"What sacrifices will one make to protect the ones they love?" is a question Ruying, the death-wielding narrator of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, continuously asks herself in this fantastic debut. Ruying is convinced by one of the leaders of the colonizing forces that occupy her home world that allowing him to weaponize her will lead to a better world for her people and the invaders -- but at what cost? Will Antony's demands not only take literal years off Ruying's life, but also ultimately harm her family, the very reason she agreed to his dubious proposal? Some readers may be frustrated the pacing and with Ruying's reiterations of her rationalizations, but others will empathize with her internal justifications as she transforms into someone she would once have abhorred.

I wanted to badly to like this book, but it fell short in multiple aspects and didn’t execute the concept in a way that worked. Potential spoilers in my review.

The writing itself felt very surface level in a way. There was so much repetition about Ruying’s connection with Death, her love for her family, and her hatred for the Roman, but it didn’t seem like it was truly conveyed throughout the book. She’s going against her morals to protect her family and friends, but her close relationship with them is barely shown and they feel almost like strangers.

Ruying doesn’t come off as morally grey, she comes off as naïve. If she had a slower progression of acceptance that she’s an assassin and her romantic feelings towards Antony, I could understand her character a little better. I think a time skip after she became an assassin was a bad decision, it would’ve been nice to see her transition into someone who doesn’t struggle to kill as much as she had before and watch her get manipulated and used by Antony. Other people have already spoken on the aspect of the colonizer romance, so I won’t. I think the author was trying to make it where Ruying was manipulated and taken advantage of Antony, and because of the lies he used against her, she thought she could trust him and developed romantic feelings from that. I think that could’ve been a decent plot point, but it doesn’t give time for that to develop, it is too rushed.

The last thing that fell short to me was the world building. The world building is poorly done and as a reader, I would’ve benefited from a map, character index, or something similar. Especially because of the science-fiction aspect, it was hard to picture the world in a way that made sense and information felt like it was randomly scattered in.

Even though I did not like the book, I loved the cover, title, and the concept the book was based on.

A beautifully written epic fantasy that will rip your heart out and put it back together in the best way. I’m not usually a political fantasy fan but I ate this one up with no regrets.

Chang has pieced together a beautiful love letter to Asian culture but has also created a gut-wrenching, gorgeous fantasy in such a masterful way it is hard to believe this is a debut novel. Spinning colorful images and enchanting cities on the bring of war in front of the readers very eyes is part of what makes this book so addictive.

I honestly am struggling with it being over it truly is the perfect fantasy to engulf the reader into rich Asian culture that is under attack by Roman influences. I felt like I was listening to a beautiful piece of music that managed to make me feel empowered and sad at the same time. This book is a symphony that every reader will have stuck in their head for years to come. I honestly can’t wait to read the second one.

At its heart, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods asks us what are we willing to do to survive? And is said survival justifiable if it stands on the back of others? The fictional world of Pangu is caught in an impossible situation against the colonizer Rome. To rebel can lead to death, to survive and work within the system leads to betraying and killing your own kin. The narrative gives more attention to the latter, characters that choose to survive and therefore find themselves in a web of complex choices. The characters who chose to fight back are not given as much characterization, we never get to learn in detail about The Phantom or spend much time with Ruying’s sister, outside of her struggles with opian addiction.

This is perhaps a byproduct of the novel’s romance elements, and how much attention is given to Ruying, Antony, and their relationship. We spend most of the novel following Ruying, who is willing to do anything to protect her family - even if said anything comes at the cost of others’ livelihoods. Ruying, who has a very clear understanding of Rome and their horrifyingly violent, colonizing actions, works with one of Rome’s high ranking officials, Antony. Since she has the power of death, she’s seen as very useful by Antony in pursuing his own ambitions. At first, this is presented as self-preservation, strategic even on Ruying’s part. Ruying is thinking of her family’s safety, as well as trying to work within the system to evade the genocide of her people. Ruying’s agency is severely limited, which I felt connected very well with the questions that narrative posits. Under colonialism, choice is complicated. This is where there’s a lot of opportunity for the narrative to explore Ruying as a morally grey character.

