#m l wang

[mossillustra]

"Do better. Misaki exploded through the rain of scales. Give me more."

  I wanted to paint her again forEVER OMG MISAKI I MISSED YOUUUUUUU

[acrowdedmindsblog]

she smiled ✨️

Words of Radiance (chapter 71)

The Sword of Kaigen (chapter 27)

⚘️✨️⚘️

[questwithambition]

The Grad Life, day 34/50 (23/10/23)

Guess where I’m typing this? Yes I’m on a train again. Slow Monday: journaling, wrote a letter, sent some emails, and then it all picked up in the afternoon and lots was happening! My manager is off for a while so I have to make decisions and it’s a lil intimidating but we’ve got this. And I’m making my way through The Sword of Kaigen, which I’m devouring thus far.

[skyler-reads28]

Im currently reading The Sword of Kaigen and I am halfway through the book and I feel physically ill.

That was the most heartbreaking, gut wrenching, soul shattering battle scene I’ve ever read.

I need to take 10 business days to process this.

[halcyondaaze]

the sword of kaigen

[wondereads]

September Reading Wrap-Up

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker (10/10)

This book was absolutely stunning. The characters were amazing, the plot constantly took me by surprise, and the writing is a great blend of readable modern language and the intense style that usually accompanies fantasy. The only critique I have is that I would consider this book more NA than YA considering how dark and viscerally gory it gets. Zilan is an amazing main character; she’s competent without being perfect, she’s ruthless and driven without being completely heartless. Her cousins, Yufei and Wenshu, are particularly interesting, especially concerning their relationship with Zilan and how complicated it is. The love interest is a good balance to Zilan, though I hope to see their relationship develop more. Empress Zetian is a chilling and horrifying villain who is truly a terrifying opponent. The plot was constantly twisting and turning, keeping me on my toes, and while I found some moments a little too fast paced, the overall quality of the story definitely makes me want to keep this at a full 10/10.

Read my full review here

I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway Volumes 1-4 by Sou Inaida (7/10)

I usually don't count manga/manhwa I read since I tend to breeze through them pretty quickly. However, I read and then reread these volumes in the span of like two days, so I figured I'd include them. As someone who's read a lot in this genre, this really caught my attention. These are purely self-indulgent reads. The plot isn't really there, it's mostly just (highly suspect) romance. I do like the main character; she's a lot more serious and focused than a lot of these sorts of protagonists, who tend to lean more towards schemingly evil or happy-go-lucky. She is still, of course, incredibly dense when it comes to love. I do have a favorite love interest (of which there is no shortage). While the romance is obviously the focus of the story, there actually seems to be some pretty interesting worldbuilding/plot things going on in the background, and I'm really interested to see where it leads. I think these books are for a very specific audience, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. (Also the title is misleading, the girls love her too lol)

Islands of Legends by Lisa McMann (7/10)

I really enjoy this series; I think the magic is a lot of fun and I really like the characters and how complex their relationships are, especially for middle grade. However, I had two major issues while reading this book. First was that the plot points in these books are starting to push the believability when it comes to a bunch of fourteen year olds running two separate countries. Especially when it’s established that there are adults with significantly more experience than them just kind of…hanging around. Second, these books are starting to fall into a pattern of deal with issue from last book, discover new island, new island presents a new problem, repeat. The ending looks like it’s shaking things up, but this one wasn’t as good as the last one.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang (8/10)

My favorite thing about this book was Sciona. She is so horrendously unlikable, and it makes her character arc all the more satisfying. It’s rare to find main characters who are actually bad people, especially women, and Sciona is a bad person. She’s selfish, she’s bigoted, and she’s callous; I certainly don’t like her, but I love her writing. The plot is interesting but has definitely been done before, and the magic system is unique but sort of convoluted. The worldbuilding isn’t fleshed out enough for the kind of ending Wang tried to do, though I do like the ending especially in terms of Sciona’s ending situation. This was a good book, but Babel by R. F. Kuang does the same thing but much better.

[tradingmysorrows]

What Setsuko didn’t understand was that this unfamiliar creature—this fearless, ridiculous woman who ran fast and played with swords—was an echo from a time when Misaki’s whole life had been happy.

M. L. Wang, The Sword Of Kaigen

[libertyreads]

Book Review #30 of 2024--

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang. Rating: 4.25 stars.

Read from April 29th to May 9th.

