Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review

TO GAZE UPON WICKED GODS by Molly X. Chang is a sci-fi/fantasy novel set in the fictional world of Pangu. Twenty years ago, the Romans arrived through a portal ripped in the sky. Since then, they have quickly seized more power, easily overpowering Pangu’s magic with Roman science and technology.

Overall, I liked the book. There is a unique magic system - rare, changed based on the person, lots of different manifestations, and use eventually kills the user (magic is not an infinite resource). I loved the Chinese, specifically Manchurian, influence. There are tons of relevant themes: climate change, subjugated population, radicalization, addiction. I liked Chang’s world-building and writing style.

That being said, I had some issues. The colonizer/colonized relationship was a bit off-putting. Chang tries to make him morally gray, but we only see him patronizing and talking down to Ruying. In that vein, we don’t see much of Antony and Ruying’s interactions. They’re just suddenly in love and we get a single chapter from Antony’s perspective to tell us his feelings are real. We never see the interactions that bring us to this point. The relationship, itself, is full of gaslighting, brainwashing, and Stockholm Syndrome, which makes me feel for Ruying. But it’s toxic and we’re expected to romanticize it.

Ruying knows too much about the Roman culture. She’s supposedly poor and has had minimal interaction with the Romans, yet she knows all the names and behaviors associated with Roman technology.

There was a lot of telling, not a lot of showing: Meiya is kind, Taohua is strong, etc. We rarely or never saw the characters behaving in that way. The pacing was off: the first 20% and the last 20% were good, but the middle was quite slow. The language was very repetitive: constant reference to people acting like “wicked Gods;” Ruying’s internal monologue was the same set of thoughts and we rarely saw her perspective outside of those thought patterns; and the few bits of dialogue between characters were, essentially, the same conversation over and over.

All in all, I love the concept. The book just needs more editing. I’ll probably pick up the next book in the series, as I do want to know what happens, and am excited to see how Chang grows as a writer.

This book was okay but there were a lot of issues that kept me from fully enjoying it.

The overall plot was fun. I didn’t expect this book to be science fiction, but I thought the idea of people from another world coming to destroy another through a portal in the sky was an interesting concept. What I didn’t like about this setup was the execution. I felt like the book waited too long to tell us it was science fiction. It was a quarter of the way through before technology like cars and guns and keycards and helicopters were introduced. That late in the game, it felt jarring and out of place. And worse, the main character, who is from a seemingly historical period of time, knows all too well what all these foreign gadgets are called. If she is part of the oppressed people of Pangu being colonized by alien invaders, she shouldn’t know foreign words or concepts like remote controls, or understand that that hand movements her enemies are doing on tablets is called typing and swiping. She’s too knowledgeable.

I did really like the magic in the book. Nobody seems to know where it came from and it manifests differently for different people. Unfortunately, we only get to see one example of another person’s magic besides the main character’s. I feel like it was a missed opportunity to showcase some unique supernatural abilities and present some conflicts, which the book was sorely lacking. Chinese proverbs are scattered throughout the story. I enjoyed those, but it was often the invaders who were using them. Ruying felt too fluent in the Roman tongue and they too fluent in hers. Linguistic miscommunication could have added some conflict as well.

I am sorry to say I did not enjoy the storytelling in this book at all. It started off really good, introducing us to the main character’s friends and family members, and explaining how Ruying’s life has changed since the invaders arrived from Rome. But most of the book seemed comprised of the main character’s inner thoughts. I grew bored with the lack of action and dialogue, and the repetitiveness of her internal struggles. I felt like I was reading a teenage girl’s diary, page after page about her crush on her enemy and her conflicted feelings towards him and his people. But there was very little interaction with other people, and absolutely no witty banter between characters at any point in the story.

