Review: Blood Over Bright Haven

Author: M.L. Wang

Genre: Fantasy, Dark Academia

Rating: 5 / 5

Features:

• Dark academia

• Explores themes of sexism and xenophobia 

• Protagonist with questionable motives and morals

• Technical, ‘engineer-like’ magic system

Summary:

For most of her life, Sciona’s only focus has been to become the first female High Mage in Tiran’s history. However, when she finally achieves what no woman before her has, she finds herself facing uncharted waters that are far more treacherous than she could ever imagine. The only help she has is from Thomil, a janitor that has been appointed to be her lab assistant. Despite his lack of lab experience, Thomil has something no mage does: extensive knowledge of the world beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. After the last of his tribe was killed in a desperate attempt to reach Tiran 10 years ago, Thomil has longed for answers about the magic that has led to the loss of almost everything he held dear. Thomil’s hunger for truth and Sciona’s mission to prove herself will lead both down a dark and dangerous path of secrets. 

Thoughts:

This book had me captivated from the first heart wrenching scene to its fitting conclusion. The harrowing opener focuses on Thomil and his niece arriving in Tiran and wonderfully sets the tone of the book before introducing Sciona and building the world. Sciona’s is the type who wants to be ‘good’, but whose ambition and narrow world view often warp her perspective. I think Wang does an excellent job making Sciona a deeply flawed character who I still was invested in seeing grow. However, it was Thomil who really shined for me. Both the magic university and Tiran itself are very insular, so Thomil’s perspective provides a lot of the broader world building and I felt it was essential to understanding the broader implications of the characters’ choices and discoveries. 

This book is not a steampunk book, but the way magic works made me compare it to that subgenre a lot. It felt very technical and, for lack of a better word, academic. The mages of this world felt like an interesting blend of researcher and engineer with different specialties. Since the work they did directly impacted the way the city functioned, it gave extra weight to the people who truly wielded power. While it does make mention of a classist structure that limits access to this knowledge for many, I didn’t feel it was ever fully explored. My only real complaint is that in general, this book doesn’t explore its themes in a way that feels truly nuanced. However, it integrates these themes really well into the overall journey making it both easy to enjoy and meaningful. 

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Special thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!