Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for access to this digital ARC. This review is based on my own interpreting and enjoyment of the text. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this one. I found myself excited when looking at the incredible cover art and the synopsis was very intriguing. As I progressed through the first quarter of the book I found my interest being challenged to the point where I decided to begin skipping though future chapters as I tend to do when my ADHD gets the best of me while reading subjects that don’t fully captivate me. I was hoping I would gain some cultural insight, that there would be some lore or mythology to support the way things were presented however I found that there was quite a bit more darkness between the characters than I realized. I don’t particularly look to read titles with colonialism at the forefront and this title took it to another level. I just couldn’t get on the same page as the characters to the point in which I stopped reading and put it down all together. I’ve taken some time away from it and yet after coming back have decided it’s just not something I want to read. While the writing itself wasn’t to blame for my disinterest, the topics and presentation made it challenging to continue therefore Ive decided to not finish the title. Some might like the direction of this story, however I did not.

A 19 year old girl with the power of Death is torn between helping her family survive or helping bring peace to her world.

What I liked about the book: the main struggle or conflict is explored enough for the reader to understand the circumstances of the main character but there is some mysterious aspects left to discover as the story progresses. I liked Baihu's character as he is constant with the personality shown at the beginning but has some improvement throughout the story. The main idea for this book was interesting enough to keep me reading.

What was lacking: the main characters (protagonist and antagonist) were a bit vague and weird. The protagonist is not constant with her personality and keeps doubting herself (which makes her read as a YA character.) The antagonist is not really good nor bad, he reads as a kid trying to look evil and its just wanting to trick others into giving him what he wants but its not doing a great job. I couldn't get to care about the other characters as they were not explored that much. The way the chapters were split made the reading immersion a bit confusing. I don't think it was necessary to explain every aspect of the character's life if we could discover it through events in the story or know what another character was really doing/meaning if we could read about it through another character's revelation.

The romance in the story was not the best. I think that it could have been avoided and made into just a friendship or strong bond somehow. It read like the characters knew they were on a book and were doing fanservice just because romance was expected in the book. I get that romance is an important part of books these days but it doesn't mean that you have to force it into the story.

Overall, I liked the story enough to finish the book but it did have some irregularities that could have made it better. I liked the world building and the different living styles portrayed for each world. The main idea was interesting and I'm hoping the second book brings answers and emotion to the story.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was really excited to read it based on the description and topics, however I just found the overall story - not bad. It’s not something I’d personally reach for to read again. The overall story line was ok. Good concept. I liked the exploration of the xianlings and the various types of magic. Perhaps this could have been explored more. I didn’t mind the tension between the worlds and the science va magic- all great concepts. I think one thing that would help is a bit more backstory. I was super confused how the two worlds came together - and even still kind of confused in the end. Is Rome in the future and traveling back through time in the portal? The enemies to lovers aspect lacked the feeling for me. Normally, there is hatred but a spark that slowly builds- but I never felt that. The romance was a bit more of an annoying element in the story for me personally. Perhaps others feel differently. Again, not a bad book, just not my cup of tea.

DNF @45%

I should've stopped reading sooner. I didn't like the writing and the "romance" made no sense and was a terrible addition to the story.

Right off the bat this book failed to pull me in - I found the writing on the dry side and the worldbuilding and characters underdeveloped. It took a really long time for the plot to actually start happening, so I’m not sure why the first book failed to really set up the structure of the story if there wasn’t any plot either. There was also quite a bit of what I can only describe as “melodramatic YA inner monologue” that kept taking me out of the story more and more.

This book was beautiful. Molly X. Chang weaves a gripping narrative into her poetic prose, presenting her characters with choices too big for any one person. Set in a fictional universe, where Rome conquered the whole earth and found a portal to other worlds, Chang unfolds a fantasy and a nightmare all in one. Reading this book felt like being curled up, listening to one of my aunties tell stories of far away lands. If you liked The Cruel Prince, you should give this book a try.

