Another sensational book from the QUEEN of stand alones. Her narrative power cannot be matched (I've said it !)

This book was absolutely sensation. This is my second 5 star of the year and I only wish I had picked it up sooner! I has the pleasure of listening to some of this book with the audiobook and the narration was just sensational.

From the very first chapter the narrative was explosive and heart wrenching, I felt, hope, fear, anticipation and utter despair in the space of 8 pages. I'm still in awe of how showcased the power of the character familial connections in such a short space of time. I did not expect to start with such a flood of emotions, usually authors bait you until they crush you but not M.L.Wang. She swats your feels straight away.

The writing and world building were executed well throughout the book and there was no point of info dumping even though the book had an academic setting. I also loved the unique magic system that brought together magic / new technologies with old school writing tools.

Sciona, there is nothing they can do to make me like you. From beginning to end she was selfish, all her actions were about gaining notoriety for herself. It feels like in the periphery there was some character development but it was guided by her habit of selfishness.

I am so excited from my Broken Binding Special Edition to arrive!

The most brilliant read from start to finish and in every which way. I was fully engrossed in the story from page 1 and before I knew it, I was turning the final page. Just brilliant!

I still can't put into words a month later exactly what this book means to me. It was an absolute masterpiece.

The world building, the narrative, the 'harsh-truths' story. I just couldn't put this book down the entire time.

This book was outstanding. When you think everything has been done to death when it comes to magic academia, along comes Blood Over Bright Haven with a new and fresh spin on spell casting. The novel feels very much a standalone, but I do hope the author finds a way to return to this magical world. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. 5 out of 5

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Del Rey UK for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

This book sounded absolutely incredible when I first read about it and all the excellent reviews really made me want to like it more than I did. The world building is incredibly elaborate but the magic system is unclear, the main character incredibly biased and there felt like there was little happening. I gave up at 45% because I couldn't read anymore, it was becoming a struggle to keep going.

Blood over Bright Haven had it all, This is dark academia is grim, morally grey and raw -its great. The world building felt realistic with it's politics and corruption of power within modern society
I felt the characters were all created well and in a realistic manner. The development of the storyline progressed well and the pacing was so good that the pages felt like they turned effortlessly. This is definitely a must read

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘦𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊.

It's been a long while since the first chapter of a book had me in such a chokehold. This is Dark Academia at its very best - blood soaked, morally grey, raw and visceral. I'm not often a fan of fiction that feels (at times) so utterly bleak, but this is so reflective of real-world politics and the corrupting nature of power within modern society that I'm want to forgive it.

The magic system feels exciting and dynamic, the FMC feels real (with her own wants, desires, boundaries and tipping points), the world (awash with magic under a protective dome that shields them from a blight) feels grounded, sweat-soaked and lived-in.

One person's comfort can often come at the expense of another's misfortune. As an allegory of modern-day capitalism this is so astute and almost mind-bendingly potent. Do we turn away from consequences so long as they don't impinge upon OUR freedoms and liberties? It's individualism vs collectivism. Ignorant bliss vs waking up. Given recent gains for right-leaning political parities, there seems no greater time to be reminded of the choices we are faced with.

I read this a couple of months ago now, but it has stuck with me and I'll continue to yell about it on social media. It's got its claws in. Incredibly excited for what M. L. Wang has in store for us next.

Wow, I was absolutely surprised by how much I loved Blood Over Bright Haven. I have had my eye on it for a while, aware it would be something I was interested in but when it came time to start my read through I was immediately captivated by the opening scene of a family rushing across a frozen landscape to safety.

Firstly, the world in this book was very well realised. We spent enough time learning and exploring this city to have a solid mental image of how the world and politics work, quite quickly, so there characters were able to flourish and become the center stage. I really liked the way the world was explained in this book as it felt effortless to absorb the details.

I also really loved the characters, and the journey they go on. I think this was an amazing, quite fast paced read that I would highly reccomend and can see myself re-reading.

the hype is real! took me a while to get into but this was a GREAT READ that made me have a lot of FEELINGS.

