Name: Blood over Bright Haven
Rating: 4.510869565217392 (92 reviews)
ISBN: 9780593873359

M. L. Wang

Blood over Bright Haven

tracy

"Is it better to be safe and broken than it is to be dead?"

The first woman ever admitted to a prestigious order of mages unravels a secret conspiracy that could change the practice of magic forever, in this standalone dark fantasy from the author of The Sword of Kaigen. “Powerful, thought-provoking. . . . Fans of R.F. Kuang’s Babel will find much to admire here, from the intricate magic system to the unflinching exploration of societal issues.”—Booklist AN ELLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR For twenty years, Sciona has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry at the University of Magics and Industry. When Sciona finally passes the qualifying exam and becomes a highmage, she finds her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues are determined to make her feel unwelcome—and, instead of a qualified lab assistant, they give her a janitor. What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was not always a janitor. Ten years ago, he was a nomadic hunter who lost his family on their perilous journey from the wild plains to the city. But now he sees the opportunity to understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the privileged in power. At first, mage and outsider have a fractious relationship. But working together, they uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first.

A Novel

Blood Over Bright Haven

Wow! Just wow. Loved this so much. I think I’ll now go stare at a wall for half an hour in order to properly comprehend this book! Please read this book! 🙏🏼

Aims

♾️⭐️!!

Wow! Just wow. Loved this so much. I think I’ll now go stare at a wall for half an hour in order to properly comprehend this book! Please read this book! 🙏🏼

M.L.  Wang

Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)

This was a great read, with nice prose and good character construction. I had two main problems that didn't mar the experience too much: I predicted almost the entirety of the plot by the 20% mark; and some of the anti-colonial and anti-patriarchy speech was too forceful, even though the context is adequate for it. On the other hand, I really liked the ending, it's a brave one to write.

“They just can’t help putting their treasures on the highest floor of the tallest tower, even when more subtle placement might help with functionality.”

“Symbolism?” Sciona shrugged her burning shoulders. “I think it makes them feel like Leon on the Mount, conquering the natural world to touch divinity.”

“Oh.” Carra frowned. “When you said ‘symbolism,’ I thought you were going to say it was a penis thing.”

Sciona let out a snort of laughter and clapped a hand over her mouth as the lift creaked to a halt. “I suppose you’re right. It is a bit of a penis thing.”

Reading this and The Lathe of Heaven together was interesting, they connect at least on one major point, the ethics of the use of overwhelming power and how progress, development and forward thinking can lead to morally wrong considerations about the present suffering or sacrifice. This being one of the pillars of our ever developing dystopia in the real world makes it poignant and that much meaningful. Conceptualizing effectiveness is not apolitical. From here one can also make a play at interpreting Blood over Bright Haven as climate fiction: there's the resource management, the class system, the destruction of life happening elsewhere, where it doesn't have to matter to us, the belief that the next technological progress is going to save us from the disasters we are ourselves creating. I couldn't help but constantly think about "some people" with unjustifiable power over the world having their mansions built in isolated safer places and planning for a future where the others will have to deal with whatever catastrophe happens. 

André Nóbrega

This was a great read, with nice prose and good character construction. I had two main problems that didn't mar the experience too much: I predicted almost the entirety of the plot by the 20% mark; and some of the anti-colonial and anti-patriarchy speech was too forceful, even though the context is adequate for it. On the other hand, I really liked the ending, it's a brave one to write.

“They just can’t help putting their treasures on the highest floor of the tallest tower, even when more subtle placement might help with functionality.”
“Why?” Carra asked.
“Symbolism?” Sciona shrugged her burning shoulders. “I think it makes them feel like Leon on the Mount, conquering the natural world to touch divinity.”
“Oh.” Carra frowned. “When you said ‘symbolism,’ I thought you were going to say it was a penis thing.”
Sciona let out a snort of laughter and clapped a hand over her mouth as the lift creaked to a halt. “I suppose you’re right. It is a bit of a penis thing.”
“You Tiranish have problems”

Reading this and The Lathe of Heaven together was interesting, they connect at least on one major point, the ethics of the use of overwhelming power and how progress, development and forward thinking can lead to morally wrong considerations about the present suffering or sacrifice. This being one of the pillars of our ever developing dystopia in the real world makes it poignant and that much meaningful. Conceptualizing effectiveness is not apolitical. From here one can also make a play at interpreting Blood over Bright Haven as climate fiction: there's the resource management, the class system, the destruction of life happening elsewhere, where it doesn't have to matter to us, the belief that the next technological progress is going to save us from the disasters we are ourselves creating. I couldn't help but constantly think about "some people" with unjustifiable power over the world having their mansions built in isolated safer places and planning for a future where the others will have to deal with whatever catastrophe happens. 

