Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – Review

Published: July 25, 2023

Publisher: Self Published

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 527 (Kindle)

My Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis:
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)

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After seeing so many positive reviews for Blood Over Bright Haven, I decided to move it to the top of my TBR for 2024. I have to say, those rave reviews were completely deserved because this book was fantastic! This is doubly surprising to me because The Sword of Kaigen, also by M.L. Wang didn’t work for me and ultimately resulted in a DNF.

Blood Over Bright Haven introduces us to a world that’s largely centered around the beautiful, shielded city of Tiran which is surrounded by a dangerous wilderness where a force called the Blight will literally unravel any living thing it touches. The story wastes no time showing the destructive nature of the Blight, as we follow Thomil and his tribe as they race toward the safety of Tiran and the entire tribe, save for Thomil and his niece, is killed one by one. 

Fast forward many years, and we are introduced to Sciona Freynan, who is about to take a test that will determine if she will be the first woman to be inducted into the High Magistry. Sciona of course passes, but her new, all male colleagues don’t think she belongs and she’s assigned a janitor to be her assistant. Rather than go cry to her mentor, Sciona accepts the janitor (who is Thomil) and begins to teach him the basic principles of their magic, which is a detailed, scientific process. Sciona is working on a project that will allow Tiran to expand its shield wall to allow for more livable space, which is going to require a more precise method of mapping energy sources in the Otherworld, where the mages source the energy for their spellwork. 

Sciona and Thomil work together surprisingly well and Thomil is an astute student and as time passes the two become almost friends. Though Sciona is brilliant, she’s sheltered by her upbringing and says some rather disparaging things about the immigrant population of Tiran, even going so far as to tell Thomil “oh, but you’re different”. It’s definitely an interesting lens in which to view the callousness towards immigrants or other races and also how a power imbalance can also make that even worse. On the other hand, we also see Sciona deal with blatant sexism in the workplace along with the stress that goes along with the competitiveness of her field of study. None of these characters are perfect by any means and I could go on for pages about some of the secondary characters and their personal flaws.

The ending of Blood Over Bright Haven was bombastic, to say the least, and I found this to be a great exploration of the dangers of magic and how society treats people as expendable for the sake of the machine and that’s barely scratching the surface of this. I loved this book and I’m not surprised in the least to see that it’s just gotten picked up by Del Rey for trad publication later this year. I’d highly recommend this as it definitely explores the dark side of academia along with numerous other difficult themes in a meaningful way.