I couldn't put the book down! The characters where engaging, complex, and heartbreaking. There was so much emotional depth to the story and the characters throughout that the reader will be pulled in and anxious to see what happens next. The world building and action scenes are lush and well described in the book, leaving the reader anxious to learn the characters' fates. This is definitely going to the top of my most anticipated books of 2024 list.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing group Ballantine, for the early ARC of this book.
There were some things I liked about this book, but there were also many things I didn't like. First the author spent too much time doing the opposite of "show, don't tell". It was a lot of information dumping especially in the first chapter. Some other problems are the fact that she fell for the colonizer. He was super cringy...and nothing that he ever did in front of her showed that he was actually trying to "prevent a war". Just because he said it, didn't mean she should follow him so blindly. Also, it was kind of a boring love story...she only ever let people hold hands, so nothing too exciting to see there. Her friendships in the book I liked. They really seemed to try and help her out, it just didn't make sense that she never listened to them. Some of the world building was interesting. Sihai seemed like a really cool place. The cover art was beautiful. I think when the next book comes out, I'll definitely read it, because I'm hoping it will get better. But then again, she's got guns and missiles versus spears and a few drugged up magic users.

I don't really know how to start this review off.
So I will start off with the things I liked and then get to the things I didn't like.

First of all I love the premise of a book about science vs magic. I think that is such a good idea, mixing new age tech with old gods and magic. However, the book didn't follow through with it. New age guns and nuclear weapons vs magic that's fading for no reason.
The magic is probably the best part in the book, but there wasn't enough of it to hold the book up. You barely saw anyone else's abilities except hers and hers were in general just boring. The most exciting one we saw was the multiplier and that was short lived.

The book cover is absolutely beautiful so kudos to whoever designed that. However I didn't feel like it made sense for this book.

Getting to the nitty gritty here.
The book is repetitive to the point where I was sick of hearing about her dad being a POS. Yes, I got it the first 3 times you mentioned it, it didn't need to be said over and over and over again. Along with a lot of other plot points, they were driven home so hard that I was annoyed when it was mentioned again.
Next, the FMC is one of most wishy washy, vapid, dumb dumbs I've had to read about in awhile. In less than six months, she is willing to literally kill her own people and possibly an emperor going against everything she has grown up and known for someone who just looks at her nice, over a sister who adds little to nothing to the story except to make the FMC feel bad about herself. Which she should because she at almost every turn tried to justify her actions and the actions of her Prince to people who have lived in a literal hell over the things he's done. She had no reason to trust him, he gave her nothing except kind eyes, and money.

If this is. YA book, then maybe we need to reevaluate what YA is. The relationship between the FMC and MMC is toxic Stockholm syndrome.
I would hate to teach Young Adults that this type of relationship is normal or okay.

At one point in the book, she refuses to listen to anything her lifelong friend wants to tell her about the man she's working for, then not too many chapters later, she wants to know everything, but then only cares about it because the person who's dying she cares about, but hadn't cared about since seeing her in a dungeon.
In the beginning of the book she vilifies her best friend who's been helping her, for being a sell out. Then she immediately sells out.
Make it make sense.

This FMC wields the power of death, she is thought to be one of the most powerful Xianlings, and over and over she states that she shouldn't be afraid of anyone or any man. However at ever opportunity she is afraid of everyone, and every man.
She has no backbone, no common sense, and she IS a coward, right up until the very end of the book, and even then she still has done nothing to prove she's not a coward.

This book was entertaining at times, but also I struggled to enjoy it fully. I feel like the idea was there, but it just didn't have the follow through or forethought that I was hoping for.

Thank you for allowing me to read it, I am sorry it didn't work for me

Where to begin? I went in with high expectations because the book cover looked so amazing and so did the synopsis. I want to start off with what I liked, a positive point. I liked the world building so much. Some tend to gloss over world building and let the reader kind of form their own assumptions, but I like it when the writer really illustrates the world. Molly X. Chang did that well, she used folklore and magic to create this world where we are introduced to the characters powers and struggles. The first half of the plot was ok but the further we got into it the more I realized wait this is NOT an enemies to lovers.
This is where things so south for me. If I was told that this was a Stockholm Syndrome type of book that leans into dark romance, then I would have been prepared for it but it is advertised as an enemies to lovers YA book. I hate colonizer romance so much and abuser romance. If I knew this is what I was walking into I would have not picked it up. Also, the romance felt forced (as it always does with colonizer romances).
If the author worked on the romance more and changed the love interest, I would have given it 4 stars (also the writing was a bit repetitive). I want to clarify that this was not a horrible read and it did not DNF it. Molly X. Chang is a great writer and I think this book has a great premise, so I do hope that she continues her craft. Overall, if you don’t mind a little dark romance or anything mentioned above then you will like the book.

I’m incredibly thankful to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc!

I was blown away with the world building, character development and overall story. I loved how the main character found that she was worth so much more and was incredibly courageous. The incorporation of Chinese life and lore were wonderful to read and I highly recommend this book! To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is absolutely perfect for those who enjoyed Iron Widow (Xiran Jay Zhao) and These Violent Delights (Chloe Gong). I loved all three books.

The colonizer/colonized romance is just not it. Also, when looking at romance in a YA book, we should really be showing healthy relationships, showing young women what to expect out of a partner. Not toxic men abusing women who then fall in love with them.

I’m sorry, I did not finish this. The concept was interesting and I was so excited to read it. Worldbuilding was amazing as was plot itself, but the main relationship??? I also saw people saying how she ends up with her oppressor??? I am not a fan of that and could not continue the story.

Thank you to Del Ray and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was truly excited for this book but after reading a lot of reviews about it, I decided this isn't for me. The main positive reviews I've seen were from white reviewers and the negative have been from mainly bipoc reviewers pointing that the romance is with a literal colonizer. I just am not going to read a romance like that and there seems to be quite a lot of other issues that need editing and tweaking which I just don't feel like pushing through. Even small clips I've read hurt my head and I don't want to read a full book like that for me personally.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was a book I could not wait for. I thought the plot sounded fascinating and death magic is always so interesting when done well; but unfortunately, I could not have been more disappointed while reading this book. In fact, I almost DNF'd it because of how uncomfortable I got towards the middle when the romance officially began. Let's break down why this book gets a no from me.

The first thing I want to mention is that this is a colonizer x colonized romance. While I am all for enemies-to-lovers, this was a Stockholm Syndrome dark romance disguised as YA enemies-to-lovers and it was frankly just abusive. There was no equal footing between Ruying and her love interest so instead of an enemies-to-lovers plot it turned into pages of watching a woman get tortured and brainwashed by her abuser. It made me think that this was trying to be a dark romance book for a younger audience and that really rubbed me the wrong way.

The romance itself was also extremely underdeveloped and it made me think that it wasn't even in the original draft of the book. To be honest, I think I would have loved this book so much more had the romance not been in there at all (and as a romantasy girlie that shocked me).

The worldbuilding also suffered because the romance took precedence, leading to multiple pages of lore dumping that interrupted the pacing of the book entirely. The world itself was fascinating and I did love the sci-fi elements, but I began losing interest when the book focused more on telling me how the world works rather than showing me how the world worked.

The writing itself was very choppy and repetitive (especially at the beginning) and it felt like there was no trust put in the reader to follow along with the world Molly X. Chang built. However, several later chapters felt extremely well-written and had beautiful prose and I am just sad that it did not carry throughout the rest of the book. Again it felt like Molly X. Chang was forced to put more explanations into a wonderful world of resistance, and I hope that she was not forced by the publisher to dilute her original story.

Then there is the main cause of my disappointment, the execution of the magic itself. The magic of the Xianlings is the coolest part of this book. The Qi and folklore explaining how magic works were fascinating and the death magic Ruying holds was why this book was my most anticipated read of the year! However, the moments when Ruying learned to wield her magic were skipped over in a time jump. There was also so much promise at the beginning where Death speaks directly to Ruying multiple times while she wields her magic and then Death does not speak again until the end of the book. Exploring Death's magic would have been a great way to tie the world into Ruying's story while also exploring why Death chose Ruying to give his gift. Again I felt like there was a lot of lost potential here, which makes me disappointed.

That being said, the last chapter did change a lot of things for me and I am hopeful for the next book and the next chapter of Ruying's story. I hope that the romance gets left behind and the world and magic become more prominent as this series continues. Molly X. Chang has the potential to be an incredible YA fantasy author with this series and I hope that the lost potential from the first book is explored in the later ones.

