This was a very interesting premise. I will say it took me a bit to realize that it wasn't base on Earth but in a different world. I really did enjoy this book. The world building was great and loved the different type of characters in this story. I will say I was curious how this was going to play out, but I rather enjoyed the reading experience. I am interested on where they go from here.

I was provided a free copy of this book by NetGalley in return for an honest review

Ruying, our main character, is a Xianling, someone with magic abilities that, while making her powerful, cost her a portion of her life for every use. Ruying’s ability is a control over Death. Ruying’s people have been ruled by the Roman’s who came from another world, a dying world, through a tear in the sky. After making a poor decision Ruying is put in the line of sight of a Roman prince, Antony Augustus, who claims to want to use her abilities for peace. Ruying has to decide if she is willing to use her abilities to better her world.

I have complicated feeling about Ruying as, I believe, I am meant to. She is roughly 19-20 as well as Antony and in many ways this affects Ruying’s decisions. She is a result of her limited life and as she faces more situations she has never faced she is forced to contend with the idea that the world she knows isn’t the world that is. She makes some terrible choices that make me want to reach into the book and shake her. That being said, she has a clear character arc with growth that, sometimes being frustratingly slow, feels very real.

My largest criticism of the book is my lack of emotional connection with the side characters. I think seeing some of these side characters more would help establish them as someone important rather than just a glimpse every once in a while after which we are expected to care about what happened to them. I care a lot about Ruying, but not so much about her family and friends. I feel that this sort of emotional disconnect from the people Ruying cares about takes away from being immersed in the story and fully understanding the situations that she deals with.

I will definitely pick up the next book and I hope to see Ruying’s character arc develop further.


3.75/5

2⭐

Honestly, the first 40% of the book were pretty enjoyable, I had a good time. The concept seems interesting and I was genuinely intrigued.
But once I reached the middle, it became really repetitive, Ruy keeps rambling on and on and on about the same things and that's when I started skimming through. I honestly skipped a lot, I just couldn't make myself interested in the characters stories.

This had potential, I'm disappointed :( I really wanted to like it

This book was not for me. First of all, I have a really hard time with a book in which the colonizer is the hero. Maybe she is planning to swap things up romantically in future installments, but as it is set up, our MMC is a colonizer who has literally been torturing her people. I just can't get behind a romance like that - I can't root for that relationship to succeed. I also felt like the plot suffered from a lot of info dumping. It's a real art to be able to write fantasy/sci-fi in such a way that isn't info dumping, but those who can do it are able to seamlessly create a world, mythology, and society that feels real without blatantly spelling everything out for us. Maybe it's because this is YA, but if so, that seems like a cop out as teens should be given more credit for being able to read richly written worlds and not needing all their information poured straight into their brains. They can handle good writing, and they need to see it. I just felt like the writing was clunky, and the world building was done without much finesse.

I think a lot of people will dig this, but I didn't love this as much as I wanted to. I think this was a very promising start and introduction to this new world, but I didn't love any of the characters. I think this could have benefited from more chemistry between the characters, but I just couldn't connect with anyone, and it made it hard for me to root for anyone. The ending left a lot of open ended points, but I'm not sure I'll read the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was immediately drawn to this book by the gorgeous cover and description. The FMC, Ruying, is blessed, and arguably cursed, with the gift of death magic. Her people are those of magic, and the invaders are those of science. She is forced to use her gift by the enemy prince, the MMC Antony, with the hope that she will save her family and her people. However, the enemy prince has his own objectives.

Ruying's family members are addicted to opian. The author does a beautiful job of describing the tragedy of addiction and how it can tear a family apart. It allows the reader some understanding as to why Ruying takes certain actions in the book. It also plays into the wickedness her people have to endure at the hands of the invaders.

The book is written in Ruying's POV which I'm so used to dual POV books that I had to get my mind straight. Sometimes she was too much in her head and I wanted more action from her.

