📕 Title: Blood Over Bright Haven
✏️ Author: M.L. Wang
📖 Genre: Fantasy / Dark Academia
⭐ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
✅ Standalone Novel

BOOK BLURB

The first woman ever admitted to a prestigious order of mages unravels a secret conspiracy that could change the practice of magic forever.

REVIEW

It’s difficult to talk about this book without spoilers but suffice it to say that this story was entirely gripping from the very first page, a horrific parallel to our own world and a scathing critic of colonialism, white feminism, and religion.

There is no subtlety and the truth was quite obvious from the second chapter, but this isn’t so much about the discovery as it is about the lengths people will go to dehumanize and unalive others in order to maintain the status quo. How people who seem kind, when faced with uncomfortable truths, can turn monstrous in their desperation to avoid discussing their own role in perpetuating harm.

Sciona was a compelling and flawed character, the equivalent of a white feminist who fights only for herself and other white women (but mostly herself) while ignoring the oppression of ethnic minorities within her community. As much as I disliked her I wanted to know what she would do when faced with the truth. I loved Thomlin and his conversations with Sciona.

I absolutely loved the magic system, which reminded me of computer programming, and the whole concept felt so unique. My only real ick about this book was the (very minor) romance which felt uncomfortable given the power imbalance and it felt a bit antithetical to the themes of the book. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book.