This was just as impressive as Wang's other novel that I'd read, if not more. The magic system was intriguing, the world complex and intricately built. The academia setting was a bonus. It was easy for me to fall in love with this book and its characters and I know that many readers agreed. I can't wait to see what Wang has coming. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

It seems like this one is a stand alone read. And I have to say while it was really well done, it was a heavy book. But I really enjoyed this.
Honestly the closest thing I can compare this to, is much of Robert Jackson Bennet's series (Foundryside, City of Stairs) for similar feeling and themes. I think M.L. Wang is one of those special kind of writers.

This is really well done. It's a story of a woman's self realization and sacrifice, to end the tyranny of her own people and free the world from them. But be warned, it's not a fuzzy happy ending here, it was heavy and sad, and really stays with you. Sciona's self realization with Thomil and their people's toxic dynamic with the greater world.

"Each gear turned tidy into its neighbor in a soul-grinding system designed to sustain the men who had named the pieces and make them so: damsel, devil, servant, wife."

Sciona Freynan is taking her final exam to become a Highmage in the city of Tiran. If she makes the cut, she will be the first woman to become a Highmage. The first women to hold a spot among men who use magic and spellwork to innovate their world. To research ways to make their world better.
And only if, if she can prove herself to be more talented than her peers who are all mostly men of noble rank, its practically guaranteed they will make the cut, even if they greatly lack in talent.

Tiranish people are a classist, sexist culture by nature, women are to be compliant, be wives and have children. And if they can't be competent they're often lobotomized into it by alchemists.
Sciona is everything their culture resents in women. By becoming Highmage she is openly challenging that. But she is brighter or equally smart than many of her fellow mages. She's a scourcer- which means her skills in magic enable her to more directly target sections of the "otherworld" where they get the energy for their magic by siphoning. Magic which powers the dome surrounding their city which keeps them safe from the blight, that has destroyed much of the outside world.

But Sciona very soon stumbles on to a long hidden secret about where that energy comes from, and it's at a terrible price. Everything she knows and loves about her people and their advanced technologies and magic crumble beneath her feet at her discovery.

Thomil is one of the last of his clan, everyone else was killed with the exception of his niece, on their last run to get into the Tiran dome, torn apart by the blight- literally unraveled from existence. While they made it in the dome, just barely, as Kwen- and not Tiranish - they live as the lowest caste. Living to serve those above them or die. If a Kwen can't work- they don't live and are tossed out of the dome to the mercy of the blight. Thomil works as a janitor in the Magicentre.
In an effort to disgrace Sciona, Thomil is offered to Sciona as her assistant as a joke. Not wanting to let her new colleagues get to her she accepts. Since it's clear nobody is going to help her or treat her as anything resembling an equal.

This has some very heavy themes: Colonialism, slavery, assault, SA, murder, violence, sexism, misogyny, classism, gender bias, racism, self sacrifice, suicidal ideation, grief, loss.

I really enjoyed this book even thought I don’t usually LOVE books with bittersweet endings. Throughout my time reading it, I felt like I was listening to intellectual conversations that we rarely dive into in real life but seem necessary to have even if difficult. This is a story that I think everyone should read. The magic is difficult to get into. If I had to describe it, it’s like coding. But if you are able to move past that small challenge of understanding the magic system, it’s an amazing plot. What I think drew me in the most was that this book made me care about a certain group of individuals all together, and what they represented, more than just the individuals themselves. There were moments with hard pills to swallow but worth it for the outcome. The last dialogue between the fmc and her mentor was riveting. The last words of the book were heartbreaking. I almost can’t believe this is a standalone novel. The writing is superb. This is a book about hope for a brighter future, the impact of using your power for good, understanding when something is not just about you but about humankind at large, legacy, love, choosing your own path despite what others expect, doing the hard thing because you should, and knowing that SOME people can change for the better if given the chance. 5 stars.

Thanks to Del Rey for the gifted copy of this book!

Wow. Can that just be my review? W O W.

Sciona aims to be the first woman highmage in an industrial utopia of a city, Tiran, where women are meant to stay at home and run the household. She's willing to face the challenges thrown at her by the systems in place and the men who believe women aren't cut out for magic. Assigned a janitor as an assistant, Sciona begins to uncover an ancient secret and reconsider all she's ever known.

When I finished this book, I just sat there on the couch in silence processing for awhile. There is so much to unpack, and it's definitely worth reading more slowly. This is a unique and masterful fantasy book that touches on a lot of the -isms and is such a good social commentary. It's also full of a well-developed, stunning magic system, politics within the magical order of mages and the city, and complex relationships. I loved and hated Sciona at times, but really appreciated her introspection and character growth. I think fiesty Carra was my favorite - I always love when an MC has a kid, or in this case, a niece in his care. There are shocking moments throughout the book, and it's a very compulsive read that may also give you an ominous, anxious feeling. Similar to BABEL, I expect this book to make some readers uncomfortable, but also, if you loved BABEL, I think you'll love this book as well.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and the author for an advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Without going in to spoilers, I timidly give this 3.5 stars. I loved Sword of Kaigen, and I think I let that love kind of spoil my expectations with this novel.

Wang's writing and prose remains absolutely stunning but the story at times I felt lacked in ways that SoK had thrived. It features a unique magic system that required way too much lore dumping to justify why characters would do certain things, and yet the rules did not always seem to be consistent.

This book contained well plotted out themes commenting on racism, xenophobia, and a lot of sexism, but at times they felt too promoted versus further character development. That being said, it did manage to surprise me narratively more than once. The second and third acts are definitely where the story shines for me personally as Sciona's plans were revealed.

I did very much enjoy the relationship between Sciona and Thomil, but pretty much every other relationship in the book (barring maybe Sciona and her aunt/cousin, and her mentor) to be a bit lacking or one-note.

Overall, I wish I enjoyed this book more, and as I sit with it more, my stance may change adding more stars. I still believe that ML Wang is one of the names to watch in modern fantasy, but this just wasn't the next step for me.

I enjoy expansive and smartly written fantasies, and Blood Over Bright Haven is a deftly written and immersive reading experience. The characters are engaging, the plot is cleverly developed, and the climax is intense and surprising.

This book was truly the best read of this year! M.L Wang captured me in a world of philosophical ideas and a magical world I can’t get out of my head. This book will bring you on an adventure you will never forget. Scions battles to my a name for herself in a world where the high archy is all men and proves women can do just as good. Not only that but secrets are revealed about this world that causes her whole world of morals to be broken and rebuilt. What a beautiful book! I NEED MORE.

I really enjoyed this book and the interesting world-building and magic system. However, maybe it's just me, but the ending felt a bit rushed, unresolved, and disappointing. I wanted so much more for Sciona, especially since we were with her for most of the book and got so close to her. I wanted to see her succeed in life and become something. I get the whole self-sacrificing thing. What she did will forever go down in history, but will it? Who was left alive to retell the tale? Tenth? Will he care enough to tell it?

Also, how things ended with Alba and Aunt Winny breaks my heart. There should have been a POV where we saw them forgive her. But to build this caring and loving relationship and then just abruptly cut it off and only say goodbye with a suicide note was so unbelievably heartbreaking. Being a parent, I feel like Aunt Winny couldn't just disown her "child" like that. And how devasting to learn your child committed suicide and you never forgave her?

I guess the disappointment is just a ME issue, but I need more. Where did Thomil and Carra run to? Are they ok? Did Thomil survive the injury he sustained while running? I NEED MORE ANSWERS!

Anyway, fantastic work, in all honesty. I will be reading more from M.L. Wang now. Thanks!

I first need to say, the fact that the magic system was just coding... I found that highly entertaining! I think this might be the first time I was actually able to follow the magic system (I think normally they tend to follow scientific principles and I don't get that). Brilliant!

As for the actual book, I genuinely enjoyed it. It was really hard in the beginning listening to the main character talk about how uncivilized and barbaric the "lower class citizens" were (second hand cringe), but it was important and honest to the character development. I liked the characters and while it didn't end how I WANTED it to, it still ended in a very honest and good way.

This books was very mid and a bit disappointing for me. The book discusses several important topics such as racism, colonialism, and sexism. The discussions surrounding those important topics were really well done and were discussed in an interesting way. But the rest of the book left a lot to be desired. The characters were lackluster, especially our main character Sciona. I had a hard time connecting to Sciona which really impacting my experience reading the book. This book also lacked enough of a plot. In the first half of the book, barely anything happens and then when we finally do start to get some plot, it was extremely predictable. There was also was a sexual assault scene towards the end of the book that was off putting and slightly triggering for me, so be aware of that. This book just didn't work for me and I'm very disappointed by it.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for gifting me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Move on over, Sword of Kaigen, Blood Over Bright Haven is M.L. Wang’s absolute best work.

“It’s much easier to tell yourself you’re a good person than it is to actually be one.”