This story touches on so many topics—war, poverty, addiction, power, loyalty, honor, exploitation… and just when you think you can’t take another ethical dilemma, another one appears. The twists and turns in this story were incredible. I want to mention that I did find the timeline a little confusing, and there was some repetition in the details that felt unedited, but otherwise, every beat in the story compelled me to keep moving forward.

Ruying is a complex and conflicted FMC, and we only see that increase as she transforms into something fearsome. I think I finally understand the allure of morally grey characters. While I have to admit that it’s not my favorite trope, the relatability of facing ethical dilemmas is so powerful, even if what I experience is so much less than life or death. It’s easy to put ourselves into the shoes of our MC’s knowing that we would struggle to choose too.

Sweet and terrible Antony. I wanted to love him and I wanted to hate him. Very rarely do characters make me feel so conflicted! I am amazed at the empathy I developed for his character, even though his ambition made me question his every move. I do believe that he was the lesser of two evils, though I suppose we will never know…

As a debut novel, I think Chang knocked it out of the park. I will definitely be reading whatever she writes next!

(Review will go up on Goodreads once reviews can be posted again—there’s currently a review limitation for this book on Goodreads. Review will go up on Insta in the next couple of days and then again on pub day.)

Sadly while I was excited to read this, the recent discourse with the author has turned me off to this. The handling of the discourse online by the author felt very chaotic and messy and ultimately, feels like a reflection of this book itself in that the love triangle referenced in the authors social media is barely a whisper if even that within the book. The romance feels unsettling and also quite dry. The author’s comp to The Darkling feels very lazy instead of feeling like this offers something new and fresh to a genre severely oversatured with the enemies to lovers trope.

I will not be continuing with the series as I didn’t feel there was enough to keep this at the forefront of my mind and lacked characters I felt I wanted to invest my time with.

Goodreads reviews are locked at this time - will add review when unlocked
Will not feature on Instagram besides Stories because of low rating
Will discuss in Youtube's March Reads pt 2
Blog Post goes live April 5th


**TL;DR**: I did not enjoy this. From the choppy, redundant writing to the VERY suspicious romance. This was not well thought out or edited.

**Longer TL;DR with theory:** I have a theory. This either initially meant to be a Shatter Me style story where in fact our Roman Prince WAS the love interest and he’s meant to truly be good. This is absolutely disgusting as the things he did were inhuman, cruel, and gross. Not to mention the author herself drew a parallel between the Romans and Unit 731 from WWII. I genuinely hope this is NOT the case, but I suspect it might have been. The other part of my theory/my prediction for this based on the swerve in marketing from enemies-to-lover to childhood-friends-to-lovers is that the second book in this series is abruptly going to turn to her romancing her ‘traitor’ of a best friend from childhood. This could be setup as a ACOTAR style change in romance or could be pitched as ‘this was meant to be a love triangle’. Either way, this is a mess.

I’m sincerely hoping my year has been frontloaded with 1 and 2 star books because this is getting out of hand. I had very high hopes for To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods but sadly they were dashed on the rocky shores of ‘toxic romance’ and ‘nothing but angry’.

This one has a fairly standard story, especially for this type of Young Adult/New Adult leaning Fantasy with romance. Our main character Ruying can kill people, her power over death allows her to pull the life force from someone and kill them. She is quietly living her life, attempting to not use her power while her people and country are colonized and persecuted by the Romans. The Romans (exactly who they sound like, just more technologically advanced) have also brought Opian (Opium) and use it to control the masses. Ruying spends the first 35-45% of the book telling us over and over how terrible and cruel the Romans are. Which yes, I agree with. However we get only brief moments of worldbuilding, of any character besides Ruying has no more depth than a sheet of paper and absolutely nothing else besides her rage marks her out as different.

After the 45% mark she is given a job by a Roman prince and the book seemingly becomes an Enemies-to-Lovers romance. He is the prince of the Romans, the people who are subjugating her own and he is blackmailing her into working for him - and there is a romance between them. I was very uncomfortable here, but it got worse as the ‘twist’ at the end showed him to be *even worse* and yet she was genuinely just upset that he lied to her. In fact she was told, no less than three times, what he was doing but she chose to ignore it. I’m not going to specify but you can find it easily by searching up Unit 731 which the book itself notes as inspiration.

While this is happening the writing itself is dragging us down. Choppy, repetitive with far too much of the same thing said over and over in every possible way. I did not enjoy the writing, and I especially did not enjoy the VERY uncomfortable romance. And I was again, extremely uncomfortable here. Especially when taken in reflection on the author’s ‘inspiration’ in Unit 731 and the very real war crimes and heinous acts inflicted on the real life victims of their crimes.

1 out of 5 stars

Normally I don’t DNF books this fast but the writing was not for me. It was choppy, too full of dramatic prose. I understand the use of figurative language but when one whole page of the book consists of 70% figurative language it’s quite confusing.
The author jumped back and forth between trauma dumping, random inner monologue and descriptions of things around her. She contradicted herself a few times painting the narrator as unreliable.

I was quite excited for this book and I’m very bummed about this but if a prose is trying to hard I can’t look past it and it will only anger me to continue to read.


I attempted to do a Goodreads review to attach however Goodreads is not allowing people to review this book.

I want to start by saying that I'm very conflicted by this book. Some parts were very interesting and intriguing, the world and setting of the story are two examples. While other parts made me uncomfortable. And not in the sense that you’re not supposed to be comfortable with the colonization of an entire world of people way, but in the romance in this book is not sitting right with me kind of way.

Truthfully, I feel like this book would have been a better read if the stockholm romance subplot had been left out of the story entirely. Instead, the author should have focused on helping make Ruying into a strong character through other means of storytelling. Perhaps her growing and becoming stronger by fighting against the things she was being forced to do in the little ways she was able. Forming her own personal resistance to help her people instead of just being a willing participant. Learning about the people that she was being forced to kill and why they were so important that they needed to be removed from the playing field. Or just opening her own eyes to what she was really helping to do long before she had to be forced to see it.

I just feel like if she had used all the rage from her sister and grandmothers’ lessons earlier on and rebelled in small ways it would have made for a more compelling story than the will they/won’t they romance that was pushed on us instead.

There were some errors that should have been caught in editing, nothing to terrible – just a few lines here and there that I had to reread a couple of times and reword them myself so they would make sense and I could continue with the story.

Just a random side note - Using what seemed to be a fantasy world but introducing Romans as the villains who came in from the sky was a bit confusing. I almost wished the author would have just made up a fictional name for the invaders and instead pointed out the differences through storytelling. Though I understand the point it was making, it still just took me out of the story sometimes as my mind kept imagining the characters from Gladiator as the bad guys. So, the entirety of the book I kept imagining them walking around looking like ancient Rome Commodus only for them to then be described wearing ties and other modern-day clothing.

I’m very torn on how to rate this one. On one hand I enjoyed the world building and the overall story the author was trying to tell. But on the other hand, the unnecessary romance kind of killed my excitement for the story overall. Hopefully the author accepts some of the criticism that they’ve received regarding the romance, and it’s fixed in future books.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

**I received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

When I was initially sent this ebook, I was really excited to give this it a read, and I'm kind of conflicted about how it struck me. There were some interesting high points, but some confusing lows. The premise was really intriguing, especially after I read the Author's note at the beginning of the ebook. I think this book had a noble, respectable goal, but ultimately, it ended up feeling like it strayed in a different direction. I've glanced at other reviews to try and put into words what about this exactly made me uncomfortable, and I have to agree with the feedback that I saw. I'm aware that Ruying's situation is meant to be difficult, that she's making hard choices, but this felt a little bit too close to romanticizing colonizer's and their hold over oppressed people. It felt as though the author wasn't doing this intentionally, because of the ending, but for a good bit, there, I did feel sort of uncomfortable about the turn the book was taking. Part of this could be reader understanding on my part, but after seeing other people's reviews, I'm less inclined to believe that.

I know this was touted as an "enemies-to-lovers" book, and normally, I really do enjoy that particular trope in stories, but I just didn't really connect with the main love interest that the reader is meant to care about. The entire time I was thinking "...but why him, though?" That could just be a me thing. Ultimately, I enjoyed the style of the novel - the imagery in particular was gorgeous - but bits of the book did feel a little long-winded/repetitive - in the grand scheme of things, that's a minor note for me compared to the larger issue I discussed above.

Tl;dr - This book has issues. It wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either.

I got about a third of the way in and then realized this was probably a colonizer romance, and I’m not interested in reading that.

I also felt that the pacing was a bit slow for my taste. I like a really plot heavy book, and at 31% it felt like the plot was still being set up.

I imagine that if I finished the book I would rate it no more than 3 stars, so that is the rating I have given it on this review.

As I did not finish this book, I will not be reviewing it on Instagram or Amazon.

Thank you Del Rey and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I've seen a lot of discourse around this novel and I would like to hold off on addressing it as I am a white woman and this is book one of a series.

The political intrigue really hooked me in. I also *believe* the enemies to lovers in this one is between childhood friends not the colonizer but time shall tell. We have a really interesting magic system that I've yet to see before and I truly enjoyed Ruying. I am excited to see where the story takes her.

This book unfortunately really did not work for me. Everything from the world-building to the character development, to the actual line level writing need significantly more editing. This writing felt like it was trying to be overly flowery and metaphorical, but it made the reading process a slog to get through and some of the metaphors did not make sense. There was also a lot of grammar and typo errors. The world feels extremely underdeveloped. I did not get a good sense of place, and all of the side characters felt inconsequential. It did not feel like a real world with real people in it. Ruying and Antony are the only characters that we really spend any time with, and they also feel underdeveloped, I think perhaps I understand what the author was trying to do with this book in terms of commenting on colonialism, but I think the execution was so poorly done that it has the opposite effect that intended. Whether or not this is a colonizer romance is a bit of a nuanced question, but I don't necessarily disagree with those calling this book one.

Unfortunately, this is a DNF (50%) for me. It was a struggle to feel invested in any of the characters and especially the MC and the plot felt so slow and I was pushing myself to even get halfway.

I had high hopes for this book since I really liked the premise of the fantasy mixed with roman colonizer plot. It sounded super interesting but something about the romans coming through a portal into their fantasy world felt like there was a bit of a disconnect - the two didn't really mess together well and maybe because the world building didn't feel fleshed out enough.

I think if you like The Poppy Wars or Shatter Me, you'll like To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. This book definitely lives in the morally grey and depicts Ruying as a character who is really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Before Ruying was born, Romans from another world ripped a portal in the sky and invaded her world. Even though Ruying's people have magic, the Romans have science and weapons. For decades, Rome has kept their boot on the neck of her world and kept her people down by flooding the streets with opium. When Ruying is coerced into being an assassin by one of Rome's princes, she finds herself in a difficult position. She uses her powers to kill for Prince Antony and begins to believe some of his lies, that he is the lesser evil and really wants peace.

There were things I liked about this book and several things I almost hated. Let's talk about the good. I thought the brutal reality of colonization was wonderfully done, and I loved the alternate history of Rome not only being a superpower but powerful enough to punch holes in worlds. Oh, and I loved Antony as a character; he very easily represents a White Savior. Even when Ruying tries to object or show the evil of his actions, he always defends his actions with "the greater good" because he never really sees her people or world as anything more than resources. He's the most realistic type of villain.

Now what I didn't love, first, I thought the characters were all a little thin. Even Ruying as our main character didn't feel fleshed out enough for me. It wasn't until the last 25% of the book that I got a real sense of any motivation for any of the characters (beyond Ruying wanting to save her family). I thought it would have been interesting if Ruying would have been using her position of power to learn more about her own gift, but instead she just murders and relaxes, I guess. It's like she doesn't want to help herself. The writing was also incredibly repetitive. The same turn of phrase was used over and over.

I would be interested in the next book to see if the characters and writing get better. This was a quick read with an interesting plot; it just needed more oomph.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I was immediately sucked in to this book. I felt like the world building was there. The lore was there. Everything was there for me. The story was told in a more stream-of-consciousness style, which became especially obvious towards the end as Ruying becomes increasingly conflicted with her decision to be Antony’s assassin, causing her internal monologues to become extremely repetitive.

I went into this book, as I do most that I read, completely blind. Now having seen some of the critiques of this as a colonizer romance, I can see where those opinions come from, but I also struggle to not see this as a fairly obvious case of Stockholm syndrome. She was kidnapped and left in a solitary cell with an infected wound. This prince (who could easily kill her, her family and anyone she has ever cared about) puts on a show pretending to be her savior, offering her a path to the life she has always dreamed/wished of being possible. She struggles with believing this throughout the whole book. Every repetition of a thought is Ruying trying to convince herself. She does a pretty good job. She had me almost convinced that maybe Antony was at least a little genuine until we got the chapter in his POV. Ruying has been through an INCREDIBLE amount of trauma. Even though Antony swears he will protect her family even if she were to die, she knows that he could just as easily go back on that. He holds everything she cares about in his hands. He has so much power over her, of course she gives in. She says she’s a coward MULTIPLE times in this book. Baihu showing her Antony’s lab, and the “experiments” (torture) carried out there seems to finally be the moment she wakes up. The ending of this novel seemed to be fairly clear to me that she has removed the wool from her eyes and intends try and ACTUALLY save her homeland.

Overall I did really enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" by Molly X Chang is a spellbinding tale of magic, intrigue, and moral dilemmas that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Set in a world torn apart by war and conquest, the story follows Ruying, a young woman blessed—or cursed—with the power over death itself. As the daughter of a conquered people, Ruying harbors deep-seated resentment towards the foreign invaders who have oppressed her homeland. Yet, when an enemy prince offers her a dangerous bargain—become his private assassin in exchange for her family's safety—Ruying must confront her own fears and desires in order to protect those she loves.

Chang weaves a complex narrative filled with twists and turns, as Ruying navigates a treacherous world where alliances are fragile and betrayal lurks around every corner. The moral ambiguity of Ruying's choices adds depth to the story, forcing readers to grapple with questions of loyalty, sacrifice, and the greater good.

But it's not just the gripping plot that makes "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" a standout read—it's also the richly drawn characters and lush world-building. From the enigmatic prince with his seductive promises to the colorful cast of political rivals and allies, each character leaps off the page with vibrant personality and depth.

With its breathtaking prose and thrilling plot twists, "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" is a must-read for fans of fantasy and adventure. Chang's masterful storytelling will leave readers eagerly anticipating the next installment in this captivating series.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods follows Ruying, gifted with the power of Death. Ruying can kill without a trace. When she accidentally draws the attention of the oppressors, the Romans, she is forced to reveal her powers. Ruying must work for Prince Anthony to protect her family, although Ruying’s power comes with a deadly price. As revolution bubbles beneath the surface of the city, Ruying must decide whether she will serve the oppressors or her people.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a page-turner! This is an adventurous and complex book. Molly X. Chang pulls no punches and parts of the book are quite dark. Ruying definitely made a lot of morally gray choices and was not always a likable character, but she had very few options. I wish we had seen Ruying come to the realizations that she had about Anthony earlier in the book. Anthony was my least-favorite character and I hope to see his actions catch up with him. I couldn’t stand the “romance” between Ruying and Anthony, nor do I think I was supposed to. The world-building was extensive, but initially felt overwhelming. I do think the prose improved as the book went on. I think book two could be excellent, especially if Ruying is able to get revenge on Anthony and the Romans for all their lies, coercion, and betrayals. Molly X. Chang is definitely an author to watch!

Thank you to Molly X. Chang, Del Rey, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this but it was a miss. The writing was extremely repetitive. I’m not trying to dismiss what Ruying was going through but after the third time within the first few chapters I was honestly going to DNF. The symbolism was a nice touch the writing beautiful but not every single movement didn’t need to be referenced to one. And the romance. I was so frustrated by this and honestly didn’t understand the need to be there besides a possibly plot point.

Overall will wait to hear reviews for the next installment before reading.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.