I already have this book preordered. Just wow, Molly X. Chang has knocked it out of the park with this one. The world-building and characters felt as if they were coming off of the page in front of me and I couldn't get enough. I can't even begin to describe the feeling this book left me, all I know is I am now a fan of the author and I refuse to be anything else but that.

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

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods Is a fantasy that mixes historical conflicts with futuristic science fiction. Inspired by imperial China and Roman oppression and steeped in magic.

The indigenous people are blessed with magical gifts bestowed on them by the old gods while their Roman oppressors used science and advanced technology to their advantage while also crippling the indigenous population with opium addiction. When a girl blessed with the power of death is captured by one of the Roman princes to be used as his weapon will she choose peace or to fight for the freedom of her people.

I thought this story was beautifully written and the world building was well executed. The story was well paced and builds nicely towards and ending that leave you excited for book 2.

I was really excited to read this so going into it my expectations were pretty high. Luckily this book didn’t disappoint! It ended up being a really great read, and I would love to read more by this author one day.

Unfortunately this book did not sit well with me. The world felt very under developed, while at the same time somehow over info-dumping the reader for the first 25%. I am not interested in another story of a colonizer/colonist romance especially with a love interested torturing and imprisoning our main character. I understand that these Romans have technology like airplanes but the world was so strangely built that when our main character is suddenly in a car, I was jolted out of the story and confused about the entire setting. The story was very much show and not tell and wasn’t unique or gripping enough to interest me in furthering the series. Thanks for the opportunity.

This book is something I was not expecting. I think there will be mixed reviews on this book and for good reason. IF you go into this book looking for a romance I think you will be greatly disappointed. This book is at its core about colonialism and the oppressed doing what they need to do to survive. The main character is not trying to save the world and is a scared 19 year old who has lived in a society on the brink of war. The way this book is advertised as a enemies to lovers really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can't speak from a POC view but the "love story" is very imbalanced. Without giving anything away I think if people go into this realizing its discussion of what defines people at their core and no one is pure evil or pure good then you will enjoy this book. However there were some frustration I had with the magic system.
I felt like first off, if you aren't a fan of prose writing you will quickly get frustrated with this book. The author writes a lot of analogies and almost gives similar Rebecca Ross vibes. The two worlds that are conflicting are Rome and Pangu. I felt like using such a commonly known historical empire that people are going to confuse it with this version of Rome. This Rome is another world (I'm assuming similar to earth,) and had science and modern technology. While Pangu is similar to ancient China with some individuals who have the ability to do magic. This was confusing till half way through the book when they explained the random portal they talk about from the beginning. I appreciate that the author didn't try to info dump everything like a lot of magical systems do but a lot of the information I was missing was a distracting to me when trying to get into the world. I wish there was more of a emphasis on what happen before the characters time and maybe it will be explained in the next books.
Overall from my perspective its an overall good book. I just think if people want a love triangle or major romance you will be greatly disappointed. I appreciate the chance to read this ARC and hope to continue with the story when the second book comes out!

4 stars

Mild spoilers!

[Please mind the author's content/trigger warnings, including drug use, drug addiction, murder, war, and more.]

Pros:
I loved the concept of a clash between magic and technology, and a large scale isekai by way of invasion where our world is the villain! The author did an excellent job staying true to characterizations, motives, and plot threads - at no point did I think "that's out of character" for anyone, or ask myself "What about xyz, wasn't that a point of contention?" It's refreshing to see so much consistency, so much so that even though I knew how certain characters would react in a given situation, I was still dismayed or amused or indignant!

I really enjoyed how much I empathized with Ruying as the victim of wide-scale invasion and colonization, and the large and small ways that affected her as a Pangu person and as a woman. It also played a heavy part in her decisions throughout the book, and I really felt the agony over protecting her family versus betraying her people.

(Very small note, there were a handful of Taylor Swift references I really enjoyed!)

