It's never fair to judge a book in the first chapter but that's when a seed of doubt appeared for me. The reviews for this book are strong. Daniel Greene spoke highly about this book in his 2020 year in review so I had expectations that it would improve. I pushed down my doubt and kept going.

The characters, location and magic system expanded and I was started to get hooked to the story. The use of ice and blood magic felt unique and offered some interesting fighting methods. The POV's were fine but Misaki's story was my favorite and would have preferred one told of her past entirely.

One item that bothered me was that I couldn't figure out what time the story was set in. The main mountain village was quaint and traditional but they had TV's. Then the city slickers came in with their fancy communication devices threatening to disrupt their way of life. This wasn't a significant detail but I probably spent more effort trying to work through that then I should have.

At the midway point of the book (around the first battle sequence) I saw the time remaining in the book and my enthusiasm dropped out. Fantasy is an incredible genre and there are so many sub-genres within there that there is something for everyone...and Sword of Kaigen wasn't for me. This was my first experience of Japanese inspired military story and this could be a sub-genre that doesn't click with me.