I did not like the romance at all. In the beginning of the book, a character named Baihu was introduced. He and Ruying grew up together and there was an attraction there that I assumed would turn into an enemies-to-lovers romance, since they were both from Pangu but Ruying disagreed with Baihu working for Rome. But then Baihu just disappeared from the story, as did all the other side characters, including Ruying’s friends and relatives. All we were left with was Ruying’s internal complaints about having to work for the Roman prince Antony. I expected some hostility between them or for some chemistry to spark, something to explain the enemies-to-instant love between them, but nothing really happened. He used her as his personal assassin against her own people, and she fell into his arms to weep about it, and that made her love him. It didn’t make sense to me that she would find his presence comforting when he was the cause of her pain. Every time he spoke to her, he sounded like he was mansplaining why he was superior to her race, and it felt gross. I couldn’t buy them as a believable couple, not only because of their situation as captor/captive but also because they never had any interaction that wasn’t him being threatening or condescending. He would refer to himself as “I, Antony Augustus” when speaking to Ruying, as if she didn’t already know his name. He even called her “honey” one time and I felt my skin crawl. He might be the most repulsive love interest I’ve ever read in a book.

I was glad when the story finally picked up around the 80 percent mark. The action was fairly fast-paced after that and some interesting scenes finally occurred. I was just disappointed the bulk of the book felt so empty and repetitive. And then the ending itself just kind of petered out. There was no explosive climax, no anxiety-inducing cliffhanger. I really don’t feel compelled to continue the story when the other volumes to the series are released, after what I have read.

Finally, I noticed a lot of grammatical errors throughout the entirety of the text. Tense kept changing mid-sentence and made the phrasing sound so awkward. Words like “at” and “to” were often omitted entirely. This felt like an early draft of a book that still needs a lot of work.

This is an Arc Review. Thank you Net Galley and Molly X Chang for this opportunity!

I read a lot of fantasy and this definitely feels different than most I have read. I spent most of the book trying to decide if Ruying was too easily manipulated. I don’t know how I feel about Antony. Some parts of this moved very fast (like when Ruying first becomes Antony’s assassin) and other parts went into more detail. All in all I would read the next books. I want to know what happens and I am invested in the characters. 3.5 stars


Trigger Warning
Drug addiction
Experimentation on people

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a good book. Molly X. Chang's writing is great, her world-building is excellent, and the plot focuses on the messy intersection of interpersonal relationships and politics, which is ALWAYS the fun part. Perhaps most importantly, it showcases the dilemmas that can arise from colonization, especially when a colonizer and one of the colonized catch feelings for each other, and that's frankly not something I've seen discussed in fantasy fiction, or at least not that I can recall. It's an important thing to talk about, and certainly something that gets glossed over in both real life and fiction. All in all, I can safely say that To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a solid option for a YA reader who wants to read a book that connects to real-life cultural circumstances, or maybe just a doomed romance.

That being said.... it was not MY book. Maybe it was because it's written in the first person, which I don't tend to like at the best of times and I just could not shove myself into Ruying's head. Maybe it was because I disagreed with Ruying's understanding of the political situation and what she should do about it, especially at the end. Or maybe it was that I just wanted something with a happier ending. For whatever reason, I had issues enjoying this book. However, I think those issues were very subjective, and probably wouldn't affect most readers, especially not in the target audience. In my opinion, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is well worth giving a shot, even if you don't end up loving it.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fictional story about a future with Rome and Pangu – sort of China – as the only remaining powers. Pangu isn’t doing well holding out against Rome. Rome has their science-based technology: Pangu as their Xianlings – who use magic.

Our protagonist, who tells the story first person, steals gold from a Roman Prince. Her magic is Death. She is captured, but makes a deal with the prince who wants her to propel him into power, promising an end to war. He talks a good story. Can she trust him? Her childhood sweetheart, viewed as a traitor, lives a good life having allied himself to the Romans. Can she trust him? How about her sister, who is addicted to the Roman’s drug, yet has posters of the brewing Pangu insurgency, the Phantom?

There are choices to be made, and sides to take. Will she make the right choice? What happens after she realizes she’s made the wrong choice?

