DocoftheDarkArts | Blood Over Bright Haven

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Blood Over Bright Haven

M.L. Wang

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A riveting dark academia fantasy about the limits of truth and power, from the author of The Sword of Kaigen.

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.

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Posts about this title from DocoftheDarkArts

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Apr 17

[This post is not, strictly speaking, fully book related. But I hope you'll stick with me, because this is an important topic that is really important to me. And I will recommend some books.\ \ ***Trigger warning: This post will discuss SA and domestic violence***\ \ A recent CNN report exposed an online network of men discussing how to drug women and commit SA, the targets often being their partners. The website that was most implicated had over 62 million views, and a majority of views were coming from IP addresses in the US.\ \ And while this may be written off by some as an isolated issue, in the online book world, we see women, people of color, and marginalized groups treated poorly every day. I see women in the book world having to deal with male commenters accusing them of "showing off their bodies for views," while at the same time sending them suggestive material in their DMs. Every time someone tries to post a video suggesting more diverse sci fi and fantasy authors, they are met with backlash, and the inevitable "I don't care who writes the books I read." The pushback to representation and fair treatment is often, quite frankly, staggering. All the while, women are criticized for reading "smut." Women who write fantasy stories with any romance get labeled as romantasy authors, while their male counterparts are just fantasy authors. We shame women for reading sexual material, but don't bat an eye to the sexual goings on traditional fantasy because "it's gritty and realistic for the era."\ \ I'm a dad to teenage boys. I have a wife, sisters, nieces and nephews. My boys and I talk a lot about making other people feel safe around us, treating everyone equally and with respect, and avoiding the pitfalls of the modern hoax of "masculinity." In an era where influencers are trying to convince boys to looksmax, heightmax, or take testosterone supplements in their teens (please don't do that), our young men are more and more being exposed to patriarchal, overly macho, chauvinistic ideas of what being a man means.\ \ I'm someone who believes in facts, and data. So here are some facts (according to Take Back the Night):\ \

1 in 3 women worldwide experience some form of sexual violence or intimate partner violence.\ \
2 in 3 transgender people have been sexually assaulted.\ \
People in the LGBTQIA+ community are more likely to experience sexual violence.\ \
Less than 50% of victims report these crimes.\ \ \ As a man, it is easy to react to all of this with the "well that's some men, not all men." And much like Sciona in ML Wang's brilliant Blood Over Bright Haven, confronting your own biases, and those of our society, can be a difficult process. It can also feel frustrating and leave you with a sense of "what can I actually do?" Well, as someone engaged in bookish content, here's what you can do:\ \
Call out ignorance and injustice when you see it, and stand for what's right.\ \
Read broadly and diversely, and share those stories and authors with other readers.\ \
Encourage the young men in your life to read as well. Encourage them to get off their phone, encourage them to talk about their feelings, and encourage them to be safe, welcoming people.\ \
LISTEN to the women in your life. Seek to learn about their experiences.\ \
Be a safe space for women, and all marginalized groups.\ \
When you can, contribute to organizations that do work on behalf of those most at risk.\ \ \ One of the only tangible things I can do is donating money to good causes. I have a social media platform that is fortunate to have grown to a point where I make some money from it. In full transparency, it is less than $100/month. Every month $25 of that goes back to the prizes for our monthly reading challenges, and the rest is donated to causes that are important to me. So, starting here in April and for the foreseeable future, I will be donating the balance of whatever I make through my platforms, and matching it up to $100 each month, to Take Back The Night. TBTN is a "501(c)(3) Foundation is to end sexual violence in all forms, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, trafficking, stalking, gender harassment, and relationship violence, and to support survivors in their healing journeys." In the future, I will make it public what other organizations I will be donating to.\ \ I have a great inclusive community of folks here on Bindery and on Discord. if you would like to also support Take back the Night, you can support by becoming a member here on Bindery, buying a book here through Bindery, watching my YouTube videos, or buying books from my Bookshop.org affiliate store (which has the added bonus of supporting indie bookstores!). I also intend to more intentionally share authors and stories that represent a diverse spectrum (I'm almost done with the Wheel of Time, I promise). For starters, you can check out my "Diverse Reads" bookshelf here on Bindery.\ \ We also have a number of women and members of underrepresented communities here amongst our ranks. If you have any suggestions, perspectives, or tips to share for those of us who are trying to learn, grow, and be better, let us know in the comments.\ \ Thanks for reading, thanks for being here, and thank you for your support - know that it is going to a good cause, and as a creator I fully intend to continue to promote kindness, safety, and inclusivity. And if you want to read some of my favorite female authored books with excellent female perspectives, I've linked a few to this post.](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/TgyRNjB2nLaW4HkoMDJM/)

