Cover art illustrated by M.L. Wang

 

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Dark Academia, Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy, Steampunk

Pages: Not available

Word Count: 120 000 words

Published: 25th July 2023, Self-published

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Unbelievable… She did it again. Blood Over Bright Haven is proof that no one writes standalone fantasy books as good as M.L. Wang. Full stop.

“Truth over delusion. Growth over comfort. God over all.”

Here we are. A new adult fantasy book by M.L. Wang is finally here. Whether you knew about my book reviews from Goodreads, Twitter, or BookTube, you might have known that I have been a diehard fan of The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang for years. I read and reviewed The Sword of Kaigen all the way back in January 2019. So four and a half years ago. Since then, it has been an utter delight seeing readers continuously loving The Sword of Kaigen. I have received many kind messages of gratitude for my book recommendation I will always treasure. For the past four and a half years, I told myself to always uphold my patience in waiting for Wang’s newest book. And now that I have read Blood Over Bright Haven, I am glad to say this patience has been rewarded. The Sword of Kaigen was not a fluke. Blood Over Bright Haven may be a different kind of fantasy novel compared to The Sword of Kaigen, but is another standalone masterwork. M.L. Wang’s storytelling is a blessing to the genre, and we readers are lucky to live in the same era as her. And we should do the job of bestowing her books to future fantasy readers.

“It matters because you’re a child. The future ultimately isn’t mine or Sciona’s. It’s yours.”

Blood Over Bright Haven takes place in the industrial utopia of Tiran, and it follows the story of two main characters. The first one is Sciona. An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic for more than twenty years. Her goal is to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. But when she finally claws her way up to the ranks to become a highmage, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will do everything they can to make sure she knows she is unwelcome, and one of the ways they do this is to provide her with a Kwen janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant. This janitor, however, is the second main character: Thomil. Sciona and Thomil will have to work together to advance Sciona’s status and unravel the mysteries of magic.

This is the premise of the book. It is a dark academia fantasy novel brimming with mystery, tragedy, morality, and echoes of the past. As you can probably tell, the pursuit of truth is a big motivator of the character’s motivations. And believe me on this, Blood Over Bright Haven is a relatively small fantasy book. But at 120,000 words long, this standalone novel packed many emotional themes to explore, and the characterizations and development were insanely well-written. As you can imagine from Wang’s storytelling if you have read The Sword of Kaigen.

“All those jobs involve people, and I’m terrible with people. Magic is the one area where I can shut myself in a room with my books and my thoughts and come out more powerful than I went in. It doesn’t matter how big, or strong, or pretty you are in magic. It doesn’t matter how much people like you. With my fingers on the keys of a spellograph, if I can just think hard enough, I’m the most powerful person in the world.”

Blood Over Blight Haven circulates around many themes like legacy, family, vengeance, love, sacrifice, and intense faith and prejudice. As I said, it is a 120,000 words long novel, but if I discuss how each theme was magnificently implemented into the narrative, we will be here longer than it would be. So I will narrow it down to two main themes. And to explain my first point, I need to compare this novel to a recently released and recent favorite dark academia novel: Babel by R.F. Kuang. In Babel, the two main themes tackled in that book were colonialism and racism. Whether they were too on the nose or not, and whether you (as a reader) prefer it to be more subtle, I will leave that for you to decide on your own. But here’s the thing. One of the main themes in Blood Over Bright Haven is gender injustice or misogyny. I know some readers are usually annoyed by this. But look at it this way. If you liked reading the theme of gender conflicts and injustice portrayed in The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, but prefer it to be much more efficient and less repetitive, then Blood Over Bright Haven will be suitable for you. This theme is profoundly utilized in the first half of the novel, and it remains strongly evident in the second half for many good reasons I cannot mention due to spoilers. I personally found it to be so extraordinarily well done. Social status, justice, ambition, faith, and racism are some of the other key themes of Blood Over Bright Haven. And it was unforgettable how Wang integrated all of these into topics of extreme bigotry, selfishness, and delusion. This novel depicts a quest for knowledge and truth at all costs, no matter how bloody it gets.