How to discuss this book? It's hard because it was so good...and it made me so angry... To anyone who has ever suggested this book starting with, "This one made me so angry, read it", you are SO right and SO valid for this. For the first week that I was reading this one, I had to pace myself with one chapter per day because it was making me so fucking mad. This is a book about a woman who is about to become the first female High Mage in this society that is pretty misogynistic and I KNOW I'm supposed to be on her side...but then she's also from the people who are oppressing another class of human beings AND SHE SAYS AND DOES THE MOST INFURIATING SHIT. I know. I know that's the point. That even the oppressed can oppress others. I know. But boy was that a lot to handle right in the beginning.

The writing in this was so good. Everything was so well plotted and so well thought through. From the world building to this amazing magic system, to the way the story unfolds. It was all so well done. And yet. I'm going to do the most common complaint I have with books that I want to love more than I did: I didn't connect to the characters. It's not that the characters were flat, per se, it was more that the characters did extract a ton of emotions from me. The end did get me a bit, but overall, it felt like there was so much to be said plot wise and with the themes and messaging of the story that there wasn't enough time to get fully invested in (or connected to) the characters. I wanted to feel for them so much more than I did.

Overall, I think this was so well done and M.L. Wang is an expert at her craft. Anyone who enjoys Fantasy will find something in this one for them.

[telebi]

PPJWBK

[starscvm]

truly blessed to share this lifetime with so many amazing asian sci-fi & fantasy writers like this is all i’ve ever needed in life actually

[dontdenymeshakespeare]

End of Year Book Tag

[acrowdedmindsblog]

The Sword of Kaigen - chapter 14

The only thing I want now more than to see Misaki and Takeru fight each other, is to see them fight together!!

Just imagine how awesome it would be-

[hauntedobservationobservation]

The Sword of Kaigen, by M. L. Wang

What is it about?: In a fantasy world inspired by East Asian culture, a woman fights to keep her violent past hidden from her loved ones after marrying into a powerful, traditional family. Her eldest son, growing into the warrior culture of his father, is discovering certain truths about the reality he lives in. What are they gonna do when said reality comes to their village, threatening to destroy everything they fought so hard to build? What will prevail, duty and tradition or bravery and audacity?

What I liked: My heart is 100% on the character development. While we start with well established characters, I believe the author did a great job at shifting our focus from “what will happen” in the plot, to “who will these people become” as the plot unfurls before us.  Misaki is a tremendous protagonist, not because of her physical ability or her righteousness, but because even in the moments in which she is proven to have been mistaken or acted wrongly, her conviction and good intentions are what guide her. She is a loving mother and just because it’s her feelings what guide her it doesn’t mean that she’s hot headed or irrational. Her son Mamoru is also a deeply interesting one, full of questions and fears and turmoil that never gets annoying, you can see his thoughts linking with one another and the conclusion he reaches to, are fascinating. His idealistic mind confronting reality and then the conflict that comes over the village are what move the plot, and while the theme of old tradition vs. young idealism is something that has been written so many times before, I enjoyed this new take on it. Generally, when this theme is explored, generally it’s taken as if both sides held the same weight. But in this case, the narration takes a stand and you can not only realize why this is the way it is, but also observe those ideals be tested and grow and change as circumstances change. I find that to be a more realistic approach than I have seen in most cases and it really helped make the characters convincing and palpable. 

What I did not like: This one is probably a me thing, a pet peeve of mine. While this book is interesting due to its East-Asian inspired narrative and plot, the writing style is inundated with many different non-english words that, in my opinion, muddled up the flow of the book. Now, don’t get me wrong, I generally don’t mind this most of the books I read. But in this case it showed up maybe a little bit too much, in things like units of measure and time markers, and I had a bit of a hard time not letting it pull me out of the immersion. Especially in situations in which the characters used terms that they themselves (and by miracle, I) were used to, but I imagine that the reader doesn’t necessarily know. I appreciate that there is a glossary at the end, but I think that having some footnotes every now and then would have helped the reading process a bit. I would say that the end result is not so much “we are foreigners looking into a culture we know” but more “it’s all according to keikaku (keikaku means plan in japanese)”, if you know that reference. But that’s just a very mild, inconsequential peeve of mine that does not affect the rating of it. 

In conclusion: I really liked this book. It did what it meant to do, and I’d even say it goes above and beyond the brief synopsis we are given. The integration of the fantasy elements within the plot is seamless and as someone who is really into (what I call) “samurai fantasy”,  I really appreciated all the ways in which this book presented the cultural elements in a way that felt organic and natural. 

My rating: Four and a half stars, even though Goodreads doesn’t let me use half stars.