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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Dec 14 2025

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Posts about this book from across Bindery

Sarah Does Bookish Stuff\ \ Sarah\ \ • Jul 9

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We've done it. We've made it to the halfway mark of the year! I can't believe it's half over already. 2026 has been a banner year for me with reading and coming out on top reading some incredible books I never thought I would get the chance to read. \ \ I've had so many opportunities and changes and experiences in the last 6 months I almost feel like a different person sitting here typing this up. I've read ARCs, connected with authors, joined a writing cohort, taken on a job doing developmental edits, started a podcast, started an interview series... \ \ All because I just like to talk about my weird and wonderful books. \ \ So, halfway through 2026, let's talk about those wonderful books and what's been a 5-star read for me this year. \ \ The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon\ \ My first five star read of the year. Candon built this incredible, lush, weird, amazing world I wanted to live in. Fever dream mech fantasy about a man trying to figure out how to be normal and escape a past that won't let him go. Sunai makes horrible choices, but all of them consistently lead him back to the one place he never really left. I loved how wild and bizarre this was. I was left wanting more and more of this world and I hope so hard that Candon continues this series. \ \ Slewfoot by Brom\ \ If you want me to rate your book five stars, make it about female rage and killing puritans. Brom outdid himself with this one. He wrote Abitha with such conviction there's no way his wife didn't advise him on it, I refuse to believe a man capable of capturing the frustration and rage about the female experience so accurately. I love the tapestry of witchcraft and small mindedness and the blindness of religion and the effects of patriarchy on us all. This was so delightful and 5 stars well earned. \ \ The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman\ \ Book so good I emailed the author. I've never emailed an author before. Finn was the first. This book is a retelling of a real 13-century fairytale that was the first example of fiction in medieval France. Longman turned it into a beautiful test of prose, writing styles, and an exploration in chronic illness, queer identity, and what it means for love to endure. This book was so full of yearning and so beautifully written I finished it in a day and I bullied several other people into reading it after. \ \ Shark Heart by Emily Habeck\ \ I picked this up on a whim because the premise was bizarre. A man is slowly turning into a great white shark because of a genetic disorder? And someone said it wrecked them? Okay, bet. And bet I did. I walked away sobbing over this heart wrenching, existence examining piece on caretaking, loss, illness, and love. Shark Heart does not get enough love for what it did.\ \ Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir\ \ Muir is incapable of writing something that isn't five stars. Her use of prose and style, turning the writing itself into a character... nobody does it like Muir does. Every book in this series is different, it changes you. Nona was her solarpunk installation that gave me so many painful, beautiful moments of seeing characters I loved overcome and endure for each other. It also made me mad at Jod.\ \ Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson\ \ I am a Malazan bro because of this book. MoI was the culmination of two books - 1800 pages - worth of trust in a process I was unsure could be trusted. Erikson delivered on every single front. He gave readers something incredible in this book and really proved to me how multifaceted and gifted he is at world building and writing. This was an incredible installment. \ \ Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang\ \ I am a different person because of this book. Because of Sciona, unlikable heroine and dogged in her pursuit of knowledge. Because of Thomil who understands the cost of power and pushes to make Scion see it, too. I adored this book and how it addressed the importance of intersectionality and listening to marginalized voices. It was so beautiful and fearless and Wang knows exactly how to break your heart to teach you something important. This book should be required reading.\ \ Headlights by C.J. Leede\ \ This was the first ARC I have ever given five stars to. I was a mess. A disaster. If you had told me a book about an unretired FBI agent investigating wild killings where victims are skinned and the perpetrators have no memory would change me, I would never have believed you. I adored every second of this. It was about wildness and fear and loss and love and so, so much more than I can articulate in a single post. If I had my Bindery a few months sooner, I would have written pages upon pages about this. Leede's writing is poetry, her symbolism is subtle and unique, her approach to loss and grief is spellbinding. \ \ The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes\ \ Ennes will go down as one of the most stunning writers in the modern era. They have a grasp of language that I can only hope to have a fraction of. This book was weird and stunning and unforgiving. It made me forget I was reading about bugs because I was constantly engrossed in the characters and the world and the slow collapse of this bizarre government. It accosted my senses in incredible ways and showed the costs of power without question. I adored the characters and I will forever be rooting for Guy and his love of the theater. Ennes made politics, art, and theater inextricable from each other. One begets the others, every time. I am so, so impressed at this book. \ \ The Soft Touch by Daniel Polansky\ \ How did one man pack so much into a novella? Really. I finished this, stared at the cover, and bought everything Polansky has ever written. I loved this world. I loved how stubbornly optimistic Wren was and how he refused to let pessimism win in a town where pessimism already believed it had won. He was clever and sharp, the writing was witty and dry, and everything was so alive in such a short time. I didn't want it to end, this wild blend of steampunk magic. This novella made me realize the draw of urban fantasy. \ \ The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay\ \ I have a whole post about this book and I can never stop saying wonderful things about it. Hay created a masterwork here, just an absolute class in how to leverage the physicality of writing to meet the story and create something beautiful and tragic. II was so sad and so hurt for the Butcher, but I was in his grief with him in ways I didn't think I could be in a book. I am deeply impressed by this story and how David crafted it. Everyone should read it, especially if you love religious horror. \ \ So this has been my year in favorites so far. I've read 100 books on the nose so far and this is the sliver of those who really changed something about me. Every five star I give out changes a piece of me - my perspective, my sense of self, my understanding of a genre, something. I walked away from each of these books with something new in my bones that wasn't there before. I love all our popular series just as much as the next person, but my heart will always be with books that dig deep and demand things of me nothing else does.