“You’re the worst kind of murderer, I think… The kind who won’t even acknowledge her crime. You’ve never worshipped a god of truth… You worship a delusion.”

It is said if you stand up for nothing, you will fall for anything. However, what if the beliefs you stood up for have been the wrong thing? And then there is the matter of intentions versus the result of actions. What if your intentions were good, but the result is disastrous? Is it better when an intention of an individual is bad, but the result turns out great? Faced with this situation, which one is more benevolent and virtuous? Will guilt or grief be enough to cancel harmful actions brought out of good intentions? These are a few questions raised in Blood Over Bright Haven. It is true that Blood Over Bright Haven, as I said, is a different kind of book from The Sword of Kaigen. I mean, even the subgenre itself is different. The Sword of Kaigen is an Asian-inspired military epic fantasy, Blood Over Bright Haven is a dark academia or gaslamp fantasy novel. But there is no doubt that quite similar themes in this novel brought forth the emotional impact of immense proportions as The Sword of Kaigen did. And, of course, comparable to The Sword of Kaigen, this review is incomplete without talking about the characters and excellent characterizations.

“The Caldonnae and most peoples beyond the barrier weigh a person by their actions and the effect they have on the world. It’s not enough to have meant to do good in the world; if you don’t do good, most gods—those of rivers, the hunt, and the fields—don’t care for your motivations. Why should they?”

It is practically unanimous that those, myself included, who loved The Sword of Kaigen treated Wang’s characterizations, arc, and development as masterful. And rest assured. You will get those again here. The 27 years old Sciona Freynan started off moderately, and I’m assuming intentionally, unlikeable. She was an egomaniac, self-centered, and single-mindedly driven toward her ambition. But remember that this leaves room for rewarding character development. Through her encounter and budding relationship with Thomil, a kind-hearted melancholic character with a harsh past, Wang achieved fruitful characterizations and growth. For both of them, not just Sciona. And I cannot help but wish more authors and storytellers were as capable as the way Wang portrayed characters’ emotions and relationships as deeply as possible. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that some revelations in this book changed everything for the characters, and when that happened, I almost literally felt the devastating damage it did to the characters. Yes, not just Sciona and Thomil, but also Alba, Carra, and the other supporting characters. The way M.L. Wang writes characters and palpable emotional turmoils through actions, inner thoughts, and dialogues can be reflected only by the best kind of authors. And Wang is definitely one of them. By the end of the book, Sciona Freynan belongs in my list of favorite characters. To do everything M.L. Wang achieved here in a one-off standalone book (a relatively short one) feels almost impossible. And yet, she succeeded. This book will bring many thought-provoking discussions on principles and morality, and I haven’t even talked about the complex magic system.

“Thomil said that a woman was weighed at the gates of Heaven by her actions and their impact. Well, Sciona was going to leave an impact. Whatever happened next, whether it led to Hell or Heaven, she was going to have a hand in directing it. Sick or sound, good or evil, she was still Sciona Freynan. And Sciona Freynan didn’t slow down. Sciona Freynan would be remembered.”

I have made it crystal clear that I am a lifelong fan of manga and anime, and Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, or the anime adaptation Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is one of my top favorite stories of all time out of all storytelling mediums. You can probably imagine my uncontrollable excitement to witness that Blood Over Bright Haven is, intentionally or not, inspired by it. I’m going to assume some part of it is true because the official synopsis of Blood Over Bright Haven did mention the novel is suitable for those who love Fullmetal Alchemist. I think this is accurate. And whether in Fullmetal Alchemist or not, one of the irrefutable laws of alchemy is the law of equivalent exchange. It is impossible to conjure something out of nothing. The magic of mapping and siphoning through a spellograph in Blood Over Bright Haven is one of the most initially complex magic systems I have ever encountered. If you have difficulty understanding or visualizing the magic here, do not worry, I felt the same, too, at first. But everything will be clearer near the second half of the book.