[odairsangel]

Man of the House

warnings: smut, degradation, fingering, mentions choking, unprotected sex, p in v, lost of virginity, starts off kinda angst, overstim, explicit language

reader is slightly innocent not completely understanding the gist of being fucked out of existence.

relationship: innocent!reader x jealous!possessive!rafe

rafe cares about you to, he's not just jealous, possessive & a degrading arse, I swear.

Rafe had already mourned his father, long before his sudden and tragic death.

Ward never loved him. Underestimated him. Used Rafe to draw supply from him to feed his ego via intimidation and humiliation.

And if there's anything Rafe doesn't fuck with, it's being made to feel small

First strike had been his childhood. Second strike had been the loss of faith after Rafe dropped out of college. Third strike was y/n. Marrying y/n was the line his father should have known better than to cross.

Rafe knew y/n, went to school with her, almost made a move on her when she came back to the OBX. But Ward fucking wormed his way in and before Rafe knew it, y/n was walking down the aisle in a Vera Wang gown, kissing his father and letting him put a ring on her finger. Rafe fucking hated it.

She was supposed to be his. And his dad knew it. And still took her from him. That was a sin Rafe couldn't pardon.

His sudden passing wasn't so sudden, it was a meticulous and thought-out plan conceived by Rafe.

Poisoning the old fuck's Viagra a stroke of Rafe's genius. Now his father is out of the picture and everything is falling into place.

Rafe's CEO, man of the house, and his name holds more respect than ever. Everything is falling to place.

There's just one thing left. The master bedroom is his now, and the woman who still warms the bed? Naturally should be too.

But is she? No. But will she? Most definitely.

"y/n.." Rafe purrs "I've come to check up on you, to make sure your alright." His fingers graze your arms making a trail of goosebumps pop up on your arms.

"M'fine, are you? I know you've got a lot of shit to deal with now your father's passing." You shift away from hand, shaking his hand off your arm.

He smirked at that, eyes roaming over you. This time, he didn't look away, not for even a second. "You scared, y/l/n?"

You two locked eyes and he stayed still. It was as if he was studying you the way one does a prized possession, analyzing and looking for any flaws and faults in his "property".

"No- M' not." You huff out quietly, turning back to the funeral planner for Ward, "I've got shit to do." You say, countering him and well- your nervousness.

"Then why are you being so skittish?" He asked, as if he wasn't being incredibly obvious with his intent.

"You don't make eye contact with me, you barely want me here. I know I can see right through you and you know it." He crossed his arms over his broad chest. "You know what I think?"

"Hm?" You murmur softly, shifting your you seat, finally looking at Rafe.

Rafe takes a breath before continuing "I know your still a virgin, so I think you should lose your virginity to me."

Well, it was true—but he didn't need to drop the bomb like that, and so quickly, either.

"And if you do this for me, you know I'll protect you, yeah?" Rafe steps up to you, resting his right hand on the small of your back. Hesitantly, you nod.

There's no going back no. After all, it's Rafe fucking Cameron.

“Good, good little slut ain’tchu?” Rafe growls softly, pulling your pajama pants to the side. He takes a nip of your ear before pulling your underwear to the side as well “God, your gonna be a a good little Pouge and take this Kook dick?” (oh yeah, I forgot to mention you used to be a pouge before you married Ward)

Your eyes widen “In the kitchen!? What if Wheezie comes out her room!”

“The I suggest you keep quiet, we wouldn’t want to have to choke you, now would we?” Rafe grips your waist, pushing you against your chair

He looks at your cunt then back at you “Horny little thing, aren’t you?” Rafe teases your slick, glimmering, wet folds with his middle finger, you let out a small gasp of surprise. Your eyes threatened to roll back as he shoved his middle finger into your pulsating pussy.

"N-no!" You shout defensively "M'not horny." Tears moisten your eyes as he degrades you.

Rafe pauses, grasping your chin between his finger and thumb "Baby, your not a slut. I swear, sometimes that turns a woman on." He unbuckles his pants, kicking his pants and buckles to the side "Now be quiet, I don't want to choke you, yeah?"

You nod quietly "Don't be mean, please." You beg him softly to go slow and not to degrade you.

"Of course, just grip the counter if I'm going to fast." He aligns his cock at your folds, stoping for a second

"Let's go to the couch for a better position, yeah?" He carries you bridal style to the couch.

He tossed you onto the couch, your cunt clenches around nothing as you lay on the couch, you let out a whine as you fly shortly to the couch out of Rafe's arms without warning. "Careful!" You shout—quite loudly, at that, enough to wake up any sleeping members in Tanneyhill.

Rafe shoots you a glare as he grabs the plush of your hips to slam his cock inside your little cunt. "I told you to be quiet, baby."