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Book Fairies\ \ Sarah Lockwood\ \ • Jul 8

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You guys win, books only from now on!\ \ #Fantasybookrecommendations #fantasybooks #romantasy #fantasy

You guys win, books only from now on!

#Fantasybookrecommendations #fantasybooks #romantasy #fantasyreads #bookstagram

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Sarah Does Bookish Stuff\ \ Sarah\ \ • Jun 21

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Everyone has books that live in their bones. Some sediment of emotion or change that has settled into their marrow and left them changed in a way they can't articulate. Over time, that sediment calcifies and those books become part of who we are. They shape our morality, our world views, our empathy... they become us.\ \ I have my five books that have historically settled and fossilized and are inextricably linked to me as a person. I also have the modern, recent reads that I just know are doing something to me. Taking my ligaments apart and putting them in new places. Making room in my muscles and viscera for something new to grow and change me.\ \ So... What are they?\ \ The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay\ \ This book was something entirely different. New. Hard to let go of. It touched on grief and faith and the importance of community in processing loss. Hay did something amazing with turning his lessons learned into a biblical cautionary tale to show his readers how unprocessed loss in isolation can turn you into someone you don't recognize. It can cost you everything.\ \ The care and love this was crafted with is incredible. Paper weights, font styles, later inclusions of page stamps, text coloring... everything about this book from the contents to the structure was deliberate. It delivers a brutal message made all the more impactful by the love with which it was sent.\ \ The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes\ \ Never have I seen more beautiful, mad prose in a book. Ennes writes with a paintbrush the likes of which I rarely see in books. I am treated like I'm smart, I'm respected by the material, and they take the opportunity to show me what I am capable of. The characters are never what you think and never who you believe them to be. Nobody is all one thing and the character who are suffer because of it. It talks about denial and loss and art and politics and what it means to let someone be who they are.\ \ The weirdness of this book never feels offputting or gross. It feels like texture and color and sound. Ennes proved that a book can live with me long after I finished it and make me rethink and turn over its lessons again and again without exhausting what I find in it. This was such a beautifully unexpected read that is feeding off of my attention.\ \ Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang\ \ I have never been forced to confront myself like I have in this book. Wang is fearless, direct, and wastes no time worrying about your feelings. She immediately makes you uncomfortable and forces you to look at horrible truths about yourself whether you like it or not. Some folks said this was too on the nose, but I disagree. I believe this book is exactly what it must be. Subtlety won't always get people to confront themselves and their biases. Wang found a way to dispense with the subtlety and not make it feel preaching or taunting. Instead, she takes you by the chin and asks, "Is this who you are deciding to be?"\ \ The themes of otherness, inclusivity, intersectionality, and whether or not a haven is truly a haven if it's paid for in blood? Stunning. Layered. I'm still thinking about it months later.\ \ Headlights by C. J. Leede\ \ This rocketed to the top of my list when it made me bawl my eyes out at 10pm on a Saturday. It reads like a procedural turned folkloric horror, but it's so much more than that. It sinks its teeth into the rose-colored glasses of childhood memory. What does it mean to love and lose? Where do we put our grief when it's too big to hold onto? How do the ghosts of our past become a part of us? Leede puts Danny through so much to learn how to love wild things and make peace with the people he loves no longer being there for him to lean on. She made me consider what it is to let someone in, the fear of leaving a part of yourself with someone and trusting them to care for it.\ \ This book told a wild story in such weird and wonderful ways that thinking about it still makes me tear up and wonder if I really saw everything she had to say or if there's more.\ \ Shark Heart by Emily Habeck\ \ How did a book about a man turning into a shark become a beautiful, bittersweet, hopeful story about how to love someone through chronic illness and the strain of love and resentment held by caretakers? I opened this book expecting a weird, wonderful story and instead I learned so much about the weight we carry when we have no power to help someone we love. Living through chronic illness and caring for someone through it are tragic, beautiful, complicated experiences Habeck articulated perfectly in this book. Habeck shows how different degrees of loss take a toll on people, they all add a new straw to the back of that camel that eventually breaks.\ \ But she also showed us how when its broken, there exists only one choice: stay broken or stand up and go on. At some point, optimism and hope and survival are a choice. We have to look grief and hardship in the face and decide not to let it drown us. Hope is a choice. Habeck illustrates that phenomenally.