It is honestly quite unfortunate that yet another abusive colonizer romance is being published. Most especially from an author who has been radiosilent on the genocide that has been happening in Palestine and other atrocities that are happening across the world.

I think the worst thing about this is that in addition to all of that this is a YOUNG ADULT book. I find it absolutely disgusting that we are glorifying abusive colonizer romances in books for kids.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was enjoyable. I thought the characters were interesting and I really liked the writing style. There were some things about the plot that I would have liked to have seen tightened up a bit. I stalled about 60% in the book but I did think the last 20% really picked up and I liked it.

The book does deal with addiction. I have witnessed addiction in my life but I’m not going to go into the book's representation of it. As a reader though just be aware it’s in there and a main plot point.

Ruying was interesting to me because she often says so and so would be disappointed in me if they saw me do this. So I wondered what she actually thought because it felt like she wasn’t really thinking for herself. That she was making decisions based on what other people thought of her and what others told her was right.

I started to hate everyone. Ruying had people who screamed things at her but told her nothing. People may have lied but treated her with more kindness in a strange way. Ruying was being used and manipulated by everyone. I didn’t think of her as weak but someone who didn’t know what it’s like to have a true bond. Ruying’s character did develop a bit as the story went on but the problem that I have always had with betrayal in books is that often a character will then just switch to the other side. Like oh this side betrayed me, so I’m going to go to this side instead of just saying. Listen both these sides are crap, I’m going to take my own side. I wished I had seen more development in Ruyings character in this way.

I felt confused about the portal. Was it an actual portal? I know it mentioned ships. I didn’t understand how it was made or how it got there or if it really was a portal or if it was just ships flying over from another continent. I would have liked a little clearer back story on that. It confused me throughout the book. Are Romans Aliens from another planet?

I had so much hate for Meiya for most of the book. Mostly because some things didn’t make sense to me. Like being really judgemental of Ruying when it seemed like Meiya was seeing everyone's cards and Ruying was only seeing her own. This also made the plot feel a little off kilter because I was really sure why Ruying was left in the dark. Certain things Ruying had to do didn’t quite make sense and the sacrifices she made Meiya just kind of brushed off. It super bugged me so I had to stop reading for a bit and then go back.

I like “villains” like Anthony because his actions seem villainous but his motivations seem more noble. You really don’t know though. There are evil people in the world and there are people who do not know they are villains because they truly believe their actions are based in good.

So the ending was fine. I will read book 2 because I would like to see Ruying free herself of everyone. So I will be curious how that all plays out.

I think this book suffers from bad timing. There are so many parallels to current events that the main character having a very "both sides" position where she sides with her oppressor is uncomfortable. I do think based on the end that the series as a whole will not be like that, so I'm interested to see where the sequel goes.

Prose-wise, it is very repetitive. So much introspection that is more or less there same over and over. Instead of plot, we got the MC thinking about her woes.

World building is really cool. I just wish for a clearer answer as to who the Romans are. Are they a nu-Rome in Earth's future, or is this an alternate history where Rome never fell? What about Earth's China? It can be spelled out in the sequels, but I wish there were more hints because it was kind of confusing.

Full review will come later in a video but....

This story had so much to love in its premise, and knowing the author's inspiration I can see how much of herself was put into the story. That's why I am so heartbroken by how let down I was by this book. I genuinely wanted to love it, begged for it to get better, only to read the last page and say "wait, that's it? That's the cliffhanger?"

TGUWG has some great elements and a strong authorial voice that I can vibe with, but this story needed another round or two of edits. Pacing, character development, world-building, and core plot ALL need improvement, and at the end of the day I can't identify the target audience...which isn't great. Some parts feel like it's supposed to be YA, but the age of the characters and some other elements feel more New Adult.