I haven’t read fantasy with complex world-building in years, so it took time for the world of this book to fully settle in my mind. But once it clicked, the rage hit hard. The feminine rage this book stirred in me was unbearable. It feels like a mirror of real-world patriarchy, showing how women are constantly treated as less and denied the same chances men get. The FMC literally goes through violence just to earn what she worked for in a male-dominated institution, and even then, she still isn’t respected at all.

Both the FMC and MMC have their own flaws, which makes them feel very human. The pace of the story is quite steady, though I sometimes forgot what certain words meant in this world, so I had to flip to the back of the book to check the glossary. I personally think the bittersweet ending was perfect for this story, and it was painfully beautiful in its own way.

I adore how the FMC’s character developed as she uncovered the harsh truth about her world. To go against everything she had believed all her life, for the sake of humanity, was incredibly brave. Would you go against your beliefs when everyone around you normalizes them, simply because that’s what they were taught—even when those beliefs go against humanity itself?

I haven’t read fantasy with complex world-building in years, so it took time for the world of this book to fully settle in my mind. But once it clicked, the rage hit hard. The feminine rage this book stirred in me was unbearable. It feels like a mirror of real-world patriarchy, showing how women are constantly treated as less and denied the same chances men get. The FMC literally goes through violence just to earn what she worked for in a male-dominated institution, and even then, she still isn’t respected at all.

Both the FMC and MMC have their own flaws, which makes them feel very human. The pace of the story is quite steady, though I sometimes forgot what certain words meant in this world, so I had to flip to the back of the book to check the glossary. I personally think the bittersweet ending was perfect for this story, and it was painfully beautiful in its own way.

I adore how the FMC’s character developed as she uncovered the harsh truth about her world. To go against everything she had believed all her life, for the sake of humanity, was incredibly brave. Would you go against your beliefs when everyone around you normalizes them, simply because that’s what they were taught—even when those beliefs go against humanity itself?

Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost-and the collectors have come calling. An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant. What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran's magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power. Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever-if it doesn't get them killed first.
Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance? A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist.
(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)

I am a little surprised by how invested I found myself to be in the story; a lot of fantasy nowadays seems to want to hit page counts over telling a story which can make picking a book up discouraging. "Blood Over Bright Haven" has no such issues. It is very clear in what it seeks to explore, in its themes and its allegories; the understanding of the author of colonialism is deep and represented in many of its complexities within the novel. It has been a while since I have seen a book demonstrate so effectively that a colonialism does not end with not killing a colonised people - no, it dehumanises and destroys in the small and in the large scale, and it rots all the way down. It becomes ingrained into a society and its people (even Sciona, until the very end, had forgotten how the Kwen would react to her revelation) and it cannot be cured through one gesture, one generation.

The fact that the above was supported by robust enough world-building helps make the novel feel complete and well-rounded. I liked the idea of a magic system that combines the more esoteric with what we would regard as closer to contemporary technology and what is essentially coding to activate it. I only wish we had gotten to understand Kwen magic better - it is stated that the runes used by Tiran were stolen from the Kwen and that the system is based on their magic system; it seems a little inconsistent with the themes to leave the Kwen system then less clear in its mechanics (as colonial powers tend to exoticise and mysticise its colonised nations) but maybe that is the point - the people who practiced this magic are all dead, there is no one to explain the mechanics of their magic.

I am a little surprised by how invested I found myself to be in the story; a lot of fantasy nowadays seems to want to hit page counts over telling a story which can make picking a book up discouraging. "Blood Over Bright Haven" has no such issues. It is very clear in what it seeks to explore, in its themes and its allegories; the understanding of the author of colonialism is deep and represented in many of its complexities within the novel. It has been a while since I have seen a book demonstrate so effectively that a colonialism does not end with not killing a colonised people - no, it dehumanises and destroys in the small and in the large scale, and it rots all the way down. It becomes ingrained into a society and its people (even Sciona, until the very end, had forgotten how the Kwen would react to her revelation) and it cannot be cured through one gesture, one generation.