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watch for some recs to read in May!

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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Apr 17

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Rachel Skye Reads\ \ Rachel\ \ • Apr 4

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A book rec list for my hair stylist who likes queer feminist books that suck you in.

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Literally Moody\ \ Una\ \ • Mar 25

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I recently finished The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula (thank you @PRHaudio for the gifted audiobook) and had an interesting conversation with a friend about the presence of the Church in a fantastical Victorian London setting. Not an allegorical representation, or metaphorical references to Christendom, but the actual Church complete with the Papacy was a steady presence throughout the novel. I think this was a bold choice on the author's part and likely reflects some religious trauma (maybe) but it actually worked pretty well for the story. My friend showed clear distaste for the heavy religious presence and that got me thinking about the veil of comfort that comes from fictionalizing institutions of systemic harm. \ \ I eat up the toppling-of-an-oligarchical-system in any novel I read. For example, in The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, a grounded dystopian novel, the characters overcome a corpo-oligarchical carceral system. In Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang, the systems in question were academia as the gatekeeper for state violence and colonization. There are a million examples I could name and most folks would have no trouble naming the real-world system or institution to which the fictional one is alluding to. So why does The Geomagician's inclusion and naming of the Christian Church give us pause? Literary scholars, that's a question for you! \ \ Does naming the "boogey man" sully the experience of reading fantasy? Is the art of writing Sci-fi/Fantasy, or Horror defined by the ability to create parallel systems as part of world-building, or can fantastical worlds be built around existing systems? \ \ Mild spoilers ahead:\ \ For what it's worth, I found the world-building and magic system in The Geomagician to be quite compelling, especially as someone with dinosaurs as their lifelong special interest. I did find the ending a bit disappointing, specifically because of the way the MCs continue to acquiesce to the systems that oppress them. The main protagonist maintains a neutral stance throughout the novel which is infuriating, but reflects a common characteristic of White feminism: "I don't care until it harms me." It was still a fun fantasy read and I'd recommend it to fans of dinosaurs and unique magic systems!\ \ \* Disclaimer \* This is neither an endorsement nor a condemnation of the titles mentioned, simply a bid to interact critically themes.

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Littrilly Reads & Chats Club\ \ Tasj\ \ • Jan 26

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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Dec 14 2025

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Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Nov 25 2025

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Guess what I've got for you today...\ \ ...\ \ ...\ \ I think that's enough to keep it out of the image preview, so....\ \ \ \ Ta-daaaaa! Subscribers actually got this a couple weeks ago so shout out to you guys for keeping it a secret in the discord.\ \ For those of you who don't know the lore here, let me give you a little background. Yes, you are reading that correct, that says this is announcing the 2024 Best of Books winners. In November. of 2025.\ \ I wish I had a reasonable excuse for this, I really do...but I don't. I genuinely can't even tell you why I didn't release this in January like I was supposed to or why I haven't released it in the many months that these images have been sitting in my Canva projects, but from the bottom of my heart I have no idea. Anyway, it has now been almost a full year since we first started the process of nominating books for our Best of Books 2024 and for the love of god I need this to not be hanging over my head anymore. I say that as though there was literally anything or anyone but my own damn self keeping me from getting this out, BUT THERE WASN'T.\ \ You ever get a text or an email from someone that you don't reply to right away and then you kind of forget about it until it's a few days later and you go "oh my god I need to reply to that" but you've remembered at 1am and that's not a reasonable hour to text someone so you'll do it in the morning, and then you wake up in the morning and for many more mornings until the next time you remember it's suddenly been weeks and now it's awkward but you really should reply to it but you put it off because now you're embarrassed and then the longer you wait the worse it gets so you just never reply and suddenly you've ignored someone you really meant to get back to?\ \ That's normal...right? Anyway that's basically what has happened here and I refuse to have this sitting on my dusty, unseen to-do list any longer so HERE are the winners of our 2024 Best of Books:\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ And there we have it! I AM FREE. Free to get started all over again on our 2025 nominations...

