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Review: Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

January 30, 2025 by Will Swardstrom Leave a Comment

Rating: 9.5/10

Synopsis

Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

Review

Oof. What a gut punch of a book. M.L. Wang wielded symbolism like a sledgehammer in Blood Over Bright Haven and I think it really works. There’s a point where I feel she could have taken the foot off the gas pedal, but the book wouldn’t have been the beloved work that it ended up being for people, myself included. 

This book is almost unlike any book I’ve read before. The surface of the society she’s created, Tiran, is a fascinating magical world that seems utopian. Seems being the operative word. The audience knows before the book really gets going that all isn’t kosher in the world after the very first chapter showcases a horrific view of what happens outside the city. The juxtaposition of that first chapter with what comes next is jarring and the reader immediately knows something isn’t right.

Blood Over Bright Haven presents a magic system that makes everything in Sciona’s city of Tiran work. The mages of the city can access a store of energy and even build it up — almost like your town storing water in a water tower to help the water system run properly. But the magic system is basically explained just like that. I don’t understand how the water system in my town works — I just know that it does. And that basic knowledge of the magic in Tiran is how the residents understand it as well. They know enough to know it works. 

But where does that power come from? How does the government control everything? What’s really going on? 

There is A LOT going on in this book — and at times it feels like maybe a bit too much, but Wang manages to keep it balanced on a razor’s edge. The symbolism in this book is off the charts. There are so many parallels that can be made throughout this book, which says a lot about our world today and what we’ve gone through in our history to get us to this point. From slavery to patriarchy to capitalism, Wang has a lot to say about it, but deftly couches it in this highly entertaining novel.

M.L. Wang wrote a highly compelling standalone fantasy novel. When the truth of the book’s magic is revealed, it was slightly predictable to me. I won’t say it was a huge surprise twist — I kinda felt the truth of it before our protagonist learns about it, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment at all. I thoroughly enjoyed Blood Over Bright Haven and have it penciled in already as one of my favorites of 2025. 

Filed Under: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Reviews, Sword-Free Fantasy Tagged With: Blood Over Bright Haven, Book Review, Fantasy, M.L. Wang, Magic, Magic System, Random House Worlds

About Will Swardstrom

Will S. loves books of all varieties, but thrives on Fantasy and Sci Fi. He spends his days in Southern Illinois teaching middle school history and learning all the latest Internet trends from pre-teens. He enjoys spending time with his wife and kids and watching British detective shows. In previous lives, he's dabbled in radio, newspaper, writing his own speculative fiction, and making Frosties at Wendy's.

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