Set in a realm where an entire country was overtaken by another in a single day, Yang Ruying has to make difficult choices in order to take care of her sick family members. Science versus magic is the foundation of the continuous struggle as Xianling citizens try to use their Gifts to survive and fight back.

This book shows the difficulty of choosing between the easy path of surrender, or the hard path of rebellion.
Of making tough choices for the right reasons, to protect the ones you love, even if it goes against your morals. The back and forth in Ruying’s head as she tries to save her family while also sticking to her principles was really interesting to read, especially as she came to know Antony as a person. The relationships with her best friend Taohua, her sister Meiya, and her former friend Baihu all illustrate the different considerations Ruying has with anything she does, and really makes the war seem realistic.

The ending felt incomplete, and nothing really felt resolved since there wasn’t really a battle between Ruying and Antony, or even a real determination of where her loyalties now lie. It felt like just a lot of setup for the next book, which kind of disappointed me since this book doesn’t feel like it can stand alone. However, I am excited to read the next book when it comes out!

This was interesting, partially because it wasn't just one country subjugating another with their superior power (in this case much higher tech capable of mass destruction) it was different worlds entirely. or different realities? I wish there had been more about how Rome was able to create the portal from their world to Ruying's magic rich one. When you can fight magic versus science who would be the winner? There are many shades of grey as multiple parties fight to protect their world from being exploited in order to replenish the world where Rome came from while Antony (one of Rome's princes) insists that he only wants peace between the two worlds. I felt for Ruying, who only wants to protect her family and world, being pulled two directions by Antony and Baihu. Many lies are told and truths dug up in this first book and everyone wants Ruying on their side. She does have a pretty cool magic gift.

I was not really a fan of the tried forced romance, Ruying has a hard enough time without needing to add romantic attractions. But it was an interesting book and I do want to find out how Ruying plans to end the subjugation of her world. Though I wouldn't mind maybe a trip to the Rome side of the portal to see their world.

<i> thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review </i>

(It's hard to write this review and not spoil anything as I like to write spoiler-free reviews!)

This book was interesting - was it a stand out fantasy? Nah, but the way the story developed for the ending to set up for book two really made this worth it. I did enjoy the read, and while I enjoy a 1st person POV, I wish this was a 3rd person POV as we didn't get a ton of perspective on the world. Most 1st POV I read the narrator slowly reveals more about the world and characters, however this one really didn't. I was confused for awhile on the portal aspect of the world and didn't fully understand it until I read a review where someone explained it more. I appreciated the Chinese proverbs thrown in, but I felt like they were over-used and began to lose their charm in the story.

I never felt fully connected to any characters, but I did experience their emotions. What made this book a 4-star vs. in the 3-star range was the ending! The action was fantastic and the reveal of what is going to happen for book two made me super excited I know this isn't a super dark fantasy, but there were elements that I wished were explored to push it a little over the edge of comfortability.

Ruying has been manipulated her entire life: family, friends, and now this prince who is clearly abusing his position of power to promise her things in exchange for her magic, and as a reader I never believed anything he was saying.


I will say - the limited marketing I have seen for this book (after I received the ARC last year) makes this book out to be something it really isn't; which is a shame. We need to move away from trope-focused marketing

4 stars This was a story that interested me in politics more than any romance. The amount of betrayal and secrets make this a great read. The amount I have heard that this was a colonizer love story made me worry but I did not see a love story in this story. I am looking forward to the next in this series.

3.5 stars

I felt this took a while to find it's rhythm and it was not until about 2/3rds of the way through that I became more invested, but by the end, I definitely wanted to read book two.

However, this book was classified as a romance, and while she believes she's falling for Antony, it never really develops into a real romance, so leaving that alone, it's much more about Ruying being forced to make hard decisions where either choice can lead to impossible consequences. The author used her grandfather's own experiences as a source of inspiration, and this is how she chose to work through those complicated feelings. For that, I applaud her.

However, I often didn't agree with her choices, and I was definitely not thrilled with Antony throughout. It was so very clear that he was manipulating her, gas lighting her, abusing her, etc., and she was kind of letting him do it. It left a bad taste in my mouth that she thought she loved him. But I also think she was trying to do what she thought was best to help her family and friends and even if she was wrong, that was her motivation. To some extent, I believe the author did help us see that by the end. One of the things that also struck me was how harsh her sister was with her. The choices that her sister made were not obviously the right ones either and I just felt like she was being extremely judgmental without allowing for the fact that perhaps Ruying had some good points. I think I was also frustrated because it seemed like they each shut the other down without even taking the time to listen. Considering how much her family was her primary motivation, it was not always easy to see that in her dealings with her family. I think that was part of the rough start.

