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justinekorson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
EDITED TO ADD QUOTES AS OF 4/23/24
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
*I'm going to edit this later to add quotes to my review for the examples I'm about to give. I don't want to put the quotes now though because I'm not sure what I'm allowed to share since this is an ARC and the quotes may or may not have changed so I will compare them to my physical copy when it arrives.*
I'm sure many of you (If you follow Booktok/Booktwitter closely know about everything that happened with Molly and that other author I refuse to mention who was incredibly racist toward Molly but I'm not here to talk about that. What I do plan to talk about is what happened after. I've followed Molly for a while (even before that author debacle) because I'd heard about her publishing deal and the story sounded great! I was hyped for it and emphasized with her when everything started to go down. To my surprise, not long after what I'm sure was a completely terrible experience for Molly, I saw a lot of criticism over her novel being thrown her way.
Most of this criticism centered around the main characters Ruying and Antony. People were discussing how Molly had written a colonizer romance (Antony is a Roman and has come from a different world to enslave/decimate the Pangu people using drugs and weapons) and how this narrative was very harmful towards the Asian community, (as well as other communities that have also been colonized by white people). Molly ended up writing a few tweets about how her story is NOT a colonizer romance and the context of the story would show this. I couldn't find the tweet I was looking for to backup my point (so unless I dreamed it) but I remembered reading a tweet from Molly that said something along the lines of, "The next story in this saga is called To Kill A Wicked Prince. Do with that what you will." (EDIT: I HAVE FOUND THE POST SHE ACTUALLY SAID THE NEXT TITLE IS "To Kill A Monstrous Prince" which further solidifies my review in my opinion). So with that tweet in mind, I decided to go into the story with the mindset that Ruying DOES NOT love Prince Antony and that she is a victim of her circumstances. Because of this, I saw the story so much clearer.
Ruying does not love Antony and I say this with my whole chest because I watched Antony manipulate her over and over and over until she felt like she was safe with him. But a false sense of security does not equate love. I can not blame her for seeking comfort in him and his empty promises. Antony threatened her family from the very beginning and Ruying mistook his money and his protection as anything other than another way to control her, to keep her living with the fear that it could disappear. Meiya and Baihu argued with her over and over that she wasn't doing this for peace of for her family but for herself. "So what if I am? There is no sin in wanting to live, in wanting a better life for those I love." Who wouldn't fall victim to Antony though? Especially after the manipulation tactics he applied to make her believe he was going to save her and her people from destruction.
Ruying was also clearly terrified from the beginning of what it would mean to be on the other side of Rome's attention. If she wasn't Antony's guard then she was nothing more than something to be discarded. She is in constant turmoil with herself over what she's doing, struggling between wanting to trust Antony and knowing that she CAN'T trust him because he doesn't fully trust her. "His words were like sweet lies. I wanted these melodies to sing true. I wanted to linger in the world he painted so badly. But Antony couldn't make me a hero. If I stayed loyal to him, I would never be a hero to my people. Not after what I did." There was very little romance between them. Lingering gazes, and small touches barely mean anything. The two of them only kissed once and it was so brief and short it was barely there and Ruying's immediate thought afterwards was, "When tomorrow came, we could never be this close again. Because Antony Augustus was my people's enemy. Nothing could ever change this." Those are not the thoughts of someone head over heels in love. The only reason she's conflicted is because she wants to believe he's a good person even though she knows he's not.
Ruying wanted to believe Antony's lies so bad that she tried to convince herself that killing for him was better than fighting for herself, fighting for freedom for her people. She wanted to live and wanted to help her family and I think a lot of people in her position would find themselves in the same situation as her. "I thought I had to do this for them. For us. For survival. But if I was really doing this for them, I wouldn't fight on the side of our enemy."
I don't know if it was because I went in with the mindset that I couldn't trust Antony, but I didn't believe a word he said the entire novel. Especially after Taohau was never mentioned again I knew that something bad happened. I knew the other should would drop and Ruying would finally see him clearly and be able to shake herself free of him. Nobody should believe this is a colonizer romance after Antony gloats TO HER FACE, "You almost can't blame my people for what we are doing" about the genocide of her own people! She had a very bad visceral reaction to this. Ruying hates Antony she just can't show that to him. Even in Antony's own POV I hated him (there's only one chapter of it) and it didn't endear me to him at all. If anything it made me hate him more because of how he talked about Ruying.
