I got contacted by the publisher - based on my A Study in Drowning review - asking me to read and review Blood Over Bright Haven and promising me Dark Academia.
And oh my, am I glad they did! This book was not on my radar, and I've heard about Sword of Kaigan, but never read it.
This is Dark Academia as it should be, and a fantasy standalone at its best. The magic system is truly academic, combining physics, mathematics and more. There is power abuse, malpractice, questions of religion, and the need to overturn a hugely harmful system including misogyny.
All combined with a strong FMC and her interesting "janitor/assistant". Which sounds like the basis for a romance, but the focus is not on the romance at all. A fact that I love so much, because more often than not it takes away from the story. (Although the two of them might break your heart eventually, but in a good way).
Also, there is a stabby-stabby niece who I like lots.
Most characters are not good or evil, but they're developing - which for me is the way more interesting approach than the hero and villains stories (although I do love a good villain).
I was especially amazed by how the author managed to bring everything to a full and satisfying end in the last 10% of the book, when briefly before I thought that there's no way to do that.

5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @delreybooks @penguinrandomhouse for the eARC!

#BloodOverBrightHaven #Netgalley #Bookstagram

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC. This is a 3.5 rounded up. Overall the plot was great. I’m not sure what it was but I just didn’t connect with the characters. However overall I did enjoy this book and would recommend picking it up. I will be on the lookout for further books in this world.

It’s a breath of fresh air when you come across a top tier standalone fantasy! I’m in the middle of so many series, it was so nice to just read a book and not have another 5 I’d have to add to my tbr.

This was perfect in every way for me, such a good book

Blood Over Bright Haven is a standalone Novel from ML Wang, the author behind the widely acclaimed The Sword of Kaigen.

Blood Over Bright Haven is a wonderfully captivating dark academia story, highly recommended.

This is my first book by this author and just.... wow.
I've heard great things and yes, they were all justified.
This is god-tier fantasy writing.
The characters are flawed, diverse, complex with moving ambitions and development and depth.
The world and the magic system are layered, with something new to learn on every page.
Heartbreaking, breathtaking, thought provoking.
I'll be buying anything this author writes moving forward and picking up The Sword of Kaigen immediately!

Blood over bright haven is a compelling stand-alone fantasy. We have dark academia, racism, patriarchy, sexism, and one of the most unique magic systems I have ever come across. (Magic meets coding!)

Sciona is a wonderful character and she isn’t your typical perfect FMC. She’s incredibly flawed, bullish, stubborn and naive. In the story, we are asked if good intentions overcome bad outcomes, and she is the embodiment of that. I like to think her intentions were good, even if her methods and habit of acting without thinking through all the logical conclusions (which is a definite flaw in a supposed academic!) meant that the outcomes were undesired.

The overtones of misogyny, xenophobia and racism in this story are not remotely covert, but they aren’t overbearing and they’re woven perfectly into the tale without feeling like you’re being punched in the face with them. Certainly any woman reading this will be familiar with Sciona’s issues with her place in the world and you can’t help feeling rage on her (and your own!) behalf at the unfairness and injustice of a world designed only for one type of human to rise.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The writers style was easy to read and I enjoyed her story-crafting very much. If you want to feel angry at the patriarchy whilst enjoying high fantasy and a unique magic system, this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, RandomHouse U.K. and M.L Wang for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just wow! From the first page, I was hooked. You dive straight into this world and are emotionally connected to the characters.

I found the information on magic and mapping hard going at times. I would need to read again to fully understand. It felt a bit like studying instead of reading a book during these parts.

The world building was fantastic. I had never heard of this author before but I'll definitely be reading her books again.

I couldn't stop reading the last half of the book. I finished it in one sitting. The ending was something else. The book is about deep issues and is thought provoking, but it's not done in a lecturing way. This is the must read for 2025.

I am obsessed with dark academia but this book was truly amazing! I loved every minute of reading and I couldn’t put it down!
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book.

Arc provided by Cornerstone for an honest review

This is a 6 star read for me everything about this book was perfect. The magic system was confusing at first but the more the story went on the easier it was to understand.

The main strength of the book was its character development and world building was amazing that I couldn't put it down.

Another masterpiece.

I truly loved this book - two individuals politically made to be enemies to slow burned lovers (one of my fav tropes)

Plus this book has a wonderfully unique magic system - truly nothing else like it.

