DNF - READ ONLY ABOUT 20%

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an arc! The title and premise of the book seemed fascinating, and I was glad I got to take a look at it.

I want to preface this review by saying I very rarely do not finish books. Even if I really am struggling to make it through a book, I still try to skim my way through it to see what it ends up being like and then evaluating whether I should give it a chance again. However, I am sorry to say I could not finish this book due to two primary factors:

1. colonizer-protagonist romance
2. heavy exposition and under-developed protagonist

Again, please take my words with (many) grains of salt because I understand that I did not actually finish the whole book. However, I was already struggling a lot in the beginning of the book with the way that the writing basically info-dumps the background, the lack of depth to the thoughts and emotions of the characters, and too little nuance in regards to colonialist themes.

First, I think there is so much to explore in regards to themes of imperialism/rising against oppression in SFF books (note: Legendborn, Red Rising, A Memory called Empire, Babel). Some of those are adult, while others are YA, but my point is that I wish there was more worldbuilding that sets up the history, wars, dynamics/tensions between oppressor and oppressed, etc. Most of the information was put in long chunks of text at the beginning of the book, and there was barely any elaboration beyond that in the next few chapters. Maybe this changes in the latter half of the book, but the geopolitical situation just felt very badly explored.

Second, there is a lack of depth to the characters' emotions and thoughts: the characters feel extremely one-dimensional. A character with a power of death would be very cool, yet it feels like there's a lack of depth to Ruying's feelings regarding her own powers. She falls into the trope of the "can kill but don't want to be evil" protagonist, but there's no crucial moments in her character arc that move the plot along. This also connects to my biggest issue with the book and reason why I couldn't finish the book. The beginning hints of attraction she feels towards her childhood friend (who is now part of the imperial regime) already turned me off so much (threatening her family isn't cute! protecting someone isn't done using power!) But I could not stand the beginning of the development of attraction between her and the prince, who is literally verbally abusive towards her (and she still likes him regardless?) As the pages continued, I couldn't help but check out some of the other Goodread reviews to find that it would be the primary romance. Especially in a book that is supposed to be about imperialism and colonialism, being attracted to someone who is crucial to the oppressive regime left such a bad taste in my mouth. For me, I think I just have higher-than-normal standards for romance in fantasy books. I could not continue reading.

This was very very harsh but I genuinely want to say that I think the premise of the book is really cool, and there is definitely so much potential present. I just think giving more depth to the characters and also making the romance more...healthy(?)...would make me like this book way more!

can we just appreciate how gorgeous the cover is?

to gaze upon wicked gods follows ruying, a morally grey character with the “chosen one” trope, fighting for her country and falling in love with…. her colonizer? yeah, that was horrible (unnecessary even).

if i were to ignore the shoddy romance, there were still elements of the story that could be improved. the juvenile writing. the questionable choices of the main character. the worldbuilding was lacking information essential to the plot and the pacing was definitely unstable. however, debut novel aside, i found this story to be somewhat memorable for the fantasy aspects. who knows, maybe i just miss reading the poppy war.

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X Chang is an exploration of science vs magic in a backdrop of colonization and romance. I really liked the explanation of the magic system and how Ruying’s power over death manifests. The colored ribbons are very cool.

I respect the author for the use of hanzi in the book for traditional Chinese concepts and then explaining or translating it instead of writing the words out with the alphabet. It adds an authentic touch to the book that plays well with the fact that Antony, the love interest, is a Roman who is later stated to speak almost exclusively to Ruying in his language rather than hers. Seeing her language be used as it would be written is political, both in and outside of the work itself.

There were a lot of turns of phrase that I really enjoyed and I appreciated the use of the Opium War, a very real time in the history of China and the UK’s relationship, that didn’t shy away from addiction or the negative effects that the War had on port cities on Chinese citizens.

The pacing felt a little off to me as we didn’t properly meet Antony until the 40% mark and I wish that we had gotten to see more of Ruying’s magic in action.

I would recommend this to readers who are looking for fantasies that explore actual historical events in a fantasy context. I would not recommend this to readers who are firmly uninterested in romances involving someone who is colonized with a family member of their colonizer.