Cons: From the get-go, the author did a great job of making me suspect Prince Antony's motives, leaving me to feel an undercurrent of unease when Antony was on page. Unfortunately it worked too well, and I had trouble connecting with the romantic relationship between him and Ruying, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. The six month time skip didn't help in that regard; I felt there were too few scenes between them for me to really feel what Ruying was feeling for him when she started to feel it - BUT his single chapter POV really helped clear the way in this; honestly, I wish there had been maybe one or two other chapters from his POV, though that would've made a certain revelation pack a little less punch, even though I was waiting for it.

Overall: I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free digital ARC for my honest review!

Freaking PERFECTION. 10/10. This was just so so good. I couldn’t get enough of it and wanted a thousand more pages of this.

Pair this with IRON WIDOW and you'll have the perfect reading combo. Much like Xiran Jay Zhao, Molly X. Chang creates an anime-style world that mixes science and magic, trust and betrayal, and muses on themes of colonialism, patriarchy, and what lines we're willing to cross when our options are war or survival. Ruying is a messy, complex MC whose impossible choices felt real and relatable, and Antony felt equally layered, while also supremely manipulative and dangerous. Looking forward to the next one.

To say I was disappointed in this book would be an understatement. I am not a fan of oppressor romances and the romance dynamics were very off putting in this .

Thank you for the arc

Review publishes on April 10th, 2024

TO GAZE UPON WICKED GODS is a collaborator's view of colonization, as a girl with the power to wield death agrees to work with a prince among the colonizers because he promises to use her in pursuit of lasting peace.

Ruying has been trying to keep her twin sister alive and their grandmother cared for even as everything else is falling apart. Their city is divided, literally, with half of it carved away for use by the Roman colonizers from another world who have held the city in their grip for more than two decades. The Romans brought a powerfully addictive drug with them, promising it would unlock the people's magic but all it has brought is pain. After losing their father to the drug, Ruying is trying to wean her sister off of it, bargaining away whatever possessions she must in order to keep her family together. Already in this precarious state, Ruying is unable to say no when a mistake lands her in Roman dungeons, faced with torture and death unless she agrees to help one of the princes with his dreams of peace through Death like only Ruying can wield.

Ruying is a fascinating main character. Normally I don't like characters who make terrible decisions when a better option is clearly available, but that's not quite what's happening here. There's an ongoing discussion of which definition of "better" should be applied. Ruying's choice might not be the one I would make, but I completely understand why she does what she does, and I don't know for sure if I'd actually disagree under the same circumstances. That tension makes for an excellent story, with Ruying fully committing to her choices once they're made, but then remaining open enough to reevaluate her situation as new facts come to light. At her core, her goal is to protect her family at any cost, and that drives her to a great many things which she would not otherwise accept. Ruying isn't the only one making such choices, early on she interacts with a sort of friend who has been collaborating with the Romans in exchange for access and power. She judges him at first, then comes to understand why he does so. Ruying finds herself in a colonized/colonizer romance, always aware of the coercion which is inextricable from her position. She cares for Anthony, but any safety she feels is always at his discretion. He might really love her, but there's no risk for him in that, not really. Whereas Ruying knows that if she loses his favor, she and her family could lose everything in an instant.

The worldbuilding is excellent. It focuses on the people, the language, and culture, frequently including passages and their translations. There are also frequent reminders of how the Roman invasion changed things, never letting the reader forget that it hasn't always been this way, even though for the reader, it has, because this is our first view of this world. As the first book in the series, this doesn't have to resolve any particular major plot point because it's still setting things up for later. Ruying makes an important decision towards the end in a way that serves as an emotional resolution/climax of the story, while establishing a new status quo for the sequel.

I had high hopes for this book purely based on the gorgeous cover and intriguing synopsis.

Unfortunately, that hope was short lived.

The concept of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is so good with the mixture of magic and science. It’s really too bad it took forever for the story to gain any momentum, partly due to the repetitive details and recycled emotions throughout the book.