The novel, however, goes in a different direction. Ruying develops romantic feelings for Antony over time. She begins to believe in Antony’s gentler brand of colonialism, that Anthony seeks power and kill however necessary for the better good, to bring peace and a form of co-existence between Rome and Pangu. The plot takes us as far as Ruying not only risking her life for the man who she has witnessed horrifying atrocities from, but also seeking revenge on his behalf. This felt frustrating because it felt out of character, unlike the Ruying who is willing to do what it takes to survive but had a deep understanding of Rome’s colonialism.

By the end, Ruying sees Antony is no better. But this moment of realization felt sudden and brief, compared to the many pages that centered on Ruying’s complicated feelings towards Antony. I feel that the emphasis on romance took away from Ruying’s characterization, which is a shame in a novel that otherwise tackles complicated questions of agency under colonialism.

This is an amazing opening book to what I can only imagine is going to be a thrilling series. Ruying is a main character you can understand even if you don’t entirely agree with her choices. She’s stronger than she gives herself credit for and by the end of the book, I’m ready to watch her burn the world down.

The world building is good. A bit hard to follow at first but that’s not unusual for fantasy books-you pick up more and more as you read. I feel like I’m learning more about our own world as I learn more about Er-Lang and Rome. The characters are complex and interesting and their motives make a lot of sense. It takes a while for the action to really start rolling but once it does, it just keeps coming.

The romance is definitely one you can see coming but it builds well and doesn’t feel rushed or out of left field even if it is basically futile and doomed. I can’t help but wonder how things will progress in the sequel(s?) because I feel like there’s no way Ru and Antony are endgame. Also I still don’t know why Antony thinks the whole “using your powers drains your life force” thing is fake. I’m guessing that will come with time, but Ruying definitely seemed to be taking a beating from using her abilities.

Would’ve been 5 stars but there were definitely some fits and starts with the exposition that held me back. Overall, it’s an excellent and entertaining read, and I definitely recommend it.

Also, definitely needs some editing throughout.

I absolutely loved the magic system in this book! This was so beautifully written. Ruying is willing to do anything for her family. Even if it means having to go against everything she thought she stood for. Her family is everything and her unwavering dedication to them is infinite.
I love the takes on present day humanity shown through the Romans. Especially as their world is filled with trash and running out of natural resources.

I received an Advanced readers copy from Netgalley and Del Rey in exchange for a fair review. First, this is a 3.5 for me... There are a few parts I suspect will be edited further and bring it to a 4, so Im rounding up to a 4.

This story is complex. It's about a young woman, Ruying, living in an Asian world that's being colonized by futuristic brutal Romans from another dimension. She struggles with the generational trauma and weight of cultural expectations while trying to find a path to peace for her people. Did I mention she has magic powers to kill people with a thought? Oh and the Romans want her to use her powers for peace.

One of the things that I loved about this story is that it felt like a Chinese Star Wars story in the coolest way. It wasn't really about space, but the dimension hopping and advanced science combined with colonialism had the vibes. It was described very beautifully, and had some very deep dives into Ruying's tumultuous thoughts about trying to achieve peace and trying to see humanity in her captors. It is a bit slow in the beginning, mostly focusing on Ruying's thoughts and world perspective, but then you learn more about the world quickly.

I did notice this book had a couple of negative reviews because of a possible colonizer love interest. But I do think that there's a lot of symbolism in this connection, and it is an important story to tell. I don't want to give any spoilers, but this is just the first book, and people are allowed to be complex and explore their feelings, and I think this exploration makes people who are less familiar with colonization understand.

I think book 2 will probably delve deeper into the magic of the world, more of the culture, and possibly into the futuristic Rome.

The parts that would bring this story down to 3.5 for me is that there is no trigger warning, and there are some violent sections that might be disturbing to come people, and that there are a few sections that feel very repetitive. Again, I am assuming these are both things that will be fixed in editing, and other wise it's a very creative and thought provoking story.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine, Del Ray for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

From the first chapter, I am immersed into the world immediately and it's all thanks to the author's descriptive writing style. I can almost picture every new place she is describing in my head. There were many lines that I wanted to highlight because they resonated with me.