The writing was so brilliant and detailed, I had so much fun reading this book! I felt that the book had a really nuanced description of the realities of colonization, and the desperation that drives colonized people to view the colonizers as either saviours or enemies - the MC Ruying herself goes through this whole range of thoughts and emotions (most of which felt uncomfortable and uneasy, which I'm guessing is what the author intended for us to feel?). This book pretty much puts Ruying through a gruelling emotional journey (her origin story!), and I'm very keen to say how this story ends! Can't wait for the next book!

TWs - colonization, genocide and senseless violence by colonizers, death and murder on page, heavy violence on page, gun violence, drug addiction on page (not the MC), physical and verbal domestic abuse (past)

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

This book has a lot of potential. It tackles concepts such of colonization of people and the pressures it places on the invaded. It doesn't however I feel deliver on it's promises of women making hard choices and in the beginning we are asked not to judge Ruying. Despite this, she doesn't feel like a survivor, and judges others on what they do to survive. I'm also not a huge fan of stories that tell me what happens without showing me these thoughts and feelings of the character who's head I'm supposed to be in. Overall, it fell flat for me unfortunately.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for allowing me access to the E-Arc. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed reading this arc. Ruying has no choice but to kill people to protect her family. I like a strong female main character. Her family is in poverty and dealing with the harshness of the world. The world-building was interesting. I didn't mind the love interest in this novel.

I personally felt like there could be more world-building. I didn't feel like everything was explained. Our main character was slightly all over the place in what she thought of herself and the choices being made around her. The romance kind of randomly increased. It didn't quite make sense. I needed more tension that grew over time.

I loved the world building of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. The descriptions of the cities and the mythology that was sprinkled in really captured my attention. I thought it was very clear how Ruying's world came to be what it is currently and you felt the ghost of what it was in the past. This made the book really interesting because you got to feel the the drastic effects the Romans had on Er-Langu. I could picture the grand cities Ruying described before the Roman's came. The mythology added a lot of depth to Ruying beliefs and highlighted the struggles she had a child blessed by Death. I loved how the traditional saying Ruying quote are written in Chinese characters and then translated into English. A reminder that Ruying learned the Roman's language as a means of survival and is not her first language.

Ruying is a very complex character as she is driven by her desire to keep her family safe over anything else. It was interesting to see how her prioritizing survival over anything affected her relationships with the people around her. Ruling's mindset did cause an internal struggle which I felt was the built up thought out the book. I feel the most important part of the story was not Ruying's relationship with Anthony but on how she grows as a person. This makes the last 50 or so pages of the book every interesting as we can see the cumulation of everything she learned and went through in the book.

There was a part in the book that I had a hard time reading, which I can not specify without spoiling. This does get resolved at the end of the book, which again made the last 50ish pages worth the wait. This does nothing to detract from the overall quality of the book but is simply something I felt myself focusing on the whole time I was reading the book. Again this was something that attracted my attention more than necessary but it did make the ending more satisfying because my gut feeling was right. It is did nothing to take away my enjoyment of reading the book but I felt I was waiting for this part of the book to be resolved the whole time I was reading.

I can not wait to get a copy of this book when it is published and to read the rest of the series!

Immediately on finishing this book, I was thinking 'I didn't dislike this as much as I expected it to' because I've seen lots negative GR reviews prior to mine. So I went in with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised to not hate the entire book. However, upon further reflection, there's some parts that really rubbed me the wrong way too. Let's get into it below.

The story is essentially about Ruying a Panganese girl, whose country is colonised by people called Romans. Whilst the Panganese are blessed with magic and are a less developed civilization (essentially ancient China) the Romans are basically us (they have guns/mobile phones/cars). Ruying has the gift of Death, and after an accident, is captured by one of the Roman princes, Antony. She is then forced to make the choice of becoming his assassin or dying. She chooses the former.

Now the above^ points in the world building are not very well explained. The author does not make it clear that the Romans come from a separate universe (through a portal) so the reader is left in the dark about how the heck these guys have guns and stuff, as opposed to the Panganese. We get hints and tid bits dropped throughout the book about the world, but not a thorough explanation. I found the concept genius (especially because the Romans have destroyed their own world through essentially global warming and technology, so it's very poignant) but the execution of the world building was a bit vague and half-hearted.

One thing Chang did incredibly well was describe what it felt like to live in a colonised country.

"Slowly but surely, one violent act at a time, they had shoved our honor and legacy into the mud and built homes and lamp-lit streets over our ruins."


