At first, I was not enjoying this book for its writing style; it’s very info-dumpy, doesn’t have great flow, and I can’t say I really liked our main characters. However, as the story went on I did get gripped wanting to know what would happen. I think the structure gets better further and further in, and while I never really loved any character specifically, I was having a good time reading and found it easy to keep going.
This book does have a lot of haters in the early reviews, but I really think comes down to next to no media literacy going on. Like, you guys do know Anthony is the bad guy right? And that him and Ruying aren’t couple goals?
I personally don' t think I will be continuing the series, but I do think the ending leaves a lot of room for the story to be improved upon and become something great in future installments.

I got an arc through NetGalley.
Solid first entry into YA Fantasy-Scifi novel trilogy. There is romance/ feelings between the enemy prince & Ruying, but by the end Ruying has been betrayed enjoy that she now wants to destroy him.
We will see if their love will last through this but if it doesn't, it does seem like another love interest is in the wings.
I am excited to read the next book.

I wanted to enjoy this, I really did. But it took me over a month to get like 20% through the book. Maybe that wasn’t enough of a chance I don’t know. Ruying is out here trying her best to keep drug addicted sister from dying like their father. She’s got death powers but doesn’t want to use them. Gets essentially forced to by the people colonizing her home and falls for her captor. This was not my cup of tea. That said the writing was decent and I would have been more engaged had the story been …something other than what it was.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is an absolute gem, and I had the privilege of reading an ARC that left me utterly obsessed. The anticipation for the sequel is already making me anxious, and I can't believe others have to wait to experience this masterpiece!

For those who enjoyed Shatter Me but felt it lacked in execution, this book is a game-changer. It takes everything from Shatter Me and elevates it to perfection. The love interest is brilliantly coded with Aaron Warner vibes, leaving me screaming and doing victory laps around my room.

The main characters are beautifully morally grey, individually and together. The chemistry between them had me on the edge of my seat—pure magic!

The lore, the magic system, the world-building, and the writing—it's all spectacular! I'm utterly obsessed and cannot recommend it enough.

As for the possibility of a love triangle in the next book, I'm mentally preparing myself to jump off a cliff. Let's hope not!

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! 📚✨

---

Intense and exceptional! This YA fantasy, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, promises to be a 2024 masterpiece. Kudos to Ms. Chang for a splendid debut novel!

The story follows Ruying, marked by tragedy from birth, navigating a world invaded by demons and shaped by magical abilities inherited from the Gods. Ruying's rare power makes her both feared and desired, and her choices lead her on a path that challenges everything.

The blend of historical events, especially World War II, with the fantasy world is expertly done. The narrative is emotionally heavy, making readers clench their teeth or tear up, but it's a testament to the author's skill.

The morally ambiguous characters add depth, making it challenging to harbor hate, and by the end, you may find yourself deeply in love with them. I can't wait for the sequel in 2025!

Special thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 📖🌟

This book is an interesting twist on Chinese history--of which is very close to the author's heart, as per the note in the beginning. I received an advance reader copy of this book, so I am sure that there will be many differences between the version of the book that I got and what will hit store shelves. I'm not sure how to best describe the plot, but it's a fantasy world in which Romans invade Pangu, get a lot of the population addicted to an opium-like substance, and colonize the citizens of Pangu with a violent fist. There are a lot of things about this book that I find very interesting (that I won't go into to avoid spoiler territory) such as the magic system of the world. At the same time (and I have a feeling this will be ironed out by the publication date) I had a lot of issues with pacing and stilted dialogue. My biggest issue was how jarring it was to read about the "Romans" invading this fantasy world, and how it felt paradoxical to the fantasy setting. I think the analogy of Romans vs. Pangu to England vs. China would have gone down much better had the author chosen to not call the colonizers Romans, but that is my own personal opinion.

Overall, I have high hopes for this book when it is published, and I will be purchasing it once it comes out. If fantasy worlds with death magic, and you don't mind discussions about how awful colonization is for those colonized, and like narratives that force characters to make choices that betray their sense of self at all interests you, then this book is absolutely for you.

thank you netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the arc in order to review with my honest opinion.

i loved this book. i truly could feel ruyings emotions and conflictions with the things going on through the story. i also knew something was up with antony and didn’t trust his character, and only started to trust him when ruying started to. i loved the glimpse into the culture of the world that molly created for this story and i cannot wait for the next book (if there is one) to come out!

Had to DNF at 40% due to current life circumstances, and I'm so upset. I really can't wait until I'm back in a situation where I can finish this book.

