Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To summarize my many thoughts on this fantasy debut, I will say that I was impressed by it. And I will gladly read a future book by the author. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a romantasy that is character-driven, forward-thinking, and fast paced. It had great potential to capture me, but fell a bit flat in terms of execution. That said, the concept for the plot was well conceived. You can tell the author wanted to bring something fresh to the romantasy genre. And the writing style was engaging. Very sophisticated for a YA-marketed book. Also, the main characters felt entirely grounded in their world, and showed promise for future growth. So, anyone continuing on with the story has something to look forward to. Ultimately, however, I think this book needed to be in development longer. There were a few aspects of the story/writing that didn't work well enough to bump my rating up to four stars. I will list the main issues below.

1. Overabundance of info-dumping
2. Minimalistic world-building (though there is potential for expansion)
3. Inclusion of technology that did not fit the time period
4. Well-constructed dialogue that led nowhere new or insightful in terms of plot progression/character development
5. A heavy theme (colonization) that is undermined by the fact that the main male character (a Roman) is romanticized
6. Paper-cut out side characters (no personality or agency)

Now none of these issues may impact your reading experience if all you're interested in is being entertained or indulging a need for another rivals-to-lovers romance. And, there is always a chance these things will be improved in the second installment. So, while I can't highly recommend this book as it is, I do feel there is an audience out there for it. Just be sure you know what you are wanting out of your reading experience before you pick this one up.

Well, this bodes interestingly. I went to put my review on Goodreads and apparently it has suspicious activity related to reviewing so no one can review right now!

I didn’t want to start with the controversy, but I guess I might - I knew about this book way before the Cait Corrine 1-starring fiasco, and I think I requested it on NetGalley eons before. When that happened, I pushed it to the top of my to-read pile so I could jump in. Because this book, on paper, is my jam!!! Bad ass women, assassins, powers of the god of death? Sign me up.

I did know about what the author has been doing to negative reviews thanks to some comments on Goodreads (which… like… hopefully I don’t also get hit because whew this one was a doozy). And I will admit, I probably should’ve knocked this off my pile but I was curious and again, the story seemed interesting. How bad could it be, I thought.

This book was painful, to say the least.

I think it starts off incredibly jarring. Or well - there’s a super lovely author’s note about how her family’s history and the stories they told about the gods inspired this book, and I was like “okay got it I am ready!” And so for the villain to not be like “magical colonizers that were legit mentioned a few pages” which, like, I get that we couldn’t use those exact countries, but the Roman Empire? Not going to lie, that threw me for a loop the whole book. Idk, something about a dude name Antony Augustus driving a car (or riding in a car, I don’t remember) was weird!

And then I got to the story and like, I think I understand. Like, the story idea I was brought into was that this woman was in a terrible situation, forced to work with terrible people to save her people. But it ended up more like “terrible situation, yes, forced to work with people, yes, but he had warm and kind eyes”

Girl you like

He tortured you.

But okay, I get it, colonizers can be hot, but the entire book there was something so icky about this being pitched as a romance? Like - Antony was a bad dude! I don’t care how warm his eyes were. And overall, I didn’t feel any romantic tension - like you can tell me all you want how great his hugs were but if he’s preforming EXPERIMENTS ON YOUR PEOPLE, MAYBE THOSE HUGS SHOULDN’T MATTER.

Oh yeah.

Ruying was…. How do I put it?

There’s nothing more frustrating than being like “he’s lying to you,” and all the characters being like “he’s lying to you” and her not realizing it until the end of the book. But like I get it! I get the idea of the story of believing so much in what you’re doing that you’re blinding by the truth. But there was no way!!! She was this blinded!!! Like he was so obviously evil!!!! And even if he didn’t want to do things, he was part of and continued to be a part of a system that allowed her people to be tortured and experimented on and killed in droves!!!

AND WE’RE SUPPOSED TO FIND HIM ROMANTIC???

I don’t think I’ve ever written a review this long but I’m also so disappointed in this book. I was so excited to read it because, again, it had all the elements of books I would like, and if they had removed all the romance, I might have even enjoyed it. But the one bed trope was pushed in there as though we would forget that he had been like “plz kill your people” and we’re like that dude from interstellar yelling at the wall to be like GIRL NO PLEASE STOP.

GOSH.

Also I wasn’t a fan of the writing. I’m sure some people would be, but the writing wasn’t my cup of tea!

Oh I forgot.

The line that was 1000% inspired by a Taylor Swift song? Wrong book! Wrong book to use it in!!!!

Thank you very much to Del Rey and NetGalley for a chance to read and review.

DNF @ 60%

Despite the negativity around the author I still wanted to give this book a go since I had an arc. Unfortunately the book itself didn't work for me either.

I found the first chapter very information dumpy on the setting of the story. With this country being taken over by the roman empire. But this roman empire has technology like planes and guns. They only had magic so they were taken over within a day. I find that hard to believe. Unless they have completely useless magic, they should have been able to stand for longer than a bloody day. But basically they were colonized by the roman empire....

The writing and story improved a little. But I struggled with our main character who felt very judgemental towards those around her when not making the perfect choices. I could forgive that. She's angry about her situation and the situation her country is in. Being made to feel less than others, is terrible.

When she gets forced into the situation with the roman prince to use her powers to kill her own countrymen, to keep her family safe, we skip a lot of time. We see the first killing and then we skip to the 48th killing (or something around that number). And we get a character who suddenly believes in this roman prince. Who talkes about how he will make this colonization better. Who talks about how there are these feelings between them but they don't talk about it. Excuse me? Where did the girl go who hated the roman empire? There was no choosing the less of 2 evils in any of what she was thinking. She truly believes in this roman prince. Is he not still using the safety of your family against you so you kill others for him? She's now justifying the killings. She likes the roman prince. And it felt clear that we are heading towards a romance between them. At that point I had to stop reading.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X Chang
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ebook ARC for this book. I am glad to have got the opportunity to read this book.

This book cover is what allured me in to wanting to read this book. It is so stunning and such a beautiful cover design.

The plot was interesting, the world building was good, the whole Asian fantasy was also another reason to why this grabbed my attention because I never seem to find many of these and I wanted to read and see what the author created with it.

I thought this book was good. Its not my favorite because some of the writing just seemed a little repetitive at times. However I really did enjoy very beautiful descriptions and sayings that were said within this story.

The pace of this book started off a bit slow and then it eventually picked up more. Especially once one of the main characters finally got introduced into the storyline. I liked the little love story that was building in the story but I also didn’t at the same time because it just didn’t make sense for me for it to go that way. Especially because it was just a bit confusing at first because I thought it was going to be the FMC and the first male that’s introduced from her childhood possibly for the romance in the book but it didn’t turn that way.

I also liked the magic in this book that was included and learning about the FMC powers and reading it in action. However I wish there was more about it and more characters (besides one that was shown briefly beside the FMC) that had some kind of magic so we could read more onto that side of it.

There’s just quite a few things that I felt wasn’t my cup of tea when reading this but the book itself has potential, just needs some more things that could’ve made it better in my personal opinion.

*I received this book (Via eArc by Netgalley) for free from the Publisher ( Random house publishing group / Ballantine, Del Rey ) in exchange for an honest review*

I personally think this was a very interesting read. I do understand that it is a colonizer storyline but it does have this twist where she has this power by death. It has an element that is slightly different and it does not feel repetitive at all in structure the writing is wonderfully done as you see the internal struggle. I happy to have read it to support this author and I enjoyed my time reading this and I feel like something I can see purchasing for my book collection.

RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2024

Thank you so much to Random house publishing group / Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC and I am instantly gonna purchase this when it releases.

Ruying has been blessed by Death. With just one thought, she can untether souls from people, leaving nothing but bodies in her wake. And while she knows her power is destructive, the temptation to use it always calls to her, its song sweet and telling her of the power she could get. Power she desperately needs when her remaining living family lives in poverty, and their magical city is in the control of the Romans, who came in through a portal in the sky and used their science to subdue the new land.
But when Ruying falls into the hands of none other than the prince of the Romans, she’s faced with a terrible choice: give in to her power and use it for the Romans to protect her family, or let her family and herself die.
I received an advanced reading copy of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods in exchange for an honest review.
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a fantasy novel by Molly X. Chang. While it’s classified as adult, I do think it could be considered as a novel with crossover potential, since the main character here is in her late teens.
Before going into the review, I want to give a content warning for addiction, which comes up a lot in this book, both to magic and to actual drugs. There is also a lot of discrimination and death in here, as well as unwilling experimentation. Please be ready for all of those before checking this book out.
What stands out the most for me in To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is the setting. This could technically be a portal fantasy, since there is literally a big portal in the sky connecting the two important worlds here. First, we have Pangu, which is a magical world where a few people are blessed with powers. This place has been connected, via previously mentioned sky portal, to Rome, which felt like our world in the future, when we’ve screwed up our environment so bad that we’re searching for somewhere to escape to.
I had never come across a setting like this, and I don’t think I will again. It was so completely original, and I really appreciated the contrast between the modern world elements that made their way into an otherwise technologically-free world.
As for the story, I will admit I struggled with it. It felt like it was often stalling, and I was surprised by how little would happen in so many chapters and pages, but just when I would start to wonder when we’d get some more action, something exciting would happen. And then, the book would slow again. I’m going to be honest, by the time I finished this book, it didn’t feel like a complete story. It felt like the entire thing could have been condensed into the first half of a whole book, if not the first quarter. I wonder if the author was pressured to turn this into a trilogy when she’d originally planned for fewer books, since it really feels like almost every scene got unnecessarily extended, and the pacing suffered as a result.
As for the characters, I love a morally gray character, so when I heard Ruying was complex, I was sure I’d love her. Unfortunately, though, I really struggled with her. I think a lot of it was because there’s a time skip about halfway through the book, and in this time skip, Ruying starts to like someone she really should hate, and we get no explanation for it. No slow build, or growth of a relationship. She’s just stuck in a horrible situation one minute, and completely loyal the next. Or, at least it felt that way when I turned pages through the time skip.
Of course, those are just my thoughts, and you might feel differently about this story! If you happen to love portal fantasies and magical worlds inspired by China, as well as morally gray characters with impressive powers, this might be exactly what you are looking for!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Whew, so first off all this book has caused quite the commotion. At this point in time I’m unable to add a review to Goodreads alongside my Storygraph review, so for now it’ll be just here.
There have been more than a few misconceptions about this book, the most pressing being the issue of marketing. I’ve spent many years in the publishing world and can tell you as someone who knows the ins and outs, that Molly X. Chang had no decision in marketing this book as an enemies to lovers romance. It should never have been marketed that way, but this flub should never fall on the author. Authors have very little choice in the matter; they don’t even get a say in their own book covers, or sometimes even their titles. This was not a mistake on the author’s part. I have no idea what the marketing team was thinking, but they definitely messed up on that front. It should have been marketed as a dark, taboo villain romance. This book is not enemies-to-lovers. In fact I hope Ruying snaps Antony’s neck.
To Gaze Upon Wicked G-ds is set in the fictional world of Pangu, more specifically in fantasy China. It’s also an alternate universe version of our own history, where the Roman Empire never fell but instead survived until modern times. There’s even a reference to Julius Caesar. The emperor of Rome discovered a portal to a new world (Ruying, the main character’s, world) and realized that Rome could escape climate change and human disaster by creating a new home in Pangu…and bringing more human disaster. So that’s where we’re at. This has been yet another big misconception of the book online, of people thinking Chang had created a fictional land named the Roman Empire. Nope, it is genuinely the Roman Empire tumblr likes to celebrate every Ides of March. (Or, well, we celebrate Caesar’s death. Bit of a difference there.)
The story concept is good, it’s based on real events in human history, the cover is beautiful, and there desperately needs to be a content warning page at the start of the book. I’m fazed by very little but for those whose lives have been touched in any way by addiction, be cautious.
The writing itself is a little juvenile. Chang is a young debut author and relies too heavily on short, choppy sentences framed in their own paragraph to make a point. Many young writers do this; she’ll grow out of it. Her side characters are barely present and don’t have much going on, which I’m hoping will be fixed in the sequel. Her pacing was good.
I can’t personally speak on the colonizer aspect in regards to China, because I am not Chinese. I am part of a group of people who have been colonized, forcibly expelled from our homes, experimented on, and more. The colonizer romance didn’t bother me because it’s clearly intended not to be end-game, but a form of trauma bonding. (She sees the light at the end, which gives me hope for her snapping Antony’s neck.)
Overall, this was an okay book. I was somewhat relieved when it was over.

I honestly wonder why some reviewers accused To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods of being a colonizer/abuser romance. Did those reviewers really read the book? Do they not experience any empathy for the characters in the books they read? I really enjoyed Chang's novel as it had great world building at the start, referencing historical events that made it more appealing to me. I really wanted to like it, but the middle of the book is where things started to suffer from a failure to show, not tell. We were introduced to some amazing supporting characters only to have Ruying close herself off from everyone and bear her burdens alone in repetitive inner monologues. The reader already knew how Ruying felt by then, except for the people who review-bombed it and just decided to rally around a single talking point. Antony isn't romancing Ruying, he's exploiting Ruying's powers using classic power harassment/abuse tactics. She's not in love, she's been driven to desperation. The end of the book sets things up nicely for a second volume. I would definitely like to see a Ruying redemption arc. (I would love to share this review on Goodreads but it looks like they've locked down reviews over there.)

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Group for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

I'm not sure if this is the type of romance for me. I really could not get behind the main character falling in love with someone who is actively abusing and manipulating her. I mean she literally gets shocked when she does something bad/wrong. The main character seem to only be able to think about Antony, her oppressor/abuser's green eyes. I feel like I could not fall in love with someone knowing he was using me for my power, locked me in a dungeon, put me on a leash, threatened to kill me and my family, and is actively torturing people. No one's eyes are that pretty. This is not an enemies to lover's romance, this should not have been romanticized as much as it was.

I might have been able to get over the romantized abuse/torture, but nothing happened in this book. The plot was basically the main character's relationship with her oppressor and her killing people for him. However, most of that happened off the page, so we didn't get that action. There was a revolution, but I feel like barely anything happened with that either. There was just nothing to really hold my interest and I was forcing myself to get through this because I hate DNFing books, especially arcs.

I'm unsure if I will continue this series. I do like the main character and her childhood friend, so that would be the only thing I'd want to read about, but I am undecided on if it will be enough for me.

I really hope the author keeps writing after all this backlash, just on a different topic. The oppressor/oppressed relationship vibes that are going on is not it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish this book and stopped reading at about 22% in. Unwashed initially interested in the premise but I couldn’t stay objective when I started it. The start of the book is very slow and the worldbuilding and characters did not grab me enough to want to carry on reading. I’m hoping that I can give this another try at a later point but right now this is not a book for me.

I requested this book before the current colonizer romance controversy. I didn't start reading it until I saw the negative book reviews across my social media feeds and my curiosity was piqued.

To start, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is not a colonizer romance. A romance has specific genre expectations which culminate in a happily ever after or happily for now ending. Chang wrote a fantasy novel with some romantic elements featuring a Pangu native, Ruying, and a Roman prince, Antony, who have some feelings for each other. However, it is clear throughout the entire book that Ruying has misgivings about Antony, that she doesn't quite trust him, and she's always aware of the power differential between them. Antony for his part may have genuine feelings for Ruying, but he's a lying liar who lies constantly and is not above gaslighting her into accepting is version of events.

The plot hinges on Antony's capture of Ruying strictly to get access to her powers. Ruying has the power over death and Antony persuades her to help him make things better for both Rome and Pangu by assassinating his political enemies while he works to consolidate power from his grandfather. Ruying is averse to the plan, but she's also very martyrish in her feelings and actions, and is completely sucked into Antony's supposed ideals of a better world.

All that being said, while I really enjoyed the latter 75% of this book, the first 25% was excruciating to get through. The author's one sentence structure was jarring to the brain and the constant infodump between character dialogue made me lose track of what was going on in the first 9 chapters or so. This section could have used some tighter editing to really bring the story to life. The world-building needed some actual structure and it wasn't clear until about halfy way through the book, that Pangu does not exist on the earth as we know it. The plot incorporated real world history with Rome never losing their empire coupled with current climate change issues.

Ruying might be one of the most irritating main characters that I've ever had the pleasure to read. She's immature, desperate to please others, martyrish in her thoughts and feelings, and frankly doesn't know what she wants. She's somewhat inconsistent with her I must survive! thoughts and how can I save my sister??? thoughts and her actual actions of not really doing anything unless it's a whim. She's quick to judge her former best friend as a collaborator, but it doesn't take much convincing to turn herself into the same type of collaborator. In a way she seems stupid, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt in letting her lie to herself until she can't lie to herself anymore.

Antony was harder to pin down, but I think Chang nailed his character especially at the end of the book and I'm curious to see how she develops him further in the second book.

Chang has been outspoken with her inspirations of her grandfather's stories and the history of Unit 731, one of the most horrendous episodes in history, This book weaves in both those stories and while the reader doesn't need to have a knowledge of WWII history to understand the analogy, it does help put the end in perspective.

Overall, the issues I had with the first quarter of the book didn't bother me later on and I ended up really liking To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. I'm ready for book 2 and I hope Chang stays true to her story plans.

Thank you to Del Rey and Netgalley for the arc for review purposes.

"None of us could have guessed that hell opened from the skies above, not from the ground beneath."

Thanks to Del Rey and Ballantine for a copy to review. This title is out April 16th; given recent events, this is going to be a long review. Thank you to those who check it out and give this book the fair chance that many have denied it. There are several things I'm going to address, and first and foremost are misconceptions by mainly online communities about this book that were coined and spread by people who haven't read it.

Disclaimer: I am not an ownvoices reviewer for this book, and all of this is of course my own personal takes. While I have a dissenting opinion from the reviews I've seen, my own is not meant in any way to invalidate their experiences or reactions to the subject matter if they actually read the book. In the end this is a work of fiction, open to interpretation. No one should be personally maligned for setting it aside, but the DNF reviews I see are citing gross oversimplifications or outright untruths. If my review or opinions can help a debut BIPOC author, whose family suffered the history that inspired this story, I'm going to try.

I disagree vehemently with the colonizer romance label going around. This is not a colonial apologist story. There is no fully-fledged romantic relationship; in fact, this is not a romance at all, not a romantasy, nor is it YA. This adult story, voiced by young characters, contemplates the complexities of human morality and what is "right". Is it better to die upholding nebulous concepts like honor and pride, or abandon scruples to live and fight another day? The story does not romanticize colonization; there is death and suffering on nearly every page attributed to Rome. There are moments and inner thoughts that signal potential affection, but serve a larger plot gotcha rather than actual romance. I approached this book as more an alternative historical dark fantasy, which I found worked for me. (There is potential for romance with a third party in later books, something I'm not opposed to at all since I liked that character.)

The worldbuilding was admittedly a mess and hasn't helped the misinformation campaign. An alternative Earth, represented by the Romans, has colonized Ruying's Pangu, traveling through some vague portal. There are common elements from our world, but it is a <i>fantasy</i> with those inclusions to help familiarize the reader. The problem is that the unique parts of the world are not well expanded upon, from the geography, to nations and peoples, and the technological state of Ruying's part of the city, to the extent that it does resemble poorly done parallel history at times. A majority of the worldbuilding heavy lifting is unfortunately left to terribly clunky, lengthy diatribes that happen in random casual conversation. It was risky of the flawed marketing campaign (more on that later) to have presented this book, including a badly worded blurb, and including an unfortunately lengthy foreword, in a way that provided a launch pad for online abuse of both book and author - and that's even aside from the review bombing campaign revealed back in December. The story is very promising, but the book, the narrative conveying it, could use much work (this ARC draft at least).