Whew! Need I say more? I have to say, in some parts this book had me seething. Seething for the suffering of the Manchurians, for the apartheid in South Africa, for the genocide of the Palestinian people that is currently happening right now. Seething for those who are being killed in the name of heritage and honour masquerading as greed and racism. Chang does a fantastic job of capturing the rage, the injustice, the hopelessness.

I also liked that Ruying was not an automatic hero but an indecisive girl, a coward girl. I wouldn't describe her as morally grey but as morally confused. Was it realistic? Yes. Was it well executed by Chang? Unfortunately not. Again, the concept was great, the writing left me wanting. We are forced to listen to Ruying's inner monologue for most of the novel and it gets very repetitive and boring. I understand her indecision about what to do, her internal struggle about using her powers to kill etc. but did I want to hear about it 50 times over? Not really. What doesn't help is that for the first 60% the novel nothing much happens, so we are left to listen to Ruying's thoughts for most of that part.

Ruying's assassin arc had me disappointed as well. Chang glides over those parts very quickly. We get no details, no training arc / character arc whatsoever. I would have loved to see Ruying grow into her powers, not just be told she did. Or actually witness Antony teaching her to shoot not just be told it happened. Instead of these fun, badass scenes we got lots of love story stuff.

Now, let me make one thing clear: I found the romance interesting. I liked that it was kind of messed up, I liked that (view spoiler). It was interesting. But(and it's a big but) I can't with good conscience enjoy reading romance that glamourises falling in love with a man that is responsible for colonising the FMC's people group. Or who gaslights her time and time again. Or who threatens her family’s safety. Can we please not pretend that any of these are symptoms of love?

Any other context, the enemies to lovers thing would've worked for me but not in the context of the MMC being a coloniser. Personally, I have to draw the line there.

I also find it odd that Chang (a POC writer) would go down this route. I'm kind of hoping that as the series develop we get an incredible character arc for Ruying where she ends up murdering Antony. I feel like that's the only way I could excuse the infatuation she has with him in this book. I'll probably continue the series just to see whether that happens or not. And if that’s not how the story ends up going I’ll have to lower my rating massively.

DNF. Unfortunately I am just over "enemies to lovers" romances that are actually just toxic. I think that romance really needs to break out of this box and go in new, more interesting directions, and it doesn't seem like this will be the book to do that for me.

DNF @ 40%. I just can't with this one. The setting makes no sense, and the MC is incredibly unlikable. The romance is so toxic and abusive.

Such a gorgeous cover, though.

Thank you to Net Galley for the review copy.

Before I begin this review, I want to thank Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me to access To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods before publication. Check out this book on its release date of April 15th, 2024.

This book is brilliantly written, with the complex worldbuilding and design of the characters. While it has flaws, from the redundant writing style to more telling rather than showing the budding relationship between Ruying and Anthony, Chang still shows exceptional talent in tailoring a world unlike any other. This book draws upon Chinese culture and offers a world of magic and technology, perhaps beyond our comprehension.

I really enjoyed this book. There were twists and turns, and while I didn't agree with all the actions of the characters, the book as a whole is interesting and entertaining.

I like Ruying and think that, for the most part, she is pretty realistic. She does fall in love with the enemy prince, Anthony. Anthony admittedly does some pretty terrible things to Ruying and the people she cares about, but at the same time, I can't help but feel that Ruying just wants to believe that perhaps there is a peaceful way to resolve the conflict between their two people. I think Ruying is quite naïve in many aspects. This book is based on her trying to learn, grow, and understand how complex the relationships between the two empires are.

Anthony is humanized in some areas of the story, but it is still really hard to believe that she doesn't hold any major resentment against him, considering how everything plays out. While it makes sense that he has obstacles he has to face and can't just entirely fix everything that has been done, it still feels as if he could do something. I'm remaining optimistic, hoping that this author continues this series and that we see more of Anthony.

The book's plot is a bit controversial, as Ruying ends up working and falling for the ruler of Rome, an Empire that has colonized her land and people. The plot as a whole, though, is intriguing and well put together. It also dives into the complexities surrounding colonization, race, and culture.

