Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

44 reviews

jdasilva's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Cursing

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective 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

3.0

After Sword of Kaigen, I was expecting a little more if I’m being honest. While not an objectively bad novel (good pacing, multifaceted characters, clear themes), it did not evoke the emotion or the connection that Wang’s previous work did for me. 

I think my biggest gripe is that the writing is very literal, the themes & lessons translated in a very heavy-handed way. And while I think that the FMC’s naïveté and density were purposeful and symbolic, that did not make her any less frustrating. Anyone with half an awareness of modern racial/colonialist issues will find the politics of this world extremely transparent, and while skin color was never explicitly mentioned, the FMC was obviously meant to represent a White Woman. 

It felt like Wang was trying to make a statement about every single conceivable kind of oppression that’s ever existed, when it would have been more impactful with a slightly tighter focus. Obviously, the White Man™️ is the sole catalyst for all suffering - this point was beaten & emphasized over and over and over again. Let me be clear - I AGREE! But the writing lacked eloquent prose and graceful exploration of this. For example,

was the attempted sexual assault scene necessary? It’s obvious that in a patriarchal society, sexual assault will be an intrinsic issue and could have been kept off-page. Secondarily, the conversations between FMC and Thomill/Carra were so blatant - like Wang took conversations of race and White guilt directly off of TikTok and placed them on the page. 

ASLO, I am desperately begging authors to stop writing FMC’s whose first instincts are to either cry or vomit. Why do I have to read about you sputtering and spewing chunks??

I guess I was holding out for creative prose and the je ne sais quois that I felt in SoK. Unfortunately, BOBH left me feeling like I had read “The Impacts of White Colonialism 101.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

tinybluepixel's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

morybaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I think this book is very reflective of our society. M.L. Wang is insanely talented and I will read anything she writes 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, and Classism

ktkeps's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility and Cannibalism

antonya's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Infertility, Racism, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sorakiras's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Torture and Police brutality

Minor: Infertility

dani_reis's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

cbressler80's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

I found this book difficult to rate but I think I have landed on a 4. Was this book well written for the most part? Yes. Were there difficult themes going on throughout that parallel with today’s world? Yes. Was this a difficult read emotionally? Yes.  Did I cry? No.  This however is probably one of the first times I needed to take emotional breaks from what I was reading because the evil in it for myself was hard to take. My criticisms of this book more have to do with the ending.  To take a book that deals which such a HUGE moral issue and then not have some type of epilogue was difficult for me. I also had a pretty descent idea of what was coming so when it happened it didn’t have the emotional punch maybe it should have had. I also ended it still feeling very hopeless.  It’s possible that that was the intention of the author, to leave you that unsettled so you would think about this in a way such as what would I do if I was living in this world? Overall I am glad I read this book but it’s going to be like some other books I have read where I’m glad I read it but I never want to read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

jadorelecafe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

where do I even begin? I feel like I need to go stare at a wall for a few hours and contemplate on… everything… after finishing this book. 

This was such an incredible read. It’s a story of hope and loss and grief and faith and intention. 

There is so much packed into this book it’s hard to know where to even start. There’s questions of morality, is intention what counts most? Or is the result what counts most? Just because you intend to do something good, doesn’t always make it a good action. 
There’s so much grief and loss piled onto each other here and it’s heart wrenching but it also shows how every action, every person, every decision makes such a big impact on the world around us. 
Hope is a fickle thing too. We can hope for the best but we also need to plan for the worst. We have to be able to find that balance and not lose hope for what is right and good in the world because it’s worth hoping for. 

It was so interesting to see Sciona’s character arc evolve throughout the story. In the end she had to learn to live with and work with her flaws to do the right thing and do good for the world and others. Sciona is a character that meant well, her intent was not to cause harm or hurt, but she was selfish to a fault. She struggled to get out of her own head enough to see how much her ideas and decisions and actions would truly impact the world around her. 

I really loved the conversation about morality in this story too. It really hits hard. Is intention to do good all that matters? Or is the outcome of your actions all that matter? Or is it somewhere between? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism