I absolutely loved this standalone fantasy novel. It was my first Wang, but it will definitely not be my last.
Dealing with heavy themes of colonialism, sexism, and theology Blood Over Bright Haven doesn't pull any punches on the reader and this I think is one of its strengths.
Sciona has worked her whole life to be the first female Highmage in the magic-fueled technological utopia of Tiran but her male colleagues are determined to make it as hard and unwelcoming as possible. Thomil is a refugee from the world outside the barrier surrounding Tiran where the Blight destroys the world without logic or forewarning, now a janitor in the tower of mages he is assigned as Sciona's assistant in a cruel move by the other mages. Together the two will work to discover the secret of Tiran's strength and magic, learning a truth that will rock both of them to their core.
Sciona is such an interesting and unlikeable character - driven solely by her ego and desire to find glory she is a perfect instrument of Tiran. Thomil offers a great foil to her - he is driven by grief and a reticence to give up his own traditions. The books shines in the conversations they have about morality, ethics and the work and function of the gods in the world.
I'm trying to not spoil too much of the plot because the journey of discovery is such an important part of this novel and while I anticipated a lot of the big moments it wasn't any less satisfying when they occured because they had been built so well in the run up.
Wang does a brilliant job of developing the book and it makes the ending even more heartbreaking for it. Give me more fantasy like this and i'll be a happy reader

Only read if you’re ready to have an existential crisis in the best way 4/5⭐️

⭐️The magic system is unique and gruesome.
⭐️ Best character development in a stand-alone I’ve read in a while.
⭐️ Handles and describes racism and misogyny in this world but relates it to our world 🤌
⭐️ Definite plot-twists but M.L. Wang provided the perfect heart-breaking ending.

In Blood Over Bright Haven, M.L. Wang composes an alluring story that explores systemic oppression, colonialism, sexism, identity, and resilience. The unique magic system and flawed characters enhance the story, and the author’s critique of societal norms invites readers to reflect on their own beliefs and actions. While BOBH is described as a dark academia/fantasy, the themes Wang writes about are reflective of issues in our current society. I would definitely recommend checking this book out if you’re looking for a haunting, thought-provoking read.

- Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! -

M. L. Wang’s *Blood over Bright Haven* is a compelling addition to the fantasy genre, seamlessly weaving themes of loyalty, sacrifice, and the complexity of familial bonds. The narrative is set in a richly developed world, brimming with intricate political machinations and vibrant cultures that draw readers in.

Wang’s characters are multi-dimensional, each grappling with their own moral dilemmas and personal growth. The protagonist’s journey is both heart-wrenching and inspiring, making their struggles relatable and engaging. The relationships between characters are nuanced, reflecting the harsh realities of trust and betrayal in a world teetering on the brink of chaos.

The pacing is well-balanced, with moments of intense action interspersed with quieter, introspective scenes that allow for character development. There are, however, moments where the pacing becomes hindered by exceptionally long descriptions of spells. As the spells work in a mathematic way, this may be a turn off to some readers.

What stands out most is the book’s exploration of themes such as the consequences of power and the weight of heritage, challenging the reader to reflect on their own values. The moral "greyness" present in many characters adds depth and complexity.

Overall, *Blood over Bright Haven* is a tale that will resonate with fans of character-driven fantasy, especially in the Steampunk sub-genre. Wang has created a captivating world that invites readers to explore the complexities of human nature against a backdrop of adventure and intrigue.

This was my first book by ML Wang and it did not disappoint!! the intricate magical system was a bit complicated but the world building and the characters were amazing!!

Blood Over Bright Haven is a tragic, dark academic fantasy. Including heavy religious and political themes, as well as race, gender, and class disparities. Absolutely heartbreaking and thought provoking- this is definitely and intellectual thriller that will leave your jaw on the floor. Equally inspiring as it is devastating, I am truly blown away by this book.

Bright Haven is a community run by men in which women have clear expectations of being homemakers or teachers. Sciona is a woman that defies the societal norm by having a strong desire for academics and becoming a high mage. Her goal is to make a name for herself by breaking the glass ceiling and advancing where no other woman has before.

After defying the odds and becoming a high mage, Sciona's male peers have no issue making her feel unwelcome. In trying to break her spirit further, they assign her an assistant that has no magical background and currently works in janitorial services at the magistry.

Unbeknownst to them, Thomil is more than just a janitor, and helps Sciona make magical discoveries that were never thought possible. Unfortunately, some of these discoveries are horrific and will change Bright Haven and beyond forever.

This book was actually released in 2023, but is being officially published and re-released on October 29th. I was not expecting the story I read, but I'm so glad that I read it. As dark and heavy as it was, it's really a fantastic story. I highly recommend this book if you like dark and heavy themes with lots of inspiring character growth.

This is an excellent book.

The main characters in this are almost all adults so this skips over my least favorite dark academia tropes. I loved the academic environment in this and I’m so glad this wasn’t a book that made me sit through a main character going to classes and worrying about grades.

Some of the major elements of the plot are subtle at first so the beginning section of this feels different from the end. This was done so well because it allows you to really get into the head of the character you’re reading through - you miss what they would miss because you see the world through their lens!

There are a lot of heavy and complex themes and topics covered in this book and the author handles them all with nuance while keeping the reader entertained.

Sciona and Thomil are very interesting characters with a lot of depth. They are flawed and complicated and both feel real. I loved watching them develop and grow over the course of the novel.

This book was enthralling. M.L. Wang is phenomenal at writing works that make you feel conflicting emotions at the same time and that requires a lot of talent!! I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

10/10 amazing

What a book!! This was a perfect example of a book that I may not have read on my own but thanks to Netgalley I got a chance to read an ARC and I was so pleasantly surprised by how amazing this book was. The story reminds me some of “Lessons in Chemistry” with a mix of magic. The female lead was such a strong character that definitely had to fight against a patriarchal society as well as a society that tried to justify injustice that it made you root for the characters to the very end. Thank you to the publishers and to Netgalley for the chance to read this advanced copy.

Blood Over Bright Haven is the type of book that you know will stick with you, and you’ll still be thinking about it six months from now. I can’t remember the last time I finished a book and was truly speechless with how it ended. To start, Wang’s writing is absolutely incredible, and I can’t wait to read more of her work. These book starts off with an absolute bang. There’s nothing slow or subtle to ease readers in. The story overall, though, has a slower pacing, but there’s so much ground work that Wang has to lay out that it makes sense in the context of this story. I love the unique approach that Wang used to her magic system in that it’s similarly structure to writing a computer program code. It uses logic and science as building blocks to execute spells. I think this was also a great example of not every character needing a happy ending. It also makes you rethink what a happy ending means for a book overall and even if a book needs a happy ending. This book was absolutely heartbreaking and devastating yet shows the power of hope and potential for change. All it takes is one person being willing to open their eyes and be a catalyst for change. Simply put, this book is an absolute must read.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book but between you and me Goodreads, I already had this book on preorder since the pretty new edition got announced.

What can I say about this book besides it's just simply another amazing work by M.L. Wang. The world building is incredible, and although it's a little complicated, it's introduced to the reader in that way a talented writer will make you feel like it's not complicated at all, because you don't even remember learning it, it's just simply something you've already known. The magic system is also incredible, and as someone who would sit in her computer programming finals, fingers jittering to start while the professor outlines what exactly it is they wanted us to do, it was SO FUN to read. If I have any complaints about this novel, it's that I would have loved to see more of the actual spells written. But in all fairness, I think that would probably bog down the book and no one else but me and computer nerds wanna read that, heh.

M.L.Wang's signature seems to be the power she puts behind the emotional drive in her works. And I'm absolutely in love with it. No one else is moving me like she did with Sword of Kaigen and then she gets up and does it again.

5 Stars - Smart, dark and incredibly readable

I had heard many, many good things about M. L. Wang's Sword of Kaigen and was very happy to learn that her Blood over Bright Haven would be published traditionally. I was even more excited to get an e-ARC of it and wow did it deliver!

This is about Sciona, who through very hard work and tenaciousness manages to become a member of the High Magistry, the (male run) institution that uses magic to protect and run the city of Tiran. She is headstrong and arrogant, with a huge ego. But she is also smart and driven to achieve great things, and underneath it all she even has a sense of right or wrong.

Pretty early on there is a big reveal that is actually rather obvious, because otherwise the plot would not have many other places to go. However, the way Sciona and her assistant, the Kwen Thomil deal with this big realization is actually what this book really is about. Everybody in Tiran's society looks down on the Kwen as a primitive people who come from the wilderness outside of Tiran to work in the city as cheap and suppressed labour. 

Sciona has plenty of predjudices about the Kwen herself but has to learn some hard truths about herself and her society. And once a realization has been made there is no way of undoing it - so how does one react?

Wang really finds a good balance with Scionas likeable and not so likeable sides and how one person can be fighting against discrimination on one hand and be incredibly privileged (and blind to that privilege) on the other hand.

The fact that Sciona does not shy away from seeing some very uncomfortable truths and is willing to take action even if that means up giving up her privilege is what makes the story so compelling.

This is very much a story of the price of exploitation and that one's easy, comfortable life is usually paid by someone else, oftentimes with their lives in one way or another (a fact that the privileged seem to find quite easy to ignore). So, unsurprisingly, this story cannot have a happy end in the traditional sense, but it does end on a note of hope for a better future. Which sometimes is the best an exploited generation of people can get.

Despite the dark themes this book is compulsively readable, M. L. Wang's writing is just really so good, so poignant and spot on. I'm not sure I would call this dark academia (I guess it's just an easy way to market this book), but it's the best kind of fantasy: one that touches upon pertinent themes of our time and plays with ideas how to deal with them.

Absolutely and wholeheartedly recommended!

I have received an advance review copy via NetGalley and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you very much!

This book was such a good read on my long airplane ride. I was introduced to M.L Wang when I first read The Sword of Kaigen which was simply wonderful. I am happy to say that she has done it again. This book was nothing short of amazing, from the characters to the story and everything in between.

I have a feeling this book will get a lot of attention and make M.L a bigger name than she already is. Her writing style is unique and I find myself drawn back to her stories. She evokes so much emotion with her words and gets you so invested in her characters and their stories even though they are more "traditional" in a sense.

I really enjoyed the dark academia elements in this book as well which I think will also take it a long way.

All in all, I would say this book was addicting and I could not stop reading until I had finished it! I highly recommend if you like fantasy reads with dark academia and romance elements!

This book will make you want to stay up late just to finish it! It's definitely going to give me a book hangover..

Sciona may be the first female mage accepted into the high magistrate court but she's not the first mage to discover a dark and terrible secret kept from the public. With the help of her refugee assistant, she must decide if exposing this truth is worth the cost.

This story is captivating from the very beginning and M.L. Wang does an impeccable job at packing in a complex magic system into a world already filled with misogyny, SA, racism, faith, and justice.

Her story-telling ability in such a short amount of time is admirable. I enjoyed the characters immensely, the dialogue felt appropriate, the ending was emotional (I cried, obvi) & the message behind it all is *chefs kiss*. M.L. really knows how to bring a character to the page.

I can't wait to delve into The Sword of Kaigen next!

BUY THIS BOOK!!!!

Have you ever read a book and known within the first chapter that it’s going to be a 5 star read? Then you read the next few chapters..and you’re like oh I think maybe it’s going to be a 10/5 stars. And then you’re 25% in and you’re like ahhhh I see it’s going to consume my thoughts for the foreseeable future. And then it does. That’s this book. I’m serious.
I’m kind of upset. I actually have things to do today but I don’t know what to do after finishing this book.
There was so much packed into this standalone story I don’t even know where to begin. Incredible world-building that feels SO real, an intricate, well-thought out and thoroughly explained magic system, a brilliant yet flawed protagonist, themes of sexism/classism/racism, power struggles, a very light but powerful romance plot, familial love/relationships, questions of morality and privilege. There was no big battlefield war but my heart was racing throughout most of this book. Someone tell me how M.L. Wang did all of this in one book. If you can’t tell I’m blown away. I think this may be one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Thank you so incredibly much to the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this arc in advance. Can’t wait to recommend it to everyone I know.

