The Sword and Laser discussion

Our June pick will be The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

Let us know what you think of the pick

Is this published by Amazon? It would explain why I can’t find it anywhere else. I’ve been trying to reduce my Amazon use of late. The description does not honestly inspire me but I’ll probably give it a go, though there are higher priority reads for me first.

It sounds like The Shadow of the Gods only with samurai instead of Vikings. I didn’t get on with TSotG in the end and this isn’t the sort of thing I’d usually pick up but I’ll give it a try. I have a spare Audible credit so an easy choice how to read it. The audiobook is 24 hours and 24 minutes long which is oddly satisfying.

^^ It's on Kindle Unlimited, which means it's exclusive to Amazon. For me, that's free to read and the author will get paid by page reads.

Love them or hate them, Amazon is the 800 pound gorilla. Plenty of Indie authors I know are almost wholly dependent on Amazon for sales.

terpkristin wrote: "Is this published by Amazon? It would explain why I can’t find it anywhere else. I’ve been trying to reduce my Amazon use of late. The description does not honestly inspire me but I’ll probably giv..."

It was an indie book that won the 2019 SPFBO. I got it feom the library as audio when i read it.

Ruth wrote: "It sounds like The Shadow of the Gods only with samurai instead of Vikings. I didn’t get on with TSotG in the end and this isn’t the sort of thing I’d usually pick up but I’ll give ..."

I understand it takes place in present day and has things in common with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I'll give it a go, although comparisons to Shadow of the Gods doesn't inspire confidence.

Unfortunately, it’s not available in any of the 3 local libraries I have access to, nor on B&N or Apple iBooks, so I guess I’ll have to skip this one.

Tamahome wrote: "I understand it takes place in present day and has things in common with Avatar: The Last Airbender."

It is a modern day setting, but on another planet in a parallel dimension separate from our own.

The other books in the series feature people travelling between our dimension and this other dimension.

This book is a stand-alone that doesn't rely on pre-knowledge of the other works.

Apparently I bought this a few years ago. Must’ve been on sale. Continuing this year’s trend of S&L helping clear out my TBR.

Tassie Dave wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I understand it takes place in present day and has things in common with Avatar: The Last Airbender."

It is a modern day setting, but on another planet in a parallel dimension sep..."

Ah, the description I read didn’t make it clear that it was a modern-day analog setting rather than a medieval one. It sounds more like Jade City

John (Taloni) wrote: "It's on Kindle Unlimited, which means it's exclusive to Amazon. For me, that's free to read and the author will get paid by page reads.

Love them or hate them, Amazon is the 800 pound gorilla. Plenty of Indie authors I know are almost wholly dependent on Amazon for sales"

That's fair. Just wanted to make sure it was my only option before I bought from there. :) But this still will be lower priority. I want to finish my other 2 books first (or at least one of them).

It did win SPFBO 5, SPFBO 10 just started as 300 books have been divided to 10 bloggers. SPFBO 5 was the strongest field of all SPFBO years in my humble opinion. My personal score had it as a 6-way tie. There is also a panel discussion of SPFBO 5 authors that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQih-...
Also, it is only $5.99 to buy, at least in the USA.

I'm currently reading a series that is heavily influenced by Asian names and traditions so reading two at the same time will be too confusing.

Stephen wrote: "It did win SPFBO 5, SPFBO 10 just started as 300 books have been divided to 10 bloggers. SPFBO 5 was the strongest field of all SPFBO years in my humble opinion. My personal score had it as a 6-way..."

For a minute there, I thought I'd stumbled in a sunscreen review forum...

Well, I gave the audiobook a try and I’m sorry to say I’ve bounced off this one. I didn’t like the narrator’s voice so I had a quick look at the Kindle edition to see if that would work for me instead, but I simply wasn’t enjoying the writing. The way he described the interactions between the three women just read very… flat? Lifeless? Anyway, ho-hum, if a book isn’t for me it’s not for me so I’ll sit this one out. Plenty more books in the library!

M.L.Wang is a she. Maya Lin Wang.

I'm loving the writing. I was into the book from the first page.

That's the thing about books. They affect us all differently. Good thing there are millions of books.

Tassie Dave wrote: "M.L.Wang is a she. Maya Lin Wang.

I'm loving the writing. I was into the book from the first page.

That's the thing about books. They affect us all differently. Good thing there are millions of b..."

Wow, that teaches me to make assumptions! The way she writes women had me convinced she was a he.

the month has begun. Go forth and discuss