That being said, I'm torn on how to rate this.

In this day and age, it's hard not to be uncomfortable with most aspects of a romance between the colonizer and the colonized. Having not finished, I don't actually know if this is the endgame romance for the story, but reaching the point where it potentially could be felt like slamming into a brick wall. I really thought this would become a childhood friends-to-almost-enemies-to-lovers sort of story, but as soon as I read the way Ruying described the prince I had a sinking feeling it was going in another direction.

The worldbuilding is good, with an original twist on the familiar theme of colonization without losing any of the severity and sincerity the subject requires, which makes the potential romance between Ruying and Antony all the more jarring. Chang's descriptions paint a full, solid picture without bogging the story down with unnecessary detail, and bits and pieces are delivered at a comfortable pace as necessary instead of info-dumped in one sitting. Everything is explained as its needed, which is skillfully done since the world has quite a bit going on.

The characters all have a good bit of nuance; they're neither two-dimensional props nor overly-detailed beyond necessity. Ruying, the protagonist, is well-written and refreshingly "normal" in a sea of books where the heroines somehow powerful and independent but also weak and dainty. The novel itself is compelling, and I became invested in Ruying's story pretty quickly in comparison to many other books I've read lately. My main complaint is that she isn't really as morally gray as marketing seems to describe. This world feels like Ruying should have a bit more bite to her than she does.

Finally, the writing is fairly good. The sentence rhythm and the story flow is done well, with longer prose and dialogue well-mixed. It's easy to get into, and to stay immersed in without feeling like some parts are dragging or jumping ahead. The use of multiple short statements/sentences in succession is a little overdone here, but nothing difficult to gloss over.

Final decision: I don't like where the romance seems headed, at all. But quite frankly, the internet loves to fawn over white women writing really deranged relationships and calling it "dark romance," and I am not going to flay a POC for appearing to make a similar narrative decision. Appropriateness of the potential pairing aside, the book is good. The concept is compelling, the world is intriguing, and the writing is enjoyable. I would certainly read another book by Molly X. Chang.

I feel like so many books that had such killer concepts have been so disappointing lately. To Gave Upon Wicked Gods is definitely another one. The pacing was off, most of the story very much felt the need to tell us everything instead of showing us half of it. I didn’t care for most of the characters. And I just overall and disappointed with this story.

I just wanted to say thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X Chang opens with a letter from the author about the inspiration for the book. She speaks about her grandfather's experiences in China when Manchuria was invaded and they had to flee to save their family. And how she only realized the scope of the events that occurred during these invasions later in life when she started to research the history of her family.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is set in a world where some people are born with powers and some are not. The culture is based on traditional Chinese history, complete with language and myths. The main character Ruying was born with the ability to take people's life force from them.

In her grandfather's lifetime a giant portal was created in the sky and people from a different world started to invade their country. These people did not have magic, but their technology was a lot further advanced, making any fight a massacre. Now, decades later, the Romans are oppressing Ruying's people and taking them for experiments. She also gets captured and in a deal to save her family she has to do the killing for one of the invading princes.

I was apprehensive about starting the book since it deals with the same topics that Poppy War dealt with, but while they were mentioned, they were glossed over. The characters in the book also did not get to grow a lot, and some were mentioned and then never seen again - characters that were apparently a very important part of the main character's life. We also did not get to see much worldbuilding except for some slices of description of wherever the main character was sent next.

Another thing that made the text feel unnatural was the amount of Chinese proverbs added into the text. It really was not necessary to add them in in every conversation.

Overall the book wasn't my favourite, but I can see what the author was aiming for. It was an easy read, but there are a lot of aspects that need more attention in the next installments. I do think that I will continue with the series, since I'm hoping that the series will grow with the author.

This was my most anticipated read of the year, I was so excited to read this debut novel. The cover is beautiful and I was drawn to the Asian-influence as an Asian-American. Unfortunately, after reading the novel, the execution fell flat for me.

The ideas were there, but everything seemed to be given in a "tell-don't-show" manner that was extremely frustrating. A lot of the inner monologue in the book seemed to be very repetitive and I found myself constantly thinking "didn't she just say something similar to this already." I was also left very confused on the setting. I originally thought this took place in an older time, especially with the use of the Romans, but then helicopters were mentioned? Additionally, it is thrown in at the end that the Romans came through a portal from their own world to Pengu. It left me confused and wondering if it was a mistake in the early-on world-building or if it was intentional to leave the reader in the dark until the end. The whole separate universe was not clear.

