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.

Well, this was bad. Which is so disappointing, because it sounded so good. But between its implications, the writing of the love interest, and the romanticization of some icky topics, I grew to resent this book. By the end, I was reading just so I had more ammunition for this review, and not because I was actually enjoying my reading.

I think the problem that is bugging me the most right now is the worldbuilding. And like many other reviewers picked on, it's underdeveloped and confusing. But that's not my biggest problem with it. My biggest problem with it is the casting of our world and this fantasy-esque China. Now, small spoilers will be present from here on out, so be careful. As the book continues, we learn that Antony (our love interest) has played a veryyyy large part in both the colonization and genocide of Ruying's people. And the reason why? He does this because of the climate crisis his world is facing. Sound familiar? To me, it felt like Antony's world is supposed to reflect the future of ours, with high levels of pollution and global warming. Critiquing this in fantasy seems to be a good idea, right? But, maybe it isn't such a good idea when the solution proposed is the colonization of another world. With an added side of torture and genocide. What makes this suggestion even worse is that the love interest, Antony, is highly involved. And although To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods condemns his actions in maybe the last 20 pages (if you can even call it condemning his actions when Ruying is still mooning over him), the majority of the book is spent defending his actions because they're being done to "prevent war". Huh?!?!? Are we supposed to understand, or even empathize, with him? Am I supposed to ship these characters? And something about writing "Rome" in a futuristic version of our world, a version that we may be quickly approaching, turning to colonization and the harvesting of blood to solve its problems just felt icky. And again, I probably wouldn't feel as strongly about this if Antony wasn't cast as a "good guy". If the Romans were always portrayed as the problem, these events would've been more bearable. But the idea that one of the leaders of their civilization was redeemable was disgusting.

Compared to my last critique, this one seems much more minor, but I also hated Ruying as a character. I should know better by now. I should know to avoid books promising morally gray characters, especially YA books. Because these characters are never morally gray. Theoretically, Ruying is this bloodthirsty killer who's made dozens of hard decisions. Where was this character? The character we got was naive, foolish, cowardly, stupid, and moral. And not moral in a good way. Moral in an infuriating way. Moral in a way that meant that we had to read the inner argument of "I can't kill him", "but my family!" a million times. This gets old fast. So incredibly fast. And not even to mention that the majority of Ruying's "descent" (if you can call it that) happened off-page... Mid-book, we skip 6 months and come back to Ruying being an established assassin. What??? When did this happen? And why did we skip the majority of that development? Especially when it theoretically solidified Ruying's descent into killing and also worked to build the romance between her and Antony. This choice made no sense. It made room for more romance, but believe me, more romance was the LAST thing To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods Needed.

Even if you ignore the problematic nature of the romance, it doesn't work. If anyone can tell me a single thing that drew Ruying and Antony together, I'll give them a gold star. Because their relationship made zero sense. Theoretically, Antony was "nice" to her. Since when is this enough to build a relationship off of? The act of comforting her after he FORCED her to murder somebody? Am I the only one who thinks that maybe, just maybe, this isn't a compelling reason to romance?

Somehow, this book was over 300 pages long and felt like both an utter drag and hundreds of pages too long. It took me forever to read. Because it was boring. And the characters were awful. And because the overall nature of it irked me. But at the same time, if any of it were to be redeemable, I needed more. I needed more worldbuilding. I needed more development of the romance (not that I wanted it). I needed side characters (seriously, the way this book treated the few side characters it had was atrocious). I needed so many more pages that explained what the hell was happening. But, we didn't get those pages, and To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods suffered from that.

And now I just have to return to the side characters. I can name maybe 4 of them? Baihu, Meiya, Grandma, and whatever the older prince was named? And of those, I think only Baihu played a significant role... Meiya had one conversation with Ruying (that I can remember), and it served only to justify Ruying's pity party. As for Grandma, theoretically, she was so important to Ruying, but I don't think she had a single line once we passed page 50. As for ANtony's older brother, he only existed to excuse Antony's actions. He could've been completely removed from the book, and nothing would've changed. And really, this statement is true for every single one of the side characters. Instead of feeling like dynamic additions that added to the quality of the story, they felt like chess pieces used only when necessary. It honestly felt like the author forgot about them until they had a necessary role. And then she'd use them for this role before discarding and forgetting about them once again. Which makes the blandness of the romance even more convincing. When the entire book is occupied by only two characters, how can those two characters have so little chemistry, connection, and characterization?

Recently, I've seen a lot of discourse on Booktok regarding the overconsumption of readers and how this has affected the publishing industry. I've seen people suggesting that publishing is beginning to resemble fast fashion, with speed and constant content being placed above the quality of that content. And I feel like this book perfectly encapsulates this issue. It feels like it needs several more rounds of developmental editing to figure out the plot and where this book is going. There are still major plot holes and inconsistencies that lead to a confusing and disjointed reading experience. In addition to that, I also found numerous copyediting errors. I acknowledge that I had an ARC and that hopefully many of these will disappear with the final edition, but some of these errors were pretty consequential. As a reader, it felt like this book wasn't quite ready to be released. Instead of feeling like a polished final product, it feels like it was hastily, written, published, and released. It feels like there should still be several more rounds of editing ahead. Maybe the final product will be better, but I don't care to figure that out.

