Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
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?
A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
N/A
The Reason
I’d been curious about the author because of another one of their books, and one of my friends convinced me to read this one as a buddy read.
The Quotes
“It’s much easier to tell yourself you’re a good person than it is to actually be one.”
“The question isn’t: How do I stop feeling this way? That’s stupid. I can’t. The question is: What can I do with this feeling?”
“So many parents will try to kill everything brilliant about a girl in the name of giving her a good life, a safe life, a chance at happiness.”
“Because good people can turn desperate when the horrors are upon them—especially people whose culture of plenty has left them with no systems to cope with scarcity or cataclysm. Good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.”
My Thoughts
This story was so brutal and hard hitting. It’s not what I expected because I thought there would be more magic study, more learning, advancements of the craft, more feminism and women breaking into the Magistry as Highmage, but instead, it’s a whole riot and revolution that happens so quickly, and with so much destruction! I’m not sure yet what I think about the direction the story went with all this destruction, but the storytelling itself is great. All that teaching through dialogue is not an easy thing to do without boring the reader, but I found it interesting and now I’m a little sad that this is a standalone and there’s not more to the story.
The thing that stands out most to me is definitely the denial of truth when it interferes with your comfort and way of life. We all do that to an extent, I think, but when it goes so deep and is rooted so deeply in evil, it’s just easier to not think about it and justify all the evil doing. Most evil doers don’t see themselves as evil, so it’s also interesting to see that characterized with some of the characters and how they see themselves. There is so much to think about with this story, honestly. I think I’ll be thinking about this book for a while.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?