"M'Sorry," You mewl out, arching you back as Rafe's hips buck into yours "You-You'd said you go slow!" You grip the couch fabric, your legs tilting into the air

Rafe grip your hair, pulling it down to make you look at him "That was before you decided to be a brat and try to wake up all of Tanneyhill." He growls into your ear, you were on the verge of releasing your orgasm onto Rafe's pelvis bone.

"M-M'Sorry! Please-" You claw Rafe's shoulders, begging him to slow down for fucks sake before you lost your morals.

Rafe let's out a low groan "Just- just let me cum, please." He pins your wrists above your head, straddling your thighs as his cock relentlessly abuses your cunt

Feeling overstimulated you mewl out as Rafe cum inside your fucked up cunt, finally pulling out.

Rafe breathes out “Let’s get you- all cleaned up, yeah?” He takes a smaller breath “And I’ll get you a plan b afterwards for in the mornin’ but M’gonna get you birth control.”

��Because this isn’t the last time we’re doing this.”

[skymoral]

Bi-Han x wife b!reader

When someone (a guest or a new member of the clan) tries to put reader in her place (threatening or grabbing her doesn’t matter what happens) because she is a women and thinks that she is a maid. But when she says that her husband is the grandmaster of the clan but doesn’t believe and see it as a insult and tries to put her in place before our SEXY husband comes and puts him in his place while their kids kick the guys ass for disrespecting their BEAUTIFUL mother. Put. Some. Respect. On. Her. Name. 😤

Baby! BABY! B A B Y!!!!!! You don’t fuck with Queen!

I kinda want to make this a threatening thing, and turn it into a fatality/brutality❤️‍🔥 BLOOD WILL BE SPILT!

🩵 FATALITY! 🩵

Bi-Han x B!F Wife Reader W/Children

Summary: The audacity to threaten Bi-Han’s wife, you are not leaving the temple A L I V E.

Tags: threat, death, fatality, protectiveness, children don’t play about they momma

A/N: I’m loving the idea already lol

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ ˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙° ·♡ ̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙° · ·♡ ̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Bi-Han had an important guest coming, his name was “Wang Shu” to the Lin Kuei. A man that has offered great services, to bring greatness to the clan

His power and skill was well known, Bi-Han was in his office already busy with a pre-engagement before Wang. The children were practicing training with each other.

Wang was wondering admiring the clans home, you were taking your 8 month old son for a bath. You weren’t paying attention as you were playing with him, making him giggle.

You then bumped into someone, apologizing quickly before continuing. Till you felt a snatch on your locs, pulling at your fresh extensions.

You yelped, almost dropping your child as you were pulled back on the ground. Your grip on the baby stronger and closer to your chest.

You glared up at the person who dared to pull on your hair.

“Next time be careful where you step, I would’ve assumed the maids of the Lin Kuei would be more aware.” He looked down at you with disgust.

You looked at him like he lost his mind, standing up. “Negro I don’t know WHO YOU ARE! Or care at that matter! You must not know who you talking to. I am the grandmistress of the Lin Kuei and wife of the great Grandmaster Bi-Han!”

He just scoffed at you, he snatched your locs with a strong grip and pull. “How dare an insolent little tramp, try to deceive the great Wang Shu with lies. Someone like you must be taught a lesson, for daring to speak to me in such a manner.”

“Fuck you, Bitch!” You tried to loosen his grip, tears on the side of your eye. Because it began to hurt more, especially when it was done.

Your son started crying.

“What is the meaning of this!?”

Wang noticed Bi-Han approaching you both, he pushed hard to the side. Falling on your ass, using your free hand to hold your head.

“Mommy!” Your children ran to your side, helping you up.

“I do apologize grandmaster Bi-Han, it seems one of your maids we-“

“MAIDS! That is no maid, that is my wife!” Bi-Han glared at him, Wang’s face turned white.

You ran up to your husband hugging his arms, “I don’t know what made him do that babe, I was literally minding my business. Then he started pulling at my hair, after freshly being done now it hurts. Calling me all kinds of names and… and… HE HIT ME!”

“WHAT! Is that so?” Bi-Han looked back at Wang, who looked at you. You looked at him with a wicked smile, sticking your tongue out.

“N-Now I-I know how it sounded a-and look… B-But I swear to you… I-I didn’t m-“

“Even if she was a maid, you dare disrespect anyone of my people in the Lin Kuei… You a worthless sorcerer with no name or purpose, yet I gave you the chance to make a name for yourself by showing your worth to the Lin Kuei. A worthless insect, and had the audacity to DISRESPECT MY WIFE! And lay a finger on her HAIR!” Bi-Han, approached him with small strides making him step back everytime. The children glaring at him.

