#theonite

Takashi Matsuda against fonyakalu

The sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

Another Skullgirls character idea, this time designed by my friend. Fermi is a project of Lab 6's ultracompact theonite reactor research, while it was initially intended as merely a way of better supporting other ASG units, pressure from King Franz led the reactor system to being weaponised, not wanting her subordinates to suffer the ill effects of her labours, Dr Fermi volunteered to have the weapinised reactor system implanted into herself, her back now emits vast quantities of steam venting from exhausts grafted to her spine. The tremendous power allows her to use a theonite based hovering system and multiple theonite based armaments, leading to a fighting technique eerily similar to the current Skullgirl.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Blurb: For hundreds of years, the Kusanagi Peninsula has been home to the empire’s fiercest warriors, capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. So Misaki knew what she was getting into when she married a Matsuda man. What she didn’t expect was how hard it would be to repress her own violent past, or get along with her distant husband. Her fourteen-year-old son Mamoru has his own problems: a new classmate is testing his loyalty to the empire with his strange ideas. Mother and son face their greatest test yet, however, when an enemy supposedly long defeated returns.

This book was intense. I shouldn't have been surprised by that, because it is literally subtitled "A War Story," but it still managed to knock me off my feet. Sword of Kaigen is definitely an adult sci-fi. It's about regret and war and how far you can be pushed past the brink of okay and still be able to come back (or not). It's not that there's no hope in it. It's just going to break your heart before you get any of that hope.

My history with the Theonite world is a little complicated. I read the first book (Theonite: Planet Adyn) in 2017, and liked it, though it definitely had flaws. But in the time between then and when the sequel (Theonite: Orbit) came out, my enthusiasm waned and I just never got around to reading Orbit. Then M.L. Wang offered me an advanced copy of this prequel standalone for review, and I decided to take it — having no idea what I was in for.

And now I'm thinking I should really read Orbit. The characters I remember from Planet Adyn who showed up here made me want to return to them. And yes, though the main story stands on its own, there is character crossover that is a lot richer if you've read Planet Adyn (and I have no idea how much richer if you've also read Orbit). I think the crossover is mostly fine for someone entering this world for the first time, but the very end sets up the plot of the main series in a way that won't mean anything to a new reader.

I got my Sword of Kaigen swag from @officialtheonite pre-ordering the book! I even got a little handwritten note from @mdotldotwang, which was super cool!