This was my first book by M. L. Wang and it won’t be my last. The author’s writing style immediately drew me into the story, and the depth of the worldbuilding (one of the best I’ve read in recent few years) hooked me and was such a joy to read. The scientific aspects of the magic system and the way the author fed elements of the world as needed throughout the story were well done and probably my favourite elements of the book. Sciona felt like one of the most substantial characters I’ve read in a while because of how well she was developed. She’s determined, but also frustrating and at times unpleasant; she has to unlearn ingrained beliefs and prejudice, reflect on her own motivations, and learn the truths of her society, one she’s worked hard to be part of, while striving for change. However, these things take time as she’s still a flawed character. Although I debated whether I liked her development, in the end, I found that it aligned with the story and with the reality of the world. Thomil was also a richly developed and engaging character, and the secondary characters provided a good foundation for the development of the story and to help express the themes. The themes and topics discussed were a thoughtful reflection of our own society. Although some aspects of the world system didn’t quite work for me, this didn’t detract from the more engaging and emotive aspects of the book. I look forward to reading M. L. Wang’s backlist and future books.

This book was grim, but it was a really good look at the way society dehumanizes and others people in order to get away with atrocities. I was shocked at how blatant they were in parts of the book, but still incredibly aware of how this actually happens and is happening right now in certain parts of the world.

I would caution that people should think seriously about if they can deal with these themes before reading, but I also want to stress that this is a important read precisely because it goes into these topics. The book did a very good job of handling these sensitive topics, but it is still shocking.

On a lighter note, I loved the magic system in this book. It felt very coding-based and that was really cool to see. I could just imagine the mages sitting there typing out their spells and coding it into the very universe!

This was honestly a really good book and I’m glad I read it.

I was really wantwd to love this one but sadly just wasnt a fan.
First off the good bits, I think the magic system was incredibly interesting with it being a mix of coding and typewriters, truly unique and well thought out.
The world building was also interesting, I wouldve liked to have seen it expanded on some more but that is personal preference.
The first chapter, I thought, was wonderful, it really drew me in and had be invested in Thomil from the get go.

But, the rest didnt hit nearly as well as that first chapter. Sciona was particularly annoying, and I found her character growth to be lacking. She seems to be getting better qhen she asks Thomil for premission as she wants the indigenous people to have a say but when he says no she immediately disregards him and strops and argues until he changes his mind.
She also still sees the Kwen as lower than her by the end and she shows this by saying things to Thomil like "you're smart for a Kwen" (not a word for word qoute but is similar enough).

Honestly I think the book has a good message and I understand what the author was trying to do I just think she missed the mark.

6 STARS! This was a masterpiece. It made me think and I have not stopped thinking about it since I finished reading. I have been recommending this to everyone.

M. L. Wang the author that you are!!!! This book is simply brilliant. The amount of themes it's touching on, and doing them well, is truly impressive/ The characters felt like real, flawed people and I felt their pain acutely. The book spoke to deeper parts of me, echoing a lot of the same debates that rage within me. It was a frank look at exploitation and many -isms. The conclusion felt so right, while at the same time kept me hoping for a happier ending (cause I want my babies to be happy). The prose was brilliant, the world-building intriguing and I have virtually no complaints. This is now the second book from ML Wang I feel took whatever expectations I had and blew them out of the water. I would 100% recommend this book, I will keep thinking about it for a long time and hopefully re-read it at some point. I think it's the kind of novel which gives you more and more on each read.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for my e-arc copy of this book!

Words to describe this book: enraging, insane, fast paced, utterly addictive

I loved my time reading this book, I found it fast paced throughout and the writing style was enjoyable and easy to read. I love our characters in this story. Following Sciona throughout was so much fun, seeing her grow as a character and a WOMAN was such a fun time. In the second half of this book you could feel how much anger she felt and as the reader it only made me understand her more as a character and want to fuel her angry further for justice.

I also enjoyed following the plot and found it quite easy to follow which is amazing in comparison to some epic fantasies which can be harder to follow. As well as this book being a standalone I felt that every point was met and nothing was too much or too little. Everything was just right!

M.L Wang perfectly talks about themes of gender injustice, racism and faith. She addresses all these themes amazingly and made me root for our main character even more when she was faced with these challenges in the story. Even when going through these themes the story was still compelling, action packed and an amazing adult epic fantasy which I highly recommend to people who enjoy this genre in general but also to people starting out in this genre.

For the first few chapters, I was enjoying this book - the opening with Thomil was intriguing, the coding-style magic system was unique and interesting to learn about, and I was rooting for Sciona as she took the test to become a highmage. Unfortunately, this is where the book started to go downhill for me. Up to 50%, I was still intrigued by the plot and how everything would get resolved, but beyond that point I found myself less engaged with the plot. This was not helped by having most of the chapters follow Sciona, as I often found her insufferable - I think this could have been remedied by more chapters from Thomil's point of view throughout.

