It's really a solid debut from Molly x Chang. Creative, lush prose, beautiful writing and characterization. A solid, if complex romance and a good set up for what comes next.

Thank you NetGalley for an early reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Overall: 3.50-3.74 ⭐️ (rounded up)

Ruying is living in the dark aftermath of a world conquered and subjugated by Romans, people who have used science and portals to access their world. The odd meshing of sci-fi, fantasy, and mythology aside the storyline has a lot going for it. A world and people ravaged and torn apart to save another that sees a chance to literally off-load and use others for their own gains. It felt apart by trying to wedge in a love story - honestly, it didn’t need it and felt so awkward - and attempting to merge too many concepts together. Again, it has a lot of merits and I loved the beginning and end, plus the simple yet richly varying magic system. As one of the books I was most excited for this year it was a bit of a “huh” when I got mid way through and had to keep pushing until I got back into the grove of the story.

Edit: I edited my review to add some more details and also because when I was re-reading it, I didn’t like the tone that was coming across. But it is essentially the same review, now just more helpful to fellow readers I think.

I really wanted to love this, I thought the story sounded really interesting, I love Chinese fantasy, and the cover was gorgeous, so it was a highly anticipated read for me. I really did give this my best shot. And through the first third of the book, I can say I was enjoying it (I had a couple of issues with the writing style but that wasn’t a deal breaker for me, I just ignored the issues). But I unfortunately ended up DNF-ing at about ~50%.

My biggest issue, and my reason for DNF-ing, comes from my growing annoyance with the main character. And that annoyance is kind of in two parts. One being the actual character herself and the other comes from the writing style. Those two things blended together until I just got a bit of the ick and couldn’t make myself finish.

So, my issue with Ruying our MC. I think a good part of this comes from the author letter/note at the start of the book leading us into thinking Ruying is a morally grey character that will be doing bad things. I’m down for morally grey characters, they are really interesting, so I was actually excited for this and excited for the book to explore darker themes because of that. However, I can’t really describe Ruying as morally grey because at every chance she gets she just resists using her power to kill people. She gets in multiple situations where either she is personally at threat of death or her family is being threatened and yet she still holds back. That became very frustrating because she was made out to be someone who would do anything for her family (we were told this) but then when it comes down to it, she won’t actually act as she needs to. This just really annoyed me personally.

The other aspect related to this, is the writing style. The author very often tells instead of shows and has lots of monologues of the characters thoughts. So as the actor acts in an annoying way to me, the writing then further reflects on that a lot. It just got really annoying for her to be constantly thinking about how she doesn’t want to kill anyone, not kill someone, and think about it again. If the writing style were different, I think I could have gotten over my annoyance with this character. Or if the character had been more morally grey and acted on it, then I could have gotten over my annoyance with the writing style. But the combination was just too much for me.

I will say though, that I was really intrigued by the other characters like Baihu and Meiya. They were characters that clearly had faults but they were interesting faults, whereas for me Ruying’s faults were annoying. So that is to say I think the author can write interesting, dynamic characters I just unfortunately didn’t like the main one and because it was the main character, that prevented me from continuing to read the story. I would however, give future books by this author a chance, although I do hope for better editing in the future to help with the writing style issues (the telling instead of showing, and the choppy sentences to add drama which was too frequent).

Some other things I want to point out about the book. I was intrigued by the world and magic system and I think those could be really strong aspects of the series depending on how they develop throughout the books.

This book, wasn’t for me, but I hope my review helps people determine if it’s a good fit for them. I truly believe some people will enjoy this book and I hope it reaches those people. I also hope people stop sending hate to the author because that is just vile behavior and should not be accepted. The author poured love into this book and doesn’t deserve to be met with hate.

This was a highly anticipated book for me. So I really appreciate getting a chance to read this. Thank you netgalley, the publishers, and the author for the ARC I received.

Ruying is a young woman blessed (or cursed) with the ability to literally pull the life out of people. Her ability to kill people without leaving a trace makes her a valuable commodity. Despite this gift, her world is in chaos- the kingdom she resides in, rich with magic, has been invaded by another kingdom, one based in science and technology which stronger and more powerful, her people are being slaughtered, and her family is not safe. Ruying is offered a deal by an enemy prince- if she assassinates his rivals, he will spare her life and ensure her family is safe. As they work together, they slowly start to develop feelings for one another.