I hope the follow up novel with make improvements as I do think the ending was a great reveal and look forward to seeing how Ruying will handle the news she is given.

I can’t say that *To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods* doesn’t have the most beautiful looking cover of the 2024 releases, but I can say that what’s inside is genuinely something I’m still chewing on. Hate-chewing, in fact.

I read this when captive, smushed tightly in an economy-class plane across the Atlantic. I can say I finished it in one go without succumbing to being airsick, but I did spend a majority of my time power-reading through the end because I *genuinely* was bored (exasperated? tired of it all?) by the end. That’s not to say I’m not looking forward to a sequel— but that because I felt it ended all to soon just as we were at the really interesting bits. I loved the interesting bits (spoilers!)! Please do not be afraid to not dish out interesting bits more frequently in the future.

The summary: The blurb outlined a genuinely catchy “enemies to lovers” plotpoint, despite the overuse of the term in the last few years of publishing. (See *Fangirl Down* by Tessa Bailey being blurbed with “touch her and you die” energy while being about— get this— a “my dad is a lawyer” khaki shorts golfer. Have publishers gone too far into trying to catch some of that SJM energy that we’re just circling into romantasy parody at this point?)

For the good: The part that really succeeded here was the worldbuilding, and I’m a person who will re-read books with fantastic worldbuilding, even if I see the plot-twists a mile away. The interesting bits (aka spoilers) is intriguing and something I'm interesting in following up on. The futuristic tech! The mirrors between extreme poverty and extreme wealth! Here, the worldbuilding is vibrant and colorful, and has a lovely mix of Asian-Roman influence everywhere— but we end up losing that vision when I’m being reminded over and over again with internal monologue about brutality, colonization, and exploitation. The reader keeps being pulled out of the worldbuilding for Ruying’s endless, endless paragraphs whining about how unfair and oppressed and hopeless everything is. I can deal with whining— I can deal with some hard times and being knocked down and then knocked down again— I can’t deal with a FMC who also pounds me in the head with self-righteous opinions and her own indifferent complacency.

The plot seemed to happen to Ruying, instead of her happening to the plot, which is disappointing in a book billed in a similar vein to *Iron Widow*. *Iron Widow’s* Zetian happened to the plot, the plot certainly didn’t happen to her. I love a character with self-agency and a willingness to bottle up that rage and move forward. Bless her, but Ruying just seemed to take her rage, spit it out in paragraphs every few chapters to remind us of how terrible everything is, and generally accepted that the plot would happen to her with the most minimum emotional reaction possible. Was I moved even once? Is my heart too cold? Did I miss the point? Regardless, we’ll let Ruying go on for a few more paragraphs about how much she loves her family (who would appear to not be emotionally bothered if she stopped existing, too).

The relationship: I can’t say this is enemies to lovers, because I’m genuinely baffled at why the main characters (Ruying and Antony) are even the romantic pair? And here’s the thing— Antony is just… flat in such a way that bothers me. Even when we move forward into not!Rome, I still cannot find a single redeeming point in his characterization and I’m refusing to re-read *To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods* in 2024 again to cite sources about how much I really didn’t like Antony.

The opposite of love is indifference, not hate. For Antony, I'm just indifferent. This isn’t an enemies to lovers relationship or even a hate relationship, it’s an *indifference* relationship because two characters who are simply together because they’re existing in the same Roman villa. Not to mention the infuriating part that the main plotpoint of the FMC being used as an assassin by the MMC is *glossed over with a timeskip*. Guys. I’m just going to break down and let the silent tears speak for me here.

