Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

76 reviews

csolomone's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

This book was beautiful. It was a gripping fantasy story that wove in real-life themes of social justice and human suffering. The parallels were, at times, glaringly obvious but I didn’t mind that all. I loved the portrayal of human complexity without all of the extra layers of fluff and superiority that a lot of other books that deal with these topics can sometimes have. A great read that I will recommend many times, I’m sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder

tani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

isi__1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

M.L. Wang did it again. I read The Sword of Kaigen last year and absolutely loved it. I finally got around to reading Blood Over Bright Haven and it didn’t disappoint.
This book was depressing as hell, but it also manages to capture this little bit of hope. The perfect mix to make me cry without fail. 

Even though I’m generally super skeptical about epic fantasy standalones, because I feel like they’re often missing necessary world-building and/or character development, this book was written very satisfyingly and didn’t leave me wishing for more. In a standalone, the author has to flesh out the characters, the world, and the magic on a level that other authors are trying to accomplish in a duology, trilogy, or even longer series. This is extremely difficult, in my opinion, which is why standalones often leave me feeling like many things were missing or were too rushed. This isn’t the case here. I don’t know how M.L. Wang does it, but I don’t care as long as I get to read more books like this by her. 

I’m not even going to go into too much detail about anything else. Just know that I adored the characters. Thinking about it, there’s a relatively small amount of significant characters, but the ones that are there are well-realized and serve an important purpose for the story. 
Furthermore, the magic system is incredibly unique, unlike anything I’ve seen before. Basically, the magic works by writing code for these special typewriter-like machines. It’s so creative! 
The world itself was set up well. I don’t feel like I was missing any important background information and the descriptions were good enough to imagine the setting well. 

Excellent book! It’s definitely getting the strongest recommendation from me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

margaretha_eostara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

For me, this was one of those books that gets under your skin in both the best and worst way possible. I did NOT see that plot twist coming and sat on the edge of my seat to see how Sciona would deal with it. Seeing a FMC having real flaws with real consequences was incredibly refreshing. I can't think of many other books which blend themes like power, religion, classism, racism and misogyny so seamlessly into one cohesive narrative that is still a pretty dang good story.
There was only one point in the book where the conversation between the main characters dragged on for a bit too long.

The falling in love bit could have been left out but I didn't find it distracting as, in the end, it was only a bit of a sidenote rather then a whole plot point.

I did love the addition of small excerpts from the "sacred texts" at the start of each chapter, even though they made my physically repulsed (more so because I know there are many real people who believe this exact same crap).

Finally, it was also very refreshing to see the bad guys just get ripped to shreds at the end, with no other reason than revenge. Was it ethical? Probably not. Was it satisfying to read? Hells yes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Infertility, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, and Cultural appropriation

hopeless_ash's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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

4.5

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, and other parts of it that I really did not. I feel that it dealt with some very heavy real world topics in a good way. I also feel that is was very difficult to get into, and that it gave away the ending very early into the book which was my biggest issue with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Miscarriage

ladyettejin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gabsoulutely's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

"There was no future here. There was only this moment and its isolation rendered it invincible."

I loved this standalone dark academia fantasy. The magic system was so complex, detailed and well-thought out. The worldbuilding was amazing, built brick by brick with societal issues that cut deep - the negative effects of patriarchy, greed, ego, misogyny, sexism, classism, racism. So many topics to unpack with a dash of magic that just added another high-stake power in this book's dynamic.

We follow two main characters, Sciona and Thomil. My favorite character from the beginning was Thomil. I loved his grit, his love of culture, him as a whole. Sciona had a lot of character development and by the end of the book, I was sobbing because of everything she was able to accomplish. 

I feel like this story was exactly what I needed at this time. With the way the world has been lately, I toast to the same thing as Sciona and Thomil at the end, "To hope."

This book was very heavy on my heart and should be given a proper amount of time to fully absorb and go through in order to savor reading it for the first time. So many aspects of hard to stomach moments, including abuse, murder, and sexual harrasment, but overall, I'm glad I was able to bear witness to this story. 

I loved how this story felt really full circle, whenever an author alludes back to moments that happened in the beginning of the book at the end, as well, I always feel so much nostalgia. Like the crossing, the toasts that Sciona and Thomil had made, so many details that tugged on my heartstrings as I watched the characters I love go through so much hardship. 

Such a good book I highly recommend this. This story also reminded me of Shingeki no Kyojin and Those Who Walk Away from Omelas.

Chapter 22 where Sciona and Thomil have a flash back to the night before their world was about to change and they *finally* kissed. God I sobbed. The way Thomil loved her. The way all she wanted at the end was his love, too. Sciona saying, to hope, and him returning it by saying to hope, Highmage Freynan. Got me fucked upppp.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

adlane22's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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: Death, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Police brutality

absolute_mess's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

5.0

Definitely my favourite book I've read this year! Absolutely blew through it like it was nothing. The audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk is excellent and I would highly recommend it to my fellow audiobook enjoyers.

I'm always a huge fan of fantasy that has something to say about our world, and Blood Over Bright Haven definitely scratched this itch for me. It's fairly unsubtle about its message, but the vivid and well developed setting and characters made it incredibly enjoyable and difficult to put down. The academia/laboratory research elements really hit home for me as a current graduate student in a scientific field, and I found Sciona to be a wonderfully flawed and relatable protagonist. The pacing was perfect and the prose was sharp and readable.

Easy 5 stars. Very much looking forward to picking up Sword of Kaigen soon and will absolutely be keeping my eye out for this author's future work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Violence, and Death of parent

ajslifelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail