had been in her younger days. So once they started seeing each other that way it allowed for a deeper connection, which I do think is like when you're in a marriage for a long period of time, even if it starts from a romantic, I mean I've been married like 18 years and starting from like a romantic love relationships do grow into this partnership that is a different thing. And so you don't have to start with romantic love to have that partnership, but you do have to have like empathy and patience and communication and all of these things that were missing from her earlier part for like 15 years of her marriage. And she was slowly starting to get at the end. And I did appreciate that.'cause I feel like that's might be a lot of people's experience where they are in a relationship that is hard and they need to find ways to better it.

Katherine Suzette:

And to emphasize how the author gave each character their own unique voice and perspective and influence on the story, she also did that for the relationships,

Sage Moreaux:

Mm.

Katherine Suzette:

and Tashi. They were a romantic connection.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette:

go against cultural norm. He did go against his father and he married the fisherman's daughter, and she brought joy to everybody in that little circle, and I loved it. And then her brother was in an arranged marriage, and in the beginning he didn't love his wife. But after a year of him learning to care for her, learning to empathize with her and being the partner in that relationship, say that he did love his wife now, and he loved and adored his children. And that also added to his love of his wife because they had built a family together. So I thought, again, the author did a really great job of bringing unique voice, unique perspective to the characters, but also their relationships since relationship was incredibly important to the story build in this one.

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah, it definitely was not a romance in the traditional thinking of like romance or romantic'cause

Katherine Suzette:

I did

Sage Moreaux:

that would be her with Robin.

Zinzi Bree:

all right We've we've done a lot on the structure. We've done a bunch on the character developments. Even some of the Plot twist. We touched on between RO getting killed off on page his sacrifice. And Taru being as cold as he was because he kept putting himself into the mountain He would he would disassociate put himself into the mountain So everything all of the emotions that he didn't feel like he could hold became small. Do you feel like there were any other cause the the empire being secretive and not treating them well that's discovered very early on by mru So that's not really that's just a through line through the story That's not a plot twist

Sage Moreaux:

I actually have something to say about that this was my one primary criticism of the book because of the structure stuff with the other characters being woven in as a prequel, like understanding that that was what was going on. So then that didn't really bother me. I, I got what that was. But the one criticism I had was that, Maru became disillusioned so early in the book with the Empire, with his friend from the Capitol telling him these things, and then his mom kind of like. Agreeing, and he had so much, I mean, that scene where they fell down the mountain and then they were on the glass plane, the obsidian plane, and they real, he realized that everything had been a lie, was so good and intense, and then the battle started. And I kind of felt like that fell away for him. And I didn't feel like his processing of his empire keeping things from them that all, that his personal history that he was so invested in, his family was so invested in, was all, all a liar. Or that there was elements of mistruth in there. I, I wanted that to come up in his like climactic death. Sequence at some point, or questioning, how do I reconcile standing here and being, like fodder.

Zinzi Bree:

Yeah I have an answer to this and it's in particularly in the scene that meets The Key has with her son Maru where she's in the dojo with him It is after the fight that Taru has with Maru

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

him defend his truth

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

Basically and he gets defeated and then is told your forms are sloppy train and Koru tells Ky to fix him and she opens up and they have a conversation about yes there's a lie. They had a conversation about it and Misa Key says the line learn over time that the world isn't broken It's just it's got more pieces to it than you thought and they all fit together Just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young And that's part of okay now you you need to take those pieces and reconcile them in your brain then also part of that conversation is going well would you if soldiers come today would you still fight to protect me to protect your brothers to protect our

Sage Moreaux:

Mm.

Zinzi Bree:

our town They have a conversation about it not in the dojo but they go out and see the the sunrise I

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm. I remember that.

Zinzi Bree:

And so that conversation is had and that crystallizes for him how to move forward With the new information and what he's gonna focus on is this. Okay Yes the empires lied to me but I can still protect my family It doesn't change the need to protect

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette:

I think that that.

Zinzi Bree:

and I felt that was carried

Sage Moreaux:

Okay. I wanted it a little more right in his like, final moments of life, but that, that maybe he had already come to peace with it. I do remember that sunset scene as being very like powerful

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

they watch the sunset together.