Most of the story is Ruying coming to grips with her power and the responsibility she has to use her power for the greater good. At the start, Ruying does what she has to do to stay alive and keep her family safe and she doesn’t apologize for it. The fact that she was upfront about this strong held belief was incredibly humanizing. To her, her world is her family, not the wider population. This conviction makes her journey over the course of the story even more powerful. By the end, Ruying decides she needs to make a stand, that she needs to be brave and defend her people, but the royal family sure isn’t up to the task. The ending sets up a compelling storyline for book two.

I look forward to the developing relationship between Ruying and Anthony in book two. I have so many unanswered questions and am not entirely convinced his feelings for her are genuine. He appears incredibly manipulative during all most all their encounters.

I highly recommend this book for fans who enjoyed “The Hurricane Wars” or are looking for an edgier version of “A Court of Thorns and Roses”.

I truly wanted to love this book because upon reading the description, it seemed to tick all the boxes. The premise was interesting, the magic system seemed like it would be fun, and the main character blessed with Death powers made this right up my alley. I think the story had incredible potential, but unfortunately, for me, it fell spectacularly flat. I’d first like to comment that this book is based on real life war crimes committed in Manchuria. I applaud the author for writing something inspired by such a heart wrenching situation.

As for the story itself, the world-building by and large was superficial and practically nonexistent. We’re told some things about the world in which the story takes place, but it always felt like the bare minimum and seemed to leave important details out.


Normally I often see a trade off, when the world building is a little lax the characterization makes up for it, but I didn’t find that with this book. The internal monologue wasn’t well written and the dialogue reminded me of a bad TV drama, where everything was told and never shown. Typically I adore a morally grey protagonist, but there wasn’t any character development at all in any of the already superficially written characters, so I can’t even say this was particularly done well either.

Lastly, a romance between a colonizer and one of the oppressed peoples does not sit well with me and was an incredibly uncomfortable thing to read about.

Though I can say the cover was beautiful and the idea could have created a fantastic and exciting story, unfortunately I think this fell short in the execution.

This is one of my biggest disappointments of the year. This review will be a mess, much like the book.

To begin, the marketing. What went on with marketing of this book should be studied in what not to do for years to come. I've seen this called enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, childhood-friends-to-lovers, romantasy, romantic fantasy, ya fantasy, ya romantic fantasy--what is the truth??? I still don't know. They seem to have stuck with "romantasy" which I think is an issue, I'll touch on that in a bit. The trouble is I don't really know who the main romantic pairing is and not in a good plot sort of way. More like, the author is potentially trying to do a gotcha? I truly don't know.

It's honestly not written particularly well? The main character Ruying has an internal monologue that is so incredibly annoying, not for characterization reasons but for what feels like a lack of editing. Let women be annoying! But! Let the writing be good enough to support her.

While there's a few aspects of this book I feel I'm not necessarily qualified to speak on (ie colonizer/colonized romance as a whole) I know an enemies to lovers when I see it and while so far it certainly fits the bill, within the framework of "romantasy" there is a relative expectation of a happy/happy enough ending. I just don't think in this particular set up, there can be a happyish/happy enough ending with the two characters who are allegedly the main couple. I want Ruying to kill Antony? I feel that will be the only way to truly satisfy this relationship trajectory as it stands.

I'm interested in where this will go for sheer nosiness sake.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine/Del Rey for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Yang Ruying lives in the once great country of Pangu, a fantastical, alternate history China, where people can be blessed by the gods and given gifts. Ruying herself has been bestowed the power of death, the ability to pull qi/lifeforce from others. But Pangu has been invaded by multidimensional travelers from the dystopian, futuristic world of Rome. Magical gifts like Ruying’s have quickly been overshadowed by guns, missiles, and modern warfare technology. Addictive, modern drugs have spread from Rome into Pangu as well, weakening them even further. Both worlds wait in an uneasy state of peace, while both prepare for an inevitable war. Pangu wants freedom from its cruel invaders. Rome needs something only the citizens of Pangu can provide.

"When you see someone in trouble, you draw your blade and help.
But what was a blade against a bullet?
What was magic, against science?"

With her family’s legacy destroyed by war and poverty, Ruying can barely support herself, let alone her opian addict sister, Meiya, and her elderly grandmother. When one of the young princes of Rome, Antony Augustus, discovers her power over death and offers her the position of his personal assassin, Ruying is forced to accept to save her family. Thrust to the front lines of the looming war, Ruying must decide what boundaries are worth crossing, and how far she will go to save the people and country she loves.

“'Will you lead me astray, my prince?'
'I will lead you to glory. I will lead you to the life you have always wanted. I will lead you to a better tomorrow. Not just for my world, but for both our worlds.'”