Thank you to Netgalley and Molly X. Chang for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang and I think it did a good job of meeting my expectations. It was an entertaining read. It didn't feel like a waste of my time. I don't think it was anything mind blowing or truly unique but it still was quite the enjoyable read. It has an interesting premise and the potential for something truly amazing was there but I don't think it delivered. It's still a good book, though. Overall, it was just an okay read but nothing that will stick with me in the long term.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for this e-ARC. Overall, I am giving this book 3 stars. I didn't really care for it. It read okay, however it feels like a lot of the same fantasy stories out there. The book is set in Pangu where it's currently occupied by Rome. Our MC is named Yang Ruying. She has the power of death and can kill others by ripping their souls out. Prince Antony of Rome wants to use Ruying to assassinate his enemies in exchange for her family to be safe. Antony convinces Ruying in this bargain by basically saying the Romans and Ruying's people will be able to co-exist peacefully if she just helps him become heir. I just - I don't know. This did not feel as a true "enemies to lovers" AT ALL. All we have to go off of is Antony's words that the world would be better if they work together, no actions, nothing. Meanwhile, Ruying is out here assassinating her own people and all of a sudden, she's head over heels for Antony. However, her childhood crush Baihu is trying to help Ruying stay alive. Ruying thinks Baihu is a traitor to her people, but as the novel progresses, we see that is not the case. I personally don't think I will be continuing this series which is sad because I feel like it had a lot of promise to it.
"

I got an early review copy of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book followed Ruying, a girl from Pangu, possesses Death magic and the ability to pull the life from another person. Conquered by Rome, one of the princes discovers her gift and seeks her out to use her for his agenda in exchange for her families safety. Now she has to use her powers, slowly draining her own life, to protect those she loves. Can she trust what this prince tells her or is she just a chess piece in his game?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I was exciting reading her forward and introducing her inspiration; however, I am not sure I quite understood the connections as I am unfamiliar with the historical backgrounds. This was a strong story looking at a conquered people and their fight for themselves and a better world. It was easy to empathize with Ruying and her choices to try to save her family and be on the "good bad" side. I am intrigued with how the story will unfold in the next books.

2.5 stars rounding it up to the 3.

I want to start by saying the I love the cover of this, and the premise is interesting. The world building is done enough so that I was able to understand it, even though I do wish there was more. Death magic is one of my favorite types of magic to read about and I liked how the consequences of using are somewhat talked about in the book, but I was still really confused. It didn’t seem to do much for the plot as a whole. However, I feel this could have been due to the fact that the writing was not my favorite.

So many monologues were repeated from the main character that it genuinely annoyed me. I felt like there really was no growth from our main character throughout the book, and please don’t ask me about the romance because it felt really unnatural and forced. More of an emotional coercion from the “love interest” toward our main character. Although maybe it resolved toward the end, I’m still confused about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this title for my honest review.

I was incredibly excited to read this book, the cover was exceptional and I loved what it was trying to accomplish. Enemies to lovers. morally grey characters, the fight between magic vs engines/electricity? I wish I could have fully grasped those themes while reading this. Unfortunately, like another review I'd read, if Ruying's multiple monologues were cut from the book, it would be half the size. I reached 15% into the book and realized our main character had only accomplished doing 3 tasks, the rest seemed to be world building filler and monologues repeating the same things over and over again.
I tried to continue this book, I really did.
Maybe I will give this another shot at a later date and maybe the ending will redeem the long drawn out beginning but I was not excited to pick this up and continue reading.

I'm not really sure how to feel about this book. I enjoyed the writing at parts but felt that the dialogue between the characters was somewhat unbelievable and I didn't feel like any of relationships between any characters were particularly strong. I enjoyed the world building and magic system, but the characters were rather frustrating to me. I especially found our main character to be very frustrating and hypocritical at times, and while she acknowledges this I still did not think her actions matched with her character. I think the ending really saved the book because I was not a fan of the direction it was taking at all. I would be interested in reading the second book just to know what happens.

I didn't get far, but I think that's for the best after reading what other people have said about this one. 😂 I reached about 15% and didn't feel invested enough to continue and the writing style bugged me too. I also kept getting distracted that the other faction was just straight up Roman.

i really wanted to like this book, because it seemed like something just up my alley, but i am disappointed with how the plot was executed. i think other readers might enjoy it, it simply wasn’t the book for me. the cover is absolutely gorgeous, which is a big reason as to why i requested it. in hindsight, maybe i should start considering my request a little more.

one of the big issues i had with the book was how repetitive the writing was. i understand using metaphors to make a point, but when most of the story is an awfully long monologue in which we’re told everything, it makes for quite a boring read. if we cut off ruying’s rants about rome and her people, the book would’ve been half its size. most of the book is made out of info-dumps about the same information, over and over again, to the point it made me consider skim-reading, because there was nothing new. yeah, your world sucks, rome is a colonizer state, and what else? i grasped that info from the first time it was presented, there’s no need to whack me over the head with it 15 more times.

the writing style itself was good at times, even if it leaned a lot into purple-prose. for half of the story, there isn’t much happening and we’re just stuck inside ruying’s head, which isn’t a very nice place to be. i wish we’d got more showing instead of telling, but alas, it’s a 1st pov and the mc doesn’t know everything.