M.L. Wang is the standalone fantasy queen and the world-building, character development, and plot she is able to develop in one book is incredible. I found this book completely addictive, especially because I love a dark academia read. I ran through the audiobook so quickly and was shocked by how incredibly the narrator, Moira Quick, brought the story to life.

This story follows Sciona Freynan, who is on the verge of making history as the first female highmage (a magic user of the highest degree). Sciona has been solely focused on her studies and magic her entire life. Sciona lives in the city of Tiran which is protected by a magical barrier. Magic provides the citizens of Tiran modern comforts. People who live outside the barrier do whatever it takes to survive outside but more frequently than not are forced to risk their life to enter the barrier. Where the magic is sourced from becomes a major issues in the story,

Sciona is obsessive about her work and rarely pays attention to the world around her. Sciona’s assistant, Thomil, a refugee, helps Sciona see the truth of her world. Thomil and Scion’s dynamic is so incredibly well done. I was deeply attached to both of these characters. I don’t want to say to much more about the plot because it is important to read this book without much background information.

I loved that Wang explores the themes of racism and elitism in this book. My favorite part was how realistic the reactions of the Tiranan citizens felt after the big reveal. Wang does not shy away from making the hard character choices and this book is no exception. The magical system is well developed and completely interesting. The magical system felt very logical which is atypical to standalone fantasy novels.

This is a really fucking awesome book.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Audio, DelRey, and Netgalley for the advanced audio and e-copy.

One of the best fantasy books I have read in a very long time!! M.L. Wang can do no wrong in my opinion.
The FMC is someone to love and, at times, hate. She is very selfish. She is so focused on becoming the best of the best at magic that she has no time for anyone or anything else. She can't even see when kindness is right in front of her. She takes it all for granted.

Sciona, the fmc, is studying to become the first female ever to be accepted into the high magistry in the magical city of Tiran. She has proven herself to surpass the abilities of her competition time and time again. That doesn't stop the men from reminding her daily that she doesn't belong there, that it is no place for a woman. She works every single day to prove them wrong.

Along the way, she is given an assistant, Thomil, an outsider considered a savage and treated as no more than a slave. Sciona and Thomil form a bit of a partnership and uncover the evils hidden for generations together. Sciona is absolutely destroyed by what she uncovers about the magic that powers her city. The magic, that for years, she has used without giving it a second thought. The reality of what she, and all magic wielders, are doing every single time the siphon power for a spell has sent her into a manic episode and no one will stop her from trying to make things right or die trying. No review or description is going to this book justice. All I can say is just read it!!!

4.5/5
Thought provoking and entertaining. It's a dark story that reflects on social structure, women's rights, religion and overall moral compass along with other things. The book starts off intensely and then moves to a POV that is slower and follows her journey and discovery of the world. It's dark and very much a dark academia vibe for a book. The magic is very unique and thought out. The characters are their own personality and come off strong and sometimes makes you dislike them which makes this book even better. The writing draws you in from page one and is so detailed without too much embellishments. It's a worthy story of reading once and would absolutely recommend it to those who love dark academia.
Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey hooks for the opportunity to read this e-arc. This is my honest opinion.

This was SO GOOD! ML Wang write a mid book challenge (impossible). Honestly, for the first quarter of it I wasn't sure......but then it definitely picked up and the plot twist hit me like a ton of bricks! I'm not sure I've been that blown away by a twist before -- and it just kept getting better from there! Also, I thought it would be less depressing than Sword of Kaigen, but I still cried at the end :( Wang's just a master at making me care about characters in such a short amount of time!

I can't believe I almost DNF'd this book because of how deeply I disliked Sciona in the entire first half. I was a fool.

Sciona having to deal with reconciling who she was before finding out the source of energy and who she was going to be in the aftermath was devastating. I was so glad she finally saw what Thomil was telling her...but the emotional cost of it was devastating; I found myself feeling sorry for the character I had found so frustrating. But she never denied it...even to the end Sciona was selfish, and beyond forgiveness for taking part in a society that so clearly diminished the value of people who were put into that position by people she so admired. I knew it wasn't going to be a happy ending for her, but my heart broke nonetheless. I would love to revisit this world in the future to see what Mordra makes of it, but I don't know if anything would be the same without Sciona.

