This book has arguably one of the most beautiful covers I've seen, and along with the synopsis, I really thought this was going to be one of the next big books. Unfortunately for me, the execution fell flat.

Ruying is a girl blessed with Death magic where she can rip qi from people, killing them. Her twin sister, Meiya, was blessed to do the opposite in giving life. However, we really only see Ruying in action while she struggles to keep her sister, who is struggling with an opian addiction, alive. A lot of the premise is how much Ruying is willing to sacrifice to keep her family alive, but even then I feel like there weren't a whole lot of meaningful interactions with her sister and grandmother. Enter in the opposing Roman prince Antony who holds Ruying's family against her in exchange of killing people for him, most of which occurs off page. I would have loved to seen the training that Ruying put into an attempt at becoming a cold blooded assassin when later in the story it's thrown at her that people around her knew it was her all along, aside from her retaining her humanity and being far from cold blooded. Ruying battles internally with herself each time she has to kill, all while it's *literally* slowly killing her from the inside out.

I did not understand Antony and Ruling's relationship much at all. There was obvious Stockholm syndrome going on, but other than that most of the development seemingly occurred off page. I would have loved to have seen more development in Ruying's existing and new relationships. A lot of the interactions really fell flat, and a majority of conversations felt repetitive (ex. character tells Ruying why she shouldn't trust Antony -> "but he's a good guy and plans to bring peace!" -> gives multiple reasons as to why she shouldn't trust him -> "but he's good!!1!!!!11!1!! his jade green eyes!!!!"). Antony was king of gaslight, gatekeep, and ultimately not girl bossing. He says he loves her, but then will threaten her family's lives at every chance he can get to get Ruying to do his bidding. King of toxicity. Ruying was very frustrating in these scenes. The characters that were described as being morally gray were not morally gray... they were just plain old awful.

Things that worked for me were the magic system and the overall idea of the book. I enjoy whenever there's a give and take to the magic, where every use of it comes at a cost, and in the case of those who are able to wield magic in the world of Pengu it comes at the cost of their life force. I felt like the premise of the book was extremely interesting, especially with the crossover of modern Rome to an older civilization of Er-Lang. However, the world building other than this was not explained much. It was pretty confusing at some points.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I first laid eyes on the captivating cover of this book, I couldn't resist its allure, and I took the plunge into its pages with a sense of adventure.

However, it pains me to admit that my journey through this literary landscape was not without its bumps. I've always been averse to sentences that begin with "but" because they often usher in a dose of negativity. In this case, I must pull off the band-aid and acknowledge that the world-building in this book left something to be desired. The narrative raises questions about Western Colonialism within the confines of a dystopian setting where helicopters buzz through the skies, creating a fusion of historical elements. It left me somewhat perplexed, imagining a world where the Roman Empire never crumbled and instead extended its dominion to China. My struggle extended to grasping the intricate magical system within the story, despite my best efforts to focus. It's possible that the disconnect I felt with the characters, their predicaments, and the overall execution contributed to my difficulty in fully immersing myself in this imaginative realm. Alternatively, it could have been my mood at the time, which might not have been conducive to delving into an apocalyptic war narrative.

Furthermore, I found the love story, which seemed to draw inspiration from "Beauty and the Beast," to be unconvincing and out of place. I failed to connect with, or root for, Ruying and Anthony in their intricate and complicated relationship.

The storytelling also suffered from moments of dragging and repetition, further compounding my struggles to maintain focus.

I suspect that my initial reading of this book might have been ill-timed or influenced by my mood, as I believe there is potential beneath the surface. I commend the author for her innovative concept and unique approach. Perhaps a second reading in the future will yield a different perspective and prompt me to reconsider my rating.

I extend my sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine/Del Rey for generously providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. Despite my current reservations, I look forward to revisiting this book at a later time with fresh eyes and a more receptive mindset.

With a cover as beautiful as this one and a very intriguing summary, naturally my expectations for this book were pretty high. Unfortunately, it did not deliver. It’s difficult to enjoy a book when you don’t like the main character and read through writing that was very repetitive. I really wish I had better things to say about this book but I just could not get through it at all. It definitely had a lot of potential but just didn’t translate onto the page.

tl;dr
A complicated set of lead characters set against a science vs. magic backdrop. Feels like a lot of pins being set up to be knocked over in future installments.