Anyways, this was longer than I anticipated. Overall I truly enjoyed the story. I really liked the magic and the world building. It was like a fantasy world crossed with futuristic one. I'm interested how Rome managed to dimension hop(??) and if that will be explained in the other installments. I'm also curious to see if this mysterious third younger brother will make an appearance in the story. I wanted to see more of Meiya but what we got of her was brilliant. The angry, younger sibling (who will probably not make it until the end of the series judging on a few factors) who wants to save the world is always a fun trope! I also truly think Ruying's real love interest will make an appearance in the second novel. (It's either going to be The Phantom or Baihu himself.) I think the next novel will show more of Ruying trying to break free from Anotony and trying to help her people and I can't wait!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
*I'm going to edit this later to add quotes to my review for the examples I'm about to give. I don't want to put the quotes now though because I'm not sure what I'm allowed to share since this is an ARC and the quotes may or may not have changed so I will compare them to my physical copy when it arrives.*
I'm sure many of you (If you follow Booktok/Booktwitter closely know about everything that happened with Molly and that other author I refuse to mention who was incredibly racist toward Molly but I'm not here to talk about that. What I do plan to talk about is what happened after. I've followed Molly for a while (even before that author debacle) because I'd heard about her publishing deal and the story sounded great! I was hyped for it and emphasized with her when everything started to go down. To my surprise, not long after what I'm sure was a completely terrible experience for Molly, I saw a lot of criticism over her novel being thrown her way.
Most of this criticism centered around the main characters Ruying and Antony. People were discussing how Molly had written a colonizer romance (Antony is a Roman and has come from a different world to enslave/decimate the Pangu people using drugs and weapons) and how this narrative was very harmful towards the Asian community, (as well as other communities that have also been colonized by white people). Molly ended up writing a few tweets about how her story is NOT a colonizer romance and the context of the story would show this. I couldn't find the tweet I was looking for to backup my point (so unless I dreamed it) but I remembered reading a tweet from Molly that said something along the lines of, "The next story in this saga is called To Kill A Wicked Prince. Do with that what you will." (EDIT: I HAVE FOUND THE POST SHE ACTUALLY SAID THE NEXT TITLE IS "To Kill A Monstrous Prince" which further solidifies my review in my opinion). So with that tweet in mind, I decided to go into the story with the mindset that Ruying DOES NOT love Prince Antony and that she is a victim of her circumstances. Because of this, I saw the story so much clearer.
Ruying does not love Antony and I say this with my whole chest because I watched Antony manipulate her over and over and over until she felt like she was safe with him. But a false sense of security does not equate love. I can not blame her for seeking comfort in him and his empty promises. Antony threatened her family from the very beginning and Ruying mistook his money and his protection as anything other than another way to control her, to keep her living with the fear that it could disappear. Meiya and Baihu argued with her over and over that she wasn't doing this for peace of for her family but for herself. "So what if I am? There is no sin in wanting to live, in wanting a better life for those I love." Who wouldn't fall victim to Antony though? Especially after the manipulation tactics he applied to make her believe he was going to save her and her people from destruction.
Ruying was also clearly terrified from the beginning of what it would mean to be on the other side of Rome's attention. If she wasn't Antony's guard then she was nothing more than something to be discarded. She is in constant turmoil with herself over what she's doing, struggling between wanting to trust Antony and knowing that she CAN'T trust him because he doesn't fully trust her. "His words were like sweet lies. I wanted these melodies to sing true. I wanted to linger in the world he painted so badly. But Antony couldn't make me a hero. If I stayed loyal to him, I would never be a hero to my people. Not after what I did." There was very little romance between them. Lingering gazes, and small touches barely mean anything. The two of them only kissed once and it was so brief and short it was barely there and Ruying's immediate thought afterwards was, "When tomorrow came, we could never be this close again. Because Antony Augustus was my people's enemy. Nothing could ever change this." Those are not the thoughts of someone head over heels in love. The only reason she's conflicted is because she wants to believe he's a good person even though she knows he's not.
Ruying wanted to believe Antony's lies so bad that she tried to convince herself that killing for him was better than fighting for herself, fighting for freedom for her people. She wanted to live and wanted to help her family and I think a lot of people in her position would find themselves in the same situation as her. "I thought I had to do this for them. For us. For survival. But if I was really doing this for them, I wouldn't fight on the side of our enemy."
