samthepotterhead

[samthepotterhead]

I pretty much never mention the german books I read on here bc it feels weird writing about a german book in english and I definitely want my tumblr to be in english, but I just wanted to say that today, I've bought the new part of the tintenwelt (inkworld?) trilogy that is now a tetralogy and that's a series that I've read like 15 years ago for the first time. idk it's such a full circle moment to me to reconnect to a book series that I've read before I was a teenager (even if I'm not sure I'll actually like the new part since I'm way out of the target group). and to see now how I've come to like so many other fantasy books, with tintenherz (inkheart) along with the unendliche geschichte (neverending story) marking the start of my love for fantastical worlds.

so anyways, german books are dear to my heart as well, I just don't talk about it as much. and also bc there is much less to find on tumblr for those.

#tintenwelt #inkworld #die farbe der rache #the color of revenge #tintenherz #inkheart #unendliche geschichte #fantasy #and here go some looong sentences fit for the german language

[samthepotterhead]

update: WAIT a minute, I just saw that her first theonite book is about daniel thundyil (!). so sword of kaigen is a prequel. that's why it felt like I was thrown into a complete world all the time… well, that's not a standalone to me, at any rate. it's a bummer the YA planet adyn series has pretty bad ratings…

I did some research and turns out the theonite series was discontinued (or put on hold?) as the author said herself that making spinoffs of a not working story won't make it better. I actually agree with that - even though it sounds harsh and I haven't actually read the other books - but sometimes starting off clean helps, especially in fantasy, as you can easily get caught in your own worldbuilding web as a writer.

wang could've just soft rebooted the series with a soc-style spinoff - which I get was the intention with the sword of kaigen - but it seems too far removed from the og series plot. so it's probably better if she starts something else. but I have faith that m. l. wang could write a banger like six of crows bc leigh surprised everyone with soc after her early, very mediocre grishaverse works (imo, don't hate me) and wang's first theonite books seem to be similarly not so great. m. l. wang also wrote she can't handle it at her current skill level, which I think is really brave to admit bc again, that's something leigh bardugo said she struggled with as well with the grishaverse books at the beginning. she just chose to slightly move her focus into a smaller, more confined, yet very character driven space and then (partly) merge them again. which is similar to what wang did with sword of kaigen, but it feels different. and read the soc duology before the grisha trilogy too and it worked well on its own.

wang's most recent book, blood over bright haven, had mixed reviews as well, and the plot doesn't appeal to me as much, so I'll probably won't get into this. but I read there are a couple adult and also YA series coming up. so I'm hoping for the best bc I do want to support her!

I immediately thought after ending the book that I enjoyed a lot of things about the book, but the plot itself was such a mess. I read in a review that the last third of the book read like a very long epilogue which I agree with, but it was much more thrilling than an epilogue. it was like the real story only started then and things strated to connect.

I also read that the book is lacking and editor and I 100% agree with that. the plot was really good in the end and I liked the (main) characters, but the parts didn't seem to fit together at all. I felt like I read 3 different books: misakis past life, marmorus school life with all the worldbuilding and the time after the ranganese attack. I guess I don't understand why this isn't a series, there was so much material.

one of the things in which it did deliver plot-wise though, was its lack of tropes compared to YA. the school could've easily been like hogwarts and dai like dumbledore etc, but there was fairly little focus on the school as the story progresses. so it's honestly the first (english) fantasy book I've read that didn't immediately give me hp vibes. and I enjoyed the fresh wind!

in general it's weird bc the book was so unusual and unpredictable and I really liked the (main) characters (some others were a bit two dimensional), but I can't say it's a good book altogether bc there was so much stylistically wrong with it. and I feel bad about that! it's actually a bit how I feel about the kos duology, now that I think of it. a+ characters and some a++ scenes, but also scenes and plot turns where I thought "why was this kept in?" is my taste just too set on something or do other people understand what I mean? I think I would still recommend it, after all, but only with a disclaimer that it'll leave you a bit unsatisfied.