The writing had rare moments of shiny prose, but was largely unimpressive. I'm not certain how much editing will have taken place for the final printed book, so take this with a grain of salt. As mentioned before, the dialogue was prone to descending into long monologues, worded more like political speeches than actual organic conversation. The descriptions were nonexistent; I found it extremely hard to picture anything besides Antony's too-often mentioned green eyes, which was upsetting, as an Asian-inspired world should've presented a lot of opportunity for unique wardrobes, hair styles, etc. Even the inter-world portal in the sky is mentioned pretty vaguely. As a result, many scenes were rendered grayscale and blurry in my mind. There were SPAG errors, and also larger scene glitches, like a character being named on-page before Ruying realizes it's them, which made no sense. Chapter sixteen was only a couple paragraphs long, so I was unsure if it was cut off, or meant to be labeled as an interlude, like other parts were. The random chapter from Antony's POV was entirely unnecessary.

BUT!

The characters were a fascinating spectrum of agency and determination. On one end there are more passive characters like Ruying, who despite her incredible deadly powers exists in a perpetual state of self-delusion that inaction can save her world. On the other are Taohua, her best friend and an army commander, and Meiya, Ruying's twin sister who suffers from addiction yet longs to join a growing band of shadowy insurrectionists. And somewhere in the middle is rogueish Baihu, my favorite, Ruying's childhood friend and a man whose motives are unclear for most of the book. Antony is given some dimension by his past, and he uses this to build rapport and "empathize" with Ruying and entice her to help him. Some of the worst villains <i>do</i> rise from relatable strife...

Ruying was an unique narrator whose assumptions should be questioned at every turn. As for the potential romance: after years of scraping by, living in constant danger of violence, I think she's drawn to what she sees as a source of abundance, of security, rather than Antony himself. And a very flawed protagonist making terrible choices provides huge amounts of space and fuel for character development, if you're willing to invest in the story. While Ruying takes an awfully long time to face facts, it was all the more satisfying for me when she did.

I think the strongest part of this story was the question of right and wrong, if motives determine morality. I don't think we're meant to like Ruying much, even if we empathize with her desperation, caught between a rock and a hard place. This book is not a how-to manual on ethics whilst living under oppressive, violent colonial rule; it's simply an imagining of how one young woman living alongside unimaginable horror manages to do so. It's about a girl who has to make constant life and death decisions at a moment's notice, who has both beloved family on her mind and oftentimes a gun aimed at her head. Ruying's resignation to bending the knee for most of the story, infuriating as it is, is incredibly human. Her desire to sugarcoat Antony's motives, believe in good intentions, also made sense; after so much death and destruction, it's a hallmark of human nature to want to grasp at potential goodness, at some sort of hope, however delusional.

This isn't a light read, and it's far from perfect like its protagonist, but it was satisfying, with a cathartic ending showing the story's potential. Despite the writing poorly setting up the world, leaving me struggle to picture everything in my mind or understand the different nations and minorities at play, I find myself invested in seeing where this goes. I also give it points for standing out in a market that is full of unremarkable books these days, and hope the right readers find it.

Notes on marketing:
These ARCs went out incredibly early, even for traditional publishing. I just checked and mine was sent August 30th. The final printed book likely - hopefully? - has many of its issues solved, though I am surprised such a flawed ARC was sent out, and so early. That's only one piece of Del Rey's absolutely catastrophic marketing campaign for this book, from misrepresenting its genre and audience, to a cover that doesn't fit the vibe of the book (gorgeous as it is!) and that in turn misleading people as to what kind of book this is. And the fact they haven't spoken out against the abuse directed at Molly X Chang is shameful.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

3.25/5 stars

I really, really wanted to just absolutely adore this book....but really it was just okay. Honestly, it felt like a watered down RF Kuang, specifically the Poppy War. To be fair, there are very very few authors that could hit RF Kuang's quality, but having read The Poppy War first it's a comparison I can't help but draw.

I understand that this book hinges on an unreliable narrator - however, I never liked her, nor did I ever sympathize with her outside of the general "that sucks your country and culture is being colonized". Her morals are flimsy, she's incredible selfish, but she presents like she's this great martyr....maybe you're not supposed to like her but man it made it frustrating. And can we talk about the problematic romance? Again, I get it....she isn't necessarily a good person, she's an unreliable narrator, and she's only 19 but still it just felt icky.

Overall, I see where Chang was going with it - I appreciate the roots in her family's history and her writing wasn't bad. But, this was a pretty standard colonization plot line with an icky romance and an unlikable main character - the plot has been done better by others, and the characters and romance were just a total turn off for me.

So, I will probably read the next book but I don't think I'll buy the series - it's worth a read if this is your kind of fantasy, but it's not a must-read in my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.25/5 Stars

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, but I found myself extremely frustrated while reading the book for a variety of reasons, mostly because of how the marketing does not reflect that contents of the story. I'll start this review with the positives, because I do think there are some things that this book did well!

The dichotomy between magic and science and the idea that the violence of technology does not have the same cost as magic was thematically interesting, and the title of the book, “To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods” is unique and reflective of the contents of the story. The phrase “heros die, cowards live”, which provides the foundation of the FMC’s initial ideology, also raises interesting questions regarding the crime of complicity.

As for issues I had with the book, there was a lot of telling, not showing, and "off-screen" action. The dialogue also felt very clunky at times, and there also seemed to be some incongruities in character development (or lack thereof). I was tempted to DNF several times throughout the story, but pushed myself to keep going in order to write a fair review.

I’ve also seen the discourse online about this being a colonizer romance - based on the last 10% of the book and the story as a whole, I would say that this is NOT a colonizer romance, but the marketing of this book has really not been helping its case. I’m not sure why it’s being marketed as “enemies-to-lovers” and “Zutara on steroids” when doing so implies the book romanticizing the “colonizer romance”, when in actuality, the relationship is actually a product of manipulation.

In summary, I do think this book had some thematic potential, but I can understand why so many BIPOC readers are frustrated by the marketing of the story, which had negatively impacted the reading experience itself. As an Asian-American, I had high hopes for this book and wanted both the story and author to succeed, but unfortunately, did not like it as much as I had hoped.

Thanks to Del Rey for the copy of this book!

TO GAZE UPON WICKED GODS reminded me a bit of THE POPPY WAR and THE SCARLET ALCHEMIST - but the main diffference in this book is that the Prince and love interest is a Roman, one of the colonizers in this book. BUT hear me out - the title of book two will have you giddy, and I think a lot of this book is about Ruying's flaws and coming-of-age type of story to figure out her internal belief system.

I really enjoyed WICKED GODS on audio and thought it was a quick read with easy-to-understand magic and political systems that are based off of the author's family history and Manchuria under Russian and Japanese occupation. While parts of the book were repetitive and a lot of the characters' behavior was predictable, I think this is a good setup for a trilogy and I am very intrigued to see what happens in books two and three -- because I really think that Molly could take this in some interesting directions and write a very powerful narrative.

Overview

Ruying is a reluctant assassin forced into her circumstances as a result of having powers of Death during a timeline tethering on the edges of war. Through a lapse of judgment, she stole a Roman prince’s silk pouch after witnessing his street kindness. Thus began her entanglement with Anthony and her descent into a traitorhood.

Final rating: 2.5 / 5.0 stars (rounded up as courtesy of being the author’s debut)

The Review

A promising premise with a lackluster execution riddled with unfulfilled promises, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was neither a terrible read nor a terrific read. I was originally drawn to this book because of its promises of themes relating to magic vs science and sisterhood. However, I found this book to be rather lacking on both fronts.

For a SFF, the world building—the sci-fi and fantasy elements—takes a back seat for the majority of the book. The science was surface level at best and the magic was barely touched upon. An advantage the Romans have over Pangu is their possession of guns and weapons of mass destruction powerful enough to force Er-lang into a one day defeat. But every time these guns and other sciency stuff are brought up, I can’t help but think: so they are just ordinary guns? Is there even any difference from our world? Alas, my questions will remain unanswered because this book does not explore such significantly insignificant topics. Perhaps we never learn much about this aspect because Ruying herself doesn’t know very much, but even so she worked for the Romans for well over six months. She ought to have at least picked up some knowledge in passing. Or so I would’ve hoped.

Comparatively, the magic aspect was much more interesting and better explored. Even then, the bar was on the floor. Aside from Ruying’s own gift, we barely learn about the gifts of other people. Her exact usage of magic is unclear for the most part, I didn’t even realize she could see souls until much later into the book. I do like that there is some discrepancy between what Xianlings believe vs what Anthony claims. Unfortunately, by the end of the book these questions aren’t yet answered and we don’t know what is the truth, what is the lie, and what could perhaps be prejudice.

Now, onto the promised sisterhood. It felt rather one sided with Ruying being the only one caring about Meiya. Meiya had so little screen time we barely got to understand her character aside from what Ruying tells us. We all know Ruying is unreliable, so how much of what she claims about Meiya could we believe? The reality is Meiya was quick to judge and abandon Ruying. I don’t think Ruying was necessarily right per se, but Meiya's own dismissal was too hasty. I am just disgruntled that I didn't get sisters mutually doing their best to protect each other as I thought I would. For one, I love the contrast between Ruying and her sister, Meiya. Ruying is the cowardice to Meiya’s unfaltering heroic spirit, foolish, but heroic nonetheless. This book tries to paint Meiya as the yang to balance out Ruying’s yin, the life counterpart to her death. Yet throughout the entirety of this book, Meiya’s gift could only be said to be irrelevant. They could’ve done so much more with this premise, but they didn’t.