A SURPRISE ALMOST A YEAR IN THE MAKING (or, ya know, a year late...if you want to be technically correct about it I guess)

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Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Nov 12 2025

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Guess what I've got for you today...\ \ ...\ \ ...\ \ I think that's enough to keep it out of the image preview, so....\ \ \ \ Okay, so if you don't know the lore here, let me give you a little background. Yes, you are reading that correct, that says this is announcing the 2024 Best of Books winners. In November. of 2025.\ \ I wish I had a reasonable excuse for this, I really do...but I don't. I genuinely can't even tell you why I didn't release this in January like I was supposed to or why I haven't released it in the many months that these images have been sitting in my Canva projects, but from the bottom of my heart I have no idea. Anyway, it has now been almost a full year since we first started the process of nominating books for our Best of Books 2024 and for the love of god I need this to not be hanging over my head anymore. I say that as though there was literally anything or anyone but my own damn self keeping me from getting this out, BUT THERE WASN'T. \ \ You ever get a text or an email from someone that you don't reply to right away and then you kind of forget about it until it's a few days later and you go "oh my god I need to reply to that" but you've remembered at 1am and that's not a reasonable hour to text someone so you'll do it in the morning, and then you wake up in the morning and for many more mornings until the next time you remember it's suddenly been weeks and now it's awkward but you really should reply to it but you put it off because now you're embarrassed and then the longer you wait the worse it gets so you just never reply and suddenly you've ignored someone you really meant to get back to?\ \ That's normal...right? Anyway that's basically what has happened here and I refuse to have this sitting on my dusty, unseen to-do list any longer so HERE:\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ I AM FREE. Free to get started all over again on our 2025 nominations...\ \ Upgrade for $12 or login

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Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Nov 9 2025

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what makes a good dark academia book? 🕯️🕰️ defining the genre and it's potential

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chronicallybookish\ \ Kaley\ \ • Oct 16 2025

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chronicallybookish\ \ Kaley\ \ • Sep 15 2025

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Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Aug 31 2025

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Now that I am DONE with MA chaos (send happy vibes that my thesis is well-received! 🤞🏻), I can afford to be a little more ambitious with my monthly reads…

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The Inkborne Society\ \ Azhangia\ \ • Aug 23 2025

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[Poll:\ \ September 2025 Book Club Selection\ \ I’ve been playing around with the idea of a book club centered around Asian authors since I first launched on Bindery a few months ago, and I am super excited to share that the book club is now live!!!\ \ The goal of the Inkborne Society book club is to create a space dedicated to celebrating and uplifting Asian voices across the fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, and dark academia genres. Each month, I’ll choose a new theme and curate four books by Asian authors that fit it - all of you will then be able to vote on the book club pick in a poll! \ \ Here are some things that you can expect:\ \

Monthly book selections\ \
Discussions in the community Discord (https://discord.com/invite/w83xX2n3rc)\\ \
A welcoming community of story lovers\ \
Occasional bonus content like author Q&As, themed rec lists, giveaways, and more\ \ \ Given that autumn is the peak season for reading dark academia, the September 2025 theme will be “Class is in Session”, with book club options including Katabasis (R.F. Kuang), Blood Over Bright Haven (M.L. Wang), The Library at Hellebore (Cassandra Khaw), and Babel (R.F. Kuang). In the future, I’ll try to include a wider mix of lesser-known titles, but for our very first dark academia month, I couldn’t resist starting with some of these icons...\ \ I would love to have you all join the book club, and hopefully we'll discover some incredible stories together!\ \

NEW BOOK CLUB LAUNCH!

Launching our new community book club dedicated to celebrating and uplifting Asian voices across the fantasy, sci-fi, dark academia, and dystopian genres.

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The Coterie\ \ Mikah Mia Reads\ \ • Jul 28 2025

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