I don't know if it was because I went in with the mindset that I couldn't trust Antony, but I didn't believe a word he said the entire novel. Especially after Taohau was never mentioned again I knew that something bad happened. I knew the other should would drop and Ruying would finally see him clearly and be able to shake herself free of him. Nobody should believe this is a colonizer romance after Antony gloats TO HER FACE, "You almost can't blame my people for what we are doing" about the genocide of her own people! She had a very bad visceral reaction to this. Ruying hates Antony she just can't show that to him. Even in Antony's own POV I hated him (there's only one chapter of it) and it didn't endear me to him at all. If anything it made me hate him more because of how he talked about Ruying.
Anyways, this was longer than I anticipated. Overall I truly enjoyed the story. I really liked the magic and the world building. It was like a fantasy world crossed with futuristic one. I'm interested how Rome managed to dimension hop(??) and if that will be explained in the other installments. I'm also curious to see if this mysterious third younger brother will make an appearance in the story. I wanted to see more of Meiya but what we got of her was brilliant. The angry, younger sibling (who will probably not make it until the end of the series judging on a few factors) who wants to save the world is always a fun trope! I also truly think Ruying's real love interest will make an appearance in the second novel. (It's either going to be The Phantom or Baihu himself.) I think the next novel will show more of Ruying trying to break free from Anotony and trying to help her people and I can't wait!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Classism, Violence, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Sexism, Addiction, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Genocide, Grief, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, War, Misogyny, and Murder
theritareads's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
I really wanted to like this book. The premise sounds intriguing, but, unfortunately, there were a few key flaws that I could not overlook.
First, the writing: Much of the point about Ruying’s purpose for helping the Roman prince was repeated ad nauseum, to the point where it not only slowed down the pacing of the book but also eliminated room to explore plot elements that would have been useful. Other aspects, such as how hot Ruying found Antony and how much she trusted him, were also redundant.
Second, the missing plot elements: 1) The world building is missing a lot of key elements, such as the backstory of the magic, how/why their gods were needed to fight to the Qin Dynasty, and more. We get pieces of this, but there are still many unanswered questions. 2) We skip over 6 months of time between when Ruying is captured and when she is knee deep in working for Antony. In that time, the two have formed a bond. Clearly, something changed in those 6 months that led Ruying to trust Antony and buy into his plan. But because we never see how that bond develops or why she becomes convinced of the plan, it’s really hard to understand their relationship.
Third, their relationship: As other reviewers have noted, it is really hard to understand how the two are supposedly in love. Ruying is clearly an unreliable narrator, but without those missing 6 months, it’s hard to understand why she came to trust Antony, let alone started to fall in love with him. Because of that, what we get suggests that it’s more lust than love. It also makes it incredibly difficult to understand how Ruying goes from hating all Romans (rightfully so as the colonizers who are destroying her home and people) to suddenly trusting and falling in love with a prince (literally) of the colonizers. And that’s not even getting into the basics why a colonizer love story is problematic. What’s even more frustrating is this love story wasn’t needed. With a bit more development in the missing 6 months, we could have been given more reason why Ruying started to buy into Antony’s plan and thus why she started to trust him. That alone would have been enough for the reveal at the end of the book to hit just as hard (if not more so) and explain why she went back to hating Antony. Indeed, the sudden love for a colonizer makes it both unsettling and unbelievable. It also made it that much more obvious that a giant betrayal would be revealed.
What’s frustrating is there are elements of a good book here. I saw another reviewer say they wish the book had focused on Baihu and I agree. Or at least, on Baihu’s angle. Instead of a romance, we could have gotten a story of Ruying pretending to trust Antony as a way of working towards undermining his plans. Then the romance as a ploy would have made more sense. The betrayal revealed at the end would have added more fuel to her fire and, revealing her plan to Baihu, would have set up some interesting possibilities for the next book. Sadly, that’s not what we got and I’m not even interested in finding out what happens next.
First, the writing: Much of the point about Ruying’s purpose for helping the Roman prince was repeated ad nauseum, to the point where it not only slowed down the pacing of the book but also eliminated room to explore plot elements that would have been useful. Other aspects, such as how hot Ruying found Antony and how much she trusted him, were also redundant.