Zinzi Bree:

Yep

Sage Moreaux:

So I have a, a moment that happened where I was convinced the story was gonna go a completely different way, and there was gonna be this, crazy plot twist. And it was after, Maru died and they were taking all the bodies. The empire was taking all the bodies and

Zinzi Bree:

a I'm concerned there These are gonna be zombie

Sage Moreaux:

Yes. Did you guys have that too? There was a statement the children were watching, I don't know if they were being burned yet, but they were watching the bodies and they said he can't come back. People don't come back from the La Lara, I don't know how to pronounce that word, but it's basically like heaven or afterlife. They do sometimes, but a tui shuttered, pulling naoko closer, not in a good way. They don't come back as them. There's something different, something bad. And I was like, is is this turn into zombie? And then there was like the ghosts, the like dreams of memorial later.

Zinzi Bree:

Mm-hmm

Sage Moreaux:

And then the, the sheep shifter to appeared at. So like I, I was fully convinced we were going down this line.

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah,

Sage Moreaux:

I was okay with it not happening.

Katherine Suzette:

change. And I was like trying to figure out if I was gonna be okay with that. So kinda like hearing what you said about the, the actual series that came after this prequel. I, I feel the same way as I felt with that particular twist foreshadowed. Like it could be a different kind of magical force coming in that this culture didn't know of yet, that they were able to like, use necromancy or something, and maybe they're not true zombies, but they had to actually destroy the body, not just for evidence purposes, but also because of the genuine usefulness of the fresh bodies. So I thought maybe there was a different kind of magical user because we have shapeshifters and we have fire users and all that kind of thing. So like why not? There is this aspect of if they were zombies, like I'm not sure I would've loved that particular twist. I would've been like, no, we went, we went too far. We went too far. Just the

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah,

Katherine Suzette:

but that feels, just hearing, that feels like it takes it too far from this. aesthetic of of this world that the author has built.

Zinzi Bree:

Speaking of the world let's talk about the the world building in this book and the magic system which just holy freaking cannoli if

Sage Moreaux:

I

Zinzi Bree:

were to pick a world to write like a fan fiction in it would be this this world is so freaking cool

Sage Moreaux:

agree.

Zinzi Bree:

And yes mean my version of it would be nowhere I would go find like the cozy version the Hey we're cooking and we're we're lighting cooking the pot in my hand because my my

Katherine Suzette:

That was so cute.

Zinzi Bree:

hot it can cook

Katherine Suzette:

moment,

Zinzi Bree:

I loved all their interpretations of how to use the magic that these bloodlines created between them being able to form an ice dragon to fight the whispering blade which is the the bloodline hidden technique and that lots of different families have a specialized technique that they're passing down generation to generation and and even doing some like selective breeding with their marriages to make them more powerful I thought it was really cool to have air elemental users being the villains because so often it's fire and for it not to be fire was really refreshing that you like having them use a tornado having them one of my favorite things like if you have control over air and you don't pull the air from somebody's lungs you haven't thought hard enough about what you can do with air

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

So as soon as that was included I was like thumbs up You got you got it this is clearly very well thought out and well-planned and just so detailed and amazing I love the world I love the the that the cultures all had different languages that they needed interpreters that some people could communicate or not or they needed translations having those different cultural things touched on even you know the the clothing between the different between the Ragy Ranez and the weapons were different from the Ranes and the the Yama Morro Yama they were the people who had who had fire and actually were Slowly encroaching I I think very much on the ESE empire and are basically using the ESE as a buffer between them and Ranga

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

to protect their own interests and to continue to grow in power before the ese try to attack again and take over the GaN empire which I I mean like the political things that were happening just all fantastic Just

Sage Moreaux:

I agree.

Zinzi Bree:

Well done

Sage Moreaux:

I went into this thinking that it was gonna be. Super, like just traditional society. Like I didn't expect the communicators, the, like basically phones when, am Ru's school friend from the Empire, I keep forgetting his name, maybe when he, when he talked about how he didn't spend all day training, he liked to play video games, I was like, whoa, mind blown. Like this is so cool because I just expected kind of this like traditionalist samurai world and I didn't think that there would be this whole other level of a modern world outside of it. And I really appreciated that'cause it's different and it added a lot of layers around their choice to maintain that tradition and Miss Miss GUIs Chul-heece to, you know, move home and, and go into this arranged marriage. And it, that added so much to me and I thought the author did a great job of like. Slowly introducing those elements too. Like she, there was a lot of world building that probably didn't need to be included for just a single standalone, but, she still managed to weave it together in a way that was interesting and made sense. And I took a little time, but it was able to get it all. And I, it was yeah. Agree about the, writing the Fanfic. This would be a great world to set some stuff in.

