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beyondthecovershtx 's review for:
Blood Over Bright Haven
by M.L. Wang
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was fine. It’s at least an interesting magic system, kind of falling into the industrialization of magic category like Foundryside or Stormlight Archive, which I do typically enjoy. It also wasn’t predictable to me so there is that going for it. It has an interesting blend of philosophy and physics, which I also enjoyed.
But the pacing was odd, it starts off with a crazy bang of a prologue and then bored me with a slow paced, preachy, sexism-in-academia story until it finally got interesting around 170 pages in. Even then, the pacing picked up but the story still felt overly preachy and the main character - for supposedly being this once in a generation brilliant scientific mind - still feels incredibly naive and narrow minded and oddly tied to religious dogma.
I didnt hate it, but I didnt love it. I would probably recommend this to fans of dark academia and slow burns who don’t want any spice and like something with a new, scientific based magic system and some good plot twists.
But the pacing was odd, it starts off with a crazy bang of a prologue and then bored me with a slow paced, preachy, sexism-in-academia story until it finally got interesting around 170 pages in. Even then, the pacing picked up but the story still felt overly preachy and the main character - for supposedly being this once in a generation brilliant scientific mind - still feels incredibly naive and narrow minded and oddly tied to religious dogma.
I didnt hate it, but I didnt love it. I would probably recommend this to fans of dark academia and slow burns who don’t want any spice and like something with a new, scientific based magic system and some good plot twists.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia
Moderate: Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Infertility, Cannibalism, Death of parent