Despite my complaints, I can absolutely see Booktok and Bookstagram eating this up. After all, it has a gorgeous cover that I can see Fairyloot or Owlcrate picking up. But as for the content, I found it unbearable. As soon as I finish ranting, I'm going to go read other negative reviews to assure myself that I wasn't imagining any of my issues with this book. I'm glad to have finished this, even though I'm not happy I read it. At least I can knock it off my ARC pile now.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to the publisher and the author for providing me a copy through Netgalley!

"To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" is a masterful Sci Fi/ Fantasy tale, that echos the horrors of Manchuria, and the abhorrent realities of a occupied people, who were forced to undergo horrific experiments by the colonizers. Prior to reading this story, I knew very little about the details of the occupation of Manchuria, and grotesque realities of Unit 731, but this fictionalized world and its author has encouraged me to learn more about this piece of history.
We need more works like this one, where the story mirrors a once very real reality, and sheds light on a history, while painted in a fantasy world within the story, that many may not be aware of.

While I agree with other reviewers on Goodreads that it was a very intense book, I believe it held true to the tone and pace of such a book that is based on a specific and very horrific event in our world's history. I think readers will have the opportunity to see the harsh realities of an occupied world, even it is a fictionalized world, and may even compare their own knowledge and understanding of the realities of occupations in our world today.

Thank you to Random House books and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review!

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a young adult fantasy adventure where we follow Ruying, a young girl blessed by the god of death with magic to kill mortals as she navigates trying to make the right choices and survival amid a harsh world controlled by violent and discriminatory Romans, poverty, and addiction. Ruying is committed to helping her family survive, and is willing to do anything to make it happen, including making an alliance with one of the Roman princes, Antony, responsible for her people's suffering. In exchange for Roman protection and riches, Ruying uses her gift of death at the disposal of the Roman prince.

At its core, this novel is ambitious in scope as it attempts to tackle themes of imperialism, revolution, growing up, loyalty, and love. Yet, I ultimately felt like it fell short due to underdeveloped political and cultural worldbuilding, repetitive writing telling the audience about the high stakes instead of showing us, and an romance subplot that I did not feel was believable to fully appreciate the emotional buildup or turmoil that would set this would be enemies to lovers dynamic apart. Ruying struck me as extremely naive, and while naivete is not a end-all-be-all bad trait, I felt that it did not quite strike the morally-grey, unreliable narrator that Chang may have set out to convey. Further, this didn't sit well with me in the fact that her naivete pulled her into what, at times felt like the prince grooming her to become his weapon. The major "twists" felt predictable and felt less like a reveal and more so like just another point in the story.

There are a few things I think would strengthen this book: (1) More political exposition so the reader truly understands the historical oppression and current stakes that makes the Roman and Panguling conflict what it is, and the outside rebel group that also has stake in it. (2) Showing more action scenes and relationship dynamics between Ruying and her family to we can see first hand not only what she is willing to do, but why. Similarly, the romance would have been more believable if there was more tension built in and scenes where we can get to know the dynamic between Ruying and Antony and root for them despite them both being extremely unlikeable. Finally, it was not clear to me that this is a young adult novel, and had someone not told me as I read, I would not have been clear based on the existing marketing.

All this said, there are a few things that I did enjoy. Chang writes with energetic, and often atmospheric prose that helped me remain grounded even when I felt some apparent gaps in the story. Additionally, the end of the book is setting up what seems like a potentially exciting start to book 2 in a very anti-imperialist revolution where Ruying learns more about herself, fighting for her people, and revenge. This storyline has a lot going for it, and I think by addressing some of the areas for improvement above, it can and will have no problem being a memorable and exciting YA series.

Truth be told, I applied for this ARC with no knowledge of the book, just knowing of Molly X. Chang's involvement in racism-driven review bombing. I wanted to read this book as my way of showing support.

So I went in knowing nothing. And To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a cool concept: the Roman Empire survived another thousand years after conquering the Qin Empire (which I assumed would be the IRL Qin Dynasty, meaning the beginning of modern China) and became even more corrupt. Our protagonist Ruying is just trying to help her opian-addicted (not sure why the author didn't just use opium) sister survive in a systemically racist and bloodthirsty society.

It's an ambitious plot for a debut. And it pains me to say that it was overambitious. There is an abundance of telling in this story, and the opening chapters is one of the worst I've ever read. It's just info-dump after info-dump.

I was also confused about the genre. This is not a fantasy, it's distinctly closer to a sci-fi or dystopian. It's also not an *exactly* alternate history of Rome and it doesn't utilize any classical Roman culture or events. (The only "event" would be my theory that this is an alternate history where Rome conquered China during the Qin dynasty, or before Rome was an empire. This is not clear in the novel.) This leaves me confused why Chang made this book take place in an alternate Roman Empire at all, since she literally only used the name. In some ways, it reminds me of Sarah J. Maas's use of Illyrians. Hell, Chang didn't even research the structure of Roman naming. Or the fact that Imperial Rome never had "princes."

Overall, I felt there was so much telling, yet it was nothing of major value to the novel. Chang chose to write a story that could have been a grand opportunity for major worldbuilding, but steered clear of a lot of options. I would have liked to see more of the society outside of Ruying's POV, and more detailed explanation of the world itself without info-dumping.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.