Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Blood Over Bright Haven

This book was so tremendously innovative. It turned out to be an entirely different experience than I thought it would be, in a great way. While I never ended up “liking” or relating well to any of the characters, I was fully invested in their fates. The author does an incredible job mashing genres together, which led to a magical, but thought provoking story.

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addythebookbat's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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allthefelicia's review against another edition

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5.0

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rhi_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.5

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briduhjet's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring sad slow-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

4.0

"The question isn't: How do I stop feeling this way? That's stupid. I can't. The question is: What can I do with this feeling?"

After finishing this novel, I had to sit and gather my thoughts a bit. My biggest take away being: stories like this will always be relevant. Will always come up and will always want to be read. Because it is still happening.

While I do think the novel's themes are very much in your face, I actually don't mind the lack of subtlety. It never feels like it's explained to the reader under the pretext that it believes you wouldn't understand or see what it is portraying. In that regards, I think it works narratively. It calls to every type of reader, and I believe it takes that into account. That some people might need to have it be in their face. (It's in our face today and yet!!)

I've also seen some readers call this a colonizer romance. Personally, I didn't feel this was a narrative that was romantically led. I saw friendship bloom between two characters that were raised in a world where friendship didn't seem feasible. Maybe it's a bit optimistic and naive of me, but how does change happen without some connection? I've thought about what makes this novel's protagonist feel fine to me and less of white savior narrative and it's the genuine connection these two characters had with each other by the end. The flaws Sciona had in her ways. She's insufferable, she's selfish, and makes you angry as a reader. She doesn't just turn it off just because of this connection. And that's the point. I would like to think a story like this is more about taking action on both sides, attempting to cross a seemingly impassable bridge to promote the idea that those few connections are more powerful than the majority of people's hatred. Greater than the disconnect. It won't be perfect because how could it? Imagine if more people did that. Unfortunately, we never see any other characters make this connection with each other(understandably so because it doesn't just happen over night), and the author does a fantastic job validating the Kwen's rage while leaving it up to the reader to imagine what can be done for this nation's future with that rage. Perhaps( most likely ) it's war (which considering our own history, conflict is necessary. Violence WILL happen. No one will just >get along< because they're told to. Ironically this narrative being the flip side of Babel's coin where real violence happens.) Perhaps in this book, peace is achieved in some way. But how do we come back from all this that's been done? I think while this could've been explored more as a series, I also think it would've stretched itself too thin. So as a standalone, it benefits from it's simple presentation of a complex issue that persists everywhere.

It's a story on vengeance, misogyny, racism, religion, politics, sacrifice, family, class, elitism, and everything that still goes on today. It's primarily told from her perspective because, I think, we never ask ourselves how do WE be allies? I'd like to think Sciona reflects that question. The next step in understanding privilege, is knowing what you will do with it. Granted, Sciona herself is held back by her gender. This introduces levels to seeing what privilege can look like. (Surprise! This has happened and is still happening! In 2025!!!)

Anyway, I'm not very good with wording my thought process. I will say, there's a lot more dialogue throughout the book, but I personally didn't feel it made it lag as some others have said. Perhaps it's the state of the U.S right now that had me really invested in reading about the magic system and the politics around it. But if you're someone who prefers stories with plenty of action, this might not be the book for you. It was a devastating read that definitely didn't hold your hand in it's consequences at least. I can promise you that it isn't the kind of story that leaves you thinking "it's not that easy." Because it's not that easy. It never was, and it still isn't.

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coltonchase's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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