One thing that I did like was how the author incorporated ideas of colonialism, slavery, and environmentalism, as well as the war between science and magic (the equivalent of our world's science vs. religion?). As those ideas became more developed, I became more invested in the story. As I mentioned before, I am very much looking forward to diving into book two, and I've read somewhere that there's also going to be a book three. So, if you hate waiting for books to come out, you may want to hold off on starting this series.

Overall, I think it was kind of a rough start, but I think this has the makings of a good trilogy. I've read mixed reviews about this book, many having to do with the whole colonizer romance, and if the author chooses to make the romance between Ruying and Antony bloom, I'm going to have to jump ship. But I'm crossing my fingers that will not be the case!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book came out at such a significant time for the theme it deals with. Resistance, occupation of another entity. This book is one that's sure to cause a lot of discourse be it from the narrator, poised to be morally gray but at times came across as stuck-in-survivor mode vs potential love stick. Or be it about falling for your enemy who is also the oppressor of your very people. This was a fast read and although there's a lot to wrestle with from themes to messages, I couldn't stop thinking about it and would be eager to pick it back up.

I think that this book is fine, the drama around it was overblown, but overall I think the book hits its mark for what it wanted to be.

I DNF around 25%

There was just so much info dumping. A scene of someone walking down the road shouldn't take 30 pages, but it did here. There was so much telling and so much info just jammed into every second. There was so much world building done in such a short time that the characters were still pretty nameless to me by this point. I can't stand an info dumping book so this really just didn't work for me.

I didn't even get to the romance that other reviewers talk about as the reason they didn't like the book.

I really wanted to love this book. It was such a creative concept and I loved the language and culture interwoven into the story. However, there was absolutely no character development, and at least half the book was the same internal debate over and over again from the main character. I ended up skipping over several pages at a time without feeling like I missed anything. The attempt at enemies to lovers was over in about two pages of dialogue, and then was sort of unclear the rest of the book. Overall I think the idea was great but the execution needed more nuance and development.

It redeemed itself a bit by the end but i struggled through this one. The main character was stockholmed syndrome almost the entire book and I didn’t like that. I didn’t believe any kind of romance or affection between Ruying and Antony. He’s the literal worst. I considering DNFing so much and ultimately I’m glad I didn’t bc the end was surprisingly interesting. Not interesting enough for me to read the next book though.

Thank you netgalley for this arc!

I’ve heard a lot of the controversy around this book, but I think Molly X. Chang did a really good job. This book hooked me in and I thouroughly enjoyed it! I will be looking forward to reading more from her.

I am honestly unsure how I feel about this one! I like the themes of the book but it was such a slow build for me that it was hard for me to stay engaged in it. It is written with a lot of imagery, but it was almost too detailed for me at times where I just wanted to get to the plot. This could be a me problem, I don’t know. I did like the magic system and the fact that the main characters were morally gray. Ruying’s experiences broke my heart. It is admittedly difficult to get past the main love interest being so horrible to her though. Some things aren’t forgivable, which is why I had mixed feelings overall. Toxic relationships have their fan base, but note that this isn’t for you if you aren’t into that.

DNF. While I am unsure if this is truly a colonizer romance, I do think that they make a good argument. As a white person I have decided to stay out of that dialogue and defer to the reviews by persons of color.

I had a difficult time getting through the beginning of the book, a bit slow of a start. The over-descriptions fell flat for me. I wanted more world building and less fluffy language.

was not the best book i have read. was really excited for this one, but it really missed the mark. maybe the next book the author publishes will be better fleshed out.

I absolutely ate this up. I felt like this was a very strong debut novel. I loved The Poppy War Trilogy and this gave me those same feels. I felt like this story was unique in the way that Rome not only invaded Pangu but it had crossed through worlds to do so and was using resources in Pangu to save Rome from it's collapse due to the Human's mistreatment of their world. I loved where the story left off and I am absolutely dying to know where this is going to go and can't wait to get my hands on the next one. Thank you @netgalley and @delreybooks for the arc.

dnfing this one

the writing is so circular and confusing at the same time and i just can not read anymore of it. i have been trying to read it for a month and it’s just not happening, i’m sorry

This was fun story. It took a little bit to get into it but it was a blast. The world was fun and the characters were very likable. It’s worth the read.

This book is…interesting.

I should start off by saying that it is NOT a colonizer romance, nothing even close to it. There is a romance element, but it’s moreso based in the vein of manipulation and deception from the actual colonizer. I believe poc should be able to write very factual stories about being manipulated to do something against your own will without being accused to romanticizing that wasn’t romanticized to begin with.