There are many Chinese proverbs in this book and some apply to what is happening in the book currently and some I felt were unnecessary. There were a few pacing issues as the middle of the book did drag. It is the weakest part. The last quarter of the book had more action which kept my attention enough to continue reading. Overall, I appreciate the setting taking place in ancient China and I hope to read more books set in this time period in the future.

It was really hard to get past the romance in this one. It was extremely toxic and made it unfun to read

Ahh I saw the cover an knew I was a goner, I wouldn't say I was disappointed because I have read some VERY disappointing books. But what I can say is that this was an okay Book, I wasn't very interested in the relationship of the two people of this book( could even say annoyed,irritated, etc) even tried to ignore it but I can see some people enjoying this book in there own right. Just wasn't for me like I thought it was.

With an asian cast and background, written by an asian author, I wanted to like this book so badly. Maybe it’s that YA books don’t appeal to me as much as they used to, but I felt it hard for me to really immerse myself into this book. Some parts of the book dragged on and I found myself quite bored.
The characters themselves were quite loveable and they were also my favorite part of this book, although the world building and the general speed of the book needs a little work, I did enjoy this book and I will be looking forwards to the second book of this series.

Well...I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately I was very underwhelmed with it. While the prose was lovely and I really liked her writing style, this story was just too repetitive. The vast majority of the time is spent in our MC's head, and when she's not infodumping she's spiraling between the same three thoughts over and over again. Most of the action happens off screen, if there is any. There isn't enough world building to make us feel connected and justify the actions of the MC and the dialogue feels incredibly unnatural. I didn't get anything out of this that I didn't get better from The Poppy War.

Thanks to NetGalley and RandomHouse Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This was a great book. If you love Asian mythology you will love this book. The world building was very well done!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance reading copy!

As a big lover of fantasy novels, especially Asian fantasy, I thought this was a great addition to the genre.

Content warnings: drug use, addiction, violence.
Rating: 3.5 rounded up

Ruying is a Xianling girl blessed (or cursed) with the powers of death; she can pull the qi from others killing them almost completely undetected. After a desperate act to provide for her family in the upcoming winter she finds herself in the hands of Antony, the second prince of Rome's hands. In order to keep her life and protect her family she must do the bidding of her people's greatest enemy.

Heroes die. Cowards live.


Molly X. Chang's debut novel is a retelling of folklore that was inspired by the real events her grandparents lived through during WII to the people of Manchuria under Russian and Japanese occupation. The author's note at the beginning of the book was very gripping.

Chang did a really great job of building a dystopian war-ravaged world without giving away all the intricacies at the beginning of the book. Er-Lang is a land rich in magic and natural resources and Rome, as we later find out, has ruined their own world to keep indulging in the comforts their science has brought them, leading them to look for resources elsewhere. You really feel the hopelessness of the conquered people from the start as well as the entitlement of the Romans.

The plot of this book focuses mainly focuses on two characters, Ruying and Antony, with only glimpses at the side characters (which I hope we get a lot more of in the next book, a multi-POV would be SO GOOD in my opinion). Ruying is a young woman who would do anything to make sure her family is safe and survives the roman rule. While she is captured she really goes through the struggle of not wanting to turn her back on her people while being forced to work as an assassin to protect her family's lives. At the beginning of the book she berated Baihu for being the Roman prince's lapdop then ends up in the same position herself, now seeing that not all choices are easy and she has to decide what sins she can live with to protect the people she loves. Antony gives me very much gaslight and groomer vibes. He forces Ruying to do what she promised she never would (killing) then comforts her afterwords. He is the only Roman who gives her attention or positive words leading to an almost stockholm syndrome romance instead of enemies to lovers. While we do get one glimpse into Antony's mind towards the end of the book, his actions throughout lead me to believe he spent the majority of the time playing with Ruying. The only side character I felt any emotions towards was Meiya, Ruying's twin sister. Chang really made her an unlikeable character. Meiya is introduced as an opian addict; without the drug the withdrawals will kill her like it did their father.

Maybe you're just using all of this as an excuse. Maybe the real reason you serve that Roman prince is because you're spineless. Just like Father. And like Father, the only person you care about is yourself. Your name and Gift are wasted on you.


I don't think it's a far stretch to say Meiya is the reason Ruying caught Antony's attention in the first place and her holier than thou attitude really sets me off.

