#thomile

[sandersstimboards]

Thomile Stimboard with pink stims

[remotelyvague]

[ssuahgx]

when the book has no fandom so you gotta make one yourself💕

sciona and thomil my babies😭😭😭

[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!!!!!!

[bigbookblog]

Book boyfriend this, shadow daddy that, THOMIL is all I think about. Criminally underrated. It’s one thing to rip apart the world for the woman you love, it’s another to let her destroy it for you.

[imjustheretomooch]

Thomil: you know if we go through with your plan there’s like a 90% chance you die 

Sciona: don’t worry Thomil, I have a backup suicide plan so I’m more like 99% likely to die 

Thomil: I’m not fucking doing that 

Sciona: I thought you might say that so I have a backup backup suicide plan to make sure I extra die

[kertikavics]

“Blight didn’t start until the year five Pre-Tiran,” Thomil said. “After Leon saw fit to take magical knowledge from its rightful home. We Kwen have a word for that—taking ancestral items from people who aren’t dead. It’s called stealing.”

Blood over bright haven by M.L.Wang

[i-wish-i-were-softer]

Blood over bright heaven was very predictable but it didn't lose its shock value.

[wingsofhcpe]

Just finishes Blood Over Bright Haven, went to check some goodreads reviews, and people are shitting on M. L. Wang and calling her work "white saviour complex" and "coloniser romance", also saying that her work is a copy of RFK.

And this is why I think reading comprehension is dead, because if you read BOBH and THAT was your take from it, I'm pretty sure you read it with your eyes closed.

Anyway, if yall actually want an amazing dark academia and steampunk-y book with nuanced discussion about societal issues, amazing writing, a morally grey female protag and unique kickass worldbuilding, you should read BOBH by M. L. Wang.

[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

[randomness-is-my-order]

book review (non-spoiler)

blood over bright haven by m. l. wang

this book is straight up magnificent. i’ve found my first 5/5 star read for this year and i’m so fucking thrilled about it. m. l. wang’s writing is astonishingly clear, crisp, evocative. her storytelling is well-honed and tight and her pacing never lags or goes awry. the dialogue is meaningfully threaded every single time. the magic system is utterly captivating and its relevance to the plot and the themes of the book cannot be overstated.

i’ll be honest, i saw the plot twist coming a mile away but this is one of those rare stories where the shock of the twist matters less than the anticipation and experience of the characters going through said twist.

speaking of—the characterisations make this book as surely as none of its other elements (which are impeccable in their own right). the main character, sciona freynan, has immediately shot to the top of my favourite characters list. she’s so vibrantly written, thrumming with her own perspective and dreams and ideas and thoughts. her flaws are devastating—and there are many many flaws and yet the self-awareness is refreshing and though sciona is meant to be a little dislikeable, i was rooting for her the moment she was introduced. her arc makes complete sense and the growth is gratifying to behold.

to stand in contrast to her is the other main character, thomil sierness-caldonn who is equally as compelling and the essential voice of opposition to sciona’s world view. his grief is beautifully rendered and his story is touching in the most heartwrenching way possible.

the other side characters are their own people and exist outside the orbit of sciona or thomil. they enrich the story wonderfully and the more one-note antagonists are juxtaposed sufficiently against the more complicated of sciona’s detractors.

but i cannot conclude this review without touching upon the themes integral to blood over bright haven. in my opinion, the way the author handled sexism, classism, racism and religious dogma is relatively much subtler than you’d find in most fantasy books—i preferred the execution here significantly more than books like wheel of time or stormlight archives, for various reasons too tedious to list here. in particular, the depiction of casual racism and the teeny tiny microaggressions is handled with great deftness. the insight into the interconnectedness of these oppressive systems is also well-done. and these are not passive moving parts of the story, they are at the foreground without ever overpowering the narrative or getting too on-the-nose.

all in all, this is a very solid read and an entertaining one to boot! i’d recommend it to everyone. great plot, great writing, great characters. what more could you ever want?

rating: 5/5 stars. wholeheartedly.

blurb can be found here and the author’s website can be found here.

[notsopersonalcharlie]

screaming, crying, throwing up at “hello high mages, hello father”

[eerna]

"These characters in an oppressor-oppressed dynamic can't be together, it makes no sense!!!" I say into the mic

The crowd boos. I begin to walk off in shame, when a voice speaks and commands silence from the room

"She's right," they say. I look for the owner of the voice. There in the 3rd row stands: M. L. Wang

Just finished Blood Over Bright Haven and. HOPEFUL TRAGEDIES I LOVE YOU SO MUCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(also MOIRA QUIRK ILY <3<3<3)

[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-cannibal]

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