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ladylunabee 's review for:
Blood Over Bright Haven
by M.L. Wang
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
As much as I liked this story, and appreciated all of the themes and critiques on society it was making, I feel like this story could have benefitted from an extra 100-200 pages, if not just full on making it a duology. It could end the same, be the same story, but it tried to tackle SO MUCH in such a short period of time, and it fell a little short for me.
I don't need a happy ending, I don't need the world of the story to be comfortable or hospitable, but I would really rather be shown things about a character's personality than just told about them. At times, I felt like this world was far more fleshed out than the characters. We were able to be shown much of the world building with very simple things. But then we'd be given pages dedicated to the character's making realizations about other's personalities or their own. It's probably a personal thing, but I just didn't love that method of delivery here, not when these two people were so important to what was happening in this world and the changes they were trying to make.
I did appreciate that for a large portion of this book, we cared about the other people in this world about as much as Sciona. Until she started caring, we weren't given much to go on to care about the people around her. Thomil is the exception. I always cared about him more than her. I agreed with Carra anytime she called him stupid. He was being stupid. He deserved so much better.
All of that being said, this goes to the top of my recommendation list for anyone to read. At times this story was very on the nose and very in your face, but I feel like in this case that's important. People need to have this stuff thrown in their face.
I don't need a happy ending, I don't need the world of the story to be comfortable or hospitable, but I would really rather be shown things about a character's personality than just told about them. At times, I felt like this world was far more fleshed out than the characters. We were able to be shown much of the world building with very simple things. But then we'd be given pages dedicated to the character's making realizations about other's personalities or their own. It's probably a personal thing, but I just didn't love that method of delivery here, not when these two people were so important to what was happening in this world and the changes they were trying to make.
I did appreciate that for a large portion of this book, we cared about the other people in this world about as much as Sciona. Until she started caring, we weren't given much to go on to care about the people around her. Thomil is the exception. I always cared about him more than her. I agreed with Carra anytime she called him stupid. He was being stupid. He deserved so much better.
All of that being said, this goes to the top of my recommendation list for anyone to read. At times this story was very on the nose and very in your face, but I feel like in this case that's important. People need to have this stuff thrown in their face.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Cannibalism