Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Blood Over Bright Haven

Gets very dark right from the beginning, but it's appropriate. It explores sexism, classism, racism, with well-written main characters. Especially as a standalone, it's amazing. I'd recommend it to anyone who can handle heavy reads.

Content Warnings

iellv's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

4.25

Ack. I’m devastated. There are so many things to process. But let me just say that this book achieved what Babel couldn’t. It's a thematically dense book, but it was handled expertly when it could easily be bungled by a less skilled writer. ML Wang's craft is precise, and most of the time her writing style is practical and straight to the point, considering we spend most of the time in Sciona's head, but when the time is right (and in every single Thomil chapter), she goes for the neck. The magic system is great, btw. I'll add a spoiler tag to my notes because I can't be bothered to edit the word vomit below.

There are so many things to love about this book, but I have to applaud ML Wang for portraying rebellion with enough nuance and lingering in that discomfort. Blood Over Bright Haven shows you the fallout and the loss of Kwen lives. And forces you to look at the damage. Yes, what Sciona did was necessary, but her actions caused so much destruction. And that is the terrifying truth. It takes great violence to shake the foundations of a nation that was built on violence and continued to thrive through violence. It takes an even greater devastation to destroy those foundations. And even then the aftermath might not yield the desired effect. It might be worse. But you can trust that at the very, very least, the destruction will usher in light and if I think about Thomil and the Caldonnae for too long I might actually lose it.

I do have one question though: did the Kwen not organize? Were there not underground groups or something? If not resistance groups then support groups? I find that hard to believe, but I'll give this the benefit of the doubt because Sciona didn't get to see much during the fallout. And unfortunately, we didn't get a Thomil chapter during that time. I can see why so I'm not docking points for that

Lastly, I wanna say that I do have some notes? Thomil was too much of a background character for my taste. Although, to be honest, I did have low expectations of his involvement (I'm still annoyed about Griffin, aka RF Kuang's mouthpiece, just... dying after he said his piece), but ML Wang edged toward making Thomil the marginalized character who serves to educate main character. I'm glad we got to see his anger and his grief but that also ultimately served to further Sciona's character development.

We absolutely could have had two Thomil chapters before they executed the plan, because who really is he outside of his work? Outside of his relationship with Carra? How does he interact with other Kwen? What's the Kwen community at the Kwen Quarter like? And again, did the Kwen not organize? lmao. A broken person can still have a life... The man is pretty friendly, charming, honest, and kind. I'm sure those qualities would have shone if he had been given the chance to interact with people from other tribes before the last crossing. Can you tell that Thomil is everything to me? Man, even his hunting skills were mentioned to supplement Sciona's work. Tell me more about his relationship to his gods!!! To nature!!!

I also have some notes about the middle and how Sciona reacted to the truth. I wish we could have sat with her emotions a bit more before the suicide attempt because that felt kinda drastic for someone who didn't really care much about the people in her own neighborhood let alone Kwen lives. Better yet, just do away with the suicide attempt, because I think that detracted from the weight and truth of the assessments leveled at her in the final arc.

Actually, I'm not done. I think the sexual assault scene was handled a little bit weirdly. ML Wang could have written in Renthorn's true nature in a more convincing way than sexual assault, just as the misogyny could have had more layers to it. I agree with the critiques about the misogyny being mostly limited to underestimating Sciona's abilities and staring. It was infuriating, yeah, but it was so flat as to be relatively benign that I forgot that 1.) They only let women take the test every 10 years and 2.) Sciona is the first woman highmage, full stop. It's funny that it didn't even break the immersion too much because I genuinely forgot about those two facts for much of the book.

Content Warnings

kek513's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The best example of allegory I have ever read. Never preachy or patronizing, always poignant and raw and unflinching. This should be required reading in schools.

Content Warnings

ksheehan1007's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This has some great reviews online but ultimately fell flat for me. The magic system was cool but after seeing someone relate it to learning Java in another review I can’t help but think of it that way. The misogyny was overdone and I felt the female main character could have been more complex. I felt some of the themes could have been implemented in a more subtle way & it was kind of predictable.

Content Warnings

soapsoapsoap's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Content Warnings

kasiasffrealm's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

An absolutely incredible read for fans of *Babel*, *Arcane* (Netflix), unique magic systems, and dark academia. The story follows two characters, Sciona and Thomil, as they cross paths in a city protected by a barrier spell that is fueled by dark secrets and justified by religious dogma. Sciona becomes the first-ever female highmage in the city’s history, challenging their religion’s view that women are unsuited for working in the upper echelon of magical innovation. The story is challenging, bringing up issues like colonization, oppression, and the intertwining of church and state. Reading it made me appreciate the power of fantasy writing to challenge deeply rooted beliefs taught to us from a young age. While other reviewers focus on the idea of “What is the cost of magic?” I would take it a step further to say the book asks: what is the cost of comfort?

The writing is exceptional, opening slowly with strong worldbuilding, explained clearly and cleverly to the reader. The book even includes an annex with terminology. The story takes a turn about a quarter of the way in, and the action and twists start to take shape. This book was a page-turner for me, between the worldbuilding, the moral dilemmas, and the author’s intoxicating writing style. The focuses of the story are the character flaws, personal ambitions, the desire for legacy, and systems of power — but there is a hint of will-they-won’t-they for readers who enjoy a sprinkle of romance in their books. Similar to one of the dilemmas presented in *Arcane*, the story presents the dichotomy of people using magic as a gift to enrich their community and those who manipulate and bend it to their will to fulfill selfish ends.

Easily the best book I have read this year — I will be clawing for a hardcover edition as soon as it’s available and following M.L. Wang’s writing journey closely! And of course, thank you to Del Rey Books and Random House Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

More...