Hmm. So I am excited, I was super excited to read this and i was still pleasantly surprised! Like Ruying I was really hoping for Anthony to surprise me but like most men i was left dissapoint. However it set up the sequel nicely, I am excited to see Ruying have her Rin moment and go totally badass on her colonizers. I am equally excited to see how Ruying and Baihu’s relationship develop. I have a little theory about him so i am exciting to see if it comes true in the next book. I love a good romance side plot and if these two don’t blow up their slow burn i might scream, Bathurst was my favorite character he’s very mysterious but also kind and a gentle soul so i am excited to see him show his true BA self as well, The book set up an interesting world and I’m excited to see more of it explore and the characters we don’t really see a lot of characters about from Ruying and Anthony, so I’m exciting to see more of her sister and grandmother, I also hope we get more POv we had one different pov chapter and it was fun to see things from a different point of view. So here’s to waiting for the sequel in the meanwhile ill be rereading.

WOW! Such a stunning and complex read that I will be thinking of for years to come! It had yearning and passion and a fierce girl who I rallied behind. I am so looking forward to where this goes next.

A heroine that controls death.
A conquered world. Magic and science.
A bargain with an enemy prince.

This book has so many great elements and it delivered for me!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved how the author showed the main character's struggle with morality and doing what needs to be done to survive and protect her family. I would describe her has morally grey or maybe as someone with a good heart but makes grey decisions.

I am still unsure of what to think about the love interest but I absolutely loved the moments that the two did share. "ONE BED!!!
and " He would start wars to keep her safe" Honestly, that right there was all I needed.

I loved the mix of magic and science that was woven throughout the book. This magic system was unique and intriguing. Coupled with the influence of folklore/mythology, I really enjoyed this story/world that Chang created for us.

The pacing was a little off for me and I initially had trouble with the beginning of the book. I would have loved more descriptions throughout the book to better craft the world in my head- descriptions about the setting, clothes etc. Despite that, this was a solid read for me.

I am already looking forward to the next book!!

Disclaimer: There's currently a lot of discourse about the morality of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods & the love arc/romantic plot line present in this book. Personally, I cannot really weigh in on how it impacts the AAPI community as I'm not a member of this group of people nor am I a descendent of those who were impacted by Japan's Unit 731. The only thing I'll say about this is that mass-review bombing a book because it has immoral plotlines or triggers for certain groups of people is a slippery slope. However, on the other side of the coin, it’s also reasonable to not want to read a book with a romantic lead who commits genocides based on real historical events. With this is mind, I think it’d be in the Publisher’s best interest to provide a TW list to readers on page 1.
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was an AMBITOUS debut novel and sadly, I think it might’ve been a bit too difficult for the author’s current ability. My biggest gripe was the world building itself. Chang sets up two distinct cultures in Wicked Gods: (1) The Pangu People – the oppressed who use ‘magic’ and (2) The Romans – the oppressors whose skill set is aligned with ‘science’. On the surface, this probably sounds fine to readers except for the fact that there’s a very distinct line between the two civilizations and who can use what. This is unrealistic, in my opinion, because after being colonized for over 20 years, I would expect some merging of cultures or at the very least. Like are we really supposed to believe that Pangu still hasn’t figured out how to use science and none of the people there are capable of emulating Rome’s technology? I think that the author could have shown more eloquently the impacts of colonialism through her world-building if her world was well thought out (e.g. something like Babel). Outside of these two distinct culture explanations, there basically no other world building done (apart from the impacts opium [a drug] has had on the Pangu people). The world just felt incomplete.
Furthermore, ala world building, I didn’t even realize that Rome & Pangu were on two different planets until like 75% of the book? I think Chang should have dedicated more time & space to world building in the beginning of the book rather than shoving it all in towards the end, after the reader likely already has an image of the world in mind. What world building is there from the beginning is sadly part of the let me tell you rather than the let me show you school of writing. This is SO ANNOYING. I know it’s more difficult, but dang does a reader get a bigger impact when the worldbuilding is introduced via scenes playing out inside their brain rather than just being told ‘oh it’s like this’ repeatedly.
Speaking of repeatedly, THIS BOOK IS SO FREAKING REPETITIVE. Really, the writing and prose was probably the underlying cause for a lot of other issues. How many times does the reader need to be told that Ruying’s (the FMC) Dad died from an opium overdoes and that her sister is currently addicted? Like yeah, we know, thank you for repeating it for the tenth time in this chapter alone. Part of this is honestly because the book is essentially a long internal monologue with very little character interaction or on-page action. Basically all action, romance development and somehow even conversations are off-page?
Shifting this review to the romance/character development issues. The publisher has marketed To Gaze as an enmeies-to-lovers romance. However it’s truly a colonizer and colonized romance – like Ruying was doing the WORK to justify Anthony’s (MMC) actions. For this section of the book, Ruying is basically just telling the reader over and over again that Anthony has to be a good person (even though he runs experiments on the Pangu people that are basically a direct copy & paste of Japan’s Unit 731 experiments) but cannot provide any evidence of this. He seriously kidnaps her, locks her in a cage, tells her that he must do what he says or else he’ll kill her family…but she still falls in love with him? Then there is a six-month jump in time, and Anthony & Ruying are all over each other, so Chang just basically skipped over their whole romance? And beyond on that point they basically don’t even interact with each other afterwards? Like there was no chemistry buildup. And we as the readers are just supposed to believe that they are madly in love. I honestly think that Chang was trying to set up a darkling situation (Shadow & Bone) and it just wasn’t well executed?
BOTTOM LINE: To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods has the potential to be very cool story. However, the world-building, character development & romance present in this book are all under-developed. This was an ambitious task, and the author wasn’t really ready to present such a complicated tale – I want to reiterate that this book has the potential to be very interesting, but the book just could not grapple with the complex topics and themes that were taken on.
Thank you to Net Galley, Molly X. Chang & Del Rey Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and after the Cait Corrain debacle, I was more inspired to support this debut!

Now that I've read it, I have mixed feelings.

As a debut, it has a fascinating plot and the potential to really explore nuance with morally grey characters. There were some lovely metaphors and bits of writing I really liked. The choice to label the colonizers as Rome was...a choice. I just kept picturing Roman aesthetics and gladiators lol and I really wish we got a better explanation for where they came from. What do you mean they're aliens? Pangu is a whole new planet? Where are we?? Details like this were missing throughout that let me down when it came to worldbuilding.

Another jarring aspect is the time jump that happens. You mean to tell me after this major plot point happens where Ruying steals money from Antony, almost murders a guard, and gets blackmailed into working for him, we suddenly jump six months later and they're close now?? No no no, you've got to tell me HOW this happened, because WTF???

And that brings me to my last and most concerning point: the colonizer romance accusations have ground...and no one is more disappointed than me!

If this was a critique on colonialism and unhealthy relationships/power dynamics, I didn't see where the critique came in. It left me with a disturbed feeling, especially learning that the author drew inspiration from Unit 731. And the proposed love interest in this "Zutara on steroids" romance is in charge of the experiments in Unit 731!?!? I felt sick. What's worse is that there is never enough pushback in the book on this. There are many passages of swooning and longing instead. I know this will be published as an Adult fantasy in the States, but apparently it's being released as YA in the UK? While I think adults are capable of seeing this for the toxic relationship that it is, I'm concerned teens won't recognize how awful this actually is.

It's stories like this that decide to use the Zutara label that give that fandom such a bad name. Zuko was a child that was also harmed by the Fire Nation, abandoned, and oh yeah, never murdered anyone!?!? It's actually this character trait of mercy that caused his family to scorn him. ANYWAY. I hate how misrepresented Zutara is by those who clearly just want to use the ship name to market something.

In my opinion, there is no redeeming this book unless Ruying kills Antony in the next book. But I'm uncertain I trust this author enough to do that. I'll reserve judgment until then, but To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods on its own is a weak debut due to this problematic and unchallenged dynamic.

Note: I’m aware that there is a discussion about 1 star reviews being considered bullying. That is not true. Now if someone leaves a bad faith 1 star review that doesn’t really critique the book and is just mean, that’s one thing. But genuine reviews with 1 star are not bullying. I also know this author has been sent death threats and was the victim of Cait Corrain’s review bombing campaign of BIPOC authors. None of that was okay. I’m also aware of apparent doxing happening with reviews of this book. That’s vile. Onto the review.

Review made possible thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Okay, now. This is going to be a long one.

I received an eARC of this book and it was one of my most anticipated reads. I love stories based on real life events. Not historical fiction per se but books that are flavored by things that have truly happened.

At the beginning of this book the author tells us that it is based on the stories her grandfather told her. And how she learns of Unit 731, which I was completely ignorant of. I’ve learned about it before reading and think everyone should since the education system in the US is obviously lacking.