The book was lacking in romance. It honestly did not need it. There was nothing to really support Ruying and Antony's relationship outside of attraction to physical attributes and the "oh maybe he's not that bad because he wants to help me protect my family". In terms of Ruying and Baihu, they are childhood friends who might have been lovers had the invaders come. Baihu comes to Ruying's aid and shows her the disturbing reality of the invasion that Antony kept from her. If the relationship between the two blossoms further in the next book, I wouldn't be surprised but the book would be fine without the romance. At times like these, a strong FMC does not need a love interest.

Overall, a decent start to a series. Again, I don't think romance is a necessity for this book. I also want to see more of Ruying's powers because I know she is a badass and I just need to see it on paper.

3/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

Not sure how I feel about this...the premise was intriguing and the story had soo much potential but everything from the world building to the characters, fell kind of flat. Maybe the sequel will pull everything together but this sadly was a disappointment.

2.5 stars

DNF

I ended up DNFing this book a couple chapters in. I realized very early this was not going to be for me. While the description sounded great, it was hard to be invested in the story when the first three chapters lacked an active action to ground me in it. Rather, the first couple chapters was 98% the narrator info dumping and complaining. While I believe she is in the right since this is a story about colonialism, there was too much venom that I instinctively wanted to put distance between us. Sort of like having an angry customer come flying at you before you understand the situation and suddenly you don’t care why they’re angry in the first place. It made me not want to be invested in this character. And I’ve read excellent fantasy stories that tackle colonialism such as Spice Road, Forged by Blood, and even Iron Widow. And Iron Widow is the closest to this one because the FMC there is also bitter and angry. But in Iron Widow we immediately get active action scenes that allows the readers to understand and justify her anger, even when we don’t always agree with her decisions. Her bitterness was slowly given to us like spoonfuls of medicine. In addition, this was inspired by real events as the author says in her author note at the beginning, but I wish it leaned more into the fantasy. It was too close to reality for me to enjoy it. While Spice Road, Forged By Blood, and Poppy Wars are also obviously inspired by real events, they created a world and narrative and leaned more into the fantasy to not only make them feel original, but the lessons easily digestible. I think this will be enjoyed by others. But for me, I was turned off by the initial chapters that I had no desire to see if it got better.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

The idea behind To Gaze Upon the Wicked Gods is intriguing and I was interested to see how the world building played out. This one did not work for me in terms of writing style, lack of of character development and unclear world-building. 2.75 rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

First, thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with the e-ARC.
And I need to say it again: I NEED BOOK 2 and need to slap Antony’s face.

I started reading it before all the propaganda from publisher and author herself and to be honest, I think the marketing is giving out FAKE PROPAGANDA. because I got so confused when I looked at the tropes, some of which I didnt noticed in the book.

I took my time in reading it because the first part is all about MC explaing how her world (and family) ended up in the current situation. But it is kind of obvious what is going to happen next; one of the foreign princes is going to use her as a weapon while both of them spend more time together.

not going to lie. I really laughed reading how the foreigns, the people from the other world that want to set their own people there are called ROMANS. Rome was one of the greatest empires of all time, and of course, europeans. But the explanation about how people from Pangu thought these foreigners were gods, I was like “I read this story before… in SCHOOL”, as someone who grew up in Mexico, I read a lot of times the colonization of Mexico, of how Europeans arrived in Mexico and all indigenous groups thought the Spanish were gods because of how different they looked, and treated them like gods until they found out their true intentions and at the end, the spanish betrayed them.

So, MC, Ruying is all time thinking that she shouldnt be doing what she is doing because she knows the Romans are the enemy of her people. And Antony is falling in love with Ruying, but… is he? or is he developing an obsession over her and her power? I really doubt Ruying is in love, as a lot of people in other reviews are saying. you all need to finish the book! even the title of BOOK2 says all, big spoiler!

Also, there are details that are not well described but I think is because this is her DEBUT book. and probably I got used to the excessive details from other authors. I hope Molly grows her ability to write good stories and give us a great conclusion for this and better stories for the future.

