Scan barcode
A review by isi__1
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
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.
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.
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