Review by coffeestarsbooks - Blood Over Bright Haven

coffeestarsbooks 's review for:

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

5.0

challenging dark emotional 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

Initially, I wasn’t feeling Blood Over Bright Haven. The first chapter of the book feels disjointed from the rest, and it’s a little while before it connects up to the main narrative. I think because this bit feels like high fantasy in a more traditional setting, and then there’s the crossover into a city that reminds me of Piltover from Arcane and League of Legends, it came across as jarring. In the first few chapters, the worldbuilding and dialogue came across as very clunky, with a lot of exposition and telling rather than showing. For example, there were lots of conversations between characters that felt unnecessary- things that were already very clear to them in their world, but needed to be talked about to help the reader learn something. So, I was starting to feel like it might be heading into three star review territory. I was interested in seeing how Sciona’s exam went, but not too impressed so far.

And then we meet Thomil, the janitor, and the plot starts to connect back up. I really admire how Wang doesn’t make Sciona instantly sympathetic to Thomil, since she’s more concerned with her own embarrasment and research prospects. We’ve seen glimpses of Sciona’s flaws up until now: she forgets the name of the baker who is kind to her, she’s clearly a little arrogant even if it’s well-deserved, but so far it’s easy to like her because she’s a woman fighting for her space in a world where men are considered superior, where so many womens’ achievements have been claimed by husbands, mentors, sons and repackaged as their own ideas. We’re introduced to this idea of intellectual theft and inequality so early, and in a way that we’re supposed to admire Sciona in spite of her obsessive nature. Up until now, it’s completely understandable why she’s so singularly devoted to her work.

But her flaws start to become magnified when she meets Thomil. And I really appreciated that. I think it takes a brave author to give their main character such significant flaws, and I don’t think I’ve read that many books where the main character starts out not only naive and self-centred but also bigoted. She’s definitely not as vile as some of the other characters- her treatment of Thomil at first tends to involve acting like he’s a child lacking intelligence and manners (and later, she sees him as an exception to his race), and she’s got a lot of prejudices about the Kwen. Due to her religion and society, she views the Kwen as deserving of their fate, since their ancestors turned down their “chance for salvation” by submitting to Tiran. It isn’t as openly and obviously racist as the violence meted out by some of her colleagues, or the slurs cast by other citizens, but there are very clear parallels to attitudes that tried to justify slavery in England and America. And it’s still racism, even if it’s more subtle. I think this is where Wang really shines, showing the different nuances and complexities of colonialism and its impact on both society and academia. There is a spectrum of attitudes, and they’re all problematic, but I think it’s really important to explore them. They do an exceptionally good job with Sciona, showing her at turns to be selfish and ignorant- while she draws parallels between her own experiences of misogyny as a woman in academia and Thomil’s experiences as a Kwen, she also sometimes misses them when a system of oppression benefits her specifically. For all of her brilliance, she’s also naive in a way that feels believable. It takes a deft hand to balance all of this, and I think Wang has done an incredible job.

Sciona’s arc is so interesting because of all this nuance. And it’s fascinating to see her transformation, even as she still continues to slip up and make mistakes. There’s a tiny scene, about 300 pages in, where she asks for blueberry scones at the bakery, realising that they might be Thomil’s favourite: “it occurred to her that she had never asked him if he’d like her to bring anything in particular. She had just thought he was lucky that she was considerate enough to share with him”. I think this really captures Sciona’s attitudes throughout the book, and how people often dismiss their own prejudices and behaviours, seeing themselves as allies, or at least as not racist. There are other characters in the novel who also fall on this side of the spectrum, and I think Wang does an exceptional job of showing how insidious and problematic these views still are. As such, I particularly liked when Sciona was not only called out on this behaviour, but also told not to centre herself in her responses to it. There are moments early on where she tries to take action, and due to her flaws we’re never quite sure if it’s a result of indignation and concern spurring her to make decisions, or whether it’s her own obsession with her legacy and fame. Either way, she rarely thinks of the consequences for others who are more impacted by these actions than herself, and while she does start to centre others and seek permission, accepting that the focus should not be on the white knight riding to the rescue, her mistakes here feel authentic.

I think the magic system in Blood Over Bright Haven is also incredibly unique. Magic can be performed through items such as staffs, but it is largely carried out on typewriter-type machines. Mages create a chain of commands that feels incredibly similar to something like PowerAutomate or coding, with a workflow of commands. For example, when Sciona moves a book across a desk, she has to specify that she wants to move an under-two-pound rectangular object located within 2 feet of the typewriter, which she calls BOOK. Once she has given the object a name, she can then tell it where to move to etc. The energy to fuel the spell also needs to be taken from somewhere, and so part of the job of the mage is to use the typewriter to locate a source of energy in a place called the Otherworld, a sort of magical garden of energy resources, picking the correct co-ordinates to pinpoint where to draw the energy from. For the most part, I think the explanations of the magic system were well-done, although the book had a bit of a habit of maybe spending a bit too much time on it. Though, to be fair, we do follow Sciona for most of the book, so it makes sense.

I won’t say too much more about the plot etc, as I really don’t want to spoil this one for anyone who hasn’t yet picked it up. I will say that Blood Over Bright Haven is a heavy book- both in length and subject matter. I think fans of R.F. Kuang’s Babel are going to really like this one. And the themes and messages it explores are poignant and just as relevant today as they have been in the past. If you feel up to the heavy topics, I’d strongly recommend this one. Blood Over Bright Haven is a complex and meticulously crafted exploration of academia and its troubling history with oppression and colonialism.

Content Warnings