I’m all for some hard-hitting imperial-colonization-criticism in my scifi-romantasy, but this almost felt like a bundled-up Twitter-esque rant in a similar vein of *The Splinter in the Sky* by Kemi Ashing-Giwa. Why am I rooting for a romance when the primary romance interest is considered unredeemable by simply existing in a system bigger than just themselves? I’m genuinely unsure about why so many 2023/2024 "enemies to lover" releases seem to jump straight to the “lovers” part without consideration for why we’re rooting for the couple to succeed: raging anger-I-hate-you romance energy or the main character acknowledging that the love interest is well— not the sum of their environment but the sum of their actions. Heel-face-turns exist for a reason, y’all. There’s even a whole TVTropes page!

In honor of Ruying, I’ll be back to beat you over the head again with this book and how it handled the civilization and politics as a whole. I got the point in the beginning (Rome bad), guys. I don’t need to be reminded over and over and over and over and over again about how terrible things are, I need some movement and plot forward from that thought. Life is certainly not black and white, and there’s certainly people vastly smarter than I who can extrapolate conflict and colonization in an academic setting. Here we’re treated to more of a high-school essay style “well I can’t think of anything else to drive home how horrible not!Rome is, so we’ll just copy-paste some of the earlier attention-grabbing sentences to make sure you’ve really gotten the point.”

All in all, I felt like this could have been a much more enjoyable, morally grey, complex read with some tighter editing and compromises in the rambling in favor of the more interesting (spoiler!) bits. I’d appreciate more focus on the relationship’s primary characters interacting together, focus on how their pairing changes the world and disrupts the existing plot, and less overall hammering home the point. I had a time with this book, and nearly four hundred pages is way too many pages to suffer through before we end up with the main interesting bits in the last few chapters being revealed. I almost threw my Kindle into business class when the book just *ended.*

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3/5, please save me from “enemies to lovers” books when the enemy is *also* essentially the main antagonist who is required to stay "evil" to move the plot forward. I don’t hate this book— I just expected more, and I hope any sequels can deliver a more satisfying conclusion when they’re all realized and read together. I loved the plot and the interesting bits, and I hope this series(?) isn't dragged down by timeskip shenanigans in the future.

ps: I’d appreciate more Baihu. Now *that’s* a morally grey character. If we end up with an ACOTAR style twist, then I’ll be happy to eat this review with a side of buying an edition of this book with those lovely sprayed edges all releases tend to do.

This was a solid debut of YA Fantasy/Sci-fi Dystopia. It has great Asian representation and showcases what colonization looks like throughout the years for the colonizers who stayed to build a new home, for the natives that were already there and whether or not they will rebel again their new rulers. There is not a lot of politics that come into play (yet?); we get a little backstory here and there, but I’m interested to see where we go from here.

Though the world was based on China, it didn’t make sense to have the other side of this ‘portal' be named “Rome”. I feel like this is too confusing and makes us just think of the actual Rome which may or may not be the case? However, the writing and descriptions were beautiful.

I think the magic system was solid, but there just wasn’t enough of it until the very end. The plot was intriguing, but unfortunately there was a lot of info dumping— telling (mainly in dialogue between two characters) instead of showing. Which leads me to the main characters.

Ruying is described as a ‘morally grey’ character and there is even an author’s note in the beginning to ‘not judge her too harshly’. However, I don’t see Ruying as morally grey. She comes off as a lonely girl who was going through a hardship and was clinging to the only thing she had left in this world: her family and eventually the affection of the MMC. And though she did ‘morally grey’ things, I don’t feel it’s accurate to summarize her characterization as ‘morally grey’. Also a lot of these questionable actions happen off-page which was a bit disappointing.

Speaking of Antony (the MMC), because he was told through Ruying’s POV, it’s hard to decipher the type of character he is. We get a lot of vague non-answers and his cementing characteristic which he continuously reiterates is that he ‘kills for the greater good’. And a tragic backstory…. I don’t understand why we get a 2 page POV chapter of his. If his POV was going to be thrown in the mix, I would have liked to see more insight on his character.