#sword of kaigen #daniel thundyil #m. l. wang #leigh bardugo #six of crows #grishaverse #theonite #blood over bright haven #adult fantasy #ya fantasy #fantasy #sorry for replying to my own posts so much today

[samthepotterhead]

update: yeah, had a little snape in dh moment here as well…

I'm constantly waiting for takeru to get a tragic backstory but apart from his upbringing (which takashi got as well and he seems nice enough) and maybe being the younger brother, there is no reason - he's just an asshole by nature.

also wow, this family has issue. how hostile a breakfast can be. it weirdly reminds me of wuthering heights, but at least hindley died and then things got, well not better, but different.

anyway, I have a hard time imagining misaki did nothing to defend herself against her husband in 15 years and now full on paralyzes him.

#the sword of kaigen #matsuda takeru #severus snape #deathly hallows #harry potter #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

update: I feel like I changed my mind about a lot of things about this book by the end, but I don’t want to delete this bc I stand by my rant about YA fantasy...

I thought I was only gonna make a review at the end, as this is a standalone, and I wasn't super into it at first, but this chapter has been the most thrilling so far. which is a pity since it's only a flashback chapter. but even in this chapter, it feels like I'm reading an introduction still. there is so much worldbuilding still going on and I'm still a little lost and every sentence has five lore words, so I have to look into the glossary every 2 secs. I do have to admit that might also be bc I know zero south-east asian languages. but I'm also having a bit of a hard time with the world itself. I thought this was gonna be high fantasy but it's kind of sci fi too?

on a positive note though, I do like this chapter for its action scenes. it's giving auror/order duty and crows mission/heist. I generally have this weird thing where I have to imagine a fantasy magic story is set in a world that I already know well but like an au or future version /in this case), in order to motivate me lol. I imagine the theonite world as a modern grishaverse, it also makes sense bc of the "races" and the elemental magic for the most part. it's essentially about tidemakers and misaki is a corporalnik too (more heartrender than healer) and there are two inferni in this scene including robin, and elleen (who is kaelish "coded") is something akin to a sun summoner (the holographic thing she can do is really cool) and koli is a materialnik etc. to me it fits even more than it did with the grishaverse as a wizarding world au. also, they call misaki shadow, like hello wraith. but at the same time they are basically superheroes, especially with the firebird symbol printed on robins back. (I also just realized the misaki flashback plot is basically the plot of miraculous ladybug?)

to summarize, I'm a nerd (and autistic) and just like to know the ins and outs of a magic world and dislike stepping into a new one. so, interesting that I chose to read a fantasy standalone this time... I guess I just wanted to try it out. I feel like its gonna leave me unsatisfied though. but we'll see.

also very interesting to me is that this is called adult fantasy, since I can't see much of a difference to YA yet. I do see how GOT and e.g. the grishaverse are different, but that's also bc one is high fantasy and the other one is idk, something else. so far in this book there is as much gore as in the grisha books (think soc and oomen's eye), and even as in hp if I recall correctly. I think it's generally funny that hp is considered a middle grade series bc by dh it's at least YA. also, in this book the protagonist (or one of the two) is literally a 14 year old. and misaki is an angsty teenager in this chapter, they even have a romance trope. it also makes me kinda angry bc I recently saw a post about how YA writers are just too bad to write adult fiction and it's so untrue?? of course there are badly written YA books, but so are adult fantasy ones? and not to mention those two series again, but hp and the soc and kos duologies are objectively well written? ok, not objectively maybe, but a lot of people would agree. and I am well out of the main YA target group, I'm in my mid 20s and I honestly still love those books (even if I haven't read any new good series in a while). I mean reading YA at that age does say something about me, but still... ok, rant over.

anyway, I'm starting to enjoy this book even though the writing style is not teribbly great imo (not bad but it could be better), but I hope the main story gets a bit more exciting in a bit. I personally would've put this chapter right at the beginning. btw, I really can't tell how far I am in this book bc I'm reading it as an ebook (as it seems not to be available in europe in english, only off of amazon u.s. with really long delivery), but I feel like I've been reading this quite a bit.

#the sword of kaigen #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

I immediately thought after ending the book that I enjoyed a lot of things about the book, but the plot itself was such a mess. I read in a review that the last third of the book read like a very long epilogue which I agree with, but it was much more thrilling than an epilogue. it was like the real story only started then and things strated to connect.

