3.5

This whole read was a bit of a mixed bag for me and I'm really unsure how I feel about it so I guess we can work through this together.

Let's start with the characters. I generally liked them! There's a lot of morally grey floating around and I enjoyed how the author allowed certain characters to keep their secrets versus giving the reader an additional POV or spelling things out in some other way. I did find some of the character choices bizarre and somewhat frustrating... like it felt like the author purposely chose to make them act irrationally just to further a plot point? It's a pet peeve of mine, so maybe I'm being too critical but anytime there's the equivalent of a "wow, you killed that guy in self-defense? I can't believe you would betray your morals and be a disgusting murderer like that" it immediately riles me up. Like whyyyyyyy do you not understand and just want your loved one to be safe???? why???

As for the storytelling itself, I really wish the author trusted the reader more. Certain points became very repetitive and while I understand the author was trying to make sure the reader remembers important stuff, at some point you have to trust they've got the picture and move on. We get it - addiction it bad. We get it - her dad was an abusive drunk. We get it - her and her sister are complete opposites in every way. We get it - Rome is bad. (Also unsure if I'm missing some symbolism or something but choosing to use Rome as the adversary instead of a fictionalized group or a group more directly based off the actual historical group who committed the same atrocities feels odd to me...? I have to be missing something, right??)

I do appreciate the author's willingness to dive into the nitty gritty. I didn't expect it to get Unit 731 levels of dark, but feel that helped lean the book more towards an adult audience while also raising awareness and giving voice to victims who history often glances over.

I know there has been a lot of commentary on the romance. It's not my place to comment on colonizer romance. But just generally speaking as a reader, this didn't feel like a romance to me at all. You've got a girl who is full of anger but starts having conflicting feelings while interacting with the first person who treats her like a human and appreciates her gift, the first person who even remotely seems to actually want to protect and help her people. Objectively, that feels like a reasonable time for a young, desperate person to have conflicting feelings about that person and their role alongside said person. The fact she even recognizes that these feelings don't make sense says a lot about how the author was structuring that relationship.

Overall, unique premise with a strong sense of time and place, intriguing characters, and a really cool magic system, but questionable execution to really make these factors shine as brightly as they could have. Maybe if I had a better understanding of some of the puzzling choices mentioned above I might feel differently, but for now I'm sitting somewhat mid on this one.

Added note that Natalie Naudus absolutely crushes the narration of this one, as she always does. 5/5 stars for her. She doesn't know how not to win.

So I’m late to the game, therefore I’ve seen reviews for the book already but I went in with an open mind because some people take issue with things I don’t notice.

Unfortunately while I don’t necessarily see what a lot of other people saw, this did not even resemble a romance. There was no tension. No witty banter. All I saw was a girl in a bad spot and a prince who manipulated and abused her throughout the story. Even in his “softer” moments I felt it was all a manufactured facade.

I can see the intention, I just don’t think it was executed well. I’m not well versed in the historical context of the story so I won’t make any commentary on that. I speak as someone who loves both fantasy romance and dark, taboo romance, and I think it just fell short of enemies to lovers and leaned more toxic.

On a positive note, the cover art is absolutely gorgeous, and definitely would’ve been a cover but had I not already received the arc. The cover artist chosen did a fantastic job.

I know I read this past the pub date, and I laid eyes on a bunch of other reviews before actually getting to the book. My take is, open the schools!! Reading comprehension is at an all time low!!!

The POINT OF THE BOOK is the allure of the colonizers, prince whatshisface is not!!! a!! good!! person!! and Ruying has no where else to turn! This is not a romance and you people can't read!

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang is an intense, dark fantasy that really makes you think. The story is set in a world where gods are real, but they're not the nice, all-knowing beings you might expect. They’re cruel and dangerous, and the main character, Erynn, is thrown into a world where she has to deal with their wrath while also uncovering the truth about her own powers.

What I loved about this book is how unique it is. The world-building is so rich and full of secrets, like, the gods aren’t just powerful, they’re terrifying, and you’re constantly on edge wondering what they’ll do next. Erynn is a great main character; she’s strong, but she’s also pretty complex and struggles with what’s right and wrong, which makes her relatable.

The writing is beautiful and atmospheric, really pulling you into this dark, god-filled world. There’s some slow-burn romance, but it doesn’t take over the plot, it’s more about Erynn figuring out who she is and how she fits into a world that’s out of control. The twists and turns kept me hooked, and the tension between the gods and mortals was super engaging.

The cover was pretty, and the storyline was okay. However, I'd have liked to hear more about these portals, Rome, and how this all came to be. Annoyed by the colonizer who speaks an Asian language.

Unfortunately I had to DNF the book around 20%. The characters and the dialogue just was not good for me. It felt forced and drawn out. Thank you net galley for approving me for this early copy.

This book was an had an interesting story to tell. Though it lacked an immersive world building experience.