Thoughts
First off, be aware the genre is science fantasy. A giant portal opened up and people with missiles and smart phones came out of it. Calling it straight fantasy is going to set up some wildly wrong expectations. The "science vs. magic" thing has never been of interest to me, but I really like checking out debut novels, and the cover was too good to ignore. The verdict? Still to come! A lot of this book is scene-setting for future installments, which promise to swing a lot harder, so I feel like I can't accurately decide how I feel until I see how it ends. But for now, let's break down what we do have. Ruying is, by her own admission, a coward, and her navigation of an impossible situation is probably the most realistic incarnation I've read in a while. Her sister is more the "hero" type, and in another book in another world, she probably would be the fearless protagonist. I liked the choice to focus on a very un-heroic MC and the choices one has to make in a space where there are no correct moves - only moves of varying levels of wrongness. I also enjoyed the multiple plot threads running at the same time with various political bents.

The romance is where this series is going to be the most divisive. Falling in love with one's captor is a tale as old as time, and in this case it feels ill-advised. Antony pragmatically presents himself as the least of many evils, and he's probably right. That doesn't mean dating has to be on the table, and despite the fact that a chapter from his POV indicates his feelings are genuine, I'm still not a fan. That being said, the ending is a major turning point that promises some big moves in future installments. I shall have to wait patiently until then.

Calling this book an epic fantasy is hitting the nail right on the head. From the magical world building to addressing colonialism I could barely put it down. It was an eye opening insight into the thought processes of colonized peoples and a fascinating look into the possibilities of magic.

This was one of my anticipated reads and I was drawn in by that beautiful cover. Sadly I had to rate it 2 stars, 1 star is for the cover because I love it. I found this book to be repetitive and drawn out. I did not care for any of the characters, I found the main character a little bit annoying. I so badly wish that this read was better, but I was ultimately let down by the execution of this book.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing group Ballantine, for the early ARC of this book. What an amazing debut fantasy book by Molly X Chang! Great character development. Loved all the characters. Learning the history of each character and what put them in the position they were in.
Highly recommend

So I wanted very badly to like this one…but unfortunately I don’t know about this….it was very repetitive, the author seemed to enjoy repeating herself a lot with someone of the thoughts the protagonist was having.

The romance also felt very icky and toxic, but in a way that was trying to romanticize it instead of attack it as a real issue, which I did not agree with.

This a no for me 😩

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing group Ballantine, for the early ARC of this book. All reviews and thoughts are my own.
I thought this book was a beautiful historical fantasy. I loved the magic system in this book. The main character Ruying I grew to love the relationship with her and Antony Augustus as I thought it was daring and fun to the storyline . A very different take in a different world and timeline but also a lot of similarities to our history. The ending definitely calls for a second book and I can’t wait to read it and find out the rest of Ruying’s path and journey.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the arc. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2024 and I am both happy and frustrated that I got an ARC. Now I have an extra year to wait for the next book :( but it was worth it. I really enjoyed the world building and the magic. Also, the ending made me really curious about what will happen in the next book. Honestly, I expected the main character to be a bit more morally gray, was not expecting someone naive, but it wasn't too bad. I feel like the way the relationship between Ruying and Anthony progressed was pretty obvious, and I also did not care much for it. However, the prose was really pretty and probably the best part about the novel.

Ruying lives in fear, like the rest of her people since the Romans invaded. The world building in this book was phenomenal - there was a lot of info dumping, but somehow it kind of worked and I didn't mind it. I really enjoyed reading this fantasy and it was beautifully written. It did feel like more happened in the first half that the second, and I felt a bit like it ended just as we were getting to the best bit. But overall, I loved it and can't wait for the sequel!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

I give this book a 5 out of 5 star rating. This book was amazing, and it’s currently going to be in my top 5 favorite books for 2023. At the very beginning of the book, the author has a little excerpt that talks about how she was talking to her grandfather about all of the things that he went through in his life, and she used all of his life experiences/stories that he told her, put a fantasical/magical twist on them and made this book out of all of that. I think that’s so incredible! I’ve never heard of anyone doing something like that, and that alone is a huge reason why you should read this book. Just to give a little bit of a background about this book; it is about a girl named Ruying, who is in the middle of an almost-war where she lives. There’s an epidemic of this drug called Opian and all of the people in her town are becoming addicted to it because it enhances their magical powers. Her sister is an Opian addict, her father died from an Opian addiction. So she decides to take matters into her own hands and team up with the other side, the Romans, in order to basically be a weapon for them, for what they say is going to “bring peace to both sides” and is going to make everything better. But will it? That’s what you have to find out on your own. I was also blown away because this is the author’s debut novel and it was amazing! As a person who loves fantasy and books about historical events, this was definitely one for me! I highly recommend this. As soon as it comes out you should go pick it up. I will be buying a physical copy of it because I want this in my collection forever, that’s how much I loved it. Thank you so much again for this opportunity, and everybody please go read this, you won’t be disappointed!

One of the best debut novels I have read in years. Chang's command over her prose and the story narrative is stellar. So beautifully written and so well paced, reading this novel was like peeling back an onion. Can't wait for the sequel!