Second, the missing plot elements: 1) The world building is missing a lot of key elements, such as the backstory of the magic, how/why their gods were needed to fight to the Qin Dynasty, and more. We get pieces of this, but there are still many unanswered questions. 2) We skip over 6 months of time between when Ruying is captured and when she is knee deep in working for Antony. In that time, the two have formed a bond. Clearly, something changed in those 6 months that led Ruying to trust Antony and buy into his plan. But because we never see how that bond develops or why she becomes convinced of the plan, it’s really hard to understand their relationship.
Third, their relationship: As other reviewers have noted, it is really hard to understand how the two are supposedly in love. Ruying is clearly an unreliable narrator, but without those missing 6 months, it’s hard to understand why she came to trust Antony, let alone started to fall in love with him. Because of that, what we get suggests that it’s more lust than love. It also makes it incredibly difficult to understand how Ruying goes from hating all Romans (rightfully so as the colonizers who are destroying her home and people) to suddenly trusting and falling in love with a prince (literally) of the colonizers. And that’s not even getting into the basics why a colonizer love story is problematic. What’s even more frustrating is this love story wasn’t needed. With a bit more development in the missing 6 months, we could have been given more reason why Ruying started to buy into Antony’s plan and thus why she started to trust him. That alone would have been enough for the reveal at the end of the book to hit just as hard (if not more so) and explain why she went back to hating Antony. Indeed, the sudden love for a colonizer makes it both unsettling and unbelievable. It also made it that much more obvious that a giant betrayal would be revealed.
What’s frustrating is there are elements of a good book here. I saw another reviewer say they wish the book had focused on Baihu and I agree. Or at least, on Baihu’s angle. Instead of a romance, we could have gotten a story of Ruying pretending to trust Antony as a way of working towards undermining his plans. Then the romance as a ploy would have made more sense. The betrayal revealed at the end would have added more fuel to her fire and, revealing her plan to Baihu, would have set up some interesting possibilities for the next book. Sadly, that’s not what we got and I’m not even interested in finding out what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Colonisation, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Murder, War, and Violence
mythian's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book takes place in an alternate universe where some people are born with magic. Their Chinese-inspired world has been invaded and essentially conquered by Romans from another realm, masters of science and military warfare. The protagonist struggles with her powers of death and the oppression from the Romans, but is recruited by the Roman Prince Antony to be his assassin.
I was immediately hooked by the title and was interested in reading a Manchurian-inspired fantasy. The book started out strong, with good description of the harsh realities of colonization from the Roman Empire. The writing is very flowery. I liked how the author inserted sayings in Chinese text that the characters would use to describe a situation. The book was about 300 pages and read more like YA, so there could be crossover appeal. It does cover dark subjects like addiction, slavery, genocide, and torture. It's a quick read; I read the book in two sittings.
The author set up how bad things are under Roman occupation, that once we started getting to know Prince Antony and see Ruying working for him, the reader has no inclination to trust him and it seems dubious that Ruying would believe anything he tells her. She seems stupid for falling for his lies. The writing is a bit more "romantasy" than perhaps intended; a good portion of the book is Ruying thinking about how hot the prince is. Ruying's friends and family are only brought in for dramatic tension; I didn't feel a great bond between them even though Ruying is working to keep them safe throughout the book. There is a time-jump about halfway through the book that I wish had been fleshed out more. We went straight from Antony making Ruying murder people against her will to them cuddling after each assassination within pages.
If you are into dark romance, this book might be for you because the Romans do some terrible things and it is a colonizer romance, although it is unknown if they will end up together by the end of the series.
Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley.
I was immediately hooked by the title and was interested in reading a Manchurian-inspired fantasy. The book started out strong, with good description of the harsh realities of colonization from the Roman Empire. The writing is very flowery. I liked how the author inserted sayings in Chinese text that the characters would use to describe a situation. The book was about 300 pages and read more like YA, so there could be crossover appeal. It does cover dark subjects like addiction, slavery, genocide, and torture. It's a quick read; I read the book in two sittings.
The author set up how bad things are under Roman occupation, that once we started getting to know Prince Antony and see Ruying working for him, the reader has no inclination to trust him and it seems dubious that Ruying would believe anything he tells her. She seems stupid for falling for his lies. The writing is a bit more "romantasy" than perhaps intended; a good portion of the book is Ruying thinking about how hot the prince is. Ruying's friends and family are only brought in for dramatic tension; I didn't feel a great bond between them even though Ruying is working to keep them safe throughout the book. There is a time-jump about halfway through the book that I wish had been fleshed out more. We went straight from Antony making Ruying murder people against her will to them cuddling after each assassination within pages.