I understand the romance that bloomed between them, but I don’t buy it. It’s part Stockholm syndrome, part forced proximity, part they both have gone through a lot has children and found solace in each other? I think this book focused too much on their ‘romance’ and begging each other to trust one another. Ruying’s tendency to accept Antony’s word at face value made it hard to root for her. I’m hoping the ending will showcase a pivotal moment for her and reveal the FMC that I know she can and is meant to be in the sequel.

The side characters were pretty black and white. You knew what ‘side’ they were on and they almost felt like plot pushers. Though I am excited to see what the Rebellion is going to throw into the mix in the next installment.

If you liked Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, I think you would really enjoy this book.

PSA! There is a cliffhanger!

Thank you to the publishers, NetGalley, and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this! I was really excited by this premise and the worldbuilding, but I felt that the romance lacked a bit for me, especially in characterization.

The combination of magic and technology makes for an interesting read, particularly when they oppose each other. The concept of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods feels simultaneously familiar and unique. A girl with power forced to do the unthinkable to save those she loves is not new. Chang’s take was, however, an interesting one that sets this book apart from others.

Pros:
I’m intrigued by the world she has created. It gives Neon Yang’s Tensorate series crossed with a Hunger Games-esque “kill or be killed” mentality. The family dynamics are interesting and different than expected. The magic system is interesting and well thought out, and the plot and major conflicts held my interest throughout the book.

Cons:
This one started really slowly for me, though the second half moved much quicker. The first third feels unnecessarily long. I also didn’t really feel connected with any of the characters. I felt Yang’s flaws and immaturity were more frustrating than anything else, I am really excited to see her grow a real backbone as the series progresses!

Overall, this is definitely a series I’ll follow. For a debut, the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses, and this author clearly has a gift for crafting plot. Solid 4-star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc of this book to read. All opinions a over are my own.

I got this as an ARC on netgalley, so I'm aware there will be changes to it, and the end product will be different. I feel like the book had a great world, a great premise, and everything seemed really interesting. However, the inner monologues that Ruying has, all the times she contemplates her actions.. it feels as though they were redundant. There was more inner monologue instead of action and plot advancement. The world building also wasn't clear, with a lot of terminology, which was new and not explicitly stated. It took me ages to figure out what a Xianling was. I didn't know what Pangu was either. I have to read the next book, though, cause it ended on a cliffhanger, and I was rooting for Baihu all along. I feel like the idea behind it was wonderful, but the execution wasn't. I did like the integration of Chinese culture and Chinese proverbs into the book.

This has so much potential and I was really excited to read it but I just could not get into it and I had to push myself so hard to finish it. I felt like very little thing was just way over explained and over written especially in the beginning. The romance was also pretty weird and I couldn’t get attached at all to the dynamic. The characters felt really flat to me as well. I usually am pretty easy on books and most things keep my attention well but this was a struggle.

What a brilliant premise absolutely ruined by the Stockholm Syndrome romance and romanticization of colonization. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. She fell for her colonizer, that is not what I mean when I say I like enemies to lovers. I actually DNFed this book. Very disappointed. Other reviewers go into more details about the problems with this book, I recommend reading them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for this ARC.

In this debut novel, Molly X. Chang introduces us to the world of Pangu. Twenty years prior to the start of the book, a portal ripped open Pangu's sky; through it, a modern Roman Empire invaded the idyllic world, bringing advanced technology and Roman imperialism. For Yang Ruying, a girl gifted with the magic of Death, survival comes at a heavy price.

I will break down this review into world-building, characters, romance, and plot.

-- World-Building --

Using elements of Chinese history and Manchurian myth, Chang creates a world of dying magic and lost gods, threatened by colonialism. I found her work strongest here, and appreciated the parallels between the fictional Roman Empire and the real British Empire. Just like in 18th century China, these fictional Romans create dependency in Pangu with opian, an addictive drug capable of enhancing Panguling's magic - at the cost of their lives.

Everything about the world illustrates the real horrors of colonialism: the dehumanization, the helplessness, the impossible choice between honor and survival. Chang paints a painful picture of real-world oppression.