“Children! Let our guest know what happens. When they disrespect the Lin Kuei.”

“Haiiii!” One of your sons yelled, running doing a spin jump kick on his chest. Knocking the wind out of him, he feel back.

Then the other for kids threw there Kunai rope. One kid had his left arm, the other his right hand, another one his left leg, and the other his right arm. The kunai wrapping around and pierced his inner wrist.

Pulled at him, holding his body in mid-air with a tight pull. He cried in pain, One of the boys stabbed him in the eye with a Kunai and another in his chest.

The boys froze his arms and legs, Bi-Han freezing his head. Then simultaneously Bi-Han slammed his leg on his throat offing his head, and the children disloacting his limbs ripping them off. Making his torso fall.

“You will show my Wife respect!” Bi-Han announced, a warning to anyone feeling bold. You looked at the scene shocked, but they did that to themselves you thought.

As his men came to clean up the mess. He walked back to you, you were still groaning in pain. “Are you alright my love?”

“No my hair is in so much pain, and now I have a headache… And it hurts a lot babe.” You whined, he pulled you into him holding you close.

Leaning your head on his chest, as he made his hand cold. Resting it on the spot you were holding, you immediately sighed in relief relaxing yourself in his hold.

For once his coldness was useful, you laughed internally.

Tomas stepping into the hall, looking at a bunch of papers, “Brother, the guest that was supposed to be-“

Tomas froze looking at the scene of a corpse, getting cleaned up and at his brother. “Was th-“

“Our guest couldn’t make it, that was nothing but an intruder.” Bi-Han answered not looking at Tomas, Bi-Han handing him his son who was asleep now. The children went back to playing, and Bi-Han caught you off guard carrying you back to your shared room.

“I am to not be disturbed for two hours.” He slammed the door behind him.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ ˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙° ·♡ ̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙° · ·♡ ̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Tomas went back into the office with his son where Kuai Liang, was waiting for Bi-Han.

Kuai Liang looked up at him confused, standing. “Umm… Where’s Brother and why are you holding his son?”

Tomas just sighed, “I can guess what happened, but I believe to be wise if you don’t know… As for brother, meeting today’s guest was cancelled.”

A/N: You thought Bi-Han was scary, his children are just as scary if not worse! They also inherited there father’s ability💅🏾

This one was fun as well though, love the request

What your sons warrior outfits would look like

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (10/02/23)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Islands of Legends by Lisa McMann (7/10)

I really enjoy this series; I think the magic is a lot of fun and I really like the characters and how complex their relationships are, especially for middle grade. However, I had two major issues while reading this book. First was that the plot points in these books are starting to push the believability when it comes to a bunch of fourteen year olds running two separate countries. Especially when it’s established that there are adults with significantly more experience than them just kind of…hanging around. Second, these books are starting to fall into a pattern of deal with issue from last book, discover new island, new island presents a new problem, repeat. The ending looks like it’s shaking things up, but this one wasn’t as good as the last one.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang (8/10)

My favorite thing about this book was Sciona. She is so horrendously unlikable, and it makes her character arc all the more satisfying. It’s rare to find main characters who are actually bad people, especially women, and Sciona is a bad person. She’s selfish, she’s bigoted, and she’s callous; I certainly don’t like her, but I love her writing. The plot is interesting but has definitely been done before, and the magic system is unique but sort of convoluted. The worldbuilding isn’t fleshed out enough for the kind of ending Wang tried to do, though I do like the ending especially in terms of Sciona’s ending situation. This was a good book, but Babel by R. F. Kuang does the same thing but much better.

Lilacs and Leather by Thora Woods (7/10)

This was recommended to me by a friend and it was just a fun read. It was a little boring since the actual romance had virtually no conflict, all that being provided by external forces. Still, this a wish-fulfillment book so I’m not that upset about it.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon (CR, 28%)

This book is turning out just as good as if not better than Priory! It’s taking me quite a while, but the characters are masterfully crafted, and there are all kinds of interesting plot points. I think my favorite major point of view is Dumai, partially because she provides a lot of insight to Seikii, which isn’t as present in Priory, and partially because her side is a very intense political fantasy, which is one of my favorite kinds of plots.

Lodestar by Shannon Messenger (CR, 10%)

Things are pretty standard for KotLC so far; the Neverseen are planning something, the Council is useless, and Sophie’s got lots of romantic interest floating around. It seems like we might be about to finally make some progress concerning Prentice, a loose thread since the beginning of the series.