Blood Over Bright Haven
The must-read new dark academia fantasy from the author of The Sword of Kaigen
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- 95,00 kr
Publisher Description
The first woman ever admitted to a prestigious order of mages unravels a secret conspiracy that could change the practice of magic forever, in this standalone dark fantasy from the author of The Sword of Kaigen.
For twenty years, Sciona has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fuelled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to become the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry at the University of Magics and Industry.
When Sciona finally achieves her ambition and becomes a highmage, she finds her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues are determined to make her feel unwelcome – and, instead of a qualified lab assistant, they give her a janitor.
What neither Sciona nor her peers realise is that her taciturn assistant was not always a janitor. Ten years ago, he was a nomadic hunter who lost his family on their perilous journey from the wild plains to the city. But now he sees the opportunity to understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the privileged in power.
At first, mage and outsider have a fractious relationship. But working together, they uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever – if it doesn’t get them killed first.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally self-published in 2023, Wang's overly ambitious standalone fantasy (after The Sword of Kaigen) addresses two weighty social problems: a wealthy, advanced culture feeding off a disadvantaged one, and talented women being kept subservient by a male elite. When a desperate tribe tries to outrace the deadly Blight and find safety in the city of Tiran, only a skilled hunter, Thomil, and his young niece, Carra, survive. Ten years later, as an underclass janitor, Thomil is surprised to be named the lab assistant of Sciona, a talented magical scholar and the only woman to have tested into the ranks of Tiran's ruling and mostly hostile mages. Working together, Thomil and Sciona gradually learn the city's unholy secret: Tiranese achievements depend on slaughtering the Kwen, Thomil's people, in a land called the Otherrealm, for magical energy. Wang slows her plot by minutely delineating this world's scientific magic system and endows her characters with jarring 21st-century adolescent lingo. The bittersweet ending only partially justifies Sciona's quest to change her society and Thomil's rage at its selfishness. Impatient sword-and-sorcery fantasy fans will struggle.