While the premise of this book is extremely enticing, I found far too much of the story stuck in Ruying’s spiraling inner monologues. What could have been philosophical and provoking was instead redundant and– I hate to say it– boring. Her internal debates fell flat very quickly when no progression ever came. The thoughts that plagued her in the beginning of the book remained with her until the very end, without her ever making up her mind or coming to a single conclusion without it being made for her. The exciting storylines of political intrigue and assassins and forbidden love are superficial, barely staying afloat atop the bloated mass of monologues that comprise the majority of this book.

The world building was paper thin, a dissatisfying attempt at window dressing rather than actually fleshing out the worlds of Pangu and Rome. Ruying’s understanding of both worlds was frustratingly inconsistent. Despite only being exposed to futuristic Roman technologies from a well guarded distance, she is familiar with toilets, hidden cameras (with and without audio recording capability!), fighter jets, melting polar caps, and black holes. Simultaneously, she is baffled by the concepts of surgery, cooking stoves, and electricity.

“They buzzed with a low current of science…”

“Their water was boiled by machines and their fires were instant.”

The characters were created in a similar way, bare skeletons given personality by repeatedly slapping the same adjectives on top. Repeating how intelligent/cunning/strong/insert-descriptor-here the characters were instead of giving them any time on the page to SHOW it killed my interest very quickly. It was akin to watching cardboard cutouts be propped against the storyline, rather than actual characters pushing the story forwards with their conflicts and actions. This includes the lackluster inclusion of romance, which I would not have known was romance if I wasn’t explicitly told, due to the impressive lack of chemistry (many other reviewers have touched on the weirdness of this abusive colonizer relationship, and while I have nothing to add I do agree with the general consensus of ew why?). I will give credit to the author for coming up with very good ideas for characters, but to see them wasting on the side lines made it even more difficult to enjoy this book.

For example– Ruying’s grandmother was the most brilliant strategist of her generation, who taught Ruying sword fighting and parkour and war tactics. Having lost her husband and children and reputation, she is left to fiercely defend her two young granddaughters and prepare them for the brutal reality of war. Imagine my disappointment when her only valuable contribution to the storyline was forcing Ruying to get married against her will and then crying off page for the rest of the book. This same blockage of showing vs. telling, and the subsequent mismatch of traits, happened with every single character. Shared backstories were brought up in clunky expositional dialogue. The characters (even the supposedly smart and secretive ones, or ones who have no reason to trust Ruying) are constantly revealing their entire life story and thought process. Motivations were spoon fed (or in all honesty, tube fed) to the reader and the attempts at moral ambiguity were clumsily ham-fisted.

"To say he was innocent was a lie. He existed somewhere in between: the gray between black and white."

In summary, I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Molly X. Chang’s debut novel, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. It promised a fantastical new world brought to life through morally gray characters on the brink of war. While the ideas and potential of this book are captivating, comparable to the Avatar and Pocahontas films, I was disappointed by their execution. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am the audience for this book, though I’m not sure who is.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

Yeah… I didn’t even get past the first couple hundred pages… I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

I commend the author for the book concept and beautiful cover but this is so so boring. It is all straight up word vomit and monologue. All telling, no showing. The author just straight up tells you EVERYTHING. There is no room for imagination, it all just gets so boring and convoluted. This is the first book i’ve ever DNF’d after being very adamant that I would never do so… so that says a lot.

★.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the chance to read this book. This is my honest opinion.

It's a jumbled mess. Things kept happening but it seemed to be circling around and going nowhere. It took me until the end of the book to understand the world and it wasn't intentional she states things here and there but doesn't flat out explain why there are two different worlds in the one area. It is confusing and the characters are good but their interactions are meh. The FMC repeats the same inner monologue and it starts to being tedious that I'm like okay I get it. The side characters are interesting. I like where the plot was trying to go but it took a long way to get her statement across with a few thrown in small romantic moments which I didn't really think were necessary. It kind of seems forced. I would honestly give them more a 2.5. it gives me immortal longings vibes while reading it.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is an Asian inspired young adult romantasy. I wanted to like it. I should have. Its own voices, dark romance, things I like. But the prose is too often purple, there really were no shades of gray. I’m sorry, but this was painful to read.

