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M.L. Wang has done it again! Another banger of a standalone! Blood Over Bright Haven is too good. It kept me up late for a few nights in a row, so I am now in need for recovery…. but it was worth it!

Last year I joined the train of Sword of Kaigen lovers. It was character-driven epic fantasy with an intimate core and SEVERAL scenes that go down in the best I have ever had the pleasure of reading. So, Blood Over Bright Haven had a lot to live up to. It somehow did… but in a very different way to what I expected.

Now, what is Blood Over Bright Haven about? The city of Tiran is an industrial utopia that has flourished because of the wonders of magic. But, beyond its borders the Blight kills almost everything, sending the tribes and clans of the land fleeing in desperate hope to the city. With this context, we join Sciona as she attempts to be the first female mage admitted into the High Magistry. Only one woman is given a chance every ten years, so Sciona has a future of conflict ahead. Even if she succeeds, everyone will be watching, hoping for her to flounder and fail...

“It’s much easier to tell yourself you’re a good person than it is to actually be one.”

Blood Over Bright Haven gripped me straight away. Just as with Sword of Kaigen, the prose is smooth and immersive, striking a fantastic balance between introducing you to a new, very unique world without losing you in the process. I am usually a character driven reader, and Blood Over Bright Haven does not disappoint in that department. Sciona is infatuated with the idea of legacy. She faces countless demons, yet fights through these through employing an iron-will as a defence mechanism. She is often blind to her flaws, such as her disregard for those who cannot help her improve her craft, yet she is still magnetic to follow. A force of nature who shows a flawed society through being flawed herself.

Her dynamic and evolving relationship with Thomil, a man of the lowest social strata, was nothing short of brilliant (plenty more superlatives for this story incoming). M.L. Wang just has a sense of character that is not only explored through narration, but also through seamless dialogue that I think would transcribe so well to the screen. Yet another incredibly successful element to Blood Over Bright Haven.

I usually do not like hard magic systems, but it is done here just brilliantly. It adds rich layers to the plot, and allows you to go on a journey with the characters as they study more about magic and learn at the same time. It may be blasphemy… but I would say Blood Over Bright Haven deals with a hard magic system far more effectively than anything I’ve read by Brandon Sanderson. It really showed M.L. Wang’s talent. It is not there just to show-off. It enriches the plot and the themes and is used for character development. What more can you ask for?

“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. That’s a feeling a woman just isn’t going to get anywhere else.”

Blood Over Bright Haven provides a very obvious social commentary. I have heard it labelled as “blunt”. I agree. But I don’t see that is an objectively bad thing. With the society we are thrown into, not being blunt would be ingenue. I would say it does not lecture you, but there are clear messages. It is quite heavy with topics such as sexism and racism, so you do need to be in a certain headspace to pick this up. But, if you feel prepared for that, I could not recommend this enough.

M.L. Wang has now written two fantasy standalones that rank in my favourite books of all-time. I would say Sword of Kaigen has higher peaks, but Blood Over Bright Haven is far more consistent. There is not a single chapter that I would say was not great. The story was just relentlessly gripping, and refused to let go.

This is a dark academia fantasy standalone driven by themes of misogyny, legacy, fame, duty, racism and passion. We have extremely flawed characters that we somehow still sympathise for and root for, and an intimate story that gradually grows to an exceptional, climactic conclusion. M.L. Wang somehow makes fantasy standalones look easy!

5/5 STARS"