Now, this book takes place is an alternate Manchuria / China. And it seemed to me like it was taking place after the first opium wars. I say that because the invading colonizing power, Rome (we’ll get to that one later) has introduced a fantasy version of the drug called opiun to the population.

The people who live in Pangu worshiped their own gods. And some of them were blessed with magic because of their old gods previous existence. The gods are gone now. Our MC has the power of death. But she hates it.

When the Romans started giving people opiun they said it would make their magical abilities stronger, said it would give them longevity. Obviously, it didn’t do that. It made them addicts and killed them.

Our MC’s family is her, her sister and her grandmother. Her father died due to his own opiun use. Our Mc’s sister also has a power. She can enhance the powers of others if I remember right. Honestly this book took me forever to read and I don’t remember that detail too clearly. But basically she can boost other powers. Our MC has been pawning off things of value they own to buy the drug for her sister so they can try to ween her off it. She controls it so her sister doesn’t just do it all.

And the sister infuriates me. She blames her sister for not doing enough to stop the Romans. Because she has death magic, her sister thinks she should be using to help the rebel group and their country. Even though her sister has told her it takes some of her life. I swear that conversation happened and then the toll of her magic isn’t brought up again until far later in the book.

Anyway, her sister started doing the drug even though she watched what it did to her father. She thought it would make her stronger. She berates and belittles her sister for not using her magic all while saying she thought she would be the exception to the addiction. At no point is she hearing anyone else. And on the one hand, I get it. She’s enraged living under a colonizer’s presence. But girl, come on.

The person our MC gets the drug from is her former childhood friend. And she judges the absolute crap out of him. Oh my god. He’s just doing what it takes to survive, her thought. And she judges him for it. Calls him a traitor. Also says she’s just trying to survive as well but doesn’t extend that grace to anyone else.

Now, the whole Rome thing.

The worldbuilding in this book is incredibly weak. It isn’t fully fleshed out, there are massive questions left behind every time something is explained and nothing makes sense when you think about if or more than a second. For instance, Rome is the invading colonial power.

They came to Pangu from a portal in the sky. With planes, guns, weapons of mass destruction. And I thought it was based on the time period around the first opium war, remember? So they very well could have had planes and everything I just listed. But then they have cars that are described as sleek and shiny. And elevators. And cameras that are so small you can’t see them. Alright…how? Nothing is really clearly described. It’s just odd.

Also, when it comes to the worldbuilding, the Romans are from…a different planet? Y’all I’m not kidding. It’s said they came from another world. And Antony, the colonizer love interest, says their planet is dying. They polluted their planet and have come to Pangu (which is also a planet? On another planet? It’s never made clear) to find a way to save their planet. Antony’s brother wants to use it as a dump and exterminate all the people. Antony apparently doesn’t.

So our MC ends up stealing money from Antony and almost killing one of his guards. She’s then captured in a raid a night later and locked in a cell. Gets a wound, it gets infected. And Antony takes her form her cell. After proving her worth to him, she’s freed under his command. Romans have tech that allows them to prevent the magic of the people in Pangu.

What does Antony want her for? To kill his enemies so he can become emperor because his plans for Pangu are better. He’s not as bloodthirsty. He doesn’t want to exterminate her people. And so, she’s forced to become his assassin because he has her family hostage, essentially.

What he says is he’ll keep them safe as long as she does what he wants. And she’s angry at him but then justifies her actions by saying she’s doing it to keep her family safe.

Then there’s this huge time skip of like six months and she’s already killed like almost fifty people! And she and Antony have grown close.

Here comes the biggest thing that people were talking about: the Colonizer Romance.

Now, the power dynamics at play here are : he’s holding her family’s safety over her head, she has literal chains around her wrists that can stop her magic at any time. Her life is in Antony’s hands.

A healthy romance cannot come from this. And Antony says all the right things even though it just comes off as him being nice. You know, sleaze ball. “I see you. I’m not afraid of you. You’re meant to be a god.”

And her former childhood friend literally says she’s falling for him because he was the first person to be nice to her. Which, no lie, I laughed at because yeah. She is. There’s a large portion of the book where Antony is just gone. We don’t see her with him. Or them interacting. He’s just not there.

But somehow they’re closer? We didn’t see that. We also don’t see these “ways he has of making me like him” as she says because uh, for a bit he was gone. Now, when he is on the page, the biggest focus is on the romance. And it’s pushed hard.