I was provided with an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

2.5 stars (Rounded up)

Liked:
Depicts the harm caused by colonialism

Very interesting premise with a unique blend of modern technology and magic

Overall, the character development for the FMC is very well done particularly towards the end of the book

Disliked:
Slow to start off

I wish the FMC's love interest was anyone else (Stockholm syndrome, anyone?)- this was a big downfall to me and is the main reason I rated it as low as I did

I will say upfront that I am nervous about posting a review of this book and not sure I can post it to goodreads, given the accusations that the author has been doxxing and harassing reviewers on that platform. But, I read the book, so I will give my thoughts here.

This was initially hard to get into because of the extreme repetitive nature of the writing. The author would often repeat the same story, worded slightly differently, or make the same point multiple times within the same chapter. The number of times that Baihu’s background was explained was absolutely mind numbing, or the discussions of Ruy’s father’s addiction, or the conquering of the world.

Once we got into actual plot, it felt like the author just used time jumps and hand-waved huge portions of it. Why spend SO much time over explaining the concept of opioid (sorry, opian) addiction a thousand times just to set up this assassin for the colonizer storyline, then not even go into most of the assassinations? the middle part of the book is all this very uncomfortable romance plot which doesn’t make a ton of sense with so little actual plot occurring. then, everything is shoved into the last 10% to create action, answer the questions the main character had literally been asking over and over and over, and do the “big reveal” which was very clearly hinted at several times earlier.

I was deeply uncomfortable with the treatment of addiction, with the lack of nuance around discussions of abusive relationships and the colonizer/prisoner romance that was set up (even if in the end, they aren’t going to be together). I think it’s possible to handle these topics with skill and sensitivity but I don’t think this book does that. It feels like someone reading Babel and thinking, what if this was over explained more and also focused on a doomed romance?

I just had a really bad time with this book.

DNF at 13%

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC but this book isn’t for me.

I am only going to comment on my own preferences and opinions and not mention anything from other reviews that I have seen.

So, this book starts off giving you this HUGE info DUMP of world building that doesn’t really make sense at all. And not only is it a huge dump of world building but also past building. The author takes us through so much about the past of her and this childhood friend that I don’t even know what’s happening in the PRESENT until like chapter 3. And this info dumping continues on and on. It’s like she can’t just write a dialogue without interrupting it with paragraphs of information.

Also, this FMC is doing so much for her sister who is addicted to this drug but she doesn’t even know why her sister started using the drug in the first place? A drug that her father died from? Also if one of the love interests is this childhood friend then I am 100% not interested at all.

Ultimately I just think this book and I will not vibe so I’m going to bow out here.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. There are so many things that come to mind with this book so I’ll start with the good and finish off with the bad. First of all, I love the world building in this story, it was so lush and colorful with ties to real historical events, it easily immersed the reader in the setting. The power system was also incredibly intriguing and unique and really made for some gripping action scenes. The unfortunate downside was that much of the strong elements in this story were overshadowed by problematic themes. Initially, I had been told this would have a childhood friends to enemies to lovers sub-plot, and while there were notes of that, I was also met with a colonizer romance as an unappetizing side dish. I’m certain things could shift in the following books but overall the romantic undertones in this book left me uncomfortable and unsure of whether I want to continue with the next installment. The pacing also left me wanting, there was a lot of indecision and back and forth on Ruying’s part that made some sections a little slow for my liking.

When the Roman’s came from the sky, they brought with them their advanced weapons and technology. They used them to rain down violence and bring the empire of Er-Lang to its knees. Magic is fading in Pangu and while Ruying was blessed with death magic she is still powerless to save her people or her family from the violence and oppression of Rome’s colonization. That is until one of the princes of Rome learns of her ability and offers her a deal. Betray her people and help the Prince become King of Rome and in return he will insure her family’s safety. Ruying must decide if her and her family’s survival is worth living on her knees.

Overall I enjoyed this book. While I was left with a number of questions about the world as a whole, this is the first book in a series and I am hopeful that we will get more world-building in coming books. I really liked the concept of the magic system, particularly the fact that use of magic costs the wielder time off their life. This book explores the complexities of colonization, freedom, oppression, and peace.

Unfortunately, I could not finish this book. I was super excited to pick it up, and the author's note gave me the impression that I would be reading the tragic story of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and that magic could be used to fight back against these colonizers, even with their technology. But instead of the Japanese, we have the Romans, and instead of Manchuria, it is a fantasy version? Overall, this was done in a very very strange way. The Romans are even written in a way where you could just change the word Roman to Japanese and you would get the same effect. Or, if one group is going to be out of fantasy, just make both of the groups that way. The world immediately disengaged me. The writing disengaged me even more, unfortunately. Perhaps if it was well-written, I would have been able to move through the story and forget about the ideas the author's note led me to believe, but the writing worsened my experience and drew out the story's flaws even further. It is just too repetitive unfortunately. I believe a sentence along the lines of "our magic was not match for their science" was repeated in almost 5 different ways in the first chapter and a bit of the second alone. I wish I could have read more, but I just could not manage to finish it.