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This concept holds promise but the book itself needs a lot of work in the editing realm, and not just for finishing touches. I was often left confused with elements of the book not well explained, but then also left annoyed when other information was repeated ad nauseam.

The mix of magic and tech society is a neat twist, but other elements of the book felt jarring and didn’t make sense or add to the plot.

I found this a confusing read. I thought it was fantasy but then there were Romans with guns. Also heavy on the exposition. Honestly, I found it hard to get through. There are better books out there in this genre.

This is a review in Sept 2023 for an ARC. Because of that, I really want to stress that there is a good story in there but it needs a lot of editing which I really hope it gets.

Lets start with the good:

There are some really nice one-liners. I won't say the prose is always amazing but parts of it are quite lovely. The world is interesting too. I think the concept is there, it needs to be ironed out though.

Which leads me to some of the issues. I can get over the issues people have with the romance plot IF any of it was justified in the writing. But it's not. The second Antony shows up the writing takes a major turn for the worse. Nothing is explained or it's vaguely mentioned and then repeated over and over. There are so many examples of this. I think people are mostly bothered by the repetition for emphasis but the part that bothered me was just the straight up repetition of information. For example, "Character Name, who is So in So's grandfather..." then a page later "So in So, the grandchild of Character Name." It's just not good.

The dialog is painful at times. My copy asks not to have sections quoted so I won't but the dialog between the two princes when we first meet them both is awkward at best. Every conversation from then on out was a slog to read through.

Then there's the world building. I really want to stress, I think the concept of a future-tech society coming in and taking over a magic based society is interesting. What I don't understand were some of the choices. I know it's a common trope now to reference real societies/places that have no real connection in the book but Romans? Why? Romans with guns and cars??? It pulls you out of the reading or at least it does me every time I come across this trope. The world building also wasn't really fleshed out on the page. There are parts that left me confused. Like Antony saying that the Pengu are genetically superior species. So they aren't human? Then we have the constant reference to "Death" even in context where "death" would make more sense as if the god was always being mentioned. But that's a whole other aspect that fell flat. Tell us about the gods and magic. I wanted to know more.

Honestly I really hope that this book gets the edit it deserves. It's an interesting story but as it stands now, it needs a lot of work.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a novel that is mostly an allegory about Western Colonialism/Imperialism. The setting is China in an alternate universe with magic. This version of China is being invaded by another, "science" based alternate universe where Rome never fell. The situation roughly parallels historical Western Colonialism/Imperialism and a great deal of the plot also relates to atrocities committed in Manchuria during World War II.

The magic system for this setting involves people called "Xianlings" who have specific magical gifts. The cost of the magical gift is that it will eventually shave years off the gifted person's life. The story follows Ruying, a young woman whose magical gift (or curse might be more accurate) is Death. She is coerced into becoming an assassin by a Roman prince in order to protect her family. She allows herself to be convinced that the prince has good intentions, but it is gradually revealed that she probably shouldn't have trusted him. (Which is not necessarily a spoiler, since there's a preface by the author about what some of the worldbuilding and backstory is based on. See:"atrocities committed in Manchuria during WWII.")

This book is bleak, and more than a little grimdark. The writer doesn't make Alternate Fantasy World China an absolutely ideal place, and doesn't make the Romans a faceless evil. (This can be an occasional problem with this type of story. The urge to drive home The Point with this kind of story can occasionally be overwhelming.) At the same time, you know which side is (very very very much) in the wrong. (It's the Romans by the way. They are objectively horrible people for various reasons that will become clear during the course of the story. See again: "atrocities.")

Ruying is a strong character motivated by a desire to protect her family, who is coerced into doing things that her family will condemn. Her desperate need to believe that she's doing ultimately the right thing was painful to witness. The ending is extremely open, with Ruying coming to the realization that she need to make amends for her actions. This may or may not mean we can expect a sequel. (If there is a sequel, I will definitely want to check it out.)

This review is based on a galley edition received via NetGalley.

This book was extremely hard to get through for me so I didn’t get far. I am not a fan of this prose. This writing style feels so stiff and it leaves much to be desired. I cannot get through this at all.

This book was so much better than originally anticipated and I had high expectations! Molly X. Chang did an amazing job showing fight between needing to survive and wanting to keep your morality still. This was an amazing book and even more surprising a debut!! Only rating 4 * because it did fall slow a tad in the middle of the book.

Oh, what a stunning book.

It captures the softness of life, of familial love, of yearning for peace on the backdrop of pure brutality in colonization and scientific advancements in the name of power. Magic and science mingle together in a way that is just so damn fascinating; the vastness of the world is gorgeously done and the secrets that linger throughout the entirety of it are magnificent.

This is everything I want in an epic fantasy - all kind of brilliant.