Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

If I wanted to read Shogun, I would’ve read Shogun

The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang

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After reading Blood over Bright Haven (and honestly, being very impressed by the writing and plot) I figured, why not, let me read another of M.L. Wang’s stand alone novels. So here is Sword of Kaigen. I went into this book blind. Like, completely blind. And honestly, that was a mistake. To start with, calling this a standalone novel isn’t true. This is a spinoff novel. Apparently. this is a prequel to her first series, the Theonite series. And let me just say, this book […]

Blood over Predictably Fun Haven

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

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After reading three American Royals books, and then two non fiction books, Blood Over Bright Haven was my long awaited return to my cozy niche, Fantasy. Recently (ie, the last 3-4 months) I had veered away from the genre because I was burnt out by the barrage of new fantasy names and always jumping into the world and having to learn it. So BoBH was my return. To start off, I went lynto this book thinking it’s a trilogy or at least had a sequel. […]

standalone fantasy

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

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This book confused me, and I might actually consider this a round-up-to-three stars. I’ll try many well-reviewed fantasy series that are standalone (which this…definitely is, given the ending), but in doing so I open myself up to some of the critiques that I had for this book, namely that the ratio of exposition/explaining to action is mildly off given that there isn’t a duology/trilogy/more of books to spread the worldbuilding over. To whit: there are sections of this book wherein entire paragraphs are devoted to […]

A Dark Academia Masterpiece

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

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I literally just finished reading this, and wow — what a compelling read! I learned from reading Wang’s first book, Sword of Kaigen, that she is not afraid to do terrible things to her characters or to break your heart without fully mending it, and she does that again here. This dark academia novel primarily follows Sciona, who early in the novel becomes the first female High Mage of the city of Tiran. There’s a lot of sexism in this world and she is not […]

“You Can Be Strong in Any Shape. You Can Be Anything.”

The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang

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This won the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off back in 2019, and it’s clear why. Self-published books can be hit or miss, and The Sword of Kaigen feels so polished and compelling, though not without flaws. Also, be sure to check content warnings – there is a lot of tragedy in this book. The structure is unconventional, with the climax occurring about halfway through the book. The remainder of the novel deals with the aftermath, which works well in this character-driven novel. I would also argue that […]

For those of you wanted Babel to be even more intense.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

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I wanted to make sure to actually write a review for this one, because I want more people to be reading it. Everyone who read Babel last year should also read this. Like, ASAP. I’m sure this review is about to be trash because I tend to babble when I attempt to sum up how good this book is, or go on too long, but I’m going to try anyway, because it was such an immersive and satisfying reading experience. Our main character is Sciona, […]



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