With that being said, the author HERSELF markets this book very very badly. She calls it an enemies to lovers, it is not, nothing close to it. She markets the main character as this all powerful character with powers she uses to be a bad person, the book is somewhat that, though the main character is moreso docile and manipulated into doing bad things for the sake of those who she loves.

Onto the actual book:

It has potential? And for the most part reaches it, but it slightly falters towards the ending, which falls flat. The main character, Ruying, is annoying, despite being justifiably so, and you can understand her actions. The side characters are developed fine enough; though I would’ve preferred if characters like Baihu and Rome’s functioning to be explained further.

The magic system is actually quite interesting! I loved the way it worked, and the way it was done…as well as the worldbuilding, which was easily refreshing and fun. I especially loved the descriptions, if anything, that was my favorite aspect of the book.

With all the prospects and general ways this series could go, I think it will improve DEEPLY in its sequel. All this book told me is that maybe we should read the books before accusing it of something it is not.

Ruying hates the invaders who are taking over her home using technology that far overpowers the magical abilities and old fighting styles of her people. Perhaps just as much, she hates her people who have opted to betray their own and allied with the Romans for personal gain. So imagine her inner turmoil when she has no choice but to do the same for not just her survival but that of her grandma and sister. Blessed by Death with the ability to pull life out of mortal bodies, Ruying shouldn’t have to fear these foreign invaders, but she does. When an enemy prince discovers her powers, he offers her an impossible deal. If she becomes his private assassin and eliminates his rivals, her family will never starve or suffer harm again. Are the evils of this agreement really in the service of a much greater good? Will she betray her entire nation by protecting those she loves the most?

I have seen some criticism of this story revolving around the idea that this is a "colonizer romance." I more or less felt that way when reading The Hurricane Wars. I don't really feel like this reads all that much like a romance, though. I think the struggle is more about our FMC deciding between upholding her morals and surviving and protecting her family. She judges the other members of her society who have "betrayed" her people but now she is forced to make some of the same choices. In that sense, I find it an interesting premise: how our morals and ideals change as war is waged. Any "romance" or racing hearts that are alluded to read more like manipulation than love/attraction that I am supposed to root for or buy. With that said, I don't particularly enjoy the pacing. Our FMC makes many a questionable decision with dubious motivations at times. So I wouldn't say I necessarily enjoyed reading it. But I am willing to give the sequel a try before tossing in the towel.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Courage in boys was bravery. Courage in girls was foolishness. From this day forward, I wished to be foolish."


Maybe I should be embarrassed with how quickly I devoured this book in one sitting, but maybe I won't and live my best life. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was definitely hard to put down. I quite enjoyed this book, and it's interesting to see everyone's opinion after reading it themselves. Especially after just reading the very last page.

In this, you will meet Ruying Yang. She and her sister live with their grandma and have seen their fair share of heartache and horror. Ruying would do anything within her power to keep her family safe. Ever since her world was invaded, she has never understood why the emperors sat back and did nothing. Especially after they brought the drug, opian, that got people she loved addicted to and eventually died from. On top of that, little raids are happening, and people are disappearing more and more frequently.

There's not much she can do once she steals from someone—a prince, no less—and becomes his prey. She doesn't want to strike the deal but does so to keep her family and friends safe. Little does she know what safe truly means when she strikes a deal with a prince who isn't from her world. Along the way, we get to know more about her magic and what happens to her when she uses it. We also get a glimpse that the prince doesn't truly know anything about her world or the magic she wields.

As for the romance, I don't necessarily think it was truly brewing between her and Anthony (the prince). It might be more one-sided than anything because she's a toy to him, and he's quite frankly fascinated by her. Or should I just say in her magic? As for the other guy, I could see something growing between them. Oh, and before I forget - no, I didn't get any love triangle vibes in this.

If the romance is supposed to be between her and Anthony, then I truly need the guy to redeem himself. Still seems unlikely though.

Then there's the betrayal—my god, so much freaking betrayal. Whether it's just secrets that aren't told until it is too late or the ones that sneak out with help from some wine, I truly think the next book is going to be her redemption arc. Towards the end, the wool has been lifted from over her eyes. She was young and naive for most of this book. She was truly doing the things she did because she just wanted to keep everyone safe. Sure, she also maybe believed the prince was a good guy and didn't want him to die. But now? Ha, no.

Vengeance is coming. Be prepared.

"...those blessed by Death can either save the world one day or destroy it."