Sciona is such a great character to follow. She’s got a great beginning at the beginning of the story and holy cow she just continues to grow as time goes on. Such a great story.

I am in awe of SFF authors who do justice to world building and elaborate magic system creation and are still able to construct a plot and characters all in a single volume. Blood Over Bright Haven does all of those things and also tells a parable of sexism, racism, and oppression. In Sciona, we see a very imperfect protagonist. She is certainly not modest, and though she is a skilled mage, she misses the brick-sized clues about the world she lives in and the people she admires. Yet, perhaps her imperfections make her the ideal main character in this story, a human character whose flaws make her more real. She is a woman in a world dominated by men, but she does not stick her neck out to improve conditions for other women, she accepts the systemic racism inherent to her society, but maybe she does have a limit to her acceptance. The other central character, Thomil is a member of a race seen as lesser than. but in a strange turn of circumstance goes from janitor to Sciona's assistant. And that promotion sets off a chain of events that go beyond these two to rock the core of their world, illuminate the darkest secrets, and create a story that I had a hard time putting down. I would suggest this novel to anyone looking for fantasy that takes a hard look at society and dares them to question norms.
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Blood Over Bright Haven is an enthralling story about the price of power and magic amidst a desolate world. If you've read M.L Wang's other work, Sword of Kaigen, you know they are able to excellently build a world and thoroughly flesh it out. Blood Over Bright Haven is handled with the same care and attention to detail that a standalone fantasy novel deserves. We are given strong characters with opposing beliefs and struggles that helped build out the conflict of the political systems and religion of the world.
And like Wang's Sword of Kaigen, Blood Over Bright Haven has a unique pacing. You either like it or you don't. I found myself floating in-between bouts of boredom and rapt fascination. Yet the ending, in my opinion, was worth the sections of slower storytelling.
All in all, Blood Over Bright Haven is a wild ride with twisting secrets and layered storytelling.

This was a good book. I really love the world building and the characters. The pacing was really good and it was an interesting story to read. I love books like this

4 stars

Sciona is a young woman trying to navigate her life as a female mage in a career dominated by men. After meeting Thomil, a man from a culture that Sciona's people look down on, she's forced to confront her perspective of not only her career but her world view.

This was a book I had difficulty setting down because I was enjoying it so much. The first chapter immediately drew me in. M.L Wang has an addictive writing style that does a wonderful job at making her characters feel human. The dialogue was so natural, it made them feel so real. Each character has their own tone that really sets them apart.

Sciona as a main character is really interesting to follow. She's realistic, flawed, and likeable. Despite her flaws, she's easy to root for. Her growth was exciting to see and was one of my favorite parts of this book. Thomil was also well written. His character put a new perspective into the story that was woven in very nicely. The side characters, though there were many of them, all felt like they served a purpose in the story. I enjoyed reading about Bringham, since his personality was so distinct.

I have split feelings on the pacing of this book. On one hand I understand and even enjoyed the slow build up of the plot, but at the same time I felt that this book could've done even more with itself if the big plot discovery moments happened earlier rather than towards the middle. It would have been interesting seeing the story push itself more, rather than playing it safe by holding back. Even if the story didn't end up being as large as I'd liked, I still thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend it.