Oh, I'm sad about this one. That first chapter was AMAZING. So good, I was so into it! But then I kept reading and was met with Sciona, and it all went downhill from there *for me*. I greatly appreciate the creativity that went into the magic and magic system, I really do, but it was overexplained and it made this draaaaag. Meanwhile, the characters felt one-dimensional, and that's my biggest issue with this because I just wasn't invested in them at all. Sciona is unlikeable and she's meant to be, because she reflects the society she's in, but I just couldn't get behind her at all. The writing was so incredibly heavy-handed with its themes as well; it got on my nerves. Like, I get it, I really do, there's no need to spell things out for us when they're already so in our faces. Anyway, I didn't vibe with this at all, but I'm not writing off this author. I'm very interested in checking out The Sword of Kaigen at least.

Omg this was soooooo good. Perfectly executed with an interesting, more science focused magic system and an amazingly developed, fundamentally flawed female main character. This book touched on oppression in a masterful way, interesting race and gender and explored how people in power live in disillusionment to struggle. Excellent commentary about the need for violence in fighting oppression and how it is viewed from the perspective of the oppressor. Amazingly developed world, characters, struggle, and conclusion in a standalone novel. I am very impressed with the ending as well. Can’t say enough good about it, definitely a new favorite book and will be looking into reading more of her works in the future


Thank you to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

This was IT baby! I wish there was more, the ending make me 😔, time to read the rest of her books. Full disclosure I read this before I got the ARC but wanted to make sure I reviewed it here!

I cannot get over how much I LOVED this book! I devoured the entire thing in less than 24 hours. The author gave us a story filled with magic, politics, history, religion, relationships, and so much more!

The characters were so real! They showed all the emotions of being human and what it means to be selfish and also wanting to do better. Because the characters were real it also had me questioning which direction the story would go. Just like humans, they had choices to make and consequences that go with their actions! The story had me asking myself "Are you a good person? And What makes a person fully good?".

I will be talking about this book and recommending it forever! Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I have so much to say about this read, and yet as I sit here to type out my words, I find myself hesitating to put my thoughts together coherently. Because it was just genuinely that good. I’m practically gobsmacked. So let’s take it piece by piece.

I’ll start with the magic system, since that’s one of the first things that made me realize I was in for a truly unique reading experience. In this world, magic operates a lot like computer programming. Dedicated magical practitioners, called mages, use machines called spellographs. Imagine something akin to a typewriter, with a large hoop attached that can generate a black and white mapping image. The mapping image shows the user where to identify pockets of energy, which they can siphon to generate spells. This kind of distinctive magic system reels me in as a reader, and ML Wang did a great job educating the reader on how it works without ever info dumping – an amazing feat considering it’s a standalone, as well.

Setting was another area in which this book excelled. This story takes place in Tiran, a magically protected city in its industrial era. In Tiran, magehood is considered to be a research field as well as a pathway to city leadership. The magic and the setting combine to create a somewhat gaslamp fantasy mixed with a dark academia vibe.

But despite the magic, it’s a serious read. Blood Over Bright Haven manages to pack in a wide array of themes, including justice, faith, ambition, prejudice, selfishness, and even the weight of a soul. And ML Wang did not pull her punches. The resounding message was clear: our so-called “great” nations do not and cannot exist without the exploitation and genocide of someone else. It’s also an apt exploration about how racism and sexism coincide; where there’s one, there’s always the other.

This story even explores the ways in which religion can be used to oppress, deny, or elevate as it sees fit, and how it can be used to delude others and even oneself.

Blood Over Bright Haven also nails its plot points and pacing. The midpoint has an absolutely sinister plot twist and changes everything, and the second half of the book had me both hooked and dreading what would come next at the same time. I couldn’t look away, even as it ripped my heart out. I cried.

I also have to mention the masterful character-building and growth arcs shown here. Our main character is both likeable and unlikeable – Sciona is selfish, overly ambitious, single-minded, and prejudiced. She admittedly cares little for others. And this is exactly what enables her to rise above her station. Despite her flaws, she also craves the truth, and she’s too intelligent to accept incomplete answers.

Thomil provided a much-needed counterweight to Sciona, both in worldview and in morals. He’s a Kwen, which means he’s indigenous to the world outside Tiran’s borders, and therefore treated as a lower-class citizen. Thomil is a janitor when we first meet him, and he’s only “promoted” to lab assistant because the other highmages think it’s a funny way to protest Sciona’s placement as the first female highmage. Rather than giving her a trained assistant, they give her a janitor. But Sciona, being too proud to back down, accepts Thomil to the role and trains him. What ensues because of their partnership changes everything.

Blood Over Bright Haven was crafted with heart and intelligence. I cannot recommend it enough.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for the ARC! All opinions are my own. This one releases October 29, 2024.