Finally, my biggest gripe with the novel is the romance between Ruying and Antony. I am unsure what the author's intent was to include this as she condemns Ruying's oppression by the Romans, but has her fall in love with the Roman Prince. I cannot stand romance plots with clear power imbalances at play. Antony tries to entice Ruying with the idea that they can be equals, but Ruying does eventually realize they never will be. I'm unsure if the author included this romance line as a critique (even this seems generous), but it was not enjoyable to read about nonetheless.

The Author's Note provided context to the inspiration for the author, but I am still left wondering why she chose to tell the story in the way she did. Ruying's character development was behind closed doors (mainly with her powers) while the romance was put front and center. Many of the side characters also felt one-dimensional. The whole book felt very underdeveloped to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing group Ballantine for an early ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC!

I am going to begin with what I liked in this book as there were things I genuinely enjoyed!

- The aspects and discussions we got on opium drew me in. I am an absolute sucker for these types of stories (ex. when Meiya’s addiction was, albeit briefly?, explored and it shows the many faces of how addiction affects both the person and those around them.)

- I also found intriguing (when Ruyuing wasn’t commenting on Antony’s jade green eyes) the parts we got about the absolute hell Er-Lang is in. In these instances, although it’s from a 1st person perspective, it’s clear we’re telling a story of brutal colonization, death, and destruction.

- The last thing that sticks out is Baihu’s character, as I found his to be the most interesting and do wish he had more opportunities on the page. While there are a plethora of gripes I have with this book, his character is not one of them. (Baihu save me… save me… save me Baihu)

MOVING ONTO MY GRIPES!!!
(and my, there are plenty to go around. I definitely won’t be able to touch upon them all, but I’ll do my best.)
- First and foremost, this is straight up a colonizer romance and a VERY abusive one at that (naturally, those type of relations are going to be but 1.) this is my first, hopefully last, colonizer romance and 2.) I have no idea the usual threshold for… those types of behaviors in these books.)
- I do not think the marketing was appropriate at all. Calling this a (not verbatim) “true enemies to lovers'” and a “star crossed lovers” was… definitely a choice. I did, however, think the ending, where Baihu shows Ruying all the plentiful awful things Antony has done to her, her family/friends, and her people, was a good way to show this so desperately needed wake up call for her.

- Besides that, the world building was lacking. Maybe this’ll be something expanded on in the future books in this series, because it really did not make sense at a first glance.
Fictional Medieval (?) China named Er-Lang with minimal defensive forces (weapons, etc) and Rome (like the real life Rome) that colonizes Er-Lang from a sky portal and has very advanced artillery and military.
- Maybe I got that wrong? Let me know because I genuinely don’t know how to explain this world in a way that makes sense. The amount of times a car just showed up and I had to pause a moment cause I was still in Er-Lang in my head… too many.

- Back to Ruying and Antony for just a moment, apologies for my scatterbrain-like review. I was not expecting the egregious amounts of green eye mention, (shout out to all my jade-green eyed people i guess lmao) and it seemed to come out of nowhere, like we get it, the white dude has green eyes… can we get back to the darker themes now??

Anyways, overall this book left me feeling really disappointed as it was one of my more highly anticipated books of 2024 This had a lot of potential if the romance simply did not. Exist. I can only hope the rest of the series will pivot completely and stay true to what the ending of this book showed. I swear one day I will win in picking ARCs to read. Until then I’ll just stew in my mild disappointment. 2/5

I received an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

While this story started a bit slow for me, it was fascinating in moments. I am captivated by the discourse on general morality, as well as hints at global warming and greed. It asks the question, what would you be willing to do for those you love, and would they appreciate it or loathe you for it. Would it be a simple choice, or one you battled daily. Ruying could be seen as the villain by some, or someone simply desperate for some stability and protection. Overall we get a good look at inside her mind, but I wish we saw more of Antony’s thoughts. Ruying is said to be blessed by Death, and I’m curious to see if more deity discussion comes later in the story. Is it magic? Is it science? Is it both? The duality of existence, beliefs, and character are so strongly represented and push the reader to reevaluate judgments, perceptions, and the like of characters. .

I’m excited to see where she takes the story in a sequel, to hopefully see more of the interaction between magic and science, and to re-read the story in the final published edition!

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Ray for the ARC.

I got this ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going preface this with a few things:

First, I am well aware of the situation involving the racist review bombing in which one extremely insecure person targeted POC debut authors, this book being one of the targets. I heard of this book before I heard of the situation. I don’t remember if I added this book on Goodreads before I heard about this, but I did request the book on NetGalley after I heard about the situation. Not only do these targeted attacks harm the author, but the actions of this person really puts me as a reviewer in a tough spot.