Narrative Style

I couldn’t really enjoy this book and I have to attribute it to the narrative style not being my cup of tea. Minor rant incoming…

The narrative structure goes a little like this: exposition, dialogue, internalization, dialogue, internalization, action, dialogue, internalization, dialogue, etc. I really wish I was exaggerating. For reference, the first 10% of the book was essentially an exposition dump at the beginning and then a super long conversation between two characters. It was just one (1) scene, but they just kept talking for well over the first 10% of the book. At that point I couldn't help but worry about the pacing because there was only 90% of the book left??? Unsurprisingly, the pacing did come back as an issue later on.

This book was like half conversations (maybe more? at least it certainly felt like it), therefore the talking head syndrome was unavoidable. What is the talking head syndrome, you ask? It is, in comics, when artists don't know how to properly illustrate a scene and opt to draw two characters (heads) talking to each other back and forth. This is how a lot of the conversational scenes play out. It's like being in a room with ghosts, being able to hear them talking to each other, but not being able to see anyone or anything. For the overtly imaginative minds, this might not be an issue. But for fellow borderline aphantasia folks like myself, we might need a little more help. In the end, it just felt really pretentious, like these characters are trying to convince me they are sophisticated, but failing to do so half the time.

Also I just don't like this style of story telling with an overabundance of dialogue because it is essentially exposition dumps, but in dialogue form. There are things that characters must talk about in order to convey the information to the reader, but the issue is this is utilized too often even when unnecessary. The characters constantly talk about how war is bad…like no duh? But rather than have the characters talk about how bad war would be, I would have preferred if the desperation of the situation was actively shown to us on the pages. Which leads into the other issue, too much internalization, not enough externalization in the form of tangible action being done by the characters. Within an overabundance of thoughts, there is an absence of presence. We are so often lost among the crevasses of the narrator's mind, we are seldom present to bear witness to how different scenes actually play out. However, I do acknowledge this is largely a preference thing.

Too much talking aside, I was still with the book until the time skip. Lemme tell you, I was shooketh. Absolutely floored. I could not believe there was a time skip?? There, of all places?!

I understand why the author opted to not write 50 different assassinations. Really, I do, but we needed a lot more than what was written. Given the limited word count range, I think the author prioritized the wrong aspect of the story to portray. After the time skip, I could feel my eyes glaze over. Nothing that followed was convincing enough, especially since Ruying and Anthony trusted each other so much they would literally die for each other. I'll be honest, I was flabbergasted. It was like being served an already empty plate and being expected to enjoy the meal. Except, I was served nothing.

The story does pick up around the 80% mark. That's the issue. It took until the 80% mark for the intrigue to start rolling in. Which, in my humble opinion, is too long. If the first 80% was more like the last 20% of the book, this book could've been so much better. Granted, this is the first book in a trilogy (if I'm not mistaken), so I do think there's some potential here...but potential just doesn't cut it if the execution continues to be so lackluster. Overall, this book has a little bit of everything, but not enough of anything.

Final Remarks

I finished reading a month ago, but had to sit on posting this review for a while. I'm really conflicted about how to rate this book. I couldn't decide between two stars or three stars because it's somewhere in that zone. In the end, I think I might've been overtly critical because I had my reviewer hat on when reading this book. Did I like it? No. Did I hate it? No. Do I want to know what happens next? Yes. Do I want to read the next book to find out? No. It's just a book I read in passing really. No more, no less.

Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this book as it stands, it's not strong enough as a standalone. I know it's a series, but every book in a series should still hold its ground by itself. If you're on the fence about picking this book up, I would recommend waiting until book two releases and see how things play out.

Miscellaneous Musings

I just thought it was so funny when Anthony’s brother, whose name escaped me, was like “We are the master of science” blah blah blah. I know it wasn’t meant to be funny, but I crackled out laughing because who talks like that? No matter how much you think you know about science, you will probably never know enough. I can’t believe this random comment by a side character was what left the biggest impression in this book. I was here for the science, didn’t get science, but got a laugh instead.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

I always get really excited when I see books try to tackle this concept. It. makes for a really compelling story with interesting and three dimensional characters. This book did it in a really unique way that I'm not sure I've ever seen before: it puts you in the head of the character who chooses wrong.

This book is, in my opinion, unfairly, getting a lot of heat for the romance plotline. It's being called a colonizer romance. I couldn't disagree more. I think where everything started to go wrong was this being marketed as a romantasy when, in my opinion, this book is not a romance at all. Yes, technically the oppressor and the oppressed do fall in love, but the nuance that is being overlooked and ignored is the fact that we as readers are not supposed to be rooting for this. The love interest is obviously a monster, and the FMC is obviously being manipulated. This isn't a cute enemies to lovers story, it's a cautionary tale about how power can corrupt even the most well-intentioned people.

I really liked the juxtaposition between Pangu, with its culture and its magic, and the more futuristic world of Rome. The give and take of the magic system where actions have sometimes dire consequences was very cool. I wish we were given a better grasp on the limitations, but it raised the stakes quite a bit. I also think that this being based on real world events added a lot to the story, especially knowing that the author's family was directly affected.