If you are into dark romance, this book might be for you because the Romans do some terrible things and it is a colonizer romance, although it is unknown if they will end up together by the end of the series.
Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Drug abuse, War, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Death of parent
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Murder, Addiction, Death of parent, Genocide, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts
nerdybookqueen's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I received a digital copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for a review
I requested this one because the world sounded very interesting, and I was curious about the protag, Ruying. I love stories of badass women finding their worth and being amazing. And I did get that, though it took a bit longer than I personally would've liked, but then again, it is a series, so I don't want to judge it on that when there's at least one more book to flesh out the tale.
I found the world very interesting, and the magic system as well. I would love to learn more about how the magic works, and if possible see more stories like the myth Ruying tells about how her people have their powers.
The "romance," however, was questionable, and put me off a bit from the story. Not only was it rather clunky and awkward, the pairing was just a bit...uncomfortable. I enjoy a good enemies to lovers but I'm not sure "man who's the prince of the country that colonized mine" is a great pairing. With the ending, I'm hoping this relationship is not the endgame, and that the clunkiness and uncomfortable parts were meant to read that way, as to me, it really didn't read as a romance at all, and I mostly got the impression it was meant to be from the book description and things the characters said.
I'm looking forward to the next book, and did enjoy my time reading this one. I would especially love seeing her with her sister, I really like a good(or sad) sister dynamic.
I requested this one because the world sounded very interesting, and I was curious about the protag, Ruying. I love stories of badass women finding their worth and being amazing. And I did get that, though it took a bit longer than I personally would've liked, but then again, it is a series, so I don't want to judge it on that when there's at least one more book to flesh out the tale.
I found the world very interesting, and the magic system as well. I would love to learn more about how the magic works, and if possible see more stories like the myth Ruying tells about how her people have their powers.
The "romance," however, was questionable, and put me off a bit from the story. Not only was it rather clunky and awkward, the pairing was just a bit...uncomfortable. I enjoy a good enemies to lovers but I'm not sure "man who's the prince of the country that colonized mine" is a great pairing. With the ending, I'm hoping this relationship is not the endgame, and that the clunkiness and uncomfortable parts were meant to read that way, as to me, it really didn't read as a romance at all, and I mostly got the impression it was meant to be from the book description and things the characters said.
I'm looking forward to the next book, and did enjoy my time reading this one. I would especially love seeing her with her sister, I really like a good(or sad) sister dynamic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Gaslighting, Racism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, War, and Torture
Minor: Slavery, Sexism, Misogyny, and Medical content
corabookworm's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
e-ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m going to be honest, I have very conflicted feelings about this book. On one hand, it’s a debut novel, so I’m inclined to give it some grace. The plot was interesting, with intriguing political schemes and mysteries twisted around the main conflict. I only wish we could’ve seen the main character and her magic in action more. (She murders so many people? But all of it’s off-page? What?) There were also some super interesting concepts that were only hinted at, like bits of mythology and the details of their magic, that were left as loose ends, hopefully for the sequel.
The writing also had a lot of potential. I wasn’t a huge fan of the style–there was a lot of info-dumping, repetition, and internal-monologuing, all in a bit of an overdramatic voice–but given it’s a debut, I’m not too upset about it! I particularly liked Chang’s use of metaphors and descriptions in weaving her world and its magic. (Which I also have mixed feelings about.)
The writing also had a lot of potential. I wasn’t a huge fan of the style–there was a lot of info-dumping, repetition, and internal-monologuing, all in a bit of an overdramatic voice–but given it’s a debut, I’m not too upset about it! I particularly liked Chang’s use of metaphors and descriptions in weaving her world and its magic. (Which I also have mixed feelings about.)
The world of Pangu was super cool and had a really interesting magic system! I’m a sucker for magic based around some kind of element/theme like wind, fire, healing, or, in Ruying’s case, death, and the Asian-inspired mythology and world was awesome. But the invading world? Rome? That’s where she lost me. These places are different “worlds” (planets?) and I’m not sure if Rome is supposed to be Earth? Or some made up place? It feels like Earth? But…an alternate version of Earth? And they lean into the Roman theme (mostly with mythology and names) while having *incredibly* advanced technology, which was just disorienting? I don’t know, the explanations there just felt lacking, and I’d love to see it expanded upon in book 2!