I also read that the book is lacking and editor and I 100% agree with that. the plot was really good in the end and I liked the (main) characters, but the parts didn't seem to fit together at all. I felt like I read 3 different books: misakis past life, marmorus school life with all the worldbuilding and the time after the ranganese attack. I guess I don't understand why this isn't a series, there was so much material.

one of the things in which it did deliver plot-wise though, was its lack of tropes compared to YA. the school could've easily been like hogwarts and dai like dumbledore etc, but there was fairly little focus on the school as the story progresses. so it's honestly the first (english) fantasy book I've read that didn't immediately give me hp vibes. and I enjoyed the fresh wind!

in general it's weird bc the book was so unusual and unpredictable and I really liked the (main) characters (some others were a bit two dimensional), but I can't say it's a good book altogether bc there was so much stylistically wrong with it. and I feel bad about that! it's actually a bit how I feel about the kos duology, now that I think of it. a+ characters and some a++ scenes, but also scenes and plot turns where I thought "why was this kept in?" is my taste just too set on something or do other people understand what I mean? I think I would still recommend it, after all, but only with a disclaimer that it'll leave you a bit unsatisfied.

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #ya fantasy #hogwarts #harry potter #king of scars #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

this is really like a 15 years later of a YA book, I kinda love it. and it's not even the main story. like imagine the crows didn't see each other for that long. I'm sure there would be some kids along the way and so on. this entire book is like the epilogue/sequel to a YA book, which makes it pretty unique.

and I love that e.g. the word gay is in this book's vocabulary since some YA books just beat around the bush. generally misaki being so shocked at everything is really funny to me. it's also nice to see that misaki is so sure about her decision to go the traditional arranged marriage route now. like it's very unusal, but I do like it. not everyone wants to risk everything.

it was really sweet (and a nice plot device) that the chapter ended with the sunset, just like the story started gaining momentum when misaki and mamoru were looking into dawn.

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 31 #ya fantasy #six of crows #matsuda misaki #matsuda mamoru #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

why were there no hints in the earlier chapters about a spy in their midst? it's like the opposite of a red herring. I think this book is so strangely constructed, there are plotlines coming out of nowhere. not that I dislike them, I think the book is really gripping right now, but it does not connect seamlessly to the earlier parts of the book at all. it's like I'm reading a part two.

anyway, I think seeing more of misakis and takerus private lives, like in the bedroom, is such a good plot vessel for showcasing their newfound appreciation for one another. and his trauma from his parents fighting and retreating into silence instead weirdly reminds me of myself… I'm not like him at all but I get the mindset and like that this book makes some realistic points.

and Idk why but I think it's so funny when misaki talks of her "friends at school" who she did violent crime fighting with. like that's literally every YA book - just a bunch of teenagers doing really adult things. but YA tends to make them seem older and not mention the word teenager even, but misaki is literally like "I was a school girl, Idk what I was thinking".

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 28 #matsuda takeru #matsuda misaki #ya fantasy #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

I always thought I was gonna feel sorry for takeru at some point and I was right. he still did horrible things to misaki and mamoru especially, but he was just in the circle of abuse that came from his father. thinking he broke that circle by not phisically abusing her (even though maritial rape is physical abuse…), he emotionally and psychologically abused her for years.

this book is actually so smart about the patriarchy and gender roles. takeru is an example of a man who is trapped in his expectations as a man and husband, and does not know how to deal with his emotions correctly. it also goes to show how much the pov of a character makes a difference in how the reader experiences and thinks of another character. like it didn't even occur to me takeru could be deeply traumatized from his childhood, I thought he was just an asshole bc misaki (understandably) thought so.

and I also really enjoyed, bc its so unexpected, that the YA trope nice boy robin (whom I still love as a character) is maybe not the one for misaki after all. she could only show her strength fully now with takeru after suppressing so much for so many years. she probably would've never reached her potential as a person (I also liked her musings on her being a grown woman) with robin. I mean, was it worth it? probably not and I'd still choose robin for her, but I do like the idea that the choice of love is not always the one that makes you whole as a person. very intersting thoughts about arranged marriage in this book in general.

and the ending of this chapter was oddly sweet. who would've thought these two could actually like each other?