The majority of this book focuses on Ruying's time with Antony, but I really look forward to see where Chang goes with this story. I'm hopeful the next in the series will include A LOT of rebel action and I'm quietly hoping Ruying and Baihu end up together.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgally and Random House in exchange for an honest review.

this is the first ever Asian historical fantasy i have ever read and wow, wow, wow. i was blown away!

this world – where heroes die and cowards live – is so beautifully and intricately written: the history of the crumbling Er-Lang Empire in Pangu, the hard life of the citizens in the struggling Jing-City, the misunderstood magic of the Xianlings and the undisclosed science advances of the Romans... wow. it all comes together to create an intense world where there is so much misguided loyalty, undisclosed secrets that could topple empires and worlds, and lies and deceptions which leads to betrayal and heartbreak.

the magic system, especially the qi-cells mentioned, in this world is one i have never read before, it's unique, mysterious. and it has me wondering if there's more to it (probably) and the science of the Romans seems... futuristic? so many instances in which the Romans talked as if they are truly from another world, another time...

the main character – named Yang Ruying – is a girl blessed by Death, which is one of the things she fears the most. the name her late mother chose for her means "brave", and brave she is. her having to make all the wrong decisions and place her loyalty in the hands of the wrong people in order to protect her loved ones, kin and empire, is so difficult, yet honorable to watch unfold. because in the end, like her, i have no idea if what she is doing will be worth it in the end, if it'll be the right thing to do. which is the reason why morally gray characters are so interesting to me. and she isn't the only morally gray character in the series, mostly everyone is.

also can i say that the the small glimpse of the love triangle subplot between Antony, Ruying, and Baihu that we were teased with throughout the entire book was *chefs kiss* i am really curious to see where that goes because both of the men fell first, and hard.

the ending of book 1 – which honestly left me bug-eyed and shocked – has me wanting book 2 so badly. i am really looking forward to it.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is an epic fantasy with great world building and engaging characters.
Ruying is a girl blessed by death struggling to take care of her aging grandmother and drug addict twin. In a moment of desperation she steals a bag of gold from an enemy, Prince Antony.
After capturing her he convinced her to use her powers to help him convincing her of his cause.
Ruying has a significant amount of doubt and angst about her choices. Her motives are clear and easy to understand and I felt her struggles. I also loved Antony and even when I felt like I couldn't trust him.
The world definitely echoed history with the conquerors and the conquered. The Roman's treatment of the Pengu people reminiscent of the Nazis. I think it captures the horrors and complications of being on different sides of a war.
I wanted the romantic relationship with Antony to develop more but understood why it couldn't.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks to netgalley for the arc is exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher (Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey) for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

First of all, the book draws you in right away--I was easily captivated and drawn into the world-building immediately. The author's note also helps to place the world in terms of historical comparison/culture/expectations.

Second of all, even though some people say it's unfair (and they're slightly different genres), I can definitely see the comparisons to RFK's Poppy War trilogy--I saw it mostly in the similarity of the orphan FMC situations and how they both start working for a political/governmental group they don't necessarily agree with morally in order to achieve their (FMC's) own individual ends/goals, as well as the MMC being on the opposite (political) side of the war and being of morally grey (or possibly even evil) character. I think the Chinese fantasy comparison is where many people immediately go to compare the two (I think *that* may be unfair, but it is definitely a similarity between the series). Also, opium is a huge plot point in both books.

Thirdly, I wavered on how much I liked the book and where to rate it, because I spent the middle chunk of the book despairing at Ruying's situation & how on earth the book (or series) was going to have any kind of hopeful ending...or how the enemies to lovers (?) relationship was going to work. I was satisfied by the ending, but man did I spend the middle of the book Worried. Also, I spent the middle of the book worried that this series was going to be a Corruption Arc of the FMC (ala The Poppy Wars) and, man, is that kinda series not for me...I don't think it's going that way, after all, but I was Worried.

Also, I wanted to smack Ruying's sister (Meiya) for most of the book--she's a petty thing that acts all ~morally superior~, when 1) she's addicted to opium and 2) SHE'S the reason why Ruying's in the situation she's in. If her sister (Meiya) had not been addicted to opium and required it to continue living, Ruying wouldn't have ended up selling herself/her soul/her powers to Rome. Meiya is a humongous hypocrite acting all morally superior when SHE'S the problem, it's her!!!

