A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
Sciona Freynan has wanted nothing more than to become a high mage and study magic’s deepest mysteries. There’s just one problem: the University of Magics and Industry only opened a spot for female mages once every ten years, and usually they don’t get in. However, there’s nothing “usual” about Sciona, and her “unfeminine” drive for understanding and glory lands her in a situation where no one in her department likes her, there’s a potential saboteur roaming the hallways of the University, and a janitor for an assistant. However, Thomil, the janitor, is more than he appears, just as the fantasy that Sciona has built about magic and the university masks something stranger — and darker — than she could have imagined.
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang was an interesting novel in that its premise was solid, its magic system unique, and the themes admirable, though there were some aspects of it that didn’t seem to quite fit together as neatly as one would perhaps imagine. Wang does a phenomenal job of working with the typical archetype of an ambitious woman seeking to change the world for the better despite her male colleagues’ indifference to the cost of their work, and manages to weave a bit of romantic interest into the plot, but the pieces aren’t used in a way that’s predictable, instead giving the novel a bit of a mechanistic quality rather than a flowing, lyrical one that most novels espouse.
However, Blood Over Bright Haven works precisely because of the way Wang is able to create an experience that reflects the reality of the story the novel tells. Blood Over Bright Haven works heavily with themes of colonization, immigration, technological exploitation, and many issues that feel particularly pertinent in today’s world, and Wang’s ability to weave together tropes and archetypes in a way that fits together enough to work but with enough dissonance for the reader to know that something’s amiss. Perhaps that’s why Sciona’s dedication to magic doesn’t seem all that believable, even in the very beginning: because deep down, anything that’s built on obsessive desire for glory, no matter how believable, is typically built on reasons that are little more than a house of cards.
For casual readers, Blood Over Bright Haven would appeal to anyone who enjoys the dark fantasy genre. While they have substantive differences in focus and tone, whether a reader enjoyed R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War may be a good measure of whether Blood Over Bright Haven may appeal to their interests. Additionally, the unique way Wang presents the story offers an interesting opportunity for those who enjoy books that meld elements of the fantasy genre with mystery, similar to The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.
For writers, Blood Over Bright Haven presents an opportunity to see how familiar elements can be used to create a discordant atmosphere for a novel. As noted, there are tropes used in Wang’s book that are so familiar to readers that it can seem like nothing new gets added by the story from a technical standpoint, but Wang manages to connect them all through themes of oppression and ambition so that what seems common becomes extraordinary again. If a writer is looking for ways to accomplish this, Blood Over Bright Haven provides an entertaining and illustrative example of how to start.
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What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Gareth Brown’s The Society of Unknowable Objects!
The Writerly Review 