I thought I would get into this book more than I did, unfortunately this book is a DNF for me right now. I do think I might come back to this, I'm just not in the mood for reading this right now.

When the blurb said perfect for fans of VE Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, and Fullmetal Alchemist they weren't kidding. As a huge fan of all three I can definitely say this delivered on that promise. Eqyal parts dark academia and mystery this exquisitely written book had me captivated from page one until the end.

This is the first book for me from this author and it was absolutely incredible.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House/Del Rey for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I'm still not prepared to write this review, but I'll give it my best shot. We have a semi-unlikeable (but also really relatable) main character, Sciona, who becomes the first female high mage in history! High mages create spells and use these magicky typewriters to suck power/energy from this unknown "otherrealm" to keep their city running and protected from the outside world where the "blight" reaks havoc. Sciona is introverted, self-centered, awkward, brilliant, and lacks a lot of people skills (i.e. sensitivity, consideration, compassion). She's navigating the religous, misogynist and academic realm of the high magistry which is difficult in and of itself. But on top of this, she is thrown together with Thomil, an immigrant to the city with a traumatic past and a chip on his shoulder, and together they work together and ultimately change the course of history for their world.

There's a lot of great themes that Wang covers including misogyny, discrimination, racism, assimilation, elitism, morality, religion and spirituality, and ultimately who should be in charge of deciding what is right and wrong. The premise, world, and magic system of this book is so original and intriguing! The writing is lyrical and whimsical while still feeling gritty and industrial with that touch of dark academia.

My knocks against this book basically boils down to Sciona. I did not like her and didn't feel connected to her. Her decisions were questionable the entire time. Normally I can be patient while a character makes odd and selfish decisions, as long as they learn from their mistakes, grow, and develop by the end of the book. I didn't feel like Sciona matured at all as a character, and I was pretty upset with the ending of the book. I loved Thomil though! He was patient with Sciona, respectful but also strong and self-assured. My heart ached for his upbringing and the horrors he witness at the hands of the blight. I wanted Thomil to have his happy ending so badly! In a way that I wasn't expecting, he did, but it wasn't what I wanted for him. This book will stick with me for a long time, depsite how I feel about Sciona. I'm excited to read more from M.L. Wang!

Blood Over Bright Haven is a story with an original magic system and fantastical world. The characters are very multifaceted with a story that has a powerful message about colonialism and sexism. It was a good story, but I just was not in love with it.

The city of Tiran is an industrial utopia propelled by magic where the outside is plagued by Blight, believed to be caused by the savages who refused to accept religious beliefs.
However, as the story unfolds, we learn that magic has a cost that is inhumanly unconscionable, yet ignored. Sciona has devoted her entire life to the study of magic. Her aspiration? To become the first female highmage. Despite the obstacles in her path, she gets admitted to the High Magistry where her real struggles begin. Because she is a woman, it becomes clear that her presence is not welcome, her superiors going so far to provide her a janitor as a lab assistant. Sciona, not wanting to be embarrassed, accepts her new assistant, Thomil, and gets to work with her task - expanding the cities magical barrier that keeps them safe from the blight. However, as Sciona works with Thomil, she learns more than she could have ever imagined about the world outside of the barrier and how it relates to her every day life.

I really loved this book!!! The magic system is just really awesome! Where power is siphoned from the Otherrealm through a combination of action spells and sourcing spells which are a mix of mathematics and intuition. This is explained effortlessly as Wang leads us as an enthused academic teaching a student. I enjoyed the fact that we start with Thomil's story and then switch to Sciona's story and then get to witness the two merge together. I sometimes feel that the sudden POV changes are too abrupt but Wang executes it perfectly.

This is one of my favorite reads of the year and it’s doesn’t disappoint! AMAZING STORY!! I am begging everyone to pick up this book, you won't regret it!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review

My first ML Wang book and won't be my last. This book covers topics from racism to imperialism and even supremacy. It has such an interesting and unique magic system and I just couldn't put it down!