The fact that the above was supported by robust enough world-building helps make the novel feel complete and well-rounded. I liked the idea of a magic system that combines the more esoteric with what we would regard as closer to contemporary technology and what is essentially coding to activate it. I only wish we had gotten to understand Kwen magic better - it is stated that the runes used by Tiran were stolen from the Kwen and that the system is based on their magic system; it seems a little inconsistent with the themes to leave the Kwen system then less clear in its mechanics (as colonial powers tend to exoticise and mysticise its colonised nations) but maybe that is the point - the people who practiced this magic are all dead, there is no one to explain the mechanics of their magic.

Quite good. Excellent depiction of how gender, race, and class are all intertwined, and how each are affected under white supremacy. 

Sophia 

insanely good. this book is a credit to the dark academia/fantasy genre and everything i wanted babel to be. a letter to the hope that we can break beyond the lies and blood and deciet that plagues every institution we have built. we can change. we can become better (lacpl, libby, 5.5 hrs) 

rin 🐇

I fear an Instagram caption can't fully capture everything this ambitious book is trying to talk about, on top of being a total page-turner. I will always want to read a book about a wonderful magical city being secretly built on the literal blood, bones, and backs of a subjugated/marginalised class. Bright Haven more like Blight Haven am I right? More so than SF dystopian novels, I find adult fantasy of the dark academia subgenre making very loud points about how capitalist society functions—prosperity for a few always relies on the exploitation of many. I’m going to be thinking about this book for a long time.

The story begins with an entire tribe being brutally massacred by something called a Blight along the outskirts of a city protected by and run on magic siphoned from another realm. For all its progress, this city is extremely patriarchal—women are allowed to take the biggest magic exam only once a decade so the upper echelons of government and academia are overwhelmingly men. 

Sciona is a young woman who has spent all her life fighting for recognition, against all odds and double standards and gender-based injustice. After passing the exam and being assigned to a prestigious lab, she still has to endure misogyny from her colleagues. Instead of subjecting a man to the humiliation of being her lab assistant, she is assigned a Kwen janitor with no qualifications to speak of. The Kwen refer to immigrants from outside the barrier and their descendants whose lives are treated as expendable. When Sciona discovers the truth that could unravel her entire reason for existence, she decides to go down in history as having been on the right side of it. At least she got to rip her asshole colleagues a new one while she still could, that was my favourite part.

"The worthwhile run is never the short one... You know we're not running from oblivion. We're running toward hope."

Holy shit... holy fucking shit. I am floored. This was an incredible read and I am so, so glad that I picked this book up. WOW. This book tackles some really important topics and themes that are extremely relevant to what is happening in the world at the moment, this is a really poignant, horrifying yet hopeful story and I absolutely loved it. I don't think I was fully prepared for how much this story would get to me, I found myself a massive sobbing mess more than once and I think the shock will take a long time to wear off. There isn't a lot that I can really criticise with this book... ok that's a lie, there is always something... I'm not sure I can really get all my feelings down in adequate words, but I will try, and I am going to make the rest of this review hidden for spoilers, so be warned...

SPOILERS>>>Sciona is a fascinating main character. She is flawed, frustrating and incredibly up herself, she thinks she's "not other girls" but really she's more like them in so many ways, she's just been given the freedom to explore avenues that other women haven't had access to. I loved the way Thomil, and even Sciona eventually, held her accountable for this, it's powerful. She's never excused for being a selfish, power hungry person who steps on the backs of others, even the people who love her, to get where she wants. She is an oppressed woman but complicit in mass murder and oppression too. The intersectionlity of oppression in this book was so well done. It tackles how someone can be not exactly guilty but also not innocent either. Sciona benefitted from the privilege of her ethnicity and the systems that hurt Kwen and other Tiranish women, but she eventually uses that privilege to help the Kwen and that is admirable in some ways. Some people might call that a "white saviour complex" but I disagree. She's still deeply flawed, she still sees the Kwen as below her in until almost the end of the book and her biases never fully leave but her character development is still progress and it shows hope.

"Sciona was just like any other mage in so many critical ways-her fanaticism for her cruel god, her blindness to those beneath her, her arrogance, her davastatingly damaging actions. But in the one way, she was distinct from anyone Thomil had ever known.