I hate that I have to give this book such a low rating, but I really just… did not like it at all. :( The dialogue was painful to read, grammar was not it, and the characters were frankly really annoying. 😭

The argument could be made that this is a colonizer romance in poor taste, however I'm not sure this is actually a romance. It has the trappings of a romance, and it's being marketed as one, to an extent, but the main storyline is clearly not about the developing romance between the main characters. Instead, it's much more about living under an oppressive regime and balancing the need to conform in order exist despite feeling both a desire and an obligation to rebel, which is a pretty fine line to walk in a YA novel. I'm not sure Chang quite manages it, to be honest, because as I was reading I found myself doing a lot of eyerolling at the pseudo-Romans from another world, and also at Ruying's decision making process (I am more willing to overlook the latter, since Ruying is young and never has the advantage of working with all the information I have as a reader or Chang had while writing the book, the former was just tiresome).

Anyway, I was lured in by the cover, and I think in the end the cover might be the best part of this book, but your mileage may vary.

*To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods* is a captivating read with a mix of mythology, suspense, and some seriously intense characters. The story draws you into a world where gods and mortals clash, and each chapter adds another layer of mystery. The main character’s journey is gripping and full of emotional twists as they try to figure out who they really are and face some pretty dark forces. The writing is smooth, and there are enough surprises to keep you hooked.

The only reason I didn’t give it a full 5 stars is that some parts felt a bit slow. But overall, *To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods* is a great pick for anyone into dark fantasy or mythology-inspired stories. It’s a unique adventure that’ll leave you wanting more.

The political intrigue and magic system was well written, and designed. The story itself I wish I enjoyed more, while the story was amazing it lack a little for me, but still a solid 4 stars.

I have tried for months to read this book. But unfortunately, I found the writing almost.... Pretentious. As in the dialogue felt stilted and unnatural. Regular conversation isn't held that way.
The world building was extremely hard to follow. Largely because of the invading force being called Romans. I think the intent was to make it an alternate reality type situation, but throwing them into a completely different world just felt... Muddled.

And that's not even mentioning the colonizer aspect of the book.

I wanted to love this, but unfortunately it feels extremely flat

I feel that my opinion of this book was already heavily influenced by the "colonizer romance" discourse that was circulating and I could not unsee all the instances that made me feel that way as well..

I barely made it through 6 chapters before I had to give up and admit that this wasn't worth the slog trying to get through it. Putting aside the massive issue of the colonizer love plot (which I did not get to, as I couldn't even bear the experience of reading that far)--this could have used a LOT more editing. Most of the dialogue was overblown and melodramatic--Actual people do not speak in long, bloated speeches every other time they open their mouths. Add that to the repetitiveness of both the dialogue and the narration, plus the bludgeoning to death of the central conflict (Rome bad, I got it the first 15 times), and this one is just too much work to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to be able to read and review this book!

This cover is absolutely stunning. This story is so enchanting. I fell in love with it! 5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Team for this Advanced Digital Readers Copy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I’m not going to talk about the representation of colonialism and the way it is or is not sensitively handled. There are plenty of reviews that do that, and I think POC deserve the opportunity to process generations of trauma through books imperfectly without white ladies weighing in on how well they do that.

That caveat out of the way, this book is not good. World building was sloppy - it felt like Chang thinks the readers will just roll with it because she damn sure didn’t put thought into things. It often led to me being upset at small details that just didn’t make sense. Added to this, the decision to call the bad guys “Romans” muddied the waters - it wasn’t clear to me how much of “Rome” was “humans of earth” or how much shared history exists. Their motivations were confusing and poorly conceived and anything else I have to say on that matter will veer into criticism of the sort I promised previously to avoid, so I guess I will end the review there.

For a debut this book was really great! The writing was captivating and had me eager to continue reading! The cover for this book is also gorgeous and definitely grabbed my attention and made me want to pick up this book! The themes throughout the book was engaging and so well done.

Another incredibly beautiful cover that had me captivated at first glance! The first part of this book felt pretty dense, just a lot of info dump and I felt like I was so slowly trudging through. But it definitely picked up and I really enjoyed how the story began to unfold! I am looking forward to see where it goes.

“You shouldn’t ask the girl blessed by Death whom she’ll die for. You should ask her whom she’ll kill for.”

Ruying is living in a conquered world with death magic running through her veins. The invaders descended from the sky long before she was born and overtook the magic of her world with the science of theirs. She will do literally anything to keep her family safe, even if that means becoming the private assassin for the invading prince. In exchange for her gifts the prince offers to make sure her family is protected and vows that every death he orders will be for the betterment of the world.

This was okay, and I can understand what Ruying was doing and how she thought it was the right move, but I also think she was infuriating and didn't think things through. She spent her time just accepting her situation and never thought to do her own research and figure out anything for herself. She just assumed whatever she was told was true and that is a frustrating character flaw to spend 370 pages dealing with. I also did not see any appeal in Antony at all. With that said, the plot and world was interesting enough to make me entertain the idea of reading the next one to see where it all leads.