I think most of my disappointment comes down to the fact that I just didn't like Ruying as a character. I understood her inner conflict and her motivations, but I didn't sympathize or find myself rooting for her. I didn't agree with her choices and was frequently irritated by her behavior, especially her hypocrisy in her treatment of Baihu and her ridiculous crush on Antony.

I hope Chang keeps writing, because I see incredible potential in her writing, but I don't think I'll bother with the sequel for this one.

Small Business BookTok ARC Reviews: "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" by Molly X. Chang

Note: This ARC was given to me for free by the author and I am reviewing this book voluntarily.

What would you do for your family in a world where war is brewing?
Which side would you choose to protect those you love?

Ruying is a girl born with the magical ability to take away life in a world where her people are oppressed and discussion of war starts to brew between her people and the Romans, the colonizers of her world. When she is taken from her home by Antony, the Prince of Rome, Ruying is given a difficult proposition; to use her ability as a weapon for him in exchange for the protection of her family and to prevent a war that could “end worlds”! Could she work with the prince and possibly betray the people of Pangu in the process in order to save the lives of many?

Wow, this was quite a heavy read packed with Imperial Chinese mythos and something akin to Shakespearean gravitas! The worldbuilding established in the conflicting tension between Pangu and the Romans felt extremely real in its tackling of themes of colonialism, oppression, and war. Chang’s writing and emphasis on the detrimental and destructive impact of these practices within the fictional context acts as a reminder for readers to be wary about the repetition of history’s horrific mistakes and consequences.

Ruying and Antony also act as symbolic characters to the commentary within the worldbuilding; While Ruying is part of a restricted society in which she is forced to kill and commit treasons in the name of preserving peace, Antony acts as the oppressor who allegedly wants to break his family’s vicious cycle of inflicting pain on her people, but will make vicious, calculated moves in order to do so. While their dynamic can be upsetting to read, I believe Chang is emphasizing the duality of these two characters and how both characters suffer from being caught in a broken system that was forced onto them since childhood. If you’re looking for a YA book that combines historic commentary with Chinese mythology, don't miss out on this book when it hits online and in-store shelves on April 16, 2024!

Rating: 5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Meter: No Spice

-Tropes to Expect: Magic-Wielding Protagonist, Magic Vs Science, Assassin/Prince Duo, Covert Missions Narrative, Implied Forbidden Romance, Humans vs Nature,
Imperialism Period Narrative, and YA Fantasy.

-Trigger Warnings: Colonization, Emotional and Physical Abuse, Manipulation, Self-Sacrifices, Deaths of Family Members, Addiction, Discussions of War, Toxic Relationship, Family Conflicts, Near Death Experiences, and Forced Human Experimentation.

Even with my reservations about the colonizer and colonized dynamic, I trudged through To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, mainly driven by the allure of the slow-burn will-they-or-won't-they romance between Ruying and Antony. Their relationship's twists and turns proved compelling, despite my discomfort with the underlying themes of power, trauma, and corruption.

However, the novel left me with mixed feelings, reflected in my rating of 3.8 out of five stars. The persistent uncertainty and discomfort surrounding the central romantic theme were the driving force that kept me engaged. The plot's major gaps, particularly the sudden revelation of Antony's Rome as another planet, felt jarring and inadequately explained. The world-building further added to my confusion, with an unclear timeline and technological mix between ancient China and modern Rome.

Additionally, the writing style's repetitive, short, choppy sentences proved to be a constant annoyance. While the slow-burn romance held its allure, these various elements left me with a sense of frustration and a less than stellar overall impression of the novel.

ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

dnfed at 15%

I was really excited for this book. The plot and magic system both sounded so alluring, however, four chapters in and I found myself frustrated, agitated, and annoyed that I'm spending time reading a book like this when I know there are better ones out there. The world building is not well written, and it is shoved onto the reader in long paragraphs of lore, history, and magic without contextual sense as to why it's being explained in that moment. One plot point took over 4 chapters because every piece of dialogue or every character action was interrupted by paragraphs of world building that didn't fit, and I found myself consistently having to remind myself of what was going on, and who was who. If anything, that form of world writing made it less digestible, because no one wants such heavy politics thrown onto them before they even know why they should care.

