Blood Over Bright Haven in Always Booked Summer Reading Challenge

May 30, 2025 Emma Caron rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, always-booked-reading-challenge

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – 5/5 🩸

Wow. This book completely took me by surprise.

While fantasy is one of my favorite genres, Blood Over Bright Haven includes a lot of elements that typically aren’t my cup of tea—but once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. I was immediately enraptured by the unique world M.L. Wang created, especially the magic system, which felt like an eerie blend of mathematics and typewriters—mechanical, precise, and totally original.

I know this won’t be the fir Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – 5/5 🩸

Wow. This book completely took me by surprise.

While fantasy is one of my favorite genres, Blood Over Bright Haven includes a lot of elements that typically aren’t my cup of tea—but once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. I was immediately enraptured by the unique world M.L. Wang created, especially the magic system, which felt like an eerie blend of mathematics and typewriters—mechanical, precise, and totally original.

I know this won’t be the first review to say it, but the social and political commentary in this novel was brilliantly executed. I’ve read other fantasy books that explore similar themes—Babel by R.F. Kuang comes to mind—but none have compelled me or resonated as deeply as this one. Wang doesn’t just tell you about systemic issues like privilege and classism; she makes you feel their weight, their consequences, and their invisibility to those who benefit most from them. It’s a masterclass in showing how easy it is to turn a blind eye to injustice when it doesn’t affect you—and how that choice ripples outward, shaping a world built on silent complicity.

Thomil’s journey completely gutted me. His struggle with morality, with legacy, with what it means to be “good” in a broken system, left me breathless. His arc—fighting not for glory but to honor the forgotten, to carve out justice in a world that erased his people—was both devastating and triumphant. I was cheering for him until the very end, even when the final chapters knocked the air from my lungs.

And then there’s Sciona. A woman raised within privilege, shaped by a system she eventually comes to question—and break. Her arc, dismantling not just the patriarchy but also her own sense of superiority, was gripping. Watching her realize that the future was never just about her was one of my favorite parts of the book. Her final choices are haunting, hopeful, and powerful.

There’s so much more I could say, but I’ll leave it at this: Blood Over Bright Haven isn’t just a fantasy novel. It’s a mirror, a warning, and a reckoning. And I’ll be thinking about it for a very, very long time. ...more

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