Second, I am weird when it comes to fantasy. I have found that I typically am not really into a fantasy upon initial reading, but I like it better upon the second reading, if I didn’t initially hate it. I’ve had several fantasy books I was “meh” about, but then read a second time and was obsessed. And this one falls into that category where it was “meh,” but I am willing to give it a second chance when the finished book is released.

I really do like Molly X Chang’s writing style. It has a nice flow and voice and she incorporates beautiful (and story-relevant) Chinese proverbs into her story. I do think she has great potential in her writing.

The structuring of this story was a bit off. It felt long-winded at times and the plot doesn’t really show up until the end of the book. The first three or so chapters kind of drag because they are so long-winded and not a lot happens. It gets interesting for a few chapters, but then there’s a huge time jump. It felt like this was supposed to be a stand alone rather than a series and it was needlessly drawn out. Some of the world building was all over the place and it was hard to figure out what exactly was going on.

The romance I can see people having a huge problem with. I really didn’t feel anything for Ruying-Antony. Antony is a colonizer and does quite a few despicable things, but when he tries to woo Ruying, it comes across as manipulative and he really doesn’t do a lot, in my opinion, to win Ruying’s affection. Maybe he does a few good things, but with that time jump, there really isn’t that time to get to find a reason to really like Antony, and maybe that’s the point, you’re not supposed to like him,m. And Ruying is very hesitant the entire book and would rather see him as a friend. I could see this as a cautionary tale of the dangers of ignoring horrible actions of a person just because they were nice to you and gave you affection. The final revelation could’ve been heartbreaking for the reader if the reader was also charmed by Antony and felt something for that romance. I’m kind of curious what this world and this relationship is going to have going forward because I think that Ruying is going to double-cross Antony based on her saying she “lied” about trusting him in the end, because Antony deserves it.

In the end, I am willing to give this another chance. This author does have potential. I may or may not reread this once book two comes out, but I will purchase a finished copy prior to reading book 2 so I can have the finished product rather than an ARC.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy and thank you to the author for your talents. I am excited to see where your career takes you.

Such a captivating story! I love Asian fantasy and this has quickly become one of my new favorites. The mixture of Chinese fantasy/mythology and Roman science was fascinating! One particular aspect I absolutely loved was the use of Chinese idioms and sayings throughout the story, keeping the Chinese characters while providing a translation for them. I can’t wait to see what comes next! Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgally for an early copy!

“To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods” by Molly X Chang was a lovely read! She created a universe that was both very easy to delve into, but also captivating. The protagonist, Ruying, lives in a world where her people, are able to have magic and Ruying has the power of death. For every time that she uses her power, she gets closer and closer to death. What will happen when she is captured by the Romans, the oppressors of her people?

Spoilers below:

In my opinion, the romance part of this book was very small. They kiss once. I definitely do not think the romance was the main part of the book, and you’re not supposed to root for them. She very quickly realizes that she has been fooled by the oppressor. While it’s difficult to understand how she could even fall for someone who has committed atrocities against her people, she’s human and has been manipulated. She wanted to believe the best from him, that she could morally work for the people she was being forced to work for. However, by the end of the book, she has had the wool pulled away from her eyes. She has realized she has been deceived. Since the author has revealed that the sequel is titled “To Kill a Monstrous Prince”, I do not think this series will continue being oppressor x oppressed. I am very excited to read the sequel(s)!

Look out for “To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods” by Molly X Chang, releasing on April 16th, 2024!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing me with this e-ARC. This does not affect my opinion of the book.

What can I say about this book that haven't been said by previous reviewers? I don't know what it is in the air, but this trend of colonizer romances needs to stop. After The Hurricane Wars and this one, I am not sure I can handle another.

First of all, I want it to be clear that I have read the author's note which contains her background and her inspiration for this book. I have also made a point of visiting Chang's social media to look for the promotion of her book, and after reading this, it is clear to me, that the Anthony, the Roman Prince is indeed a love interest to the main character (I don't care if he is the LI or one part of the triangle). After all there is no way going around this if you really read the book :))

I have to say that, against my expectations, I start this book liking it. The writing was very good, and the worldbuilding solidly developed (although, why Rome lmao?) We were introduced to the characters very smoothly and we get to see the outline of their caracterization, despite them not being outstanding or original in any mean. Ngl, for a moment I thought this wouldn't be as bad as my friends' negative feedback.