I do not feel any review I could write could embody how great this book was for me to read - let’s just say I have the special edition pre ordered now!!

4*

This is a gripping story captivating from the start. From the extreme first few pages the following story keeps you wanting to turn the pages and follow through the life of Thomil.

Taking mention of our FMC Sciona and her revelation of being such a strong female taking steps that are unprecedented.
However her male counterparts show clear threat to their position by a female that is taking leaps and bounds on anything that they had achieved the demonstration that Sciona puts out is a clear merit to her character and provides a good example of a role model but someone who is set in her ways from numerous year of reading books forming her challenging opinions without having the open mindset in the beginning.

The only reasoning for a 4* for myself is the confusion I had around the magic system, I was heavily confused at parts but that is on my own merit and nothing to do with the work of the author. Taking note to the assistance at the start of the book kept me understanding how and what was happening with the spell graph.

Brilliant story by a brilliant author, would definitely recommend this book on to others.

Blood Over Bright Haven nearly ruined me.

BOBH is a fantasy, academia standalone set in a world where magic takes a mathematical spin that feels a lot like coding, mages use a spellograph to program their magic to achieve certain ends. The city of Tiran is a protected safe space away from the blight that affects that otherworld’s.

I found the magic system interesting and very entertaining as someone who understands the fundamentals of coding, it felt familiar and so easy to understand and even if you didn't the way that Wang uses characters to explain the magic system is also wonderful in its simplicity. Without spoiling anything, there's no large information dump at the start, instead what you need to know about the world is broken into extracts at the end of a chapter and through Sciona's conversations with other characters. It does make that first few chapters slow as we find out feet in the new fantasy world but stick with this book you will be rewarded.

"Don't credit me or anyone else for your success. As it is, other people will try to credit me in order to tear you down. Be cold, be hard, and don't give them an inch."

The main characters of Sciona and Thomil were so interesting because of Sciona's racism against the Kwen and how she had to educated herself on the Kwen to overcome her racism, which in my opinion she never did. Sciona is just as proud at the end as she is at the start, you do kind of hate her but that the same time you want her to succeed, it's odd. Part of me roots for her to fight against the sexism, misogyny, racism, religious and academic supremacy, colonialism. I enjoyed how bold some of the sexism and racism was written because often in reality, it's not hidden and it's not subtle it's overt. I am also aware that she never lost that ego that made her superior to everyone else and I'm glad. She is a character that defines "complex female main character", she is imperfect and wonderfully so. BOBH is a perfect example of anti-hero done well, also she's a woman in STEM so how could I not race through this.

"Truth over delusion. Growth over comfort."

Thomil's journey was heartbreaking to read, and we never really find closure in that story line but I'm glad, it truly emphasised for me, the want and hope for a better life, free from oppression.

You are going to suffer, BOBH will have you feeling everything but you are going to enjoy every second of it.

Blood Over Bright Haven publishes 29 Oct 2024.

Thank you to M. L. Wang, Del Rey and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank You M.L. Wang, Netgalley , Random House UK for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

The story follows Sciona who is the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. achieving the impossible she soon realises her new position is not all she had hoped it to be.

The book comes with a content warning for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation
The start of the book, the first chapter had me intrigued but by chapter 2, the story was a different beast and unfortunately far less interesting or gripping.
Sciona (The Main Character) is a hugely unlikeable person, A real Man hater with a victim mentality that just makes you wince as every word is read. Men have trodden her down, men have made life difficult for her, her father apparently left (She Thinks) because she was female. Yet despite all of this, she spends the entire book treading on everyone else (Oh the irony!)
Men it appears are not only responsible for treading on the women folk, but they are also responsible for crimes against the Kwen (This books minority race). Referred to commonly as simple, they work cleaning jobs and factories and live in slums (Typecast at all?)
Brilliant. We now have racism and misogyny all caused by white men…. You getting the vibe dear reader?
I hated this book, I hated the characters, I hated the social messaging, it was tiring.
If we don’t get enough ‘Messages’ pumped down our throats daily, this book would love to push more social messaging during your relaxing read.
I mentioned the content warning initially as it does not seem to mention racism or misogyny by elite white men. Surely a warning required for all of the faint of heart! Strange that. !!!

I liked the idea of the story, just not the way it is presented.

