I read the book Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang.
It's a stand-alone fantasy novel about a woman who seeks to become the first ever female highmage in the 300-year history of this city. Along the way, she uncovers dark secrets that others feel are best left hidden...
I enjoyed the author's prior book, The Sword of Kaigen, so I figured I'd give this a try. It's extremely highly-rated and was kind of a breakout last year. The author tends to not have plot armor for any of her characters, and the stories don't necessarily follow typical three-act structures, which is refreshing.
I found it well-written and engaging, I read it very quickly, and overall enjoyed it. Maybe an 8/10 for me.
The main character is kind of intentionally unlikable. She has a single-minded drive toward greatness through her work, and doesn't relate well with people or pay attention to people around her, but is ethical in the sense that she doesn't mean others harm and when confronted with examples of harm she does care about it a lot.
The one main criticism of this otherwise well-rated book is from those who say it is too heavy-handed in its themes. Sexism is a very strong theme in the book, as well as racism/colonialism, and the author is not subtle about it. So I was aware of that criticism going in, and wanted to see for myself what constitutes a theme being considered too heavy-handed here, in this moment. My assumption was that I would agree it's overdone.
Surprisingly, I only half-agreed. I think whether it's overdone depends on the reader's context. It feels overdone here in the 21st century in US/Europe. It's like, "we get it, blatant sexism and racism/colonialism is bad".
But on the other hand, the culture in the book is basically just 19th century England in terms of sexism and racism/colonialism. It's less sexist than some countries are today.
I literally have in-law relatives that were victims of female genital mutilation in Egypt. The type that cuts off your clitoris, with all the lifelong limitations that come from that. And I see some of the strains of sexism that occur there in the present day. The themes in the book would not be heavy-handed in contexts like that. But if one is reading this in the US or Europe, there are certain eye-roll moments like, "Okay it's been enough, I get it."
Anyway, interesting read and I'd look for more from the author in the future.