The thing is, I cannot fanthom why the author, who justifies her background with her grandfather being the witness to the brutal Western occupation in China, can write about her main character, supposedly symbol of the oppressed people and their resistance, having sympathy and trust for the prince of the oppresive sovereign, like ?????? I really thought in the beginning, judging from Ruying's thoughts to resist, to not betray her people, that this would be different, but boy was I wrong. It is utterly nonsense to have a character, supposedly a smart, independant, rational one, completely throws away their ideals because they were treated with kindness during six weeks despite living under occupation for more than a decade. Ruying was sold to us readers as someone who makes choices to save her loved ones and her country, but the way she acted with Anthony made her a traitor to her cause in every sense of the word. As another character has called her and despite the author's best intention to make her a hero or whatever, Ruying is a coward, and you cannot convinced me that the way she acted in this book aligns with the way she was "promoted" to the audience.

Other than that, the writing starts to annoy me far on into the book because of its endless metaphors, coupled with the idiocy that is the caracterization. Bottom line, if you want to read a book about a complex female character who soughts to fight off occupation, go read the Poppy War by R.F. Kuang instead :)

** spoiler alert ** Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3/5

This book is not a romance. To market it as such does a disservice to what it actually is - or at least, what I thought it actually was - which is an exploration of a character who is continually brought to what she thinks is the edge, only to learn that her ground extends a few feet further.

I didn't see the marketing for this book, so I went in blind, only seeing the reviews listing all the ways it is a problematic romance once I finished. I get that perspective. There is a lot of time devoted to the attraction between Ruying and Antony, a lot of time in Ruying's head exploring those feelings (which she admits herself are problematic), and with the addition of the childhood friend, the faint resemblance to a love triangle that will be resolved in future books.

Perhaps future books will develop those plot threads further, but as it ended, all I saw was a girl who was doing what she thought was her best to keep herself and her family safe. Who took some comfort in the kind of attention she wasn't used to receiving - took comfort from the person who brought her a semblance of safety for the first time. This is not a reflection on her being a dumb MC, this is Ruying struggling to protect her own mental/emotional wellbeing.

Antony as a character was interesting to watch. What we see is a man who is obsessed with control, with maintaining his status, and with those he chooses to let in. His obsessive romantic interest in Ruying sets him up as a compelling villain for future books - a move I hope the author chose to make, rather than trying for a redemption arc.

Addressing the romance aspects aside, the concept of a "portal" between worlds was something I hope gets developed further. As it stood, I desperately wanted to know more. I pictured it as a portal between universes, though it seems others pictured it as space travel between planets. I wish more time had been devoted to developing the relationships between the characters, that we had gotten to see more of the outside forces and less of the circular thoughts inside Ruying's head. It did get repetitive, and for that I found myself docking points. The friend's death at the end would have held more of an impact if I felt like I knew her at all beyond "Oh that one girl in the military".

All in all, a solid start to a series. I will be keeping an eye out for the sequel.

This was such a refreshing read! I don’t know what I expected but it was definitely more than what I imagined. I got a bit frustrated with the characters at times but the plot and the world building were amazing !I’m definitely interested in reading more by this author !

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House for giving me access to the e-arc of this book!

I have some mixed feelings on this story. I very much enjoyed the world that Molly has built, and the main conflicts between Pangu and Rome kept me hooked. But the main character, Ruying's decision making was a constant frustration throughout the second half of this story for me. In the first half, she very much has understandable issues with Rome, Antony, and his plotting, but then we are suddenly taken 6 months in the future, and she suddenly trusts Antony and does whatever he asks, even though she still feels like she shouldn't trust him. And this remains a constant until the last few chapters, where it is flat out revealed that, surprise surprise, he had lied to her the entire time, which had been rather obvious to me the entire time. The "romance" between them seemed very forced, and instead of enjoying their "touching moments", I just found myself sighing in frustration over how awful Ruying's judgement is. Luckily, I feel like this book redeems itself by still having an interesting plot brewing with the political intrigue occurring on both sides, and an interesting world built with lots of legends and mystery. I would still consider following this series, although I desperately hope Ruying grows from this and her decision making improves in the next book.

“Death didn’t discriminate, nor did he play favorites.”

This book was sooo good! There was so many twists to the story and I couldn’t honestly think straight or try and predict the ending. It was thrilling! Also when this quote came-I absolutely could only think of Hamilton for this!

Thank you also to NetGalley for an eARC. Physical obtained through trades.