This book had so much potential. The world, the rebellion, and the characters were all interesting. It is weird that there is a made up country vs. A real empire , but in modern day. The romance ruined it. I agree with the other reviewers that it is a colonizer romance. There are no redeeming qualities in Antony. He has the power to save her friend after she asks and he chooses not to; he is delusional about how his want for power is different than his family’s; he allows her to be harmed and suffer; he only sees her country as something to possess; he uses her over and over again for his own benefit; the list goes on. The only way it would work is if she becomes a villain as well. But the whole book has been building her up to not be the villain, it would be a complete change in her character. Maybe the sequel can redeem it by having them just be rivals and adding in another love interest that is Roman, but not with all the power and control.. It is also unbelievable that they have been colonized for so long and learned nothing of science. The two stars is for the potential it had.

2.75 stars
——————

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

The enjoyed the premise of the book, this idea of magic vs. science. But nothing about it felt unique when compared to other books that pit the same against each other. The plot was kind of slow to develop. There is a decent amount of world building that happens early on, which had its pros and cons. The world is well established, but it was a lot to get through with the already slow pacing of the book. There is a lot of telling and not showing when it comes to the action. When you hear magic, you expect a certain degree of action. But this one skims over the magic systems, making it hard to connect to the core of the story. Ruying is touched with the gift of “Death,” but her powers are glossed over and not explained well. It's frustrating, given how important her powers are to the overall plot. The writing was okay, but didn’t flow nicely.

The characters are hard to connect with. Antony was kind of mid at best, the quintessential villain in plain sight. I disliked how you knew what was coming from him, as it made the “twist” pretty predictable. Ruying was especially frustrating. She gives up all her morals and beliefs in a single chapter to work for the enemy under the guise of staying alive. But she is established as this strong, “death before all” type of character very early on. So her storyline felt out of place. I disliked her romantic feelings for Antony, especially, as they were extremely Stockholm Syndrome-y. She essentially fell for her captor/colonizer? Ick.

This was a high expectations book that just fell short. Probably won’t carry on with the series.

I’m not sure how I feel about the book. I feel like it has a lot of potential but im finding it hard to connect with the characters. I’m also not liking that there’s a romance developing between the oppressed and the colonizer. He may not be the main love interest but I’m not sure
I don’t think the book is for me but I’m sure many others will enjoy it

This dark fantasy captivated me with its morally gray characters and brutal world. Ruying's journey of revenge kept me hooked, even when the love interest seemed undeserving. I can't wait to see where the sequel takes this unique magic system and its consequences.

I'll admit, I didn't even need to read the full description of this book to be intrigued. Beautiful cover art? Check. Cool title? Check. Main character blessed by Death? I'm all in. Ruying's country has been in conflict with the invading Romans for her entire life. Her city is under occupation, and her people starve or suffer under opian addictions. After a chance encounter with Prince Antony Augustus, she finds herself captured as part of a city-wide roundup and forced to use her powers of Death for the Romans. The set up for the plot seemed to have a lot of dissonant parts (The Romans have planes and guns? Will there be actual gods at some point?), but rather than being off-putting, Chang's storytelling made me confident that all the parts would be woven together into something very new and very cool. There is so much tension in this book: Science vs. Magic, Peace vs. War, Roman culture vs. Chinese culture, and Doubt vs. Trust, and I really enjoyed how Chang used these conflicts to inform her characters' motivations and actions. Without getting into spoilers, I did feel like Ruying and Antony's relationship was a little forced (and not a little Stockholm-syndromish), but the nature of their relationship and how it changes over time is pivotal to the plot, By the end of the book, I still had quite a few questions (How did the Romans get there in the first place? Who is the Phantom?) and I'm hopeful that we'll get more backstory and more fast-paced action in the next book. I'm excited to see what comes next in the Saga of Ruying!

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

Let me firstly say I could not finish this one. I think this might be the first time I had to actually stop, and it’s not for the reasons most others seem to disagree with it.