There were a few things that didn't quite work for me. The writing sometimes seemed stilted and choppy, and the worldbuilding left something to be desired. We know a little bit about the city Ruying is in, but end up learning very little about the world as a whole. Hopefully this will get expanded upon in later books, but at the end of the first I found myself struggling to get my head around what this world is like. There were also some parts that felt a bit repetitive, especially Ruying's internal debates about the love interest. I swear she had that same "he's awful and I'm done with him. Oh but wait I'm just sooooooo drawn to him" debate like 5 separate times.

Overall, I think this was a solid debut that is being very unfairly treated by its readers. It was a very ambitious undertaking, and it went places that very few other fantasies have the guts to go. I'm excited to see how this all plays out, and will be continuing on with the series. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

Spoilers ahead-

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a difficult book to review. On the one hand it is an interesting character study in what we are willing to do (and not willing to do) to just survive in a colonized world and protect those we love. On the other hand, the novel is marketed as an enemies to lovers fantasy romance. The publisher's blurb begins, "She has power over death. He has power over her. When two enemies strike a dangerous bargain, will they end war . . . or ignite one?" In many circles this has raised discussion over the problems in framing a colonizer/colonized love story. I'd agree that to ignore the power dynamics between the two main characters and romanticize Ruying's relationship with the Prince Antony is extremely problematic! She is his prisoner and she is forced to become his assassin to protect her family. He isn't a "good" guy. I would join the chorus of criticisms if that was all there was to the book, But there are are some fundamental things I see overlooked in most of these discussions I have read.

As Chang explains in her author's note, part of her inspiration for this story is her grandfather's "ghost stories" that came from his time in an occupied Manchuria. She writes how she would hope he would be proud of Ruying's "ferocious need to survive." What is needed to survive the next day, the next hour is often unclear. Is Ruying courageous? Yes! Is she a coward? Also yes- and I believe that is the point.

Chang gives us a story where the main character has to juggle dissonant moral imperatives of which the highest for her is protecting her family. This is not glorified in the story - we see her discomfort with it it every day, and we see in her inner monologue the lies she tells herself (such as trusting Antony as a lesser of evils) as part her strategy to hold on to some kind of hope. As I read, I did not see Anthony as a glorified white savior or even a "not all colonizers" exception. He is bad! he is selfish and he is manipulative, While Ruying can't see it some of the time and wants to believe in him we as readers should understand her impressions are not reliable. In short, the way I read the novel we are never supposed to root for them to be together or see Anthoy in a positive light ( he sees himself way more positively than he ought), but to have empathy for how Ruying could believe him, for a time.

Because this is a slower moving character study, I can get why some readers would find this bothersome and not wish to continue reading- and certainly that is valid choice. However, I do feel strongly that if you wish to be publicly critical of a work, you should read the entire thing and look at it as a complex literary work. that doesn't always say straight away the experience, emotions and criticisms it seeks to evoke. Here, I believe the questions in this story are fare more about what it will take for Ruying to see him for what he is. We do indeed get there by the end!

Personally I found the book thought provoking, and I very much appreciated being immersed in Ruying's character. if you felt mislead in some way by the story, direct that criticism toward the publisher and the marketing. There is some of that here but 1. it is a gross simplification of the plot and 2. if you didn't notice, and got to the end, there is more than one man in this book she sees as her enemy.. Finally, this is Chang's story to tell, so let's give her space to tell it.

An exciting debut! This had so many aspects that I loved from the romance, to the storytelling, to the plot. I think some things did fall flat such as the character development and some parts felt repetitive, overall this was fun though.

Ruying's people have been colonized by invaders who came through a portal in the sky and not even the magic of her people could fight against these barbarians with their technologies. Although Ruying is blessed by Death, it is not quite the gift one should want. On top of being afraid of these foreign invaders, Ruying has to provide for her family and keep them safe. When Ruying's gift is discovered by the enemy prince, he forces her to become his personal assassin; in return, he promises to protect her family and ultimately bring peace to her world. However, Ruyin's death magic comes at a price as with every use, a year is shaved off of her own existence.

Ruying is a flawed and yes, incredibly naïve character but I still felt for her. Throughout the book, all she wants—no, is desperate for is to provide for her remaining family and see them happy. To achieve her goals, she goes from hating to using her magic to constantly justifying herself for it over and over again.

Sighs okay Antony. Let's talk about him. Well, he is evil. To Ruying, he justifies his actions (after imprisoning her) as a means of bringing peace to her world and Ruying's other option is helping a vigilante group. Both of her options lead to more violence, possibly further endangering her own family. Call it extreme gaslighting, Stockholm syndrome, but it was jarring to read the scenes where Ruying and Antony see themselves as anything other than a captor/captive.

Even though the ending does its job in managing to push the protagonist toward the 'right side', I wasn't a fan of how Ruying humanizes him just before this and sympathizes with him.

The setting of the book is something I love very much and the worldbuilding is initially confusing but as the story progresses, it becomes clearer. The colonizer or the Romans come from a world similar to ours and Ruyin's world Pangu is Chinese-inspired and on the fantasy side.

While I wouldn't outright recommend this book, I still found it a compelling fantasy novel dealing with the aftermath of colonization and the consequences of war.