There’s a point where her former childhood friend tells her you wouldn’t feel like this about him if you knew what he was doing and she says “I don’t give a damn.” Now, we know as readers, the horrors that are supposed to be in this book are supposed to be based on Unit 731 and their unforgivable, inhumane actions.

Now, regardless of what she does or doesn’t know, she knows he’s a colonizer. She has seen what his people have done. He is complicit. He is still actively involved in everything. And she says she doesn’t care? Yeah, I was kind of disgusted. I can’t put it any other way.

There is no defensible way to say you don’t care when you’re also HELPING HIM. Oh but he says he wants peace. Then literally tells her they were experimenting on her people with the opiun and she just…let’s it go? Like he didn’t just say it?

It’s awful. The romance is pushed hard and there is not enough push back to make this feel like anything else but a colonizer romance.

Especially because toward the end of the book we see some of the experiments that Antony has been responsible for.

Our MC had another friend who was taken captive when she was an Antony promised he’d release her. Well he didn’t and she’s in a big tube having the blood drained from her body while she screams in rage and agony.

You know what our MC cares about in that moment?

That Antony lied to her. That he said he’d free her friend and he didn’t. She doesn’t even react to the fact that this has been happening to other people, her people. She doesn’t care that it’s something vile. Just that he lied.

And I’ll be real honest, it wasn’t written as if it was something vile. It wasn’t written with the kind of language that would make the reader understand that these experiments are evil. That what’s happening, and this is just one thing, is wrong. Nope. She’s mad the liar is a liar.

It wasn’t handled well. None of this story was. There’s a point where he wants her to kill the empower of a neighboring land. And she says no, he’s kind yadda yadda. And that’s when she kind of pushes back.

During this portion of the book they want him to die before he signs a treaty with Rome so that the son will sign it and uphold it as his father’s last decree due to filial responsibility. Except he was already going to sign it so…it makes no sense.

Things go wrong and she and Antony go into hiding. She’s hurt, he nurses her back to health. They kiss.

The kiss is important because earlier in the book she asked him if he would betray his grandfather if he ordered him to start a war with Pangu. And he tells her straight up NO. He will not betray him.

So all this talk of him wanting peace and not wanting to be like his grandfather means nothing because he has told her, if given the order, he’ll do everything he says he’s against. And she got mad for like, a few sentences. And then the story moved on and later they kiss.

I hated it. Reading it made me so uncomfortable because this is someone who will destroy her world, who is having her kill her own people, and she’s been falling for him. We don’t see anything other than the chemistry they have which should not exist. I hated it.

Also, if you don’t want it to be a colonizer romance, don’t give us a chapter from his POV where he literally thinks about how much he cares about her and doesn’t want her to hate him for the things he’s done. Because that’s not helping the whole “oh he manipulated her” line.

Plus the writing is painful. Everything is so redundant it’s just metaphor after metaphor. Literally the same thing will be said over two to three sentences but with different metaphors. It’s exhausting. You could delete a few lines from most pages and the story not change because it’s all just redundant language. This book needs to be shorter. It’s far longer than it needs to be.

I cannot recommend this book. It’s just not good. And it’s getting 1 star because that’s the rating system. I didn’t enjoy it. It was painful to read and I wish I could get my time back.

The execution of To Gaze Upon Wicked Goods simply did not match its intent/description for me.

I did not like Ruying at all. Of course, this isn’t necessary to find a character compelling, but this was not the case. Ruying harps on the tension between taking advantage of her death-magic and preserving her morality, but she rarely seems conflicted by the choice; she always does what it take to survive, despite the repeated pleas of her sister Meiya and her revolutionary ideals. When Ruying’s friends prove their loyalty to their country and beg her to aid them, not their Roman oppressors, time and time again, Ruying frustratingly insists on siding with Rome.

I did not enjoy the romantic relationship between Ruying and her captor/Roman prince Antony, but I do think Chang provided ample interactions to explain their trauma bond. From Ruying’s perspective, we certainly access Antony’s comforting, protective side, though as a reader past the age of YA, I was not convinced. I enjoyed the moments in which their connection broached the dynamics of war, power, and duty.

These mediations, however, were lost in the murky worldbuilding. The two worlds?/countries? are polar opposites—Pangu represents life and magic, Rome science and superficiality—and Chang does little to deepen these depictions. I couldn’t decipher the nature of the veil between Pangu and Rome, as characters only alluded to it briefly, and then mainly to emphasize that only Rome possesses the technology to traverse it. I wanted much more background concerning Rome’s destruction of their home world, the mechanics of the portal, and the individual histories of both Rome and Pangu.

I was so disappointed by this book that the best part of it was how funny that ending was. Who calls courage to be something foolish? And who, in their right mind would be like "ah, yes I want to be foolish?" WHY NOT JUST SAY YOU WANT TO HAVE MORE COURAGE? It's like the author wanted to create a badass character and instead fell into all the worst stereotypes and fell for the oppressor, basically turning into a colonizer romance and the fact that we have to care about the love interest? (he should have died honestly) This book angers me by how disappointing and how the writing bored me to the point that I was skipping and skimming through it AND I still understood all the horrors that went on in the book which shows how predictable it is to. Were it up to me, I wouldn't even have given it a star.

e-ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

I’m going to be honest, I have very conflicted feelings about this book. On one hand, it’s a debut novel, so I’m inclined to give it some grace. The plot was interesting, with intriguing political schemes and mysteries twisted around the main conflict. I only wish we could’ve seen the main character and her magic in action more. (She murders so many people? But all of it’s off-page? What?) There were also some super interesting concepts that were only hinted at, like bits of mythology and the details of their magic, that were left as loose ends, hopefully for the sequel.

The writing also had a lot of potential. I wasn’t a huge fan of the style–there was a lot of info-dumping, repetition, and internal-monologuing, all in a bit of an overdramatic voice–but given it’s a debut, I’m not too upset about it! I particularly liked Chang’s use of metaphors and descriptions in weaving her world and its magic. (Which I also have mixed feelings about.)

The world of Pangu was super cool and had a really interesting magic system! I’m a sucker for magic based around some kind of element/theme like wind, fire, healing, or, in Ruying’s case, death, and the Asian-inspired mythology and world was awesome. But the invading world? Rome? That’s where she lost me. These places are different “worlds” (planets?) and I’m not sure if Rome is supposed to be Earth? Or some made up place? It feels like Earth? But…an alternate version of Earth? And they lean into the Roman theme (mostly with mythology and names) while having *incredibly* advanced technology, which was just disorienting? I don’t know, the explanations there just felt lacking, and I’d love to see it expanded upon in book 2!

Finally, like many other readers, the romance just didn’t sit right with me. (Mild spoilers ahead?) The author has said her intention was to make Ruying an unreliable narrator, and if this WAS the intention, it was done pretty well. The main character comes off frustratingly naive because of it. Stockholm syndrome to the extreme. The real problem is that this book was STILL marketed as a romance. By the author. Like if you’re genuinely recognizing that it’s an abusive and unhealthy relationship (which it is), it feels very weird to call it “enemies to lovers” as part of your marketing scheme? Idk.

Overall, this book had a lot of potential! It suffers from some common debut novel and YA book flaws, but it’s pretty decent otherwise. I’m not sure if I’m interested enough to continue the series, especially if the author continues with the “love-triangle”, but we’ll see!

A book with a very fascinating magic system that was really the thing that I loved most about this--and the thing that made me want to keep reading. Nothing else really drew me in.

I think I was suckered into reading this because I love the cover. I am always exited a story with political intrigue, and I loved the idea of the Girl touched by Death. I was gearing up for a cool assassin enemy to lover's type story. But that wasn't where it was going. It was more a power play of manipulation and weirdness. I limped through the first half of this book. I felt no connection to the characters, and I out right hated the prince character. If the romance was between the two of these characters, it wasn't something I wanted to read. Who wants to read about a guy that is fine if you get shot, leaves you in a cell for ever to suffer, tries to make you kill your family and innocent people for your 'training". The last straw was when he says he is like her cause he had to kill his family for power and money, and she should be Thankful he didn't really make her do it. Nope. Gross. Not for me. Who would want someone like that.
The writing was rough. It reminded me of Fifty Shades of Grey when every other line was "my inner goddess" only this was.
" the girl blessed by Death". The line was so overused. Her inner conflict of wanting to use the power but not using the power was muddled. I couldn't figure out the magic system. I was underwhelmed by the action scenes. The romance was just wrong on so many levels. The ages of the characters were supposed to be in their twenties, but girl and boy were used as if they were children.
I felt like Ruying was supposed to be this strong amazing heroine but found her sniveling and kind of annoying. I found the back story of her family weird. We see her bargaining for drugs for her sister and she has money but then a few chapters later she is so desperate for money she is stealing money for some random guy on the street. She is supposed to be doing all this stuff for her twin sister, but she is horrid. Her grandmother is marrying her off and she seems fine with that.
I found the world building lacking. I was very confused by when the Roman's came. I was confused of the make-up of the lands. I was confused by the Emperor. I found the technology and guns not my favorite. When I read fantasy and magic, I like to be drawn into that world and the guns/technology/drug use aspect just kept bring me out of the story and didn't fit with what I was thinking of this world.

I rarely DNF books but between the bad writing and over used phrases and heavy reliance on very tripe and over the top expression, the bad world building, characters I couldn't connect with and just over all not the story for me and I gave up at 50%.

This isn’t a bad book by any means and I don’t think it deserves the hate that it’s been given over the last couple of months. Because the writing isn’t bad at all. My issue with the book are solely with the characters themselves. I couldn’t connect with any of them. None of them were likable or redeemable in any way. There was a flatness there that made the book difficult to read and continue reading.

The concept was definitely interesting. Ruyings people are born with godlike powers and she and her twin are born with both life and death magic’s. The Roman part threw me off entirely. If the author had named them something else, anything else, this would be a total different book and story. I just couldn’t get over the fact that they were Romans of all things.

If this had been a story of a girl with godlike powers and a prince of a conquering nation this would have been a completely different story. But the characters lost me throughout and I won’t be continuing the series.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey books for the eARC of this title and to PRG Audio as always for the early listening copy.**

I really wanted to love this book based off the cover alone, and the synopsis grabbed me right from the start as well. Unfortunately, even with trying out different formats (digital & audio) this one really dragged for me.

I loved a lot of things about this story - the magic system was really cool and a lot of the gifts that people possessed were very unique. I also loved the magic vs. science battle that was riddled throughout this story.

Unfortunately the pacing just really brought this one down for me and I had a hard time staying invested in it. The magic system devolved a bit as the story went on as well, and I couldn't connect with any of the characters.

There was some great conversation woven into this book on politics, racism, and history - but I didn't find the FMC to be the best delivery system for this. I think this book definitely has it's audience, and fans of fantasy and political conflict should check this one out!

***Disclaimer*** A part of me thinks that I should not have to put in a disclaimer that this review is in no way biased against or for this book or author in light of recent events.

I cannot deny that I originally was interested in this story/book because I love to support AAPI/BIPOC authors, and the premise of the book was just as enticing. Simply, this book played into everything I love about books: fantasy, romance, Asian literature, including a FMC. However, I was left wanting. It has the potential to be a great story, but there were so many gaps and areas that needs to be addressed.

1. The FMC is so naïve and has poor character development.
2. The "romance" is such a poor description between the FMC and the "colonizer" who basically enslaves her to do his bidding (though I think the author addressed this in a statement).
3. The world and magic building is not well developed as well. Little to zero explanation of gods link to power. No explanation of where the "invaders" come from. It seems like the world of the FMC is so antiquated versus the invaders who come in with a ton of advanced technology (a similarity of Poppy Wars, explained more below).

I read this digital ARC while reading the Poppy Wars Trilogy and there were some similarities. "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" seemed to be a derivative of Poppy Wars, and flopped: the FMC is with a rare gift from the gods, FMC is a product of war/conquered lands, the NAMES were so similar that it's a bit too odd to be a coincidence, and both mentioned a similar God and how they will use the human utilizing the power/gift until they are no longer human or dead.

I normally do not read reviews of ARCs before reading them because I simply want to give them a fair review. Unfortunately, the recent events that occurred between the author and reviewers pushed me to read this sooner then planned, but still avoided reviews. However, after completing this ARC, I would agree with the overwhelming consensus that this book is not for me, nor do I feel that I would recommend others to read. I will state that I will not persuade or influence others NOT to read it, as others should form their opinion and may enjoy the story. At this point, I do not think I will continue reading the series at this time.

Always thankful to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.

*I received an advanced copy for review.*

Ruying has Death magic and she’s trying to help her sister wean herself off opian. Ruying has pawned off many family heirlooms to purchase the drugs and on one drug buying escapade, she rashly steals gold from a Roman man who turns out to be a Roman prince. (The Romans are from another world, and they’ve invaded and subjugated Pengu.) The prince extracts an awful bargain from Ruying: she’ll be his personal assassin, supposedly with the goal of helping both their nations, and her family won’t be killed.

