Reviews tagging 'Death'

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

66 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

mk_loisirs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I need to return to this once I gather my thoughts. Phenomenal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

nina_rae_131's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang is similar to Babel by RF Kuang in that it has similar themes. They both explore racism, xenophobia, and colonization, along with misogyny. Sciona is very similar to Letty as they are both "white" women in a misogynistic society, who think their struggle is the end all be all, without even considering the struggles of POC/the Kwen. Like Letty, Sciona became angry and violent when confronted with the truth, although Sciona ultimately handled it better. 
Sciona's behavior was infuriating at multiple points. Thomil, the voice of reason, was a welcome perspective, although it was difficult to watch how he was treated by Sciona. In that vein, their romance was also difficult for me. It very much felt like a colonizer romance, but ultimately, their relationship at the end of the book was satisfying for me. 
The big secret was a bit predictable for me, and I've seen other reviewers complain that more people should have figured it out, but I disagree. This society is very religious, thinking they are superior with god given magic. It makes sense that they would not consider where their magic came from. Even Sciona, seeker of truth, did not want to believe it when she saw it with her own eyes. 
Sciona's final plan was interesting, but the way she ignored Thomil's advice was frustrating, showing that she still didn't appreciate him and his knowledge. 
The ending was open-ended, but I felt like it worked for the book. 

It may sound like I complained a lot, but this book was phenomenal. Sciona's character was extremely believable for a "white" woman in her society. I loved Thomil and Carra, and their relationship. The magic was unique. The critiques of racism, colonization, misogyny, etc. fit well within the world and make you think about ours (although they are a bit heavy-handed at times). The ending was satisfying, and it leaves you thinking about where this world will go from there. This book will stay with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility, Suicide, and Abandonment

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

beccarwolf's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A book that mirrors the worst of our society. 
Sciona thinks that she has broken the glass ceiling when she’s accepted as a Highmage in the oasis city of Tiran. When she remains unaccepted by her peers, Sciona maintains diligence in her work with the aid of her Kwen assistant, Thomil. Her persistence in her work leads to revelations that are hard to swallow and even more difficult to remedy. 
Sciona’s character development is both frustrating and realistic. She’s unlikable in her egocentrism. And I still liked her.
Top ten for the year? Perhaps. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

Minor: Suicide

paracosim's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw this on Netgalley, I snatched up an eARC the literal second I could, because holy shit have I heard a ton about this book. I’ve never read anything by this author before (I’ll be buying The Sword of Kaigan though, trust me), and I barely skimmed the summary, so I went in pretty much blind. I didn’t watch any tiktoks about it in the days leading up to reading and didn’t look up reviews; I wanted to be 100% surprised.

Did you ever watch or read Fullmetal Alchemist? Do you like hard magic systems, critiques on colonialism, unlikable protagonists that decide that they are the villain and will do anything in their power to fix the damage they’ve done, and nuanced looks on how the people who have treated you nicely can so easily turn around and show a much darker side to those they consider beneath them? Then this is the book for you.

This book is messed up, and I mean that in the best way. I wouldn’t call it surprising though; I guessed most of the plot within the first 50 pages. But that’s not a bad thing! It was predictable, but the writing was so good that the predictability didn’t take away from the story.

My only gripe is that I wish they’d kept the original self-published cover. The new one looks a bit messy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation