2 -⭐⭐

"Heroes die. Cowards live."

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is the first novel the new adult dark fantasy romance series by the same name. Set in a fantastical world similar yet different to ours we follow Ruying, a young woman desperately trying to keep her family together in a world that oppresses her people, where Rome has conquered all. Ruying has a unique ability (she sees it as curse) to be able to pull a person soul for their bodies that comes with a price (years off her life) but when she is caught by a Roman prince she is offered a deal - remove his enemies for the "good" of realm and in return he will ensure her grandmother and sister are protected and safe. Ruying must decide if she can truly trust this prince as he draws out feelings she never thought to exist....or will she have betrayed the very people she seeks to protect?

Okay, I DNF'd this book at 41% - that is to say I read up until the 41% and then skimmed the rest just to keep a pulse on the story.

Let's start off with the good. I liked Ruyen's fierceness as a character. I liked her love for her family. Her relationship with her sister was raw and real and highlighted elements of addiction and the pressure they feel in this cruel world. I felt the set up around how much influence they have on the bargains she makes to be powerful.

I found the writing style to be easy to consume and it did create this angsty dark world that offered a lot of promise. The world itself is interesting but extremely muddled as it mixes Rome, the opium war like sensations, and 20th century ideas of air blimps, guns, and ships thrown into a world of magic. It takes a bit to catch your bearings here. The grittiness of the world is powerful and you really get a sense of how desperate this place is as you realize how much people have lost or given up thanks to the Roman conquest.

"You can be so powerful, Ruying, if you just accept who you are."
"Not everyone wants power."

That said - I struggled with Ruying's path and ultimately lost interest in it. On one hand, Ruying highlights how dark her magic is, how dangerous, and addictive, and cruel it makes her to use it...but then she uses and does not kill. She paints herself a monster and we're asked to forgive her but I rarely saw the depravity she sees in herself.

I also felt the romance was just something I could not get into. The power dynamic was too severe in the sense Antony's motivation to use Ruying is both manipulative and questionable. He claims to be doing things for the best interest of not just Rome but also Ruying's people but I found it hard to accept it. He paints himself the lesser of two evils and I have yet to find the redemption that would make me willing to accept his action. I know its dark romance but there needs to be some redeeming qualities in the relationship, especially a romance, and all I got was a toxic one that I struggled to root for.

The ending overall for this story does pose a twist that changes the story and marks a different path than I anticipated but I just could not get into these two characters together. Now maybe this relationship is not end game but I don't know if I really care to find out. Now, I would definitely check out another series by this author down the line as her writing is easy to consume.

Thank you Del Rey for the arc!

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to ARC read this amazing novel!
This novel was amazing! I know there is concerns over the author, but I am strictly rating this book based on its content. Not only were the world building and magic system gripping, but the writing style and the lore of the book were amazing. I was absolutely captivated by the book. I also loved the imagery and the representation of different cultures. Science and fantasy coming together was chef's kiss! I would be remiss if I didn't mention the romance between the FMC (Ruying) and Antony. I cannot wait for the next installment of this book!

So I truly believe the concept was grear. It had all of the elements but I struggled with the execution. The opening was confusing to me and I struggled to follow the narration, especially in the beginning. The goal to keep an eery and mysterious beginning in the battle between the worlds had little explanation. This is where I think many people would either lose interest or continue forward. Many of my friends would push onwards to learn about the world; however, I gained even more confusion as the story progressed. There was alot missing that I as a reader really rely on, which is surprising because ther was excess of some arcs that I wish I could see more of. One major example is the assassin arc. This could have been a major instance of internal change or pull for the character but no.

Magic vs. Science was dframatized well. Even a toxic, enemies to lovers was done alright. I just can't get heind the overall execution. I think as Chang's career and writing matures and continues this can be worked on and we can see her growth.

With all of the controversy of the book I am trying to remain neutral.

Thank you Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for the ARC.

When a book takes me 3 tries to get into it, I know it’s not for me.
The writing style just was not one I personally go for. I think the concept was fun, him giving her the bargain to protect her family but use her as his assassin! And romance? Ugh I was all for it.. (Don’t want to spoil anything else)
The execution was not done in a way I vibed with, she killed her own people, was manipulated and he tortured her (the bracelet was too much for me).. for it all to just switch at the end? Now she sees he’s actually the bad guy? The heck🙃 this did not feel like romance, so being advertised as enemies to lovers just felt wrong. I was not rooting for this couple at all, which by the end I’m guessing we weren’t supposed to. Doesn’t make me want to know more, if anything I was just confused. I may not be the target audience but I’m sure there are plenty of people who will love and adore this book and this series!

From the moment I saw this cover and social media blasts it has been one of my most anticipated reads. SO I’m very conflicted after reading. The main character Rui and her magic is what kept me interested. I just found myself wanting more details on the magic system and background on how Rome came into play here. I feel like there is so much potential that could’ve been fleshed out but the romance aspect took over. I will probably grab the next one to see how everything plays out because I have questions that NEED answers.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I want to say that this book overall had the potential to be an amazing first installment to a new series. I thought the world was interesting and unique and there were interesting stakes and the premise of magic vs science is such a cool concept. To say that I was very excited to read this book would be an understatement. However, as much as I honestly wanted to love this book I had a hard time due to the character development.

I didn't buy the MMC and FMC's love story, our FMC, Ruying, went from hating the Romans and anyone associated with them to falling in love with one of the princes. That would have been fine however we skipped over the first six months of their relationship where they would have supposedly begun to fall in love. So for me, it felt very insta-love which isn't my favorite trope and just made the relationship so much less believable. Not to mention because we didn't have those building blocks moments for their character development and relationship the choices Ruying was making didn't make sense and were at times more than a little confusing. I understand that the author was trying to write morally grey characters and also play around with the idea of what if our main character wasn't brave but gave into her more cowardly urges. Which in theory could be very interesting, but I don't think she pulled it off as well as I hoped, and left me as the reader wondering why anyone would think that Ruying's choices made any sense for her family and people's long-term survival.

There was also the odd choice of putting in a lot metaphors within the text which I didn't love since it drew me out of the book and felt forced in there just for the sake of being there. I would have much preferred if the author had made those metaphors as the chapter title or something like that so that the writing didn't feel as forced and clunky.

I'd say this was a very low 3 star (probably more like 2.75), I believe that this has a lot to do with the fact that this is the author's debut novel and so she hasn't quite perfected her craft. I'm leaning towards trying the next book to see if things come together and get better, because like I said before I can see the potential of what the author was trying to do. I thought the world was interesting and we were just starting to get information at the end of this book that could explain some of the mysteries this world had.

Special thanks to Del Rey for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 2.5 stars

TL;DR: Little hurts more than being disappointed by a book on my most anticipated 2024 release list. The premise was intriguing and in general, I think the story and writing were promising but the execution was weak and ultimately, underwhelming. From reading the author's note, this story is dear to her but that passion didn't come through the writing. There was a lack of emotional connection and the characters came across as one-dimensional. There have been reviewers saying this is a colonizer romance and I can't disagree—it was a very uncomfortable relationship (maybe purposefully so but then I think it was clumsily written) but mostly because, IMHO, it felt forced and more like Stockholm Syndrome than any 'real' romance. Overall, while I think this had potential, it just didn't work for me. Part of me is curious to see what happens next but I'm not sure I would buy it to read it.

I was so excited when I managed to get my hands on an early copy of this book because the minute I saw the cover and read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to read it ASAP! Sadly, the story's execution didn't work for me. I think this could have been a richly developed story wrought with emotion and strong characters you love and loathe, but what I felt most while reading was underwhelmed. I was intrigued by this world that the author brings to life but it was poorly developed. I can't remember getting any world-building other than the impact of colonization on Pangu; however, other elements like the portal were not further explored. The magical abilities granted to the Xianglings were also interesting but I would have loved to see what others were capable of beyond our MC. Sadly, this was another element that was not explored in further detail but it would've added richness to the world.

Several other issues made it difficult for me to feel immersed in the story. While it moved fast and it was easy to read—I got through close to half of it in a couple of hours, the writing was repetitive and up until the 40% mark, not much happened. Ruying's perspective was also trying because of how repetitive her internal monologue was—we would get the same information, presented in the same way, repeatedly and it happened throughout the book! It was hard not to get bored or irritated by the repetition and I think this would've benefitted from having another POV, whether it's Antony or even Meiyang.

This brings me to the characters and where I think most of my issues stem from because I didn't find anyone particularly likeable, easy to root for, or memorable. Everyone was so flat and when there was room for character and relationship development, we got a massive time jump instead. If I can be honest, I'm still confused about what I felt/thought of Ruying, but I didn't see her as the "strong" lead that maybe the author set out to write. I found her naivete confusing, her actions ironic, and her attitude mildly irritating but I also felt sorry for the situation she found herself in. I understood her need to keep the family she had protected but at the cost of what she sacrificed, and so easily too, at that? Before reading this, I learned of some controversy related to the author and the story and heard it being labelled a "colonizer romance". I have to say that I agree and admittedly, the label influenced how I read the book at times. *That said*, even without that label in mind, I wouldn't have been convinced of the romance because their relationship felt emotionless and forced. I was not sold on their chemistry and it honestly read more like Stockholm Syndrome than genuine feeling. Ruying sounded completely brainwashed! At no point did Antony's actions or words foster trust in his character, so the ease with which Ruying was convinced by his "vulnerable nature" and "genuine heart" was shocking.

No other character stood out to me in any way and even though I felt like the author was trying to *show* their rage, it was more *telling* than showing, which (again) impacted my connection to the story. Sadly, this made potentially shocking and heartbreaking moments fall flat for me. That essentially sums up my overall experience with To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. While there is a small part of me that's curious to see where the author will bring this story next and if there'll be improvements in the writing, at this moment, I wouldn't be inclined to pick it up—at least, I wouldn't buy the second book to read it. As it is, I'm also struggling to think of who I'd recommend this book to!

blessed by death, ruying shouldn’t have to fear the forces occupying her land—but, to keep her grandmother and twin sister safe, she does. when she’s taken by one of the princes, she’s forced to do his bidding by becoming his personal assassin.

this book was so interesting! i loved the inclusion of both magic and science, and how these two systems were pitted against each other. i thought that the magic system was cool and i enjoyed how it was linked to the gods, meaning that ruying could hear death’s voice in her mind at times.

in terms of romance—i’m not sure why people are calling it a romance or thinking it was supposed to be romantic. to me, this was a darklina situation, except it’s clear that antony was manipulating her from the start. that’s just my take on it, though!

i highly recommend this to fantasy readers!

When I say this book is good, I f*ckin mean business. I've already told the author directly, but I just wish I could erase my brain and read this again anew. Strong female lead? Yup. Intricately plotted? Yup.

I giggled, I gasped so loud roommate's asked if I was injured, I let loose a tear out of shock. Please read and appreciate her writing. So unique and I've read my fair share of folklore, so that is saying something.

Trust in me.

I was really looking forward to this, and it kind of let me down. I didn't find the characters to be all that appealing, and I couldn't bring myself to care about them, which is sad because the concept of the characters and the world they are in is very interesting. Maybe I will come back to it because it could very well be this was a book I was reading at the wrong time because it had everything I would want in a book, but the execution was where it was lacking for me. I felt there was a lot of telling and not showing, and I never felt that there were stakes or tension. I was missing that, and because I couldn't get into the story and characters, it was hard for me to enjoy the book. The concept is amazing, but the execution was just lacking for me personally, which made this a very hard read to get through, and I nearly thought about DNFing it about halfway through. I might pick this back up again in the future, but as of now, I don't think I will.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. This story was odd to me and hard for me to get into. The writing itself wasn’t bad in my opinion, but the plot and characters weren’t too appealing to me. Antony never grabbed my attention much as a love interest so I wasn’t sure what it was that kept drawing Ruying to him…I mean other than the fact that he had her under his literal control as his assassin or she would be risking the lives of her sister and grandmother. I just couldn’t connect with the characters and I found it hard to connect Pangu with Rome with very starkly different worlds. I found it jarring every time I read about a gun being used just because it felt so weird being in Pangu, but that could’ve been the point Chang was trying to make. I am curious as to what will happen next and I hope Ruying and the Phantom serve Rome what they deserve.