I think this is like a 3.5 that I’m rounding up to 4. I think it might have been a little higher, but I think this was a little slow for me to get into. At first I struggled with Chang’s writing style (I wasn’t in a fantasy mood when I picked it up the first time—so it’s on me not her) but then it grew on me. I like the idea of the story, and I’m pretty excited to see where the series is going because if it ends up going the direction I expect, I will love it. I am looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Thanks to Del Rey and Netgalley for the arc!

DNF’ing ~50%
There’s a lot of discourse about the morality of this book, but I’m not going to weigh in much because I have enough to say about the book on a craft level. In short, my take is: there is a tendency for folks online to expect all media to be morally perfect and that’s goofy. It’s also a reasonable to not want to read a book with a romantic lead who performs atrocities based on real historical events. Again, I didn’t finish it, so I can’t really comment on the fallout of the relationship or where it goes from here, but even if the story resolves in a very thoughtful and interesting way, I just can’t get past the world building.
First issue: magic vs. science. The Romans have science, Pangu has magic (sort of)- but it seems like what counts as each is very squishy- sky portal? Science. The narrative just kind of makes science ‘bad’ which annoyed me, too, because a lot of interesting stuff that can be said about the nuanced role of science in colonialism (e.g., Babel does this in presenting silver-working- it’s a tool wielded by the colonizing force but reliant on the skill of the colonized and the tension within fuels parts of the conflict), but I felt like the hard line between magic and science here made the book miss out on all that. Also, on the topic of science, because Chang is open about Pangu pulling from Chinese history and mythology- robbing China of its rich scientific history just pissed me off. (Gunpowder???? The book gives inventing that to the Romans???) The use of opium is clearly parallel to aspects of the Opium Wars and British colonization attempts, but Pangu only has bow and arrows. Instead of creating a full fantasy world (e.g. The Spear Cuts Through Water) or putting fantasy elements into the real world (e.g. Babel), this book tries to do both at various times. This can be done well (e.g. The Shades of Magic trilogy) and this sort of inconsistency doesn’t bother me in fluffier or firmly character driven works, but To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is trying to be an epic fantasy and those need solid world building to keep the reader from feeling unmoored.
Finally, why are they the Romans? Why?? They’re not the Ancient Romans, but they sort of are, based on names and aesthetics, but also they came through a portal, so they’re extra dimensional? Aliens? I love some false gods in a fantasy story, I love some mystery, but why are they called the Romans? Again, this engages the history part of my brain and I want to know how this society is connected to the Rome we know about, but the story is more interested in the romance and repeating the same ideas about Ruying’s power over and over. I’ve been having more issues recently with books seeming like they needed another editing pass and I do wonder if the pace of the publishing cycle right now has been hurting authors (and readers) with the attention to editing.
TLDR; messy world building and repetitive writing focused on a romance that, even with morality put to the side, I found uninteresting.
Instead, I’m going to pop in a little recommendation for The Space Between Worlds as a book that delivered the sort of morally complex main character who makes bad decisions because she’s put in tough places that I was hoping for here (down to the messy romantic history with a terrible man!) It’s SF with fun world building and interesting commentary about the exploitative nature of the modern tech landscape but also some Mad-Max-esque road warriors and some classic self-destructive sapphic pining.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eArc of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I picked this title for my store's book club before I ever read it because it sounded and looked good, I only got the arc for it later.
And now that I have finished it? I am so very glad I picked this title. It was a gamble, but it worked out and I hope everyone in the book club ends up liking it as much as I did.
The book is very political, something I don't always enjoy. But the way the author presented it was unique and kept me engaged. To pit magic against science might not be a new idea, but the way presented here felt that way. The characters felt real. No one is always good or always bad. The way the author presented Anthony, Ruying, her sister, and Baihu made them feel realistic and approachable, I would say they are all morally gray characters. All doing what they believe to be the right thing. I am interested to know where the story goes from here and I hope the author doesn't simply turn on Anthony on the next book. He is not a good man, but Ruying has chosen to close an eye and kill many, she is not good either. They are all in a way, being selfish.

My only criticism would be the 6 or so month skip in Ruying's life. It left a big hole in the story. Somewhat and somehow during those 6 months she develops a bond with her captor? It's odd.

Thank you & credits to NetGalley & Random House Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book. I would like to note that no outside influences have impacted my review of this book and is rooted within my thoughts of the book and those alone.
--------
Before I get started, I want to say that this book is not at all what I expected. Looking at the cover, I assumed it would be a whimsical romance about a powerful fmc who uses her powers to combat the evil overtaking her country-- it definitely was not that. This book was much heavier than I expected, which was revealed early on in the author's note (which was a nice heads-up). I also was expecting to initially be introduced to our promised friends-to-lovers trope, which we... were not.