I believe that worldbuilding in this book is fantastic! In an alternate universe, Rome is still a mighty empire and has made as many, if not more, advancements than we have today. Rome then colonizes Ruying's world, heavily inspired by Chinese culture. This means an exciting mix of magic and science and an intriguing clash between cultures, ethnicities, and beliefs.

Chang is a good writer who creates an intriguing story and plot that glues a reader to the pages. With that said, things were a bit dicey, and Chang appears to have a habit of repeating herself often on the same page. On top of that, there was a lot of telling rather than showing going on, which made me feel like I was missing a lot of information and characterization.

I would recommend this story to anyone who wants to read worldbuilding with Chinese inspiration, enemies to lovers, and complex conversations about colonization. The writing style and plot may not be for everyone.

Heroes Die, Cowards Live.

The inner monologue of our FMC is a bit overwhelming at times, but the VERY real, human experience of having your death magic being used in the hands of your mortal enemy and having to use it to not only ensure your own survival, but those of your loved ones as well...is very much needed to express our complex FMC.

Besides the book mostly being in our FMC mind, the only downside I found for it was how I wish Ruying (FMC) would tell off to her sister and ex-best friend who turned traitor about how they made her feel the rest of her life after finding out she was blessed by Death. Her having to take care of said sister after she becomes reckless and having to then make sure they are fed, clothed, shelter, warmth and only having to sell their valuables and lose more respect of their once respected name. Her sister doesn't even realize the sacrifices that were made, nor seems to care.

I will definitely want to read more of this series as it has all the tropes you could want, but could use more world building- which I'm sure if we ever explore what is on the other side of the Portal of what desolate world the Romans have wasted it to be would be interesting to see.

Tropes in book:
1- Enemies to Lovers
2- ONLY ONE BED!
3- Fantasy & a touch of Sci/fi
4-Incredile magic system

I didn't enjoy the writing style whatsoever. I love reading fantasy but I feel a serious lack in creativity in fantasy China having its own fantasy name and culture but this fictional Rome being called Rome. Now, I know with the whole schematics of the actual book that should be fine for most people—it wasn't for me. "Colonizer Romances" as we call them in various parts of the book community have really been gaining popularity in 2022-2023 and I'm a little sick of it. The apologist behavior and honest to god lack of critical thinking when it comes to the love interest employed by the FMC in this book is not just annoying, its a bit pathetic. Girl, stand UP.

There are so many good things I want to gush about this book, but the themes of imperialism and colonialism, morality and heritage, loyalty and sacrifice, they all make me want to scream at how in depth the author went into exploring these.

This book explores what would have happened in the Roman Empire survived and continued to colonize the planet, including the magic-influenced (representation of China's?) Er-Lang. We get to see how Roman uses science against Er-Lang's myths and magic, and how this world's abuse of drugs allowed their own destruction. It was fascinating to see a world parallel to our own.

The romance was a true enemies-to-lovers (but maybe back to enemies) because not only could you feel the tension between knowing that falling for the person who has a hand in destroying your culture, this was put up against our main character's love for her family. There was so much angst between wanting her to choose the villain, and knowing that she's turning her back on her morals. I also struggled with the fact that as an Asian based fantasy, the societal whitewashed part of me had many thoughts on the love interest/villain being white. I had no idea where this relationship would go at the end of the book, but I am very pleased with the current direction.

In all, loved it. I need the sequel immediately.

Thank you to the folk over at Net Galley for a early copy of this book.

This book is intense! Chang crafts a story so deeply personal and complicated, hot like fire and cold like ice, striking and heartbreaking in ways so different, so unlike other fantasy novels, that I couldn't help but cling to every page. From Authors Note to Acknowledgements, the weight of this story lies deeper than just a fantasy adventure; it crafted by the unique overlap of real emotions and crafted history. This is the perfect example of what I love about Young Adult and New Adult fiction: using very modern themes, events, perspectives of complicated history, in a digestible, interesting way.

For me, this sits neatly between Spin the Dawn and Captive Prince; this book brings what I wanted and inevitably didn't receive from Elizabeth Lin's writing -- Grit. I'm reading this right off the curtails of watching Netflix's original "Blue Eyed Samurai," and where this was not nearly as mature, it satisfied the cravings that show left me wanting. Our main character is ferocious, and so god damned angry it spills into every decision. And damn it, I was angry right along with her. This book had an interesting character who is thrusted into challenge after challenge as the epitome of "nothing can be easy."

