Spoiler-Free Synopsis

Truth over delusion.
Growth over comfort.
God over all.

Within a magically shielded city, Sciona of the upper caste vies to join the historically all-male central mage authority to prove herself and to defy patriarchal standards. Along the way, she is partnered with Thomil of the “servant” class.
Together they attempt unravel the deeper truths of their world, its magic, and unwind the complexities of the colonial race conditions of their society, and their respective places in it.

Full Review

Rating

5/5 Writing Style
5/5 Overall Plot
5/5 Characters
5/5 World-building

AKA a banger

Style

The style is gripping in a way that’s difficult to describe. Wang’s writing feels precise in that every sentence feels warranted, and feels uniquely revealing about either the world or a character, every time.

This is not what I would call a “horror” book or a gorey one, but the following passage from the 7th page gripped me so hard in a way that felt maintained throughout the rest of the much-less gorey read.

They all saw him disintegrate, screaming, until the ribbons of light peeled the lips from his teeth, the skin from his ribs, and at last unmade his lungs. In seconds, the little trapper had crumpled to a pile of cloth, hair, and stripped bones. The blood that had spun from his body made the impression of a flower on the snow.

–Blood Over Bright Haven pg. 7

Plot

Formulaic only when it needs to be, I was pleasantly surprised by many of the twists and turns this story took. I believe Wang’s strength here was driving the story with the characters.
A story was told, but its weight was shown to me by it being told through the lived experiences of these very real-feeling characters whose emotional states and relationships with one another felt both natural and expressive.

I expected a standard fantasy story about an oblivious “high class” protagonist forced to work with an “underclass” foil, whereupon they overcome their differences, and save the world yadda yadda. And yeah, I kind of got that. But if someone asked me “so what was this about?” I would start with the social fabric of the unique world here, and how the characters made me care about it and the tensions between the classes. And I think Wang deserves credit for that.

Characters

I don’t want to go too deeply into detail because I think this is the meat and potatoes of this story, and blabbing about the characters would spoil the intrigue for anyone interested in reading.

Suffice to say, I pegged the two protagonists as bog-standard YA sci-fi/fantasy archetypes and not only was that assumption proven totally inadequate, I found myself actually caring about the deeper characterization of the supporting characters surrounding them.

This is a story about a magical world built on lies and painted over with religion, and I was very impressed by how sincerely these characters wrestled (internally and externally) with their driving motivations, egos, and even moral satisfactions around making decisions for “the greater good”.
A soteriological* angle in my fantasy novel? :o

* Soterilogical = “on the study of religious doctrine of salvation” and as a guy with a Religious Studies degree it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that this fascinates me.

World-Building

Holy is magical conquest, for God gives power to the mages, and through them His Might is known. The mage’s responsibility is to bring to heel the wild of the world and make it civil through the cleansing Light of Feryn, the Father. As he tames the wild energy given into his hands by God, so too must he tame his inferiors, though tye resist him.

Fantasy city with magic trains! What more need be said?! Okay but in all seriousness the world of Blood Over Bright Haven is revealed piecemeal as it becomes relevant…Drip-fed just enough to satisfy but keep you wanting for more.

Overall what we’ve got is: resplendent city of religiously dogmatic colonial mages physically, socially, and magically separated from the rest of the “uncivilized” world, arrogant to the truths of their society and dependent upon the cruel extraction of labor power from the underclass of “barbarian” dregs of society.

There’s a cool, unique magic system involving sick typewriters and the system is simple enough that in-depth explanations within the story are genuinely welcome and do not feel like exposition-dump.

It’s a world full of ugly -isms: namely: sexism, colonialism, and evangelical dogmatism…the combination of which gives this story its well-deserved “dark” annotation. You will get an interesting story about a cool world and unique magic system, but you will not get the escapism of lazy “oh yeah there’s an underclass and obviously racism is bad but let’s get back to the story :)”.
You’re put right in the shoes of the oppressor…one who experiences one of the -isms herself, but does not get a free pass because of it. And it’s refreshing. A protagonist truly defined by the world and its ugliness, and how her denial of such cages her from true freedom.

Recommendation

Okay so I was literally recommended this book because I was in a local bookshop and I finally got tired of seeing Onyx Storm everywhere because I knew in my gut that it was at best “Just OK”¹ I brought it up to the front, and asked the book sellers about it (they confirmed my suspicions) and asked “if someone was somewhat interested in reading this, what would you turn them to instead?”

I’d never heard of this author, but I can see why she seems to have a bit of a cult following! This was a terrific, fun book. I read 90% of it on a car ride from Chicago to Cincinnati, so I can at least recommend it as a book you probably won’t get carsick reading lol.

No but forreal, this is a tidy, fully-fleshed out narrative that builds a world, fascinating characters, and genuine intrigue with a completely satisfying ending. All wrapped in delicious fantastical fake religion nonsense and cool typewriter-based magic in a “mage city of the chosen” served by robust magical public transit train.DQcJmwPb.png sparkles.C0GqwaMg.png ²

If you want a cool fantasy story that feels real, has all the above things, AND just a smidgeon of romance…then this is a great book to pick up. :3

It’s yet another Young Adult book about dragons and a girl who’s “different” or “more powerful/plucky/[additional adjective] than her [sexist/ageist] society expected” and like, yeah I’m sure its got its cool points but man I don’t need another 5+ book series about “growing up” with dragons as background decoration. ↩
The magical trains are literally the inciting action inspiring the protagonist to become interested in magic!! ↩

CHISTARCHISTARCHISTARCHISTAR

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