Sorry, I really wanted to find something positive to say but for me there really was nothing positive. I guess we cannot like everything and not everything written will be liked by all. This book was just not for me. Such as shame.

This book had everything the stunning cover suggests and more. It is an incredibly thoughtful book that has had so much thought poured into it. The story explores themes of morality, conflicting religious values, sexism and colonialism.

The book is baes on a unique magic system, with a dark academia setting full of intresting characters that were a joy to read. Also THAT ENDING! At first I wasn't too sure on the main character but I definitely grew to like her once her motivations were clearer and it was easier to connect with her. Our MMC was equally as intresting and I loved their dynamic.

This is a really enjoyable dark academia/ fantasy novel revolving around Sciona, the first woman admitted entry to the High Magistry as a High Mage. Sciona is faced with discrimination, predictably inherent when women are seen as second class in a male dominated workplace. This, however, will not be the worst of the problems she is to face as her understanding of the world she lives in and those she has always looked up to, starts to unravel.

The story revolves around two central characters both deemed lesser by virtue of gender and race, respectively, seeking to understand and overcome the injustices they are subjected to. With wildly different backgrounds, religions, life experiences, and understanding of the world. Sciona is more naive to the wickedness of the world and the seduction  of power than Thomil, who has had his status as a lower class citizen made very clear to him since his arrival in Tiran as a refugeee following the long & dangerous journey he and his family took to get there. Sciona and Thomil must work alongside each other to overcome what has been done to them and the rest of the world in order for the dystopian city to exist.

At times the writing is slightly predictable, but when the predictions make for an entertaining story, is that so bad? I just like to think how smart I am must be to be a step ahead, and I have to say I did not see that ending coming! (A satisfying ending to a standalone fantasy is a grand thing to come by)

The magical system is well thought out; I suppose some readers may find the descriptors and background of this slow, but as I was on a reading roll it didn't inhibit my enjoyment of the read.

This is my first time reading ML Wang and I'm so grateful to have been introduced to their writing. I will certainly look up Sword of Kaigen as, if it's as enjoyable as Blood Over Bright Haven, it will be well worth a look.

Set to be released 29th October 2024 by Random House UK, Cornerstone. This is one to look out for if you're into your fantasy with a good dose of magic and dark academia.

Many thanks to Netgalley, ML Wang and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

!!!!! we are so back

this is so incredible - i loved the sword of kaigen and was a little worried that this would not live up to that for me, but it did. i’m close to saying it was better.

the magic system was so intricate yet easy to follow and pick up, the characters were so likeable.. this was just truly incredible

thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc 🫶🏻

Firstly thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy of the book . This is my honest opinion.

I did not think M L Wang could do any better than the Sword of Kaigen but in my opinion this fantastic book has topped that one.

The magic system was easy to understand and the characters were all principled with strong beliefs and extremely likeable . An emotional rollercoaster particularly the last quarter . Thoroughly recommend this book to all . Congratulations on another five star read

I really enjoyed this book. It's a bit bleak but ends in hope. I did cry at the beginning, and no other book has ever made me do that, so I was hooked off the bat. I'd worked out the twist quite early on before the big reveal, but it was still good to see how it all came together.

The only thing I found annoying is the continuous reminders that women are inferior (I don't think it needed mentioning nearly every other sentence to be impactful). However, I still enjoyed it and would recommend 😊

This was a scientific magical masterpiece, it was so interesting and engaging. Lots of political elements and the story is rife with prejudice racially and gender based. Sciona is very unlikeable but fascinating, and Thomil brings out the best in her. A duo I didnt know I needed.

Incredible, truly incredible. It has been so long since I struggled to put a book down, but this powerful story sunk its claws into me and I’m emotionally wrung out. M. L. Wang is such a fantastic writer and I honestly don’t think I can clearly articulate all of my feelings after experiencing this book.

The novel challenges deep rooted colonialist ideals and confronts privilege through an intersectional lens. Sciona is a mirror for many white women who hide behind the industrial levels of oppression and their relative privilege; she had her own struggles which are valid but doesn’t negate the harm she perpetuated. Carra was my favourite - so full of justifiable rage and I love a strong female character. Having to see how Thomil bent to preserve that aspect of Carra was difficult, but so important. Thomil was a fantastic character and constantly pushing back on the ideas of him being the exception and not the rule. I loved seeing the relationship develop between him and Sciona.

This was a fantastic novel and I would highly recommend it!