Fourthly (fifthly?), there are parts to the book where Antony sounds like a Disney/Bond? villain with his polished "the ends justify the means" speeches and sentences, which was a little off-putting to me, because what kinda book villain talks like that??? i like my villains with Nuance, thanks.

On a different note, the scenes with [SPOILER]the Sihai emperor & his son (chapters 36 & 38)[SPOILER] were heart-breaking, omg. I cried during both of them and they actually made me up my rating of the book (if it can make me cry, 99% of the time that makes it a 4 or 5 star book).

Finally, the relationship between Antony & Ruying--I knew going in the relationship was going to be enemies to ?lovers?, so I was Prepared in that aspect...but holy cow was I not Prepared for how Truly Enemies they would be for most (all?) of the book. My E2L girlies, THIS book is for you...not the people who Say they like E2L but really want antagonistic work colleagues/belligerent sexual tension pairs.

[SPOILER]Antony's[SPOILER] single POV chapter--this Also contributed to my 4 star book rating. It was barely 1.5 pages and BOY was it a zinger. I understand why it was only one chapter, but BOY did I want more after this. It also helped confirm something I'd suspected for the middle half of the book but really became transparent in the immediate chapter before ([SPOILER]"Goodnight, my love"[SPOILER] and [SPOILER]"Maybe one day I'll deserve you"[SPOILER] are pretty blatant, even if Ruying is half clueless). [SPOILER]'Why they fought the wars. Why poets dedicated their lives putting this feeling into words."[SPOILER] has BIG [SPOILER]"You Are In Love"[SPOILER] (TSwift) vibes [SPOILER]("And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars / And why I've spent my whole life tryin' to put it into words")[SPOILER] Also: [SPOILER]'And when he saw her bleeding on the riverbank, when he thought she might be dead, nothing else mattered. If anything happened to her, Antony would burn this whole world to the ground. He would start wars to keep her safe.'[SPOILER] just goes SO HARD. Also: [SPOILER]'Antony Augustus was not a religious man, but he would worship at her altar, kneel for her in eternity.'[SPOILER], hot damn. i was dyyyyyying reading this entire chapter, wanting so much more. And I think this chapter solidified me loving this pairing, even though i questioned myself the entire middle chunk of the book.

Also also: based on the naming of the MMC ('Antony Augustus'), I had wondered if his and Ruying's relationship would have Antony and Cleopatra vibes, and [SPOILER]I wasn't wrong. /insert eye emoji/[SPOILER]

Sorry for so many spoiler notes, just tagging aggressively so people can enjoy the book without spoilers like I did! Cause reading emotions in real time was what blew me away about this book.

Overall, a solid start to an intriguing series. I'll be curious to see where this goes!

I rally wanted to love this book based on the plot and the cover, but I was disappointed. I like the concept that the author was going for and was hopeful that it would reach this amazing destination, but the trip getting there was a hot mess and the destination I got wasn't the one advertised. The world building needs some work as does the pacing. We're the told the character is morally gray and willing to save their family by any means necessary, but she really wasn't doing anything useful for much of the book other than whining, complaining, and passing out judgment. There's so much that seemingly happens off page that I was left wondering how did we get there. The romance made no sense and supports a toxic relationship that was just weird.

ARC provided by Del Rey in exchange for an honest review —

Oh my god??? I loved this!!! The writing in this book is so emotionally driven that I was feeling every weave of the main character’s decisions right along with her. I felt like the limits of what someone would do to survive were tested here, and in such a way that felt authentic and raw. The world building is something I can’t wait to see explored in sequels as well - there is so much to be expanded upon as the character’s journeys continue, and the foundations established in To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods make for a fantastical, sinister, and eerie treat! Molly X. Chang has a gorgeous writing style that I devoured page after page and left me craving more.

This felt like a personal and unique blend that is perfect for readers that are fans of Immortal Longings, Red Rising, and Throne of Glass. Absolutely wonderful and I highly, highly recommend.

I received an ARC for this book. All thoughts and feelings about this book above are my own.