Molly X. Chang creates a masterful story blending fantasy and historical fiction with the modern/futuristic world. I was a bit hesitant to read at first based on the summary since I'm often disappointed by such premises. I am so glad I took the chance to read this because it was everything I wanted and more. Ruying is an excellent protagonist because she is flawed and willing to do anything to protect her family, even at the destruction of herself. Too often when you have characters in this position, author's have a hard time balancing them being too knowledgeable of everything and get a bit hamfisted in their way of trying to show their intellect to the reader. Chang's depiction of Ruying being on the road to hell paved with good intentions creates a refreshing story that is more genuine and endearing. The fact that Ruying shows how clever she is and that she knows how cruel the world can be, but can still hold onto that trusting naivety to want to believe in someone makes her a more realistic and interesting character. Chang has created the perfect example of a right person wrong time situation and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment. I have already pre-ordered the book and begun telling all my friends/co-workers/anyone who lets me speak that this book is a must read.

** I do want to note that at the end of page 281, I believe there might be a mistake due to editing/draft changes on a scene as a characters name is mentioned before Ruying figures out who they are in the next paragraph. It made it a bit confusing but genuinely the scene was so jaw dropping I had to go back on the read aloud function to make sure id heard that right and gasped out loud. So regardless of the accidental spoiler it was still a twist I had not anticipated.

I had such high hopes for this read and in some instances it met those expectations.

The cover is gorgeous, the story is unique, and her powers are very cool.

There was quite a bit of info dump in the beginning and a lot of tell versus show. That makes sense for a debut, I think.

I also did not love the relationship, at all. Based on the ending, there will (hopefully) be a shake up for the second book in the series, but the MMC made me feel so icky. I have hopes for her and someone in the next book and I hope my theory is correct!

Either way; read if you’re a fan of fantasy!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Well... I wanted to love this story. A girl with the power of death? Magic versus science? Anti-colonial themes? Yes, please.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm only lasted the first few pages. The concept for this book was amazing - but the writing left me wanting.
I know this is a YA but dare I say, it reads younger? The sentences often read short and clipped. There are times when there's about to be an attack, as in sword in your face attack, and then we get a half page of back story of "Yeah, this reminds me of the time when..."

The MC goes over the same narrative in her head over and over again, and does a really rapid flip in her psyche to work for the colonizing Romans. I'm not sure if this was meant to mean the MC was trying to self protect in light of her situation, but it did not come across that way.

I was expecting a lot more in depth description of the magic and science - where really all we get is that somehow a portal opened up and the colonizing science-y Romans have big guns - I was expecting so much more - whatever technologic and scientific advances you wanted to see dreamt up just... weren't there.

The magic also leaves one wanting - barely nodded at besides a surface level explanation of gifts that people on Pangu have.

All in all bummed at the read, I'd recommend a pass on this one.

First, I want to thank Random House for approving me to read this arc. It’s the first time I got approved by them and I was so excited to read this! Since they trusted me with an e-ARC I couldn’t wait to finish and leave a review for them.

Here is what went right: Lovely cover, interesting plot, cool world set up with Asian background, cool magic system, and interesting things do happen. As an Asian myself, I want to support Asian Fantasy and would love to see that genre grow, so I was ripe to give this book five stars. But perhaps I went into this with too much expectation?

What went wrong for me: The writing style - while having a strong voice and sometimes beautiful descriptions - was packed with fragmented sentences, over the top at times and very repetitive. The writing style is Tell, not show, which I just don’t jive with.

The pace is slow at the start and does change after we get more introduced to one of the main guy characters… but then the things that start to happen were just very distasteful for me.

I’m usually very open and accepting whatever happens in a story and even if I don’t like it, or even hate what happened, I understand WHY it needed to be there for the overall story and enjoy it for what it is. Being Korean, I’ve seen a lot of dramas and stories about being occupied by another country and while heartbreaking, I never shied away… so I don’t know what’s off… I’m really confused why I didn’t love this book.

I firmly believe there are no bad books and every book is a huge labor of love. There’s just books that fit or don’t fit us and for me, it just didn’t fit unfortunately.