The world-building and the introduction of the characters, though it felt rough in some areas, was overall a very smooth execution. It didn't feel like we were being fed too much world-building at once. The inclusion of various elements of Chinese folklore (though in some areas became a bit repetitive), felt enriching and refreshing to the experience.

Ruying, our main character, is a young girl forced to grow up far too soon in order to protect her family and care for her loved ones. She wields the power of death at her fingers, a taboo magic that comes with a hefty price, making it something Ruying only uses in extreme emergencies. She makes deals with shady people, who have also been forced to become something they never wished to be, in the face of the destruction and colonization of their country.

With this book, the author successfully creates for readers the experience of a morally grey, unreliable narrator who consistently makes bad decisions in the face of hard decisions and even more difficult situations. From the very first moment, we see Ruying is not righteous, is not a person who sees things in black and white. That's clear from the very first moment at the very beginning of the book, where she steals from the Romans. As readers are led deeper into Ruying's psyche and the story develops, her morals appear to become even more unclear.

This book has potential, that's for sure.

Some things I didn't like:
This book has so much potential that it kind of hurts to rate it so low. The premise was wonderful, a magical, powerful girl fighting against the colonization and devastation of her people, and making a deal with a bad man to save her family? Sign me up.

But then things went wrong. Despite the wonderful ideas, I just could not get behind the writing style, so much that finishing this book was a struggle. I think another reviewer has already mentioned this, but the over-use of sentence fragments made this book pass at a snail's pace. And the use of "Rome" as the name of a kingdom in a fantasy novel? Yeah...

Not to mention, it felt like there were constant contradictions everywhere, even from sentence to sentence. Ruying is initially described as earth-shatteringly powerful, but at a steep, steep cost. Someone who would do anything to fiercely defend her people. But in the next second, she's helpless (which I get, because she's one girl that cannot single-handedly stand up to the overpowering military forces and technology of an invading group), cannot act out, and must do the bidding of Anthony while he actively harms her people??? It's a rough situation, I get that, but it just seems over the top. That immediately stood out to me at the beginning of the book. And then with the other contradictions, and it just felt like it hadn't been edited properly (which, seeing as this is an ARC, will hopefully be rectified!!!).

This doesn't even go into the biggest issue with the book, how we're led to believe Ruying is going to fall in love/end up with a horrible person who literally tortured her, blackmailed her, and is actively terrorizing her people. This book was marketed as being "friends to lovers" so I'm going to go ahead and assume that he isn't the final love interest, but that still doesn't alleviate the things he's done? There are so many young impressionable people that are going to read this book and romanticize their relationship, even if it isn't going to end up as cannon. I definitely couldn't really get behind that. But ignoring the giant well of the horrible things this man has done, can we talk about how useless he is as a potential partner anyways? This man has not a single protective or caring instinct in his body. Everything was clearly because of his intent to use and manipulate her.

Oh, and also: Was anyone else getting like occasional vague flashbacks to The Poppy War?

First of all, I’d like to thank Del Rey and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a faster paced and entertaining debut, a read that packs a decent amount of action into less than 400 pages. Our main character goes through challenging and grueling circumstances under the tyranny of an occupying regime. She must reconcile what she knew vs what she learns along her journey; and how helping out those you love while staying loyal to family and country under the yoke of an tyrannical occupier looks very different on both sides, and both perspectives. Lastly she quickly learns that not everything is as cut and dry and the MC originally thought; that every action has both consequences can you can try to plan for, and ones that take you completely by surprise.

Those are a few of the many themes the author tackles in this book among others that you’ll discover as you read, in my opinion they were handled well while adding to the story by providing additional insight or history without detracting from the plot or resorting to an info dump. Overall this was a fairly strong debut and earns a 4/5 from me.

They say never judge a book by its cover, but that was the first aspect that drew me in! You can feel all the idealism, strength, and pain detailed throughout the story. This complex read will have you questioning historical relationships and the quality of life. Ruying’s magic pushes her to be sometimes rash and quick to make ill-advised decisions. The world jumping was a bit hard to follow. Enemies to lovers is the way to go though I felt Ruying deserved better than falling the way she did. The ending!? I look forward to the second installment of Molly's work!