Zinzi Bree:

a cool world

Katherine Suzette:

That would be really,

Zinzi Bree:

probably why so many people are like make more

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

um

Katherine Suzette:

I wanted to point out that also because of this world build and the different languages and stuff, the, it was interesting because we are Western readers, we are white people and often it is quite opposite that. It's other cultures that are rare for us, and in the books that we read. in this one, there was a white person and it was. It was new for a lot of the people in that village. So it was like definitely different or the fire users and things, they were, colored a little bit differently and their body heat was different and, it was never, their appearance was never the more important thing. Just the fact that they're very different cultures and their elements felt so different in the interaction between the elements was so difficult, in a way for the cultures to learn to be around. But I think it was interesting that given a moment where he said that they had all come out of the same ocean at the beginning of the world, hadn't they? Because of. His disillusionment and his grappling with these other cultures, other choices, other religions and things like that. They, he had to figure out where he stood on it all. So he had to, he had to choose his own beliefs a little bit there. So hearing him say that even before his village, it encounters the white person and these other cultures and users was very interesting. I appreciated that very much.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

Did the book deliver on its premise

Sage Moreaux:

Yes,

Katherine Suzette:

A war story.

Zinzi Bree:

inspired magical war story and fuck yes Did it did it deliver very painfully very heart wrenchingly

Katherine Suzette:

And from a unique perspective.

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

Yes there was a lot of things to love about this book even though it's flawed because of not meant to be a standalone in its initial creation it's still amazing It makes me very Excited and mildly terrified to read Blood Over BrightHaven Now

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree:

what this author can do and then

Katherine Suzette:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

a traditionally published edited version of one of her stories is

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah, and I think book two's on the way for that series.

Zinzi Bree:

Good to know that it's a series because maybe I need to hold off until

Sage Moreaux:

It might just be a duology, but I'm not positive about that, but I'm pretty sure that I saw the second one was coming out soon.

Zinzi Bree:

Okay This was such a hard book there's we did The Last Dragon of the East which it was romantic happy. For She's Wrath Also it didn't feel as happy and there was revenge So there was definitely like fight scenes and more going both of those books had fight scenes but I did not cry over either of those books and

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

this one just ripped my heart out and I don't think I will ever forget it. I think that this story is incredibly important and one that I I would highly highly recommend reading.

Sage Moreaux:

I was obsessed, like it was brutal and I just was so in every time I would pick it up to read, I was so immersed in this story and could not wait to. Just keep reading it.

Katherine Suzette:

I was so upset halfway through when Mamo died, that I think had I been reading it on my own, I probably would've put it down for a fair bit of time. was, I was upset, so I wasn't like addicted in that moment. I was angry that. That had been done to me. I had, I'd fallen in love with this character. I really wanted to see him succeed. I had all these ideas about what that was gonna look like, that felt foreshadowed in his life. And then to have it cut off so brutally, yes, it

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette:

but I was angry. I, I think had I been reading it on my own and not with purpose, I, am not sure I would've gone back to it for a while. I'm glad that I finished it. I really enjoyed the book in the end, and I will be recommending this, but it was hard. It was very difficult. It wasn't the whole, everything is happy, all is well here, kind of book.

Zinzi Bree:

we will wrap up with that. it's it's interesting cause like it if each of us got our hands on it at from as an editor it would be sculpted completely

Katherine Suzette:

So

Sage Moreaux:

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette:

Yes.

Zinzi Bree:

be focused on

Sage Moreaux:

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree:

The Misaki and and ura those would've stayed the same I think through all of our preferred versions of the story cause those are the heart those are the heart of the story and what It stays with you when you close the book this has been book dragon Banter, our book club episode on the Sword of GaN by M. L. Wong. Thank you so much for listening. If you read it. Did you cry? I wanna know, am I, were were the only ones. Were you able to get through it stone faced, like taco, or did you cry too? Follow us on social media. If you aren't already, we're on TikTok and Instagram. And our episodes are up on YouTube if you wanna watch them and not just listen to them. and again, thank you so much for being here.

Katherine Suzette:

Bye everybody.

Sage Moreaux:

Bye everyone. See you next time.

Zinzi Bree:

Bye.

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Katherine Suzette

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Sage Moreaux

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Zinzi Bree

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Flights of Fantasy Artwork

Flights of Fantasy

Flights of Fantasy
Fantasy Fangirls Artwork

Fantasy Fangirls

Fantasy Fangirls
PLOT TWIST Artwork

PLOT TWIST

Soman Chainani and Victoria Aveyard
Faithfully Fantasy Podcast Artwork

Faithfully Fantasy Podcast

Faithfully Fantasy Podcast
Dear Fantasy Reader Artwork

Dear Fantasy Reader

Dear Fantasy Reader
Booked On Fantasy Podcast Artwork

Booked On Fantasy Podcast

Addison & Lorraine