The themes in this book do smack you over the head a bit, they're not exactly subtle and I wish they had been handled a little more creatively to be honest. Tiran basically directly mirrors our own world and spells out this dynamic of racism, religion and misogyny in stark detail. I guess this is important for those readers who read just for vibes and say reading isn't political, maybe it will get them to open their eyes to the comparisons, but I also think those readers might not have made it through the first 100 pages of technical world building and jargon and just found this boring, because I know I struggled a bit at the beginning too. The magic system is a lot to take in, but it reminded me of writing queries and logic builders which I do in my tech job, the IF...THEN logic system was really cool, and I think it helped me understant it more quickly. The religion was also a lot of information to take in, but I found it relatively easy to understand just very wordy at times. It resembled Christianity very closely, Leonite is Old Testment, Tirasian is New Testament. Even down to the way bad people often turn to Christianity, for example when they're in prison, and then think that because they've repented they are now going to be admitted into Heaven. I think this was really well done, but also meant the story did feel like it lacked some originality sometimes. I think this book could've almost worked as a dystopia rather than a fantasy. But overall I don't think that detracts from how well written it is and how powerful I found the story.

"Women are always told to be kind, be forgiving, be nurturing... As far as I know, it's never gotten them anywhere. The men of Tiran, who have the real power, won't return the favor when it matters."

The foreshadowing, like in the quote above, was really mastefully handled. It just highlighted how ignorant Sciona was still even toward the end of this book, she had hope for her people being good but forgot that the real people in power don't return the favour most of the time. Whether it's men's power over women, or coloniser's power over the oppressed. I do wish we'd seen more of the Kwen in this book and gotten to know more about other characters aside from Thomil and Carra. I loved Thomil and Carra so much, they challenged Sciona so well even though it was never their responsibilty to educate her. Thomil's POVs were a great addition, especically that amazing first chapter and the ending, what a way to begin and end this story. I wanted a bit more of Thomil's POV though. We know and learn a lot about the Tiranish people and a lot of Sciona's colleagues, mentors, bosses and family but not enough about him and the Kwen. But I did like that Sciona's absent father is just a mere footnote in this story. END SPOILER>>>

Ok spoilers done. Depsite my wishes and slight criticisms this is still a 6 star read for me and has quickly gone straight onto my favourites shelf. I think this is an important novel that everyone should read at some point in their life, and having read some of the more critical reviews I do disagree with some people's opinions on the messaging of this book. I think people calling this a coloniser romance aren't wrong but they aren't fully right either. Since I've ended my spoiler warning I won't give too much away but I really don't think the VERY small element of romance in this book is being understood correctly, they weren't in love, they were just full of emotion during a very tense moment and had found a friend in each other. And wow this book really brought out the emotion in me. An absolutely brilliant read! 10/10 recommended.

"Of course Alba thinks it's about love becase that's how she and Aunt Winny measure the world. They're sweet like that."

"I'm not sweet. The world isn't about love for me. It's about power."

Genevieve 

"The worthwhile run is never the short one... You know we're not running from oblivion. We're running toward hope."

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Holy shit... holy fucking shit. I am floored. This was an incredible read and I am so, so glad that I picked this book up. WOW. This book tackles some really important topics and themes that are extremely relevant to what is happening in the world at the moment, this is a really poignant, horrifying yet hopeful story and I absolutely loved it. I don't think I was fully prepared for how much this story would get to me, I found myself a massive sobbing mess more than once and I think the shock will take a long time to wear off. There isn't a lot that I can really criticise with this book... ok that's a lie, there is always something... I'm not sure I can really get all my feelings down in adequate words, but I will try, and I am going to make the rest of this review hidden for spoilers, so be warned...

SPOILERS>>>Sciona is a fascinating main character. She is flawed, frustrating and incredibly up herself, she thinks she's "not other girls" but really she's more like them in so many ways, she's just been given the freedom to explore avenues that other women haven't had access to. I loved the way Thomil, and even Sciona eventually, held her accountable for this, it's powerful. She's never excused for being a selfish, power hungry person who steps on the backs of others, even the people who love her, to get where she wants. She is an oppressed woman but complicit in mass murder and oppression too. The intersectionlity of oppression in this book was so well done. It tackles how someone can be not exactly guilty but also not innocent either. Sciona benefitted from the privilege of her ethnicity and the systems that hurt Kwen and other Tiranish women, but she eventually uses that privilege to help the Kwen and that is admirable in some ways. Some people might call that a "white saviour complex" but I disagree. She's still deeply flawed, she still sees the Kwen as below her in until almost the end of the book and her biases never fully leave but her character development is still progress and it shows hope.