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 27 #matsuda takeru #matsuda misaki #matsuda mamoru #ya fantasy #robin thundyil #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

Idk how I feel about misaki saying that being a mother is more important than her past and what she wanted in her life. I see what she's saying bc she's grieving and that she never appreciated mamoru enough, but I don't think she was selfish for not loving her children bc she didn't love their father or her life basically… maybe it's just bc I'm not a parent (especially not in a culture that has arranged marriages) but I think it's ok to wish for a freer life that does not include children.

and btw I'm really surprised that mamoru really died in the end. as I was saying earlier, they both magically survived each chapter before. and the foreshadowing about him being the youngest whispering blade master but no one ever knowing - I somehow thought he would'nt tell anyone for some reason or leave the country. Idk am I very naive? again, I might be more used to YA where people die a lot but never the main main protagonists (exception is ck…)

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 20 #matsuda misaki #matsuda mamoru #crooked kingdom #sword of kaigen spoilers #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

and we're back in YA land, yess! is it bad that I want to read the flashback story as a whole book instead? it just seems more familiar to me...

and the fact that they're engaged, but will never marry is breaking my heart, but we love a good angsty romance. and I love that misaki's dad is actually so nice and not even a bloodline fetishist, but just wants to keep her save. like I don't agree with him but he sounds reasonable from a traditionalist pov. makes me dislike the matsuda family even more :/ also the irony of her being safe with takeru!

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 19 #ya fantasy #matsuda misaki #robin thundyil #matsuda takeru #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

I kinda hoped takeru would run into misaki in fighting action so he could see he underestimated her. but at the same time I like the metaphor that he never sees who she really is bc he isn't looking.

I know this book is literally called "a war story" but I didn't expect it to be the main plot and there'd be so many chapters that gruesomely described people getting killed or turtured/raped. I'm kind of traumatized already...

the only thing kinda funny about this is that misaki and mamoru appear to die in every chapter, but then the next chapter starts like "oh no they didn't!"

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 18 #matsuda misaki #matsuda takeru #matsuda mamoru #fantasy #tw: rape #tw: torture

[samthepotterhead]

I really like that misaki's personality is the opposite of what you would expect of a woman in this story. like she's not just a feisty woman, she's literally a killer and kind of a cruel person. but she is still very firm in her own role and identity as a woman.

at any rate, this chapter is pretty graphic and not YA, not just the fighting scenes, but especially the civilians getting killed. and I know it sounds weird but I don't like that so many named characters are being killed off so quickly. I'm used to fantasy series, not standalones, where you get to know everyone first and then the die one by one lol. I mean at the end of dh almost everyone of the marauders generation is dead and pretty much the entire order is wiped out, but apart from the battle of hogwarts, like two people at most that die in one battle. it's not even that I'm sad for the characters that die in this book bc I literally dont know anything about them yet. I met them 5 chapters or less ago.

I'm also not used to battle scenes going over so many chapters. am I an adult fantasy reader yet?

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 15 #matsuda misaki #harry potter #order of the phoenix #battle of hogwarts #adult fantasy #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

damn, that was a long fighting scene. probably the longest I've ever read and also the most graphic/detailed one. the battle of hogwarts from harry's perspective was just him running around, he really fought for like 2 minutes in total. so the only fight I read about was the battle of olympus and that was over in a flash imo. I mean it was middle grade, but it could've been a bit more elaborate. Idk if I like the fighting in this book - all the blood and then I feel sorry for the raganese to a certain extent, bc the empire was hostile first, I think.

I'm just a bit disappointed misaki didn't join them in the fight, I really thought she was gonna show up out of nowhere and save mamoru's or takeru's life. like when he was nearly stangled to death by that fonyakalu and remembered his mother's laugh, I was 90% sure she was gonna show up. speaking of which, I was pretty confused about the female fonyakalu and at first thought it was hyori? or why was yukino so shocked when he was killed?

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 13 #battle of hogwarts #harry potter #percy jackson and the olympians #battle of mount olympus #matsuda misaki #matsuda takeru #matsuda mamoru #yukino hyori #yukino dai #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

I'm constantly waiting for takeru to get a tragic backstory but apart from his upbringing (which takashi got as well and he seems nice enough) and maybe being the younger brother, there is no reason - he's just an asshole by nature.

also wow, this family has issue. how hostile a breakfast can be. it weirdly reminds me of wuthering heights, but at least hindley died and then things got, well not better, but different.

anyway, I have a hard time imagining misaki did nothing to defend herself against her husband in 15 years and now full on paralyzes him.

