Blood Over Bright Haven
Book Details
Author: M.L. Wang
Date Published: October 29, 2024
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Fiction
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Synopsis
Sciona Freynan has dedicated most of her life to the study of magic in order to become the first woman highmage admitted to the prestigious University of Magics and Industry.
Upon achieving this goal, Sciona had hoped to finally live her dream, but instead, it’s proving to be just as challenging carving out her place in a clearly patriarchal environment. Her colleagues attempt to undermine her credibility by assigning a janitor instead of a highly qualified professional as her lab assistant.
Thomil Siernes-Caldonn, though, is not your typical janitor. Thomil is a Kwen, an outsider — not native-born to Tiran. Unbeknownst to Sciona and her peers, Thomil was a nomadic hunter who lost his family ten years ago during the perilous journey to Tiran, hoping to seek refuge in the city from mysterious forces that decimated his tribe and his homeland.
It was an uneasy start as two people from different sides of society work together on a very important project. But as they try to move closer to their goal, they uncover an ancient secret – one that could prove dangerous to them and has the power to alter the course of their society forever.
My Book Review ** spoiler alert! **
This my first book from M.L. Wang. I've heard of Sword of Kaigen before because I came across many Tiktok videos recommending this book. The synopsis of Sword of Kaigen did not seem like there would be some romance in it (it was from a perspective of a mother and a son), that's why I never picked it up (sorry, the romance genre is just my preference). But since then, this author has been in my radar. When Blood Over Bright Haven started coming in to my Tiktok feed and saw that the plot seems to have a hint of romance, I bought a copy of this book right away.
I was a bit hesitant to start this book because I was afraid I wouldn't like it. One, it has a dark theme and two, I already have high expectations coming in based from BookTok readers raving about this book. Buuut... I'm so glad to say that I really liked this book!
It was a slow start for me going into it because the first parts were more about the world-building and trying to understand the unique magic system. There is a glossary at the back but I didn't need to check it quite often because the explanations in the story were sufficient for me. But for the spellograph, I had to go to M.L. Wang's website for the artworks since it wasn't available in the e-book copy. Also, later I realized that the book cover's artwork is also a spellograph.
However, at around 30% in, the story picked up that it was harder for me to put down the book. I was intrigued with the discoveries unearthed by Sciona and Thomil in their research. I had a slight idea on what this secret was about and I can only imagine what it must be like for our main characters to learn this earth-shattering secret.
This book is thought-provoking and political and touches on so many topics that are also relevant today in many different parts of the world - like gender inequality, racial segregation, religious indoctrination, historical revisionism and genocide. Which is a good thing, yes? Because if it doesn't affect you directly and you're only trying to survive the daily hustle of life, these topics are just out of your mind. So, it's definitely not a light read.
The story doesn't end there though. What comes next after learning this dangerous secret is what to do with this knowledge. Honestly, it's a hard question. They are only two people going against people in power and against the pre-existing beliefs of the masses. Chaos is to be expected.
With that said, I was satisfied with the ending because the bad people got what they deserved, although there were some unintentional casualties. I liked that the story was just rightly-paced and it was interesting that the magic system was similar to coding. Though there were only hints of romance in the story, it was fine with me because the main plot was already compelling and beautifully written.
If you're someone who enjoyed reading The Will of the Many or The Red Rising but doesn't want to read a long series, I highly recommend this book. Though to me, it feels a lot darker than those other two, perhaps because it's written from a woman's perspective.
My Highlighted Quotes from Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L Wang:
"Thomil had said that how a person felt about their actions didn’t matter; only the actions themselves mattered."
"The question isn’t: How do I stop feeling this way? That’s stupid. I can’t. The question is: What can I do with this feeling? That’s something I can work with—because I’m not bound by limitations of matter, or sex, or Ayerman’s Godforsaken model. I can do anything I want. Anything! If I just find the right action spell.”
"The belief that her work was good … That wasn’t something she could give up. Maybe Bringham and the others couldn’t give it up either, but unlike them, Sciona wouldn’t lie to herself. She wouldn’t use God to ease her guilt when reason screamed otherwise."
“Because good people can turn desperate when the horrors are upon them—especially people whose culture of plenty has left them with no systems to cope with scarcity or cataclysm. Good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.”
“Well, tell her not to be too hard on herself.” Sciona met her mentor’s gaze again and held it this time. “She’s not responsible for the way I turned out … and neither are you, Archmage.” It had to be said, despite all her rage.