Finally, like many other readers, the romance just didn’t sit right with me. (Mild spoilers ahead?) The author has said her intention was to make Ruying an unreliable narrator, and if this WAS the intention, it was done pretty well. The main character comes off frustratingly naive because of it. Stockholm syndrome to the extreme. The real problem is that this book was STILL marketed as a romance. By the author. Like if you’re genuinely recognizing that it’s an abusive and unhealthy relationship (which it is), it feels very weird to call it “enemies to lovers” as part of your marketing scheme? Idk.
Overall, this book had a lot of potential! It suffers from some common debut novel and YA book flaws, but it’s pretty decent otherwise. I’m not sure if I’m interested enough to continue the series, especially if the author continues with the “love-triangle”, but we’ll see!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Death, Colonisation, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Murder, Confinement, and War
Minor: Genocide, Vomit, Torture, and Child death
sarrie's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
TL;DR: I did not enjoy this. From the choppy, redundant writing to the VERY suspicious romance. This was not well thought out or edited.
Longer TL;DR with theory: I have a theory. This either initially meant to be a Shatter Me style story where in fact our Roman Prince WAS the love interest and he’s meant to truly be good. This is absolutely disgusting as the things he did were inhuman, cruel, and gross. Not to mention the author herself drew a parallel between the Romans and Unit 731 from WWII. I genuinely hope this is NOT the case, but I suspect it might have been. The other part of my theory/my prediction for this based on the swerve in marketing from enemies-to-lover to childhood-friends-to-lovers is that the second book in this series is abruptly going to turn to her romancing her ‘traitor’ of a best friend from childhood. This could be setup as a ACOTAR style change in romance or could be pitched as ‘this was meant to be a love triangle’. Either way, this is a mess.
I’m sincerely hoping my year has been frontloaded with 1 and 2 star books because this is getting out of hand. I had very high hopes for To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods but sadly they were dashed on the rocky shores of ‘toxic romance’ and ‘nothing but angry’.
This one has a fairly standard story, especially for this type of Young Adult/New Adult leaning Fantasy with romance. Our main character Ruying can kill people, her power over death allows her to pull the life force from someone and kill them. She is quietly living her life, attempting to not use her power while her people and country are colonized and persecuted by the Romans. The Romans (exactly who they sound like, just more technologically advanced) have also brought Opian (Opium) and use it to control the masses. Ruying spends the first 35-45% of the book telling us over and over how terrible and cruel the Romans are. Which yes, I agree with. However we get only brief moments of worldbuilding, of any character besides Ruying has no more depth than a sheet of paper and absolutely nothing else besides her rage marks her out as different.
After the 45% mark she is given a job by a Roman prince and the book seemingly becomes an Enemies-to-Lovers romance. He is the prince of the Romans, the people who are subjugating her own and he is blackmailing her into working for him - and there is a romance between them. I was very uncomfortable here, but it got worse as the ‘twist’ at the end showed him to be even worse and yet she was genuinely just upset that he lied to her. In fact she was told, no less than three times, what he was doing but she chose to ignore it. I’m not going to specify but you can find it easily by searching up Unit 731 which the book itself notes as inspiration.
While this is happening the writing itself is dragging us down. Choppy, repetitive with far too much of the same thing said over and over in every possible way. I did not enjoy the writing, and I especially did not enjoy the VERY uncomfortable romance. And I was again, extremely uncomfortable here. Especially when taken in reflection on the author’s ‘inspiration’ in Unit 731 and the very real war crimes and heinous acts inflicted on the real life victims of their crimes.
1 out of 5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, War, Child abuse, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
abception's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Death, War, Drug abuse, Genocide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Drug use
Minor: Alcoholism, Medical content, Confinement, and Gun violence
reyap30's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Note: I was not aware of the discourse around this book or the controversy that had occurred until after I finished reading it and went to post my review on Goodreads. Even now, I do not know everything that happened. I will only be doing more research after I post this review. I want to be as unbiased as possible. This review's content will only contain me reacting to the contents of the book. Nothing more.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
When you encounter stories that touch on colonialism and how it impacts both sides of the scale, I feel like as a reader I need to broaden my perspective. This is a story that encompasses deep loss turning into rage. It is also a story of greed.
