Reviews

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

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lexi11233's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow - saw none of that coming. Such an interesting magic system. Such interestingly flawed characters. Fantastic!

saffiyah's review against another edition

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SHITTING MY MASCARA RN BECAUSE I GOT THE ARC??!

northwesternrain's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This 👏 is how 👏 you do 👏 dark academia.👏 And fantasy for that matter. The world of Bright Haven is indeed fantastical and yet so painfully real.

I have read many other books that tackle similar issues (misogyny, racism and xenophobia, colonialism and exploitation, religious nationalism, etc.), but few that have done it so well. In particular, I have to commend the magic system. It is so well thought out that it kind of ruins other magic systems for me. Slight spoiler:

It is a stark reminder that power, and the luxuries and comfort that it provides, is never free. And the people who reap the benefits are usually not the ones paying the price. Furthermore, those in power get to control the narrative to the point that those who do benefit often don’t know (or don’t want to consider) the actual cost.

I admire the way that this book poses hard ethical questions. While it doesn’t always give easy answers, it does make you stare them straight in the face and perhaps ask those questions of yourself. It’s a book I will be thinking about for a long time to come.

chanelchapters's review against another edition

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DNF @100pages

This started off in a bone chilling brutal way - super interesting.
Then it was just a book about academia - a female scientist trying to make a difference whilst being squashed by misogyny. It felt like a fantasy version of Lessons In Chemistry. And the magic system is based on math.
I gave up when she started to defend the colonialists theft of important indigenous works so that they could properly preserve them.

sfm2x's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A true 5 star read!

As a black woman, I absolutely HATED Sciona. Sciona is a perfect mirror to all the white women that call themselves “feminist” in the face of misogynoir. It’s a mirror to the ignorance they spew under the guise of womanhood and it’s unity. I have never hated a character more, and I don’t think I ever will.

At some points, reading her point of view became unbearable. I didn’t want her to succeed or thrive. Within her patriarchal society or outside of it. Every time she made a racist remark towards Thomil and the kwen, I felt the simmering frustration of the real life micro-aggressions I face every day. I could not root for Sciona. I read only to see if her and her people would get what they deserved. By the end of the story, I can’t say I liked Sciona anymore than I did in the beginning, but I felt satisfied with the book’s ending. Boy, what an ending.

I didn’t know this book was a stand alone when I started reading. I was about 20% through when I found out. I stopped and wondered how M.L. could wrap all this up. I wondered how they could redeem Sciona, while giving Thomil, Carra, and the rest of the kwen their needed justice. I wondered if it was even possible. It was. It was more than possible. It was downright amazing.

tej_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Blood Over Bright Haven nearly ruined me.

BOBH is a fantasy, academia standalone set in a world where magic takes a mathematical spin that feels a lot like coding, mages use a spellograph to program their magic to achieve certain ends. The city of Tiran is a protected safe space away from the blight that affects that otherworld’s.

I found the magic system interesting and very entertaining as someone who understands the fundamentals of coding, it felt familiar and so easy to understand and even if you didn't the way that Wang uses characters to explain the magic system is also wonderful in its simplicity. Without spoiling anything, there's no large information dump at the start, instead what you need to know about the world is broken into extracts at the end of a chapter and through Sciona's conversations with other characters. It does make that first few chapters slow as we find out feet in the new fantasy world but stick with this book you will be rewarded.

Don't credit me or anyone else for your success. As it is, other people will try to credit me in order to tear you down. Be cold, be hard, and don't give them an inch.

The main characters of Sciona and Thomil were so interesting because of Sciona's racism against the Kwen and how she had to educated herself on the Kwen to overcome her racism, which in my opinion she never did. Sciona is just as proud at the end as she is at the start, you do kind of hate her but that the same time you want her to succeed, it's odd. Part of me roots for her to fight against the sexism, misogyny, racism, religious and academic supremacy, colonialism. I enjoyed how bold some of the sexism and racism was written because often in reality, it's not hidden and it's not subtle it's overt. I am also aware that she never lost that ego that made her superior to everyone else and I'm glad. She is a character that defines "complex female main character", she is imperfect and wonderfully so. BOBH is a perfect example of anti-hero done well, also she's a woman in STEM so how could I not race through this.

Truth over delusion. Growth over comfort.

Thomil's journey was heartbreaking to read, and we never really find closure in that story line but I'm glad, it truly emphasised for me, the want and hope for a better life, free from oppression.

You are going to suffer, BOBH will have you feeling everything but you are going to enjoy every second of it.

Blood Over Bright Haven publishes 29 Oct 2024.

Thank you to M. L. Wang, Del Rey and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.