The first person also increased repetition, and left no room for me to begin empathizing with, or disliking, the characters on my own. I think first person can be well done at times, but this was not an instance where that happened.

In all honesty though, I wouldn't say don't read it. I didn't get far enough to see the plot or the romance unfold, and I can see some people liking it for sure. Life's just to short for me to read books I don't like.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 Stars

I was very intrigued by the premise and promise of this book, but unfortunately, this turned out to be a huge disappointment. This book struggles majorly with telling instead of showing, and it really ruins all of the strong facets. While I enjoyed the evocative metaphors, the main character’s manifestation of death magic, the immersive ancient Chinese-inspired setting, the inclusion of Chinese proverbs, and the compelling character dynamics, I feel like the execution did not do these elements the justice that they deserved.

The first 25% of this book is quite rough, both for the reader and in quality, and it was enough to nearly entirely put me off from finishing. The delivery of information is clunky and lacks nuance; this is true for the whole book but especially so during this first section. Exposition occurs in paragraphs upon paragraphs of the narrator Ruying telling the reader how the world works, including the Roman invasion of Er-Lang, its lasting effects, and the ongoing opian crisis. We are also conveniently and explicitly told Ruying’s backstory in her internal monologue or in paragraphs of dialogue with her longtime friend Baihu which consists of multiple instances of “do you remember this event from our childhood?” The narration also often tells the reader what they should interpret about any information they receive. I can make the conclusion that colonialism is harmful myself and don’t need to be told so.

I think this beginning section would be much stronger with major structural changes. I would have preferred the story to start shortly before the Roman invasion followed by a few chapters of Ruying growing up under this new regime. This way, the reader:
-gains an understanding of the state of the world that the characters want to return to
-witnesses changes caused by the Romans rather than being told about them
-sees important moments in Ruying’s backstory that can be later fleshed out further via flashbacks
-gets to know the important people in Ruying’s life
-develops more of a personal investment/connection by experiencing events rather than hearing about them

As it is, Ruying’s motivation to protect her family at all costs feels somewhat unconvincing since the reader only sees her sister and grandmother in a handful of scenes. It’s very difficult to connect with characters we hardly see and only hear about. The same goes for Ruying’s friend Taohua. I wish these relationships received the appropriate page time to properly show off the interesting relationships the author has created.

There is also a 6-month time skip in the middle of the book in which Ruying embraces her role as an assassin. Nearly all of Ruying’s assassinations take place during this period. It was really disappointing that the author chose to skip what should have been a major and emotionally compelling part of the story. We could have followed the grated change of Ruying’s conflicted emotions as she struggles to choose between her morals or protecting her family as well as the progression of her magic’s negative effects on her. Instead, we are just told that Ruying has changed during this time, but it doesn’t feel earned at all.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing style in this book, either. Ruying’s inner monologue over-relies on sentence fragments and narrative questions, leading to a repetitive and sometimes choppy reading experience. This is further exacerbated by Ruying’s tendency to repeat the same thoughts and questions over and over throughout the book. I think, overall, first-person perspective hindered the story rather than enhanced it because the reader gets bogged down in Ruying’s constant stream of thoughts.

Aside from the craft issues above that weakens the content, this book has another glaring issue: the romance. This could have been an exploration of toxic relationships and the awful things people will do to survive or for power, but instead, this is a colonizer romance. It feels very disrespectful to frame this as “enemies to lovers” or “morally gray characters” when Ruying is blackmailed, threatened, and tortured into this relationship and Antony is quite literally her oppressor. By describing both of these characters as morally gray, Ruying and Antony are inadvertently equalized, thereby humanizing Antony. Ruying’s interactions with Antony are not presented —or at least do not come across— as intentionally depicting a victim and their manipulator; it feels like the author actually wants us to root for this relationship due to the use of common romance tropes like the one bed trope. I would like to give the author the benefit of the doubt here and assume they did not intend to be harmful, but in its current state, this book promotes sympathy towards colonizers, and I simply cannot give it a good rating.

