Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Blood Over Bright Haven

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

168 reviews

kaelaxsuga's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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angh's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read The Sword of Kaigen last year and loved it. It was one of my favorite books read in 2024. Now M.L. Wang brings another fantasy standalone book, similar to TSoK in a lot of ways that seem to be her style: the emotional things, compelling storytelling, great characterization and a unique magic system; but at the same time BOBH stands on its own, and in my opinion is an improvement. It covers a lot of social issues like misogyny, racism, elitism, classism, religion, indoctrination, politics, that were well woven into the story.

The magic system is unique and intricate, never seen something like it before. I understand how it can be confusing at first, then I realized it was basically algorithms and coding, and it clicked. The spellagraphs and conduits, the elaborate spells, and the truth behind the magic, everything was so well crafted and played an important part of the story.

Sciona, the FMC, is the perfect example of someone being fed with propaganda to the point where they’re so indoctrinated that they follow it without question, and blindly following a religion is also a main theme of this book, because the High Magistry and the magic in this world is basically treated like religion with its own bible and everything. She starts with the goal of being the first female high mage, and she does (not really a spoiler it happens within the first chapters), but it’s everything that happens after that makes the story and her character interesting. How she deals with the institutional sexism, her relationship with her family, her relationship with her mentor, and her reaction to the “dark secret” behind magic, it made her such an interesting person to follow

Thomil, the MMC, gives you another perspective. While Sciona faces misogyny in an environment dominated by men, he faces racism and classism for being a Kwen, who are treated as less than human by the Tiranish people. He became an integral part of this story and Sciona’s journey. He was the balance to her character, helped her see things in a different way than wasn’t just the Tiranish faith, made her question everything. They clashed very often, but it was precisely this that moved the story and contributed to developing their characters.

The ending was heartbreaking, but also poetic. The perfect balance between chaos and peace, that portrays the idea of “one door closes and another opens.” A tragic ending and a hopeful new beginning.

Would I like a sequel? Of course, I’d wouldn’t mind seeing what happened to this world after the ending.

Is it necessary? I don’t think so. This truly is a standalone with a great, satisfactory ending.

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wearingmywings's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

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theswordandthesea's review against another edition

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5.0

"Truth before comfort."

Let this book radicalize you. It gripped me from the banger of an opening scene and didn't let go the entire time. This standalone dark academia fantasy is one of the most scathing takedowns of colonialism, privilege, religion, capitalism, and unjust systems working exactly as they were intended that I've ever read.

"This feeling is energy and I'm going to do something useful with it."

I figured out the twist with the magic system fairly quickly because I've read other books with similar reveals, but that didn't take away an ounce of enjoyment. The magic system is well thought out and interesting plus Wang handles the reveal better than any of the other books I've read.

I was so glad that this was VERY low romance. If anything, my one critique is that the tiny bit included wasn't necessary. Ultimately this is about Sciona, the first female mage in a society's long history, using her brain to change the world. I can't wait to read more from this author.

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jdamae11's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful reflective 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

For me, what this book accomplished is hard to put into words! M.L. Wang is an incredible storyteller. Here, she gives us a story with complicated, fully realized characters and an immersive world and magic system. And that’s not even covering the beating heart of this book and the best part about it. The themes are THEMING. She said I’m gonna give you some of things to think about hunny! The destructive, continuous, and consuming nature of colonialism. The impossible and oppressive conditions for people under capitalism. And for everyone, especially women, under patriarchy. The intertwined nature of church and state and the power of organized religion to dictate social life. And how all of this has rendered a society so complacent as to willingly accept not only the foundation of their world built on genocide, but to turn their heads at the continued slaughter of innocent lives so long as it does not inconvenience them. Sounds familiar. I feel like I’m not even doing justice to this tbh. Wang manages to achieve all of this without having to spell it out plainly. She shows the journey of cognitive dissonance and mental deconstruction that must take place for one of our main characters, and the indescribably painful path to justice for our other main character.

Minor spoilers:
This book is not feel-good at all. What I appreciated about the ending was that it felt right, it was the only way things could even begin to be set on a path to restoration for the Native people—the Kwen—of this world. Sciona frustrated me A LOT, but my god was she the most realistic depiction of someone privileged having to reevaluate and change everything. I also felt like, without it being plainly stated, she was a great depiction of a woman with neurodivergence, I saw a lot of myself in her thinking patterns, social misunderstandings, and fixations. I love Thomil, someone who deserved to be more than enraged at everything that has happened to him and his people, yet remains curious and hopeful in that rage. And the power of these two together reminding us of the power of community to create change, no matter how ugly it is to get there. I am OBSESSED with this book idk what to even read next. This book has one of the strongest openings I have ever read and Wang pulls off a major revelation / twist about halfway through that is less shocking than it is a confirmation of your worst fears, which I thought was just so great.

Major candidate for my fave book this year I am GAGGING

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maddielc's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I sped through this book it was so good. A great commentary on our world with a hopeful message at the end. The magic system was so unique (based on coding), it made me want to read page after page.

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flyinglark's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

The world-building is amazing. The magic system is insidious because of how deep it runs. It is on the nose about the themes of sexism, post-colonial oppression and privileges.

I wanted to learn more about Thomil and the other Kwen in the city, but their stories have been minimized. I enjoyed the build-up to where the magic of Tiran comes from. Sciona is a fascinating character. She is making strides for women yet self-serving. She is intelligent in the magic system yet her ignorance against the Kwen minority is a good chunk of the story.

· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·

POV: 3rd Person - Double (

Mostly Sciona, Some Thomil Insertions

)

Format: Audiobook - Single Narrator

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lisabrune's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

There were many aspects of this novel that I really enjoyed: the development of the central characters who remained flowed, complex, but lovable throughout; and the philosophical questions at hand – whose pain and what violence do we benefit from as a society? Is violence necessary to counter such pain? What makes an act good – the outcome or the intent? However, I had some problems with the pacing. While I was never bored, I really felt like the action of the plot only got underway at the end. The ending left several of my questions unanswered and also left me wanting more. If this is the start of a series, I think it really successfully sets up interesting characters to return to and an interesting magic system that has potential for more exploration. If this is a standalone, I think it honestly could have benefited from being longer. Overall, I still do recommend this book, especially for fans of Babel, A Study in Drowning, even The Golden Compass, and other historical dark academia tales.

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literarylillie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-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

full review to come because I need more time to stew but this was insane and I need everyone to truly read this for themselves to experience the excellency of the writing and storytelling

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teejaywhy's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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