The short fall, for me, lies in some of the language. It is very obviously YA, holding back from depth and gore where it was almost necessary. How the parts were broken up was also odd and unconventional. Of course, I read a uncorrected copy, and this may be fixed before publication. The foundations of this book lies in the complex evil of colonization, and there were moments I felt it was tactfully spoon fed to me, instead of a striking realization about reality. Regardless, I loved how this book handled that theme and crafted anger in shared history.

"To see if this tenderness was something that existed only in my thoughts, or if it was real."

The tension between our main characters was heart gripping, terrifyingly powerful, a true slow burn enemies to lovers. I'm not usually appreciative of the trope, but Chang sure as hell did it right. It's complicated, it feels like a betrayal to our goals, it's a battle we can't really win. The issue is one person holds significantly more political power, blackmailing our protag to trail along in the plan; the other a strict moral code challenged only by that weird twist in her gut she can't really explain. Is it enough? I honestly couldn't tell you and I don't think Ruying could either.

I look forward to seeing more from this author, and especially getting my hands on this book when it's truly finished.

To those that enjoyed “Daughter of the moon goddess”, “Magic steeped in poison” and the other asian historical fantasy, you’ll probably enjoy “To Gaze Upon the Wicked Gods.” The reader is quickly introduced to what currently happening in their society, the stakes, Ruying abilities, and how she will chooses to use them.

For the majority of the book it’s a good easy read but I wasnt “at the edge of my seat” as I feel like I should be considering what is going on. Everything should be high stakes but it didn’t read that way. I also wished we saw more of Ruying assassin abilities on screen then off. I had a hard time truly believing how powerful she is or could be due to that.

Overall, I most likely will read the next book cuz I’m curious how everything will play out.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. This was an absolutely AMAZING book, The cover (while absolutely STUNNING) doesn't really seem to capture the energy of the story. This was a beautiful debut that kept my attention the whole time, and really impressed me. I can't wait to read more from Ms. Chang!

A politically charged tale weaved with magic and science and so much manipulation.

When I saw this book, my immediate reaction was "I must read it." And now looking back, I guess I let myself have way too many expectations.

At the start, I loved the way we were introduced to Ruying and her world. Walking through Jing City and seeing her fetch the drug that kept her sister alive. (Though I noted a bit of an info dump, it wasn't too big of a deal for me). I loved the opening sequences and how we form these connections between Ruying and her family, Baihu, and even Taohua.

But then the story kind of stopped developing and most of it was written in a sort of stream of consciousness. Given the premise of this story, I expected high stakes and tense action scenes. Not to say there weren't any action scenes, but they were so few to what thought I'd read. A huge chunk of the story in the middle was actually summarized by Ruying. I really would've loved to experience her developing her skills from her Gift, going through the motions of being an assassin for this prince, and developing the weird relationship between her and Antony (which also threw me off).

In the end, I really think this story should've been written for an adult audience rather than YA, and maybe then more of these themes and character arcs could've been further developed.

Cool concept though

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is book one in a new exciting series by Molly X. Chang!
A wonderful magical epic fantasy. This slow burn story had very entertaining characters and her writing was very well done.
The story held my attention throughout and kept me flipping the pages.
I really enjoyed her writing. And the world-building and storytelling is phenomenal.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine/Del Rey for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

Such an interesting premise… unfortunately it fell flat for me.

I think the world and the magic system is very interesting, but I think this novel really suffers from its first person POV. So much of this novel is spent stuck in the fmc’s head.

The romance wasn’t for me. I understand “falling for the villain” but for it to work I needed Ruying to be more ruthless. I understand two people with no morals liking one another and I understand two people with similar morals, but these two had way too much disparity. 1) Antony is a colonizer holding Ruying captive and blackmailing her into killing to “protect” her family from HIM. 2) Ruying has a strict moral compass, too much for her to realistically fall in love with this guy, regardless of what he promises.

This was advertised as high fantasy, and it really is more YA Romantasy than anything else. There isn’t enough worldbuilding, side character development, and too much info dumping without payoff.

I do think some people will enjoy this book. It just wasn’t what I expected. I wanted a bloodthirsty fmc. I wanted intricate worldbuilding. I wanted a less Stockholm syndrome romance. But if those aspects don’t bother you then you would probably enjoy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.