I know this arc has been available for a long time so I hope there has been/will be additional editing prior to the book’s publication date in April. There is a very engaging story here, but it needs much more refinement in terms of its craft and the message it wants to convey.

Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley who provided an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. 

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was a great read, one that was full of dispair, hope, love, and destruction. The main character felt real and raw, and I felt her indecision and desperate attempts to hold onto hope throughout the book. This book felt like it could hold a lot of trigger warnings for many people, so be sure to look into that prior to reading. 

I see some other reviews noting the issue with romance between the MC and her opressor. When I read this, it came across as Stockholm Syndrome instead of encouraging romance, and I didn't feel the author made attempts at making the guy seem redeemable. That relationship was really sad, and I hope that it wasn't supposed to be seen as good, nor do I want it to continue in the next book. I really hope it was not supposed to be an encouraged romance. 


Overall, I really liked the book!

I had high hopes for this book based on the premise, but overall was pretty disappointed. The whole thing read like a rough draft, and the writing style just didn't do it for me. Worldbuilding was confusing (it was not explained well that Rome and Pangu are not in the same world?) and the plot was formulaic. Character development is not great, and I got tired of explicitly being told all the characters are morally grey. The worst part was the romance though. I get that dark romance is a popular thing right now, but this book is marketed as a fantasy romance, and holy hell, dark romance is what we got. It was too toxic and abusive for my tastes, and did not redeem itself throughout the book. Romanticizing abusive relationships (especially in YA books) is something I really dislike, so this book was not for me.

This is another one that’s just not for me. I really didn’t connect to the romance or the main character and that made it difficult for me to continue reading.

I enjoyed reading this book. The beginning was a little slow but added to the world-building. It picked up towards the middle and I became invested in the story.

The characters were dynamic and I like how they had grey areas. There were not heroes or villains.

There are a few typos that need to be addressed in the book.

Overall it was a great story and I am excited to read the second one.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang

★☆☆☆☆ || 1.5/5

---

ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to enjoy this book. The title and cover art is catching, synopsis promising, and for the first 20% of the book, I found the plot intriguing and wanted to know more.

However, it all takes a nosedive shortly after. For a story centered around a war between magic and science, there is little to no in-depth exploration in the differences between the two. Similarly, a severe lack of world-building when it should have been pivotal, considering Pangu and Rome come from two entirely different planets, connected through this portal that is never explained. Use of magic has a physical toll on the user, and we see this depicted in Ruying for all of 1 or 2 chapters before the idea is entirely dropped.

On a related note, the author should have highly considered creating a fictional race adjacent to the Romans for this story. To call the colonisers “Romans” only elicits the imagery of Ancient Rome, yet the Romans here use technology and science. It’s a little disconcerting as a reader, and we’ve already created a fictional world adjacent to China. Why not just commit to an entirely fictional universe?

Characters are dull and underdeveloped. Ruying spends the whole book idolising Meiya, whom she calls “kind”. We only ever see Meiya cruelly putting her sister down, and she takes the award for my most disliked character. The rest of the characters suffer the same issue: too much offscreen character building. Lots of tell, instead of show: “Meiya is kind, Grandma is intelligent, Taohua is strong”. We never see any of this demonstrated through action on screen

Romance was unconvincing. The dialogue between Antony and Ruying was dry and so boring to read. Ruying is gas lit, brainwashed (in the most obvious way; it wasn’t even subtle), and clearly in a Stockholm Syndrome situation. Time skip occurs, and suddenly - Antony and Ruying are in love. I greatly dislike that we had one random chapter of Antony’s POV to depict that he'd actually fallen for Ruying. Why not just show it in his actions instead? What made him fall for her? I have no clue, because both romance and her killings seemed to all happen off screen through time skips! All of which leads to severe lack of development. And to preface all of this with her initial Author’s Note just seems in incredibly bad taste (and I say this as someone who has no issues reading problematic dark tropes - I would entirely remove the Author’s Note at this point). I understand what the author was trying to attempt, but I truly think that proper execution of the idea requires a more delicate touch.