the dialogue was also quite repetitive, which made the mc seem quite one-dimensional, since she has quite the one-track mind. the other characters’ lines were a bit better, but still not enough to save the story.

the whole book is written from ruying pov’s, which is fine. it’s in first pov, by the way. towards the end of the story there’s a random chapter added that’s in 3rd pov, which is a peculiar choice to make, as it doesn’t really add anything to the story. it takes the reader out of the story, if anything. i understand the point of it was to make the reader root for one character, but i think it severely missed the mark.

sometimes that also made me question the writing were the chapters that are a few choppy sentences long that, i think, were supposed to make the readers see how deep ruying is. i didn’t really understand the point of them and sometimes they were borderline cringe.

ruying was a frustrating character - she’s marketed as this morally gray, almost villain-ish characters, but she’s constantly doubting herself and her choices. she’s also very naive and foolish to trust someone that kidnapped her, tortured her and manipulated her into becoming a killer. it’s like she’s just a puppet without any resemblance of a spine. the second he’s a tiny bit nice to her, she’s completely enamoured with someone that literally put a collar on her (to shock her when she’s not behaving). i get enemies to lovers, but this is just not believable at all.

anthony was exactly the typical villain romance protagonist - completely evil and vile, but not to the MC <3. the book tries so hard to make him seem more dimensional, especially by adding that chapter towards the end from his perspective, but i don’t think anyone would really buy it. he’s constantly lying to ruying and she blindly believes him, which is just insane, because it’s so obvious what his plans are and yet she never questions him. she’d rather trust this guy that’s clearly the enemy than her childhood best friend, whom she knew since she was a child, going as far as considering him a good person. the guy that, again, was part of the enslavement of her people - a good person.

the romance was severely underdeveloped - if i can call it a romance, because, to me, it seemed like she’s just coping with the situation she’s in. there’s not much chemistry between them and, because of the time-skips that are added, we don’t really get to see their relationship develop. towards the end there’s a reveal that makes it so much more unbelievable that this is marketed as a romance, because the power inbalance is just uhh, not that easy to ignore considering everything.

her family, who is the main reason she’s betraying her people, was severely underused. i wish we’d gotten more of them, especially her sister, since she’s part of an important to the plot group of people, but nope. they’re just mentioned a few times, to justify ruying actions and that’s it.

i would love to talk about the worldbuilding because the setting seemed really cool, but it took me a really long time to understand what was going on. maybe i’m just slow, that’s very possible, but there are two planets and a portal and rome is the modern one that works on science and pangu, a chinese-inspired world, works entirely on magic. other than that, there isn’t really much worldbuilding done, which sucks. it took me a little to grasp the fact that there were two planets, so you can imagine how well eveerything is explained. the setting really had potential and maybe there will be more fleshing out in the next installment, but so far i’m left with a lot of questions.

the plot itself was also quite confusing as there are time-skips and we just get mentions of things that seemed really important to the plot - which are just briefly talked about. we just jump from one scene to another and from one place to another, which didn’t help the story at all. there’s no reason for certain plot-points and no explanation behind some of the choices the characters make.

i fully understand what the book tries to accomplish and i do think it’s important to have more stories that focused on these harder subjects, but i think this needed a bit more polishing, overall, as it felt messy at times. i do think the series has potential, but it simply missed the mark for me. the world needs a lot more explaining because we’re just dropped in the middle of everything and expected to grasp what’s going on as we read. i’m not really interested in continuing on with the series at this point and maybe i simply am not the audience for this story. give it a try if you think this is a book you’ll enjoy, as i’ve seen plenty of good reviews.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a high action fantasy YA novel by author Molly X. Chang.

This novel of war touches on the lasting harm of colonialism in a magical fantasy setting. Ruying just wants to love and protect what's left of her family, and her resilience is inspiring and makes you want to follow along on her journey.

The magic of this world is really original, and the villainous princes were well fleshed out. The pacing was a bit slow at first though.

Overall greatly enjoyed this magical YA fantasy!

I honestly would love to give this book 5 stars for the vibes, but the book doesn't have an adequate conclusion. Reaching the end felt like reading the last chapter in an unfinished fanfiction that hasn't been updated in a year or so. Obviously being the first book in a trilogy you know there's going to be some business left unfinished, but by the end of the book nothing has been accomplished and all of the revelations made by Ruying were obvious in the first few chapters of the book. It would probably be better to read as a binge series once the rest of the trilogy is out.

once again we romanticize colonizers and I’m not here for that so I won’t be reading it. Thanks to all the reviewers who did make it through and brought that to my attention via their reviews. I was really looking forward to this and wanted to support it especially after Cait Corrain, but uhhhh, this is not a book for me after all.