- Magic System -

Some Pangulings are "Gifted" with abilities ranging from controlling water, to (like Ruying) the power of Death. Their people believe magic was given by the lost gods, and, generation to generation, their Gifts dwindle; soon, Pangu may have no magic at all. Additionally, magic burns through the life of the wielder - making it a precious resource.

The dichotomy between science and magic, and the potential for learning more about Pangu, excited me. How does magic work? Are the gods real, and what happened to them? What created the portal to the Romans' world? In future books, I hope to see more exploration of the world and it's mechanics.

-- Characters --

Unfortunately, I found characters to be the weakest element in To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods.

Yang Ruying, our POV character, is driven by one thing: protecting her sister and grandmother. Otherwise, she lacks any defining traits. Her appearance is described as "pretty," but otherwise not at all. She has no personal preferences or desires. While this may be intentional, to show how oppression breaks us down to our basest selves, it does not make for good storytelling. Within the narrative, the author mentions how people find reason to celebrate, even in the worst of circumstances - yet this humanity does not extend to Ruying.

I would have enjoyed her character more, had she any personal desires. Does she like a particular food? What did she want when she was young? What does she daydream about now? People in oppression do dream, perhaps even more so, because dreams are an escape from reality.

Instead, Ruying only thinks about her family.

Despite being the driving force of Ruying's choices, her sister (Meiya) and her grandma have negligible narrative importance. Ruying interacts with her grandmother in only one scene, and Meiya only twice. Grandma is defined by her love, sacrifice, and supportiveness; Meiya is resentful, selfish, and lacking in empathy toward Ruying, making her wholly unlikable.

Other characters include Tuahoa and Baihu, childhood friends of Ruying. Similarly, they only appear to move the plot.

Lastly, the love interest: Antony Augustus, son of the Roman Emperor.

-- Romance --

After seeing her Death magic, Antony coerces Ruying into acting as his assassin. In exchange for her family's protection, Ruying assists the Roman prince in his ascent to power.

Antony's character confused me. Described as "cold and unreadable" at one moment, but "warm and kind" another, his character felt inconsistent and insincere. Almost immediately, he opens up to Ruying in a bid for her trust - and it works! Internally, she claims not to trust him - but also feels connected to and comforted by him. There is no clear progression from enemies to allies, and little of the friction I would expect between them.

This relates to an overall contention I have with the writing: Chang explains a lot of major plot, without showing it. This includes the romance, where the story states Ruying and Antony's feelings toward each other, without showing the key moments leading to those feelings.

For me, this romance needed clearer progression and more meaningful scenes between the characters.

-- Plot --

Like I said above, Chang explains much of the plot, rather than showing us through Ruying's eyes. Several crucial months, where Ruying changes significantly, are summed up in a few paragraphs. Because of this, the story lacks immersion, and I struggled to connect with it.

However, the plot is tense and twisting, and, all together, the story raises strong moral questions: Do the ends justify the means? Is it better to fight for what is right, or live to fight another day? What makes us good or bad people? To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods offers no easy answers.

-- Conclusion --

With this debut, Chang brings together creative ideas and important themes. Even though some elements fell short for me, this series has a lot of potential, and I think many readers will enjoy the world of Pangu.

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Review will be posted to Goodreads and my website ( idleinkbooks.com ) two weeks prior to publication, as per publisher guidelines.

Firstly I would like to thank you for the opportunity to read this arc. I loved the characters and the intriguing world of the book. Overall I truly enjoyed the book, however, there were a couple of parts that were repeating. Nevertheless, I really did find this book very entertaining. This book did a wonderful job of combining real-world problems with those of the fictional world. It is a great fantasy read that immerses you in the world. There is most definitely room for growth for the characters in the next books to come. Overall To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was a great debut novel and left me anticipating book two. I can't wait to see what more Molly Chang has to offer.