Sciona's treatment of the Kwen was baffling to me considering how closely it mirrored the way that the male highmages treated Sciona, and her utter obliviousness to her own prejudice was frustrating to read. Despite closely working with Thomil and him having a huge impact on her research, she doesn't seem to actually consider him a person until at least halfway through the book, and even then, doesn't make an effort to understand any of the issues he's faced since arriving in Tiran. This is reflected in the fact that Sciona names her method 'the Freynan mirror', despite the necessary final step all stemming from Kwen knowledge that she wouldn't have had without Thomil's assistance.

The themes discussed were very overt and often treated as black and white issues, reduced to an argument or two between Thomil & Sciona before one of them completely accepts the other person is right. In addition, there are still some unanswered questions regarding the magic system, such as why Tiran required the Blight if the Kwen witches didn't. Overall, I did not enjoy this (which was disappointing, considering how much potential it had at the beginning), and will not be recommending this book.

AMAZING! The magic system is brilliant, the characters are real, the twists are next level. I raced through this and picked it up at every opportunity, even when I was being tattooed.

I initially thought I knew what this book was. After all, magically assisted industrialisation has been done before, and very well. But the shocking twist at the end took this one to a different place and has certainly seared it in my memory as one of the best reads of 2024. It is a book that takes both protagonists to dark places and suicide comes up – I mention this as a trigger warning, because emotions in this book are dialled high and the ending isn’t a cosy one.

Sciona is a likeable protagonist. Hard-working and clever, she is determined to overcome the limited expectations of Tiranish society and prove that women, too, deserve to achieve the post of Highmage. The tension created by her exam at the beginning of the book is an effective hook and immediately had me firmly in her corner throughout the story. Though I was also struck by the tragedy endured by Thomil in his desperate sprint to make the city, before his family were struck down by the terrible Blight.

What made this one highly readable for me was the similarity between this society and Victorian England. There is the same driving sense that modernisation will make the world a better place, the same unfettered ambition to succeed – and the same inbuilt injustices. While there were enlightened pockets of people fighting for more equality in Victorian England, such as John Stuart Mill for example, well-known figures of the time could get away with announcing outrageously prejudiced beliefs without being challenged. Such comments are mirrored in the sayings at the top of each chapter, which is always a nifty way of giving readers more worldbuilding without hampering the narrative pace.

I’ve seen some criticism of Sciona’s innate racism – but frankly, I’m a little sick of protagonists brought up within the ruling classes in a significantly unequal society who are scaldingly aware of said inequalities. If it isn’t being discussed – and in Tiran it isn’t – it takes a very aware and empathetic personality to find such injustices jarring. And Sciona is so caught up in her own struggle to succeed, she’s oblivious to anything else – including the sacrifices her own family make on her behalf.

Meanwhile Sciona is busy working on the project she’s been given which will give her genius a chance to shine, as she tries to prove herself in amongst a group of hostile male colleagues. The description of the magic involved is nicely technical – no airy wafting of a wand in this story. Energy has to be sourced from a mysterious Otherland with something like an old-fashioned manual typewriter as the gismo used to pinpoint the energy and redirect it into spells, needing attention to detail and a grasp of mathematics.

What sets this one apart from the majority of other books in such a setting is the ending. I found it shocking, but after thinking about it – anything else would have been for the sake of the characters rather than the plot. Nonetheless, it takes a brave soul to follow through such a storyline and it’s bumped up The Sword of Kaigen right to the top of my TBR pile. This outstanding read will stay with me and is highly recommended for fans of the genre. While I obtained an arc of Blood Over Bright Haven from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

Having heard amazing things about M. L. Wang's novel The Sword of Kaigen, I had pretty high hopes for this book, and I was NOT disappointed. This is easily going to be one of my top reads of the year! It was an all-consuming read, one of those books where when I had to put it down I was left thinking constantly about it until I could pick it back up again. It's a dark and devastating story with a fascinating magic system and complex characters, tackling heavy themes. If you've been thinking about giving this book a try, this is your sign! I will definitely be reading more from this author.

I am in awe of this author’s ability to create a fantasy story that makes me examine my own life. Absolute Perfection