#thomile

[sandersstimboards]

Thomile Stimboard with pink stims

[thomasxsides]

Also this…

[thematicparallel]

still currently reading Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang. it's so on-the-nose with its interrogation of the themes that it doesn't leave the reader with more dirt to dig around in, which i guess is fine with me. i prefer it more than plotty books that say absolutely nothing. i'm around chapter 9 & i really like how Sciona is so fucking unlikable & so callous with her worldviews & so unfathomably blinded by her ambition that she doesn't pause to consider how her success means she will eventually hurt, possibly kill(?) tons of people. or even if her dynamic with Thomil gives her pause, it doesn't necessarily influence her to change her course because she can't see past her own prejudices, & into the bigger picture. i also like how Thomil is able to challenge & shift her so directly, that you then start to question what it says about the responsibility of someone in a marginalized position to educate people on their privilege. in this case, it's because he has no choice but to continue working with her, because quitting will likely lead to capital punishment if Sciona chooses to inflict it on him. then you also get flashes of Sciona viewing Thomil in this romantic lens, which might definitely pull some ao3 trope enjoyers in, but it's so insidious when you think about the power imbalance between them. like get a grip girl just because he's the first man to listen & talk to you without insulting you doesn't mean you can fawn over him. it's soooo interesting. the "utopian" society they live in is called Tiran, btw. yeah, like Tyranny. crazy!!!!!!

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Blood Over Bright Haven

high fantasy set in a walled city that protects its citizens from the deadly Blight outside

a woman who’s become the first ever female highmage in a sexist environment, is competing with her new peers to discover a way to source a spell allowing them to extend the border walls

she’s mocked and given only a janitor as an assistant - a man from the nomadic indigenous groups outside the walls, who came to the city as a last resort and lives as a second class citizen

when they discover the horrifying secret behind what powers their magic, she’s forced to question everything she knows, and put aside her own goals in pursuit of the truth

a magic system like programming

[remotelyvague]

[yarrowleef-babbles]

I'm reading Blood Over Bright Haven and I have been really into it, heavy-handedness aside, but I have to say I am so incredibly Not On Board with the idea of this becoming a romance, and unless something completely crazy happens i am REALLY struggling to imagine how any amount of Sciona Redmption Arc-ing is going to make it feel better. And I already felt that way BEFORE the big twist reveal about magic.

The narrative has been doing that ""chemistry hinting"" thing since they met and i have never been excited about it. Thomil has only had two POV chapters and I really am struggling to click with how/when/why he would have started to fall for her in that way when she had never successfully gone a week without some reminding him how she couldn't help view him as inherently lesser. like. you notice her racism all the time. bro. how are you like "I made the mistake of trusting her :(" like, how tho.

I think Sciona is a great character and I think they should be allies but god please just let them both accept that this relationship cannot and should not be salvaged into a romance

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark! May I please request Worzel and Thomil: Magic's first planeswalkers from all the way back in Magic's first story in the Magic: The Gathering Pocket Player's Guide in Modern Horizons 4 (if there is one)?

We’ve talked about them getting cards.

[tick-beetl]

how many times do you think sciona received a sturdy "fuck you" whenever she said "love you" to thomil?

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Blood Over Bright Haven

Author: M.L. Wang

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, fantasy, science fiction

Blurb: An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fuelled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant. What neither Sciona nor her peers realise is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran's magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family...but working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power. Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever...if it doesn't get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilisation in the balance?

[imjustheretomooch]

It just occurred to me that Thomil might not have left Sciona’s side that first day after running into the other mages because he knew Renthorn’s reputation with women.

[wonkyreads]

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

3 spellographs out of 5 🔮

M. L. Wang has created such an interesting world and magic system in Blood Over Bright Haven - it had me hooked instantly. It was honestly insanely difficult to put this book down. I wanted to know more about Thomil and I wanted to watch Sciona’s discoveries unfold on the page. I got both of those things as well as an incredibly rich and unsubtle commentary on our own world (and when I say unsubtle I mean it positively like Kuang’s Babel).

I think Wang made some really smart decisions when crafting this book that helped get her message across in incredibly frustrating ways. There were so many times while reading this that I got mad at the characters and their choices and their prejudices and that’s kind of the point of putting us in Sciona’s head in the first place. You get to feel every slow stride she takes towards understanding where perhaps her viewpoint on the Kwen and her fellow mages, her world and her magic, are wrong. It takes a long time to get her there, but it’s so nice to watch it happen.

I fully thought this was going to be an easy five-star read for me, but at some point it starts to unravel a little. The narration itself felt almost young adult in nature in a way I fully didn’t expect. The characters don’t act like teenagers, really, but the cadence and flow of the writing felt like it was catering to a younger audience. It also swayed between entirely in-world language that wouldn’t make sense until a second read (or in retrospect) and assuming the reader is a little stupid and over-explaining simple things. While I don’t think either of those things make this a bad book, they did bother me personally while I was reading it.

I also think the relationship that forms between Sciona and Thomil feels a little off. Between the power dynamics and the way that Sciona views not only him but his people for a large portion of this book leaves their relationship in an odd place that was a little uncomfortable to read at times. I don’t know, but I think too much pressure was put on this side plot when it didn’t need to be there in the way that it was at all.

The mix of magic and women in STEM and fighting institutional racism all in a dark academia-esque setting felt like this book was built of off buzzwords catered directly towards me and what I’ve been enjoying lately. And to be fully transparent, I really enjoyed reading this most of the time. It was fun. It just also fell a little short of what it could have been.

Huge thanks to Random House and NetGalley for this eARC given in exchange for an honest review.

[loreholdlesbian]

Moxtober Day 1: Alpha

Art links:

Worzel's art by Aleksandra Ristic

Thomil's art by Stepan Alekseev

Aggressive Packleader's art by Lun-art // Monstrous Alpha's art by sandara

Card transcriptions below

Three cards

The first

Worzel the Wildermage 3GG Legendary Planeswalker- Worzel [mythic] +1: Create a 2/2 green Bear creature token. -2: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. -5: You get an emblem with “You may play any number of lands on each of your turns” and “Whenever you play a land, if it wasn’t the first land you played this turn, this emblem deals 1 damage to you." 4 loyalty

The second

Thomil the Hellslord 3BB Legendary Planeswalker- Thomil [mythic] When this planeswalker enters, create a 7/7 black Demon creature token with flying, trample, and “At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this creature unless you remove a loyalty counter from Thomil the Hellslord.” +1: You may sacrifice a non-Demon creature. If you do, draw two cards. 0: Each opponent loses 3 life unless they sacrifice a nonland permanent or discard a card. 4 loyalty

The third

Aggressive Packleader 1GG Creature- Human Werewolf [rare] Trample Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may put a Wolf or Werewolf card from your hand onto the battlefield. Daybound 3/3 // Monstrous Alpha [g] Creature- Werewolf Trample Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, look at that many cards from the top of your library. Reveal any number of Wolf or Werewolf cards from among them and put those cards into your hand, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Nightbound 5/5

End transcription