A review by bookaquarius
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I finished Blood Over Bright Haven and it was a ride. I thought it was captivating and explicit in its themes, but I don’t think I’d return to it again. It’s Dark academia not in the leaves are turning orange and we wear burgundy plaid jackets way, but in a literal people are getting k*lled here way. This story explores themes of sexism, racism, immigration, eugenics, oppression, and other related topics. We follow Sciona and Thomil as they work together on a project for the contingent of mages Sciona is newly inducted into. Discoveries are made, beliefs are challenged, many screaming matches are had. Sciona will frustrate you to no end as she inundates you with all of her most foul beliefs about “lesser” ethnic groups.

I would disagree that this story is about a white feminist bc I think the story overall is about much more than what Sciona believes. It’s not even that simple to call her a feminist. She serves herself & her quest for power foremost and only vaguely cares about the fringe benefit to other women. I think for the majority of the book she cares about her ability to leave a mark on history, not /women’s/ ability to leave a mark. Also, to the extent “white feminism” is just a term to describe someone who can’t or won’t care about intersectionality, I don’t think this really captures her character. For me, Sciona wasn’t supposed to be the bad feminist or the revolutionary. I think the main point of her character was to demonstrate the concept of “decolonize your mind.” She paid for that work morally, symbolically, and physically and in the end it really wasn’t even about her or what these revelations meant for her. She ultimately wasn’t going to benefit or be rewarded for the work at all. It was her duty to do the work primarily so that the people she helped to oppress and k-ll could go on to shape their own fate how they saw fit. I like that the narrative took the consequences way beyond what she could control or foresee and that she had to confront, right up until the end, that it’s not up to her to sit in judgment of how people respond to decades or centuries of violence unleashed upon them without remorse. 

Beyond Sciona specifically, it’s also a story about how academia can be a tool for obfuscation and oppression as much as enlightenment. Especially when a powerful few academics get to choose what history is preserved and how it’s told. 

Spoilery?? ⚠️ TO ME…Sciona was Ace and that kiss shouldn’t have happened (kidding!! …. or am I?) 
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