“The best I can do is create a book that reflects my angst at the time of writing and hope it resonates. If I’m being ambitious, I hope my stories foster empathy, curiosity, and critical thinking about the complex power structures at play in our lives. At my heart, though, I’m a silly genre fiction girl, and I’ll settle for making you FEEL something.” – Interview With M.L. Wang (Blood Over Bright Haven)

Well, congratulations. You did . . . you really did.

This was not a book I could wait around until I next saw my book club to talk about, this was a book I had to text them about as I was reading. How far are you? Did this happen yet? Can you believe . . . ?

This may seem to imply that reading Blood Over Bright Haven is something of a high-octane experience, with lots of action, relentless pacing, and a rollercoaster’s worth of plot twists and turns (perhaps like a certain series about dragon riders that’s really popular right now).

Another quote from the interview referenced above describes Bright Haven as: “. . . more compact . . . lower on action scenes, and higher on all-nighters in the library.”

This isn’t a book you speed through, it’s one you sit with. One you read a chapter or two at a time, and think about in between.

Without spoiling too much, I’ll take a moment to give some trigger warnings:

• This book contains some instances of suicidal ideation
• It also contains an attempted sexual assault
• It’s generally pretty gore-y.

I don’t mention these things to turn off readers from the book. Indeed I think everything listed here is handled with the utmost care by the author.

I mention these things because I feel like some folks would want some warning, and also because it illustrates how truly intense this story is.

In terms of genre, Blood Over Bright Haven is still Dark Academia as the “. . . premise hinged on a scholar uncovering a conspiracy through research . . . ” (another Wang quote from the above interview), but similar to The Centre, it hardly focuses on school at all.

In fact, BOBH‘s main character, Sciona, is all done with school, and the first woman to be appointed “Highmage”, a role which feels like it should resemble that of a scientist, but as the reader learns more about this world, comes to understand that the role is also quite tied to religion and . . . for lack of a better term, an extremely cultish patriarchy.

Like other books within the genre, BOBH is extremely concerned with wealth and privilege, and the power structures which perpetuate inequality. Where I think this book shines brighter than others I’ve read in this genre, is in the way we see Sciona struggle in her battle against these forces. There are many zero sum games within these pages, and a spree of chapters in which every stance Sciona takes against injustice, seems only to heap more injustice upon the oppressed.

Not every novel needs to feel “real”, and often times supposed “realism” in novels is just another kind of power fantasy, but I though BOBH had a kind of plangency because of how it mirrors reality. As Wang hoped it would, it gets you to feel something.

I’d also say that BOBH is in many ways quite poetic.

Or maybe — as I’m struggling to be — articulate.

The author mentions that she chose the book’s “Western Gaslamp setting” as a kind of aesthetic shorthand so she would not have to bother with lots of worldbuilding. A backdrop readers could easily conjure on their own. I have only read a handful of books within that setting, so I didn’t find it “boring for me, creatively” as the author seems to, but I will agree that it suited the story well, and proved a deft move for another reason: it allowed for a poetry of ideas rather than scenery. Much of the beauty of this book is in the eloquence of the way its ideas were presented rather than the craft of its visual imagery.

There were many times while reading that I thought to myself: “dang, I hope someday I can express some idea that well” (obviously I should have written some of them down but I haven’t been very scholarly lately. Maybe a re-read is in order some day!).

All of that aside, the imagery on the front cover of the epitomous “Spellograph” could rival any of the artwork in a Brandon Sanderson secret project.

So, Give Blood Over Bright Haven a Read?

Absolutely! Looking at my goodreads account, I’ve only read about four books so far this year, and I’d say Blood Over Bright Haven is the best fiction I’ve read yet.

Just as the author hoped, it’s a book that makes you FEEL. One that you literally cannot rush through, because you find yourself sitting with each reveal, wanting to really understand what you’ve just read before continuing. In today’s fast paced world of minute-long Tik Toks, I’d say that’s a pretty impressive feat.

I was also quite impressed by the eloquence of the way ideas were presented in this book which deals with heavy topics such as privilege, power, and patriarchy. And Sciona’s unique perspective and flawed character (though good intentions), set Blood Over Bright Haven apart from other Dark Academia, and Gaslamp titles I’ve read.

A truly great book!

That’s all I have for this one. Has anyone else read it yet? What were your thoughts? Please leave your ideas and insights in the comments section. Looking forward to talking more about this one!