“Men, love your progeny as God loves his Tiranish children. For, as the Tiranish are made in the image of Feryn, your children are your mirror. He of good character will rule his children well and their quality will speak to his. Govern your children for they are your truest reflection. They are your legacy, and a man’s legacy is as close as he may reach to godhood.”

But for those who feel confused and want to understand the magic sooner, I will try to explain them to you now as simply as possible. I will leave out all the author’s in-text explanations and visualization for you to read yourself. So treat it this way. Spellograph is a map, or a graph, of the Otherrealm, a realm where the mages draw energy from. Mapping is choosing the precise and correct location in the Otherrealm. After that, siphoning is the act of drawing out the energy from the designated coordinates in the Spellograph. That energy is then used for a myriad of usages like powering the industrial utopia of Tiran, unleashed elemental magic, and more. This is as simple of an explanation as it gets. The in-text magic system is more elaborate and intricate. And I cannot help but applaud M.L. Wang for this display of creativity. The magic was brilliantly created, and every plotline and tribulation resulting from it was totally engaging.

“Know your rights, know your spells, and press on past the detractors— or through them, if you must. It’s a skill you’ll need over and over again in the High Magistry.”

With the satisfying character arc, the immersive setting, and the seamless blend of magic and science, M.L. Wang gets what I love to read in my SFF books. She gave literal meaning to the “dark” in dark academia. Blood Over Bright Haven is an apt title for the book. As you can probably expect from her adult fantasy books, this is a violent novel with merciless actions. The character’s wrath and sorrow will peak. Self-serving and malicious characters will try to aggravate you. Gory scenes are included, and my god, the action scenes… Blood Over Bright Haven don’t contain as many battle scenes as The Sword of Kaigen did. But do not take this to mean the book was ever lacking in high-stakes conflict and pulse-pounding tensions. Once the revelations kicked into the narrative, the book was ridiculously unputdownable. I finished this book in two days, and it was worth neglecting every book in my TBR pile for it. I love reading fantasy books where every action has irreplaceable repercussions, and as the intensity keeps ramping up, the climax sequences accomplish one of the most memorable crimson scenes of chaos I have ever read. I cannot help but wish there better be a special edition of Blood Over Bright Haven one day. So many scenes in the book, not just the ending sequences, would benefit from having interior illustrations. I will keep my fingers crossed that day will come.

“Because good people can turn desperate when the horrors are upon them— especially people whose culture of plenty has left them with no systems to cope with scarcity or cataclysm. Good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.”

There is not much else to say here. Any more beyond this is just redundant. Order and read this book as soon as possible. The character’s story arcs were amazing, the threats felt real, the world-building was well-polished, and there were many beautifully written passages. M.L. Wang accomplished so much in this relatively short one-off standalone novel. It is astounding. Bloody brutal, creative, and intelligently crafted with powerfully heavy-hitting themes on morality and intentions, M.L. Wang’s return to the adult fantasy scene signified her skills as an absolutely incredible storyteller. Blood Over Bright Haven is indisputably another standalone masterpiece from M.L. Wang. It is a dark academia fantasy novel at its best. It overtops Babel by R.F. Kuang for me. The fantasy genre is dominated by series. And it is true a terrific one-off standalone fantasy novel is relatively difficult to find. But the greatest kind of standalone fantasy book exists, and it can deliver the high emotions, intensity, and intricacies of a series efficiently and effectively. Blood Over Bright Haven is that kind of standalone book. So bravo, M.L. Wang. For crafting another masterpiece.

“Maybe it would be a hundred generations before the sun rose on a life of dignity for their descendants, but the worthwhile run was not the sprint.”

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You can pre-order this book from: Amazon

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

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