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 11 #matsuda takeru #wuthering heights #hindley earnshaw #matsuda misaki #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

I kinda don't like that mamoru's and misaki's povs switch so often in this chapter, from a plot flow perspective. but then again I am glad there is more from misaki's pov now bc she is much more interesting.

the tv watching seems so out of place in this sword fighting, water bending environment of this family. especially during meals…

but I love how his mom is now the only person mamoru can speak freely to. she's not very helpful in her answers so far bc she is scared of her husband/doesn't want trouble, but it's still kind of sweet. like when he says "I just said that to my father. am I an idiot, mom?".

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 8 #matsuda mamoru #matsuda misaki #fantasy

[samthepotterhead]

ok, misaki's character just got a lot more depth. I'm starting to like this story - I didn't expect it to be so sad, though. and after the more graphic maritial rape scene, I can slowly understand why this is considered adult fantasy...

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 7 #matsuda misaki #adult fantasy #fantasy #tw: rape

[samthepotterhead]

I thought I was only gonna make a review at the end, as this is a standalone, and I wasn't super into it at first, but this chapter has been the most thrilling so far. which is a pity since it's only a flashback chapter. but even in this chapter, it feels like I'm reading an introduction still. there is so much worldbuilding still going on and I'm still a little lost and every sentence has five lore words, so I have to look into the glossary every 2 secs. I do have to admit that might also be bc I know zero south-east asian languages. but I'm also having a bit of a hard time with the world itself. I thought this was gonna be high fantasy but it's kind of sci fi too?

on a positive note though, I do like this chapter for its action scenes. it's giving auror/order duty and crows mission/heist. I generally have this weird thing where I have to imagine a fantasy magic story is set in a world that I already know well but like an au or future version /in this case), in order to motivate me lol. I imagine the theonite world as a modern grishaverse, it also makes sense bc of the "races" and the elemental magic for the most part. it's essentially about tidemakers and misaki is a corporalnik too (more heartrender than healer) and there are two inferni in this scene including robin, and elleen (who is kaelish "coded") is something akin to a sun summoner (the holographic thing she can do is really cool) and koli is a materialnik etc. to me it fits even more than it did with the grishaverse as a wizarding world au. also, they call misaki shadow, like hello wraith. but at the same time they are basically superheroes, especially with the firebird symbol printed on robins back. (I also just realized the misaki flashback plot is basically the plot of miraculous ladybug?)

to summarize, I'm a nerd (and autistic) and just like to know the ins and outs of a magic world and dislike stepping into a new one. so, interesting that I chose to read a fantasy standalone this time... I guess I just wanted to try it out. I feel like its gonna leave me unsatisfied though. but we'll see.

also very interesting to me is that this is called adult fantasy, since I can't see much of a difference to YA yet. I do see how GOT and e.g. the grishaverse are different, but that's also bc one is high fantasy and the other one is idk, something else. so far in this book there is as much gore as in the grisha books (think soc and oomen's eye), and even as in hp if I recall correctly. I think it's generally funny that hp is considered a middle grade series bc by dh it's at least YA. also, in this book the protagonist (or one of the two) is literally a 14 year old. and misaki is an angsty teenager in this chapter, they even have a romance trope. it also makes me kinda angry bc I recently saw a post about how YA writers are just too bad to write adult fiction and it's so untrue?? of course there are badly written YA books, but so are adult fantasy ones? and not to mention those two series again, but hp and the soc and kos duologies are objectively well written? ok, not objectively maybe, but a lot of people would agree. and I am well out of the main YA target group, I'm in my mid 20s and I honestly still love those books (even if I haven't read any new good series in a while). I mean reading YA at that age does say something about me, but still... ok, rant over.

anyway, I'm starting to enjoy this book even though the writing style is not teribbly great imo (not bad but it could be better), but I hope the main story gets a bit more exciting in a bit. I personally would've put this chapter right at the beginning. btw, I really can't tell how far I am in this book bc I'm reading it as an ebook (as it seems not to be available in europe in english, only off of amazon u.s. with really long delivery), but I feel like I've been reading this quite a bit.

#sam reading #the sword of kaigen #chapter 6 #six of crows #order of the phoenix #harry potter #grishaverse #wizarding world #tsusano misaki #robin thundyil #elleen elden #miraculous ladybug #game of thrones #matsuda mamoru #ya fantasy #adult fantasy #fantasy