Blood Over Bright Haven
About the book
Author: M.L. Wang
Publisher: Del Rey
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My Review
I almost — almost — let this one slip through the cracks of my TBR. Reader, that would have been a grave mistake. What an incredible firecracker of a standalone fantasy novel!!
Blood Over Bright Haven is about a woman named Sciona from the magically/technologically advanced city of Tiran who has worked her whole life to become accepted into the highest levels of magical scholarship — history’s first woman highmage. It’s also about an indigenous man named Thomil who was driven into Tiran’s lowest class by “the blight,” a magical danger outside the safety of Tiran’s borders that’s left his people all but extinct. When Sciona’s male peers assign Thomil as her assistant as a joke, the two form an unlikely pair — and uncover horrifying truths.
This book is doing SO MUCH in less than 500 pages, and it does it so well. Here, in a fast-paced story with an incendiary plot, we grapple with what it truly means to reckon with one’s own privilege and role in oppression, colonialism, violence; the reality of intersectionalism paired with the uncomfortable truth that it does not excuse those with more privilege; the harsh reality of intention vs impact; the cost of taking more than can be sustained and why that’s easier to ignore than confront head-on; and how easy it is for people in power to convince themselves that they are not in the wrong, and the near-impossibility of interrupting that mentality.
I’m not sure I’ve ever met a character who was so unlikeable in the beginning yet demonstrated so much (believable) growth so quickly. The ending is also, in my opinion, exactly what the book demands.
If you liked R.F. Kuang’s Babel, you will love this. And even if you didn’t, I still think you might love this. Please read it!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Racism
Colonialism
Violence / blood / death
Sexual assault / attempted rape
Suicidal thoughts / attempt
