So of course, when I heard there was going to be an audio edition I was one of the first to get in touch with the author about an early review copy of the audio! After all the hype (especially winning the fifth SPFBO contest!), I was expecting something big. Sadly, I have to be very choosy which books I physically read (as opposed to listening to audio) due to time constraints. It first came on my radar almost a year and a half ago when another author I admire posted a review about it. I have to admit that this book has been on my agenda for quite a long while. 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? And without further ado, my review: 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.

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. Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies. 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. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’ Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. The Sword of Kaigen (description via Goodreads): 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.

The sword of kaigen review