I felt like the concept was pretty ambitious for a debut. The world mixing ancient Chinese and Roman with modern science technology felt a little confusing for me. The pacing was pretty slow at the beginning and the author hopefully will notice she needs to show and not tell. Who knows maybe with the second book it’ll get better with the world developing and character development

This book was a little slow to start, but once it took off I enjoyed it. Seeing the parallels of colonist behavior and thought is very prevalent, from over-mining, climate change, pollution, dehumanization and more

Ruying is a strong and stubborn main character, but I am glad we are able to see her path and the choices she made which led to her situations. Her love for her sister and grandmother are at the center, but you can see her change in mindset and eventual growth throughout the book. You see how she also falls victim to the Roman-supremist thinking, justifying it with keeping her family safe, but then the growth of how this potential war is about so much more than her or her family. Baihu was an interesting character to keep appearing in the story line, as he is the closest thing she has to comparison of the betrayal of her people, and judges herself on a scale against him.

And of course I chuckled at names like Valentin, Augustus and Cassius— that just felt right to name the bad guys those names.

It left on a cliffhanger, making me hope (🤞🏼) there will be a second book!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC and the publishers as well.

Due to circumstances surrounding this book and it's publication, I will be choosing not to read or review this title on any of my platforms. One reason is some content inside the story that I was not aware of at the time of requesting, like that it is a colonizer romance (arguably, but this is something I am choosing not to read at this time). As well as the behavior by the author for negative reviews. I've linked below a post by other creators explaining what they feel has happened, and as such this does not make me want to feature this book or this author on my page. I look forward to future Del Ray releases.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House -Ballantine | Del Rey for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review <3

This book was enjoyable and exciting. The premise reminded me a lot of "The Foxglove King," as a random girl with powers of death uses said powers and gets thrown into the world of politics and princes. However, this book focuses heavily on colonialism rather than religion. I really liked the characters, especially Ruying (our protagonist), because she is unlike any female main character I have read before. She is very realistic and approaches conflict in a similar way as I would. She is smart, but survival comes first for her, which I enjoyed reading. Anthony is complicated....I'm unsure how I feel about him, which I think is the point.

I really appreciate Chang making this story symbolize what happened in Manchuria during WWII. However, I think her way of going about this was a bit too ambitious. It was confusing that the empire inspired by Manchuria was fictional, but the empire inspired by Japan was Rome. I couldn't figure out if this "Rome" was inspired by historical Rome or if this was a world where historical Rome was still around. The characters refer to their empires as being in different worlds, but I didn't know if that was literal. There is a portal and Veil, but those are never explained. Is this "Rome" on a different planet or dimension? No clue. I think it would have been more beneficial if Chang had taken the Roman inspiration and created another fictional empire to clear up some confusion.

Overall, this was a quick read for me. I wasn't entirely absorbed into the story, but I enjoyed it. I think this is a pretty solid debut novel with only a few issues that can easily be resolved/explained in the next book! I'm unsure if I will pick up book two, but I want to find out who Ruying ends up with, so we will see!

Thank you, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

In a world blessed by magic, now conquered by invaders who descended from the heavens, with violence and technology, Ruying is girl who is trying to survive in a place meant to break and humiliate her. Blessed by death, able to use her power to pull the life out mortal bodies, Ruying always tries not to use her power, to be a good and kind girl, willing to do anything to protect her twin addicted sister and their grandmother. When her gift is discovered by an enemy prince, she's forced to ally herself with him, in exchange of her family's safety. She will kill his enemies and they will be safe. Now forced to recognize her own power, to embrace it, instead of rejecting, Ruying becomes her prince's weapon, killing political rivals who could only hurt her people more, according to him. But while she's become his weapon, their relationship become more and more intricate, into an enemies to lovers able to make the reader fall in love right away.

To gaze upon wicked gods is a brilliant story, where the main character is a girl blessed by Death, used by an enemy prince to kill his political rivals. I loved the setting and how the Romans are depicted as conquerors, willing to destroy anything in their path to get what they want, in a constant war and violence between magic and technology and I loved this contrast. Ruying is a complex MC. She's strong and powerful, but at the beginning of the book, she's refusing her own power and strength, willing to obey and hide and protect her loved ones, friends and family, but mostly her twin sister. Ruying's relationships with her sister, her grandmother and her enemy prince are the most important in this book and they are complex and layered and able to drive Ruying, whose loyality and protectiveness are almost an Achilles' heel.

I really liked reading this book, I've found the idea very intriguing, Ruying grows a lot in this story and I loved her relationship with the prince, so intense, contradictory and dangerous, in a huge power imbalance, BUT I couldn't help but wish it was better developed. One of my main issue was the pacing because in the first half of the book is very slow and then, after she accepts the deal, is really fast and there's a huge time gap I would have love to read.
I would have loved a better pacing, but overall I really liked reading this book.

Note: I received this ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has great potential, but ends up falling flat in several ways. Despite BookTok’s insistence that it is due to the supposed male lead being a colonizer, I’d argue that the biggest struggle of the book is skipping the entire middle of Ruying’s journey. I am not kidding when I say we spend roughly 50% of the book with Ruying grappling with her decision to fight for or against Rome. Once she makes her decision, we get an instant 6 month timeskip. We literally skip over the entirety of the book’s couple’s trust-building and getting to know each other. We immediately jump into the two crushing on each other, but due to the lack of buildup, they feel like brand new characters. It felt as though the book just did not want to show the story, only tell us the end. Even for a YA book, I found this missing exposition harmful to the story.

I think the naïveté of Ruying is as realistic as can be. She’s never experienced someone treating her kindly as an adult, so falling for the enemy is expected when he feeds her honey-coated words. I also appreciate the descriptions of how her magic is visualized, which leads to detailed scenes of her using it.

Overall, I think this book would have benefited from some more edits. With just a few more additions to the story, it could have been very solid. For now, I rate it 3/5 stars.

An amazing book with such an amazing story. This book brings in such great stories from the authors heritage and all will enjoy it. I cannot wait to receive my special editions

Book Name: To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods
Author: Molly X. Chang

ARC
Thank you to NetGalley and **Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey** for an ARC of Molly X. Chang To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

Stars: 3
Spice: 0

New Series
Cliffhanger
Slow Paced
FMC POV W/ MMC Sprinkled In
High Fantasy W/ Asian Rep

- Thoughts.
- Heavy Colonization Theme
- Tell > Show
- Imagery and Description Heavy
- Morally Gray FMC and Villain MMC
- Got Good at 60% Mark
- Ambitious Storytelling
- Morally Grey Everybody
- True Enemies to …
- Love Triangle Vibes
- Tamlin Scenario
- Slow Burn


Ok… Overall this is an AMBITIOUS debut. Conceptually intriguing the execution was unfortunately lacking. The narrative is at war with itself over being a Babel vs TOG-style book. If Book 1 was edited down and Book 2 was added in (or where I hope Book 2 will be going) I think the story would be sharper and more compelling. The true enemies to lovers and the entire cast of charters being shades of morally grey were again compelling in concept but lacked in execution, with no one to root for but them extremely angry and complaining FMC or manipulative morally reprehensible MMC. This book was Good. Better than what I think some reviewers are saying. The real problem here is that this a debut author working on an ambitious but what I believe to be an overall compelling story that will be fleshed out within the next book. or what I might venture to be better as duology than as a trilogy.

I won't be reviewing this title in light of everything that has come out about this book. Even aside from all of that, I previously had picked this up (briefly) and didn't like the writing at all. I would've likely not liked this or dnf it.