"Sciona was just like any other mage in so many critical ways-her fanaticism for her cruel god, her blindness to those beneath her, her arrogance, her davastatingly damaging actions. But in the one way, she was distinct from anyone Thomil had ever known.
'She's hope'"

The themes in this book do smack you over the head a bit, they're not exactly subtle and I wish they had been handled a little more creatively to be honest. Tiran basically directly mirrors our own world and spells out this dynamic of racism, religion and misogyny in stark detail. I guess this is important for those readers who read just for vibes and say reading isn't political, maybe it will get them to open their eyes to the comparisons, but I also think those readers might not have made it through the first 100 pages of technical world building and jargon and just found this boring, because I know I struggled a bit at the beginning too. The magic system is a lot to take in, but it reminded me of writing queries and logic builders which I do in my tech job, the IF...THEN logic system was really cool, and I think it helped me understant it more quickly. The religion was also a lot of information to take in, but I found it relatively easy to understand just very wordy at times. It resembled Christianity very closely, Leonite is Old Testment, Tirasian is New Testament. Even down to the way bad people often turn to Christianity, for example when they're in prison, and then think that because they've repented they are now going to be admitted into Heaven. I think this was really well done, but also meant the story did feel like it lacked some originality sometimes. I think this book could've almost worked as a dystopia rather than a fantasy. But overall I don't think that detracts from how well written it is and how powerful I found the story.

"Women are always told to be kind, be forgiving, be nurturing... As far as I know, it's never gotten them anywhere. The men of Tiran, who have the real power, won't return the favor when it matters."

The foreshadowing, like in the quote above, was really mastefully handled. It just highlighted how ignorant Sciona was still even toward the end of this book, she had hope for her people being good but forgot that the real people in power don't return the favour most of the time. Whether it's men's power over women, or coloniser's power over the oppressed. I do wish we'd seen more of the Kwen in this book and gotten to know more about other characters aside from Thomil and Carra. I loved Thomil and Carra so much, they challenged Sciona so well even though it was never their responsibilty to educate her. Thomil's POVs were a great addition, especically that amazing first chapter and the ending, what a way to begin and end this story. I wanted a bit more of Thomil's POV though. We know and learn a lot about the Tiranish people and a lot of Sciona's colleagues, mentors, bosses and family but not enough about him and the Kwen. But I did like that Sciona's absent father is just a mere footnote in this story. END SPOILER>>>

Ok spoilers done. Depsite my wishes and slight criticisms this is still a 6 star read for me and has quickly gone straight onto my favourites shelf. I think this is an important novel that everyone should read at some point in their life, and having read some of the more critical reviews I do disagree with some people's opinions on the messaging of this book. I think people calling this a coloniser romance aren't wrong but they aren't fully right either. Since I've ended my spoiler warning I won't give too much away but I really don't think the VERY small element of romance in this book is being understood correctly, they weren't in love, they were just full of emotion during a very tense moment and had found a friend in each other. And wow this book really brought out the emotion in me. An absolutely brilliant read! 10/10 recommended.

"Of course Alba thinks it's about love becase that's how she and Aunt Winny measure the world. They're sweet like that."
"But you?"
"I'm not sweet. The world isn't about love for me. It's about power."

turtle

Cici Pearson

Extremely captivating through and through. Love the world, the characters, the plot, the twists - an wonderful reading experience that I'll definitely recommend through and through.

Zubi Mendi

There are not enough words to describe how much I enjoyed this book. I want more of it, even though it ended perfectly. It's an incrediblely complex story that just got better and better as I read it.

Paige Leitner

In this fantastical world, it is still ruled by the patriarchy and two schools of a slightly different religious doctrines, who have deemed the Kwen a lesser people. The metaphors are pretty heavy handed and unfortunately this could be about many different regions and peoples historically. A group of people deciding they are better and smarter than the other, mixed in which magic is not a good combo.

That said it’s pretty interesting and the world-building is pretty solid.

Sciona, the first female high Mage is unlikely paired with a Kwen man Thomil.

It reads a little like a white savior story which doesn’t quite sit well with me.

She is incredibly passionate and stubborn and at times very hard to like.

I DNFed this at 2/3 in. Im not spending any more time with this misogynistic dystopian book.

Suzanne

In this fantastical world, it is still ruled by the patriarchy and two schools of a slightly different religious doctrines, who have deemed the Kwen a lesser people. The metaphors are pretty heavy handed and unfortunately this could be about many different regions and peoples historically. A group of people deciding they are better and smarter than the other, mixed in which magic is not a good combo.

That said it’s pretty interesting and the world-building is pretty solid.

Sciona, the first female high Mage is unlikely paired with a Kwen man Thomil.

It reads a little like a white savior story which doesn’t quite sit well with me.

She is incredibly passionate and stubborn and at times very hard to like.

I DNFed this at 2/3 in. Im not spending any more time with this misogynistic dystopian book.

Blood over Bright Haven

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