Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

6 reviews

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring 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

4.25

A unique magic system and excellent world-building undergird this dark academia fantasy about colonialism and complicity that follows the first female highmage of Tiran and the Kwen janitor her peers assign her as an assistant as the two uncover the shocking truth behind magic. As brilliant as I found Blood Over Bright Haven, it was also predictable at times and very heavy-handed. I came to think of it as Babel Jr.—a less subtle little sibling to one of my favorite books. I hope older teens will find it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

A complex tale this story takes place under a dome made by the founding mages which protects those in the city from the Blight. 

The blight kills without shame and destroys anything with life that it touches from trees and plants to unravelling a human infront of your eyes. 

We see our main character develop a lot throughout this book, as an academic she questions everything and despite Kwen being frowned upon in their city when she is mocked by her all male peers for being the first female archmage ever she takes the Kwen janitor under her wing as her assistant. 

Its narrative addresses issues such as genocide/ seeing certain groups as lesser beings as well as colonisation in the form of

ignoring the harms of magic and the destruction they reap on the Kwans native land , despite being a product of stolen texts taken from the original female witches under the Kwan who only aimed to help people.

Overall despite being deep and at sometimes saddening I truly loved this book and could not put it down. It’s unique from its magic system, to how it addresses social issues and I think is a vital addition to diversifying the worlds of sci fi and fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

tokaylamockingbird's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, and Alcohol

maria_schnecki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

 Wow, this was probably the most intelligent, extensive, most immersive and overall most interesting book I've read, ever. And I've read quite a lot in my time. Probably saved me from an incoming reading slump, too.

I don't even know how to start this review because I don't want to take away the joy of discovering the story, so I will just drop some arguments why you should read it without goint into greater detail:
-intricate worldbuilding
-an unique, science- and religion-based magic system
-criticism on probably everything (e.g. said "religious" system)
-fascinating female MC with strong (strong) academic drive in a male-dominated world
-political but not in a politics-way but in a soul-crushing, system changing way
-beautiful academic-y writing which my professors should take inspiration from
-character development with some not so nice parts
-no focus on a love story (you decide if this is good or bad, i thought it was fitting)

You should not read this book if you are looking for a light, fun story or if you are triggered by rascism, sexism, xenophobia, murder, sexual assault or generally injustices against more or less everybody involved.
Whereas this book is in no way light or topic-wise super easy, I found myself sprinting through the book like there was no tomorrow. These hefty kinds of books tend to be a bit intimidating (at least for me, looking at Babel on my shelf), but just give it a go, it honestely is so intruiging that you probably just get sucked right in the story. So don't be intimidated, just give it a go!

Some further thoughts for people who might need more convincing or for those who've read it and just want to ramble about it like I do:
Gosh this book was it. In the beginning, I honestely did not want to start this. I had just read a lot of fantasy-heavy books which where just overall not that deep sometimes so startig a complex book seemed daunting. Still, it was on kindle unlimited and I probably saw someone speaking about it, so I gave it a go, expecting it to drag quite a bit. After 3 pages I turned off the page numbers on my kindle because they distracted me from the story (never happened before). After like 10 minutes I checked my progress and was on page 70, reaching page 250 the same evening. By then, I already knew this was going to be exceptional. Still, as the last quarter approached, I became really worried about the ending and if it would be cut short or would not be satisfying or if it would just be a convenient, easy way out - because honestely, I was way more anxious about everything than our mc. So count me surprised when the ending actually made sense?? and was consequent to all of the prior world-and character building? She really did that.

I now have to decide what to do with my life. Maybe read a thriller to calm down. Maybe read the sword of kaigan, because even though it doesn't really intruige me right now and it is quite a chonky book, I now trust M.L. Wangs brilliance and expect this one to be mind-blowingly executed, too. The only thing I know for sure is that I will force my friends to read this right now - for they know I have great taste and with maybe some emotional pressure the likes of trust me bro 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Hate crime, Infertility, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism and Abandonment

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

honnhi's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I went into this book with the very little knowledge of what it was about besides having a dark academia setting, and I appreciate that as it afforded me the opportunity to experience it at firsthand.

My favorite thing about M. L. Wang’s works however shall always be her unique ability to seize the most specific, unsettling, and devastating emotions and bring them to life through her words. Before I had any inkling of what the plot could be about, I cared about the characters she introduced me to and what would happen next. Unfortunately except towards the beginning, while I was interested in the events that would happen next I rarely found myself genuinely invested in the stakes. Perhaps, it’s easier for me to feel emotionally connected to smaller-scale, more personal conflict. Luckily, despite not relating to the main character, Sciona, much at all, I found her perspective and thoughts to be captivating, her boldness and willingness (stubbornness) to stand by her values admirable. The great character work really did a lot of heavy lifting in this book.

While I do think the messaging about sexism and colonialism was a little heavy handed, I don’t think that it’s any less enjoyable or important. I think her depictions of the truths and emotions that underly these things were realistic and necessary for to get the purpose of this particular book across. To compare it to Sword of Kaigen would be doing a disservice to both novels because they are fundamentally different in what they are trying to accomplish. 

This woman-in-STEM approach to the story and world was surprisingly interesting considering I generally prefer more traditional fantasy environments. Still, my heart is set on softer magic systems that bring wonder to my eyes and heal my soul. 
Overall, it was a good experience that I’d recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Abandonment