I made it through a bit more than 50%, but it was the plot, premise and pacing I have issue with.
Ruying is the MC, a young woman blessed with the powers of death, the ability to kill and absorb people’s energy into herself to heal in a fight.
Her parents are dead, sister addicted to Opian, a drug brought from another world, when the empire of Roam pierced their world through a portal.

It’s set in a version of the future where Rome was never defeated and died out, they are the main power in this the other plane, they are more powerful, ruthless and destructive with the reach of modern horrors as weapons. Which they already unleashed on this world for the most part.

The inhabitants of this world, some are blessed by magic from the gods, but those with strong powers are becoming less and less over the last generation. Rome brought Opian, an addictive drug that increases the power in those with them. But those who use their powers often shorten their lives to use the powers. She wanted to save her sister and protect her Grandmother.

Ruying gets rounded up in a raid and told to show her power to be useful or die.
She is claimed by the younger prince of Roam to be his personal Assassin.

One of the phrases that kept coming up was “guns are faster than powers” which doesn’t match up with any other series I’ve ever read that combines modern weapons vs. magic and it was driving me nuts.

And at 50% read and we’re just starting to get off the ground? There wasn’t much explanation of how Rome got there, nothing about their culture, or plane of existence. Why they were there. An occupied country for 20 years would know right?

There were just too many holes, maybe honing this or editing would have helped more to rein it in. I just couldn’t keep going, and I’d read almost everything.

It had potential, but fell really flat.

Thanks to netgalley and Molly X Chang for the advanced copy for my honest review.

I would give this a 3.5/5, but I'm going to round up to 4.

I liked some pieces of her writing style. However, the format was weird. The pacing was kind of all over the place, and the main character is complicated but dumb. I thought the romance was going to be good when I thought the romantic interest was someone else. The colonizer romance didn't really sit right with me, plus we even got 1 random chapter with his point of view.

Overall, it was an easy read, and I don't regret reading it. I will probably give the sequel a chance when it comes out to see if it gets better. I did love the concept and am intrigued to see where they go from here..

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The first half of the book was exquisite. The attention to detail, the world-building, the pace. Molly knocks it out of the park each and every time but once you hit a certain point, it's all just a swing and a miss.

As others have said a supposed love interest out of a colonizer and oppressor is a weird place to take this, when by her own admission, the historic context for this is deeply personal to the author. I don't know what the plans are for this obvious start to a series, but I shouldn't have to have access to the bigger picture to make the first book palatable.

The stakes are high, to be clear, but the fact that the main character is able to justify horror to herself for any length of time just makes her seem weaker than the rest of the cast. She was faced with a hard choice to be fair but the concessions she had to make in the meantime are odd. Go ahead and lump an Emperor into that too. There's being silent in the face of something bigger than you, and then there's whatever this is. The end is a big ole bummer that relies too heavily on you going into the next book to redeem anyone. And I don't know how many of us can realistically do that.

I think the message got confused in what could have otherwise been a home run.

I found "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" to be an interesting story and enjoyable read; however, I can understand why not all readers feel the same. Some readers commend its intricate world-building, exploring themes of war, addiction, and a nuanced magic system. However, others find the initial pacing slow and repetitive, struggling to connect with the morally ambiguous protagonist, Ruying. The narrative gains momentum with intense action sequences and moral dilemmas but falters with rushed plot transitions and a lack of character depth. Despite mixed reviews, the novel's compelling concept, captivating setting, and engaging magic system keep readers guessing, making it a worthwhile (even if imperfect) read.

What an interesting book! It felt very fresh for me and I seem to have fallen into an Asian myth/history inspired rabbit hole. The author is a stunning writer and I will absolutely be checking out what she does next. I really appreciate that she has taken something from her family’s history and has inspired her work. As someone who also comes from an immigrant family background, this really resonated with me, even though our families are not from similar cultures. Will be recommending a lot and this will make perfect gifts for upcoming friends’ birthdays!