Jazzy

No other book had me crying as fast as Blood Over Bright Haven and no other book had me crying for a longer period. God, these last 50 pages destroyed me.

I loved the scholarly setting, I loved Sciona's defiance, her need for greater achievements and the truth. And I love that, above all, Highmage Sciona Freynan was a good person.

There were so many important topics in this book; feminism, racism, political/state oppression and so much more.

I expected the end of this story but gods, it ripped my heart out.

I loved Sciona's development, I loved Thomil's quiet rebellion by arguing and discussing with a Highmage, I'm so impressed with M.L. Wang that I cried for so many people in this story even if they weren't always "good" (or good to Sciona). Aunt Winny, Alba, Carra... I cried for all of them.

This book was a 5🌟 read for the first 60-70% of the book for me. Not because it was flawless but because it really ensnared me - I love the authors writing style and the included tropes and that definitely made me overlook some flaws (just some scenes that didn't feel quite plausible/loopholes). Adored it. The scenery change just didn't quite hit my sweet spot so, in the end, I rated this book a great 4.5.

Some tropes: bodyguard, touch her and you die, one bed

Definitely has one or two spicy scenes.

If you want to read a book qith an extraordinary and intruiging magic system then red 👏 this 👏 book👏.

Seriously, I love the reality altering magic system and the characters and their backstories are so interesting as well.

I also loved how the stark contrast between poor and "rich" was depicted, experiencing it through Sancia and Gregor's different PoVs was really well done.

Also, speaking of PoVs, all of them were so interesting. I can't wait to see where this journey is going to take us in books 2 and 3!

Definitely a highlight of this year

I'm sorry to say this wasn't it for me. Thought about DNFing this book several times to be honest. I just didn't like the main character at all (and it's not because she's morally grey, i just could not sympathise with her at all). I liked the idea but not the execution of this book, it felt a bit like a (not so well written) fanfiction. I will say that I liked the last 100 pages a lot betterbecause it picked up a little speed then.

I was positively surprised by this book. I absolutely loved the writing, the humor, the characters - I didn't want to stop reading and almost read the whole thing in one go.

I think this was my first 5 star read this year, it was absolutely perfect for me.