What truly made me miffed (spoiler alert) was that Meiya and Baihu kept Ruying in the dark the entire time until the end. It's like they were begging for Ruying to be brainwashed, and were baffled by the end result.

Other various dislikes:

- Chinese text itself embedded into the narrative (although I did enjoy its application within the story). As a native Chinese speaker, I would prefer to have footnotes instead to make reading flow more consistent
- The rebel group and Phantom are underdeveloped if not non-existent. Zero buildup prior to their appearance
- The Author keeps writing. Like. This.
- Use of time skips to skip crucial character and plot development, resulting in flat characters
- Failed attempt at painting characters as morally grey

For a promising and rather strong start to the story, it peters off quite fast and tragically. The ideas and concepts that author attempts to explore requires a more skillful hand.

3/10

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods started strong with an interesting premise, the might of magic vs the might of science. The juxtaposition of a civilization fighting with bows against one with fighter jets and missiles was great. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there.

The writing was clunky and repeated the same things over and over with just slightly different wording. You are beat over the head that magic can't compete with science, and annoyingly it is just called "science" every time. The book probably could have been 30% shorter without all these repeats, or it could have been just as long and actually taken the time to explore what could have been one of its best parts instead of just skipping over it. Ruying spends over 6 months as an assassin for the prince of Rome Antony. From the books synopsis we are led to believe this is pretty much the plot of the book. In reality what we get is a time skip interlude that just completely skips over almost all of her assassinations.

As far as the "romance" element goes, its disgusting. It is just straight up Stockholm Syndrome. I really can't explain it any other way. Sure by the end the main character figures this out but it is all so painful to read, and not in a good, making you feel for Ruying way.

The end also felt extremely rushed. It is clearly setting up for the sequel but in a way that has very little suspense and did not seem to properly wrap up anything. As I was reading and watching my percentage through the book I kept wondering if my e-ARC might be missing part of the book but nope it just comes to an abrupt end.

I REALLY liked the concept of this book and really wanted to enjoy it but I just couldn't. I feel so disappointed because with different writing this story could have been fantastic.

As a side note there is one passage that reads

"Now in this bed with Ruying beside him, Antony finally understood what his grandfather meant when he said love was a weakness.
Why they fought the wars.
Why poets dedicated their lives putting this feeling into words."


Which to me just seems like the author really enjoys the song "You are in Love" by Taylor Swift (which I can't blame her for) and wanted to just copy it into her book


And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars
And why I've spent my whole life trying to put it into words

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Now, I personally loved this book! I saw a lot of reviews talking about how she always mentions his jade eyes.. I felt like she's just noticing it more so and taking note of it mentally because her people don't have green eyes. It didn't bother me all that much, using the eyes and the science versus magic as a huge comparison. (Although she only really truly compares one character's eyes I suppose.)

The colonizer romance aspect people were talking about... I can kind of see what they mean, but there is a TWIST (not really a twist TO BE FAIR but I saw it coming and was hoping she'd go through with it.. that remains to be seen I suppose!) that ends up kind of tossing that upside down towards the end. (And I realize I had to choose to hide my Goodreads review due to that lol) I was also glad that at every turn, Ruying is questioning herself and if that's the right way to go.. To romance him and betray her people or to take a stand.

Ruying herself is weak willed. But also not at times. I liked seeing her struggle with her own thoughts, her own temptations. It made her feel alive.

I love the idea of the Xianlings and I want to find out why the magic has begun drying up.. was it truly the gods or no?

Also Baihu supremacy. That is all. Baihu. Supremacy.