Ruying as a character is so flawed and undergoes a peculiar developmental arc throughout the book. She has been raised under a regime that oppresses her people in so many ways. In the beginning, the hopelessness and fear she feels that she can make any difference feels incredibly relatable. The feeling only heightens when considering the responsibility she feels to provide for her family, one being an elder that needs medicine and the other being, for a lack of a better term, drug addict.
Too often, we expect the main character immediately to rise above and combat the injustices they see in the world. This, combined with powers that grow stronger with a short training arc is an archetype that is overdone. It was refreshing to see a power that weakens its wielder. However, the nature of her power itself raises a line of moral questioning, which I feel was appropriately done within the book. We see her go from being reluctant to kill, to being forced to kill, to then justifying herself over and over again.
Which brings me to the relationship she has with the male lead. This books really benefits from the lack of Antony's POV. I rather enjoyed the uncertainty of whether or not Antony was truly the white savior he was presenting himself to be. I find the author's storytelling choices to keep us guessing on that front to be impressive. It's the way literally every side character tells her not to trust him, to stay true to her people and to not forget how their colonizing has personally affected her. Every single time, this is usually followed up with the violent ideas of a vigilante that wants to revolt against Rome. On side keeps preaching war while the other side preaches ideas of peace. For Ruying, who desperately wants to live in a world of peace, where her loved ones can remain out of danger, combined with her sense of duty towards her family, I can empathize with which ideas she would latch on to, even if they are coming from the enemy to her people.
Considering all this, I do have to acknowledge that not once throughout this entire book did I feel that Ruying had complete agency over her actions. The dynamic between her and Antony was at times sickening, and at others somewhat fascinating. But if I was to convince myself as a reader that these feelings between them were real, then this is truly an enemies to lovers situation. It's dark and morally questionable that these two should feel anything for each other. Initially, Antony merely sees her as a tool and Ruying is constantly afraid of her loved ones dying. On this front, I was actually relieved that any bond formed off the page, in the midst of a time skip of about 4-6 months. As a reader, I did not want to feel as attached to Antony as Ruying. He was keeping secrets (his literal war crimes) all the way til the end of the book. To me, it felt as though she had constructed a defense mechanism in her mind in order to maintain a sense of normalcy. There are a few times she wishes that she could just play pretend that they are just a boy and a girl, with no burdens or responsibilities. Yet because of the core nature of their relationship, I like that it feels like even when she trusts him that she never fully puts her faith in his cause. (For me personally, this is the first time I have wanted the childhood best friend second lead to be the one that gets the girl. Thank you to Baihu for constantly making her doubt Antony when she's being gaslit a little too hard.)
Antony as a character is still shrouded in mystery. I wasn't a fan of the one POV chapter we had from him, not because it confirms he has real feelings for her, but because of where it was placed in the narrative. I would have rather we discovered that after we learn his secret and betrayal. Other than that through Ruying, we were only able to see a few aspects of his true motivations. From Ruying's perspective, we see her humanize him, because he has a backstory that he shares with her. It was bound to happen with the prolonged time spent together and the nature of her work for him. And yet the ending of this book reinforces that any society that endeavors to colonize and steal resources from another is doing it, and will always be doing it, out of greed. As I was reading, I thought it was always a bit iffy that she saw past the monster that he is to her people and trusted him.
But when I really thought about it, it was a great starting point on a few questions. Would it be wrong to empathize with your enemy? Wouldn't it be easier to act against an enemy when you understand them better? Is Ruying a weak character for aligning herself with the path of least resistance? Is Antony truly the lesser evil? Can their societies even go back to the way things were? What if war and death is the only solution to save the people of Pangu?
So then comes the rage. I love how this book ended but also not quite. How she was in such a vulnerable place mentally and emotionally throughout the entire book and finally pushes back to regain some agency. The way I see she's switching allegiance from one charismatic leader that wants the dirty work to happen in the shadows to a charismatic leader that is pushing for an all out war. I would rather she lean into the archetype of becoming a badass leader that forges a path that neither of these men can fathom.
My fascination with the characterization aside and relationship dynamics between the two leads, I was pretty happy with the prose. It was riddled with proverbs, metaphors and similes, sometimes to the point of being overdone. I would rather see this then simplistic writing style, which has been my experience as of late. I was intrigued by the use of Chinese characters within the novel as well.
Which brings me to the worldbuilding aspect. It's clear that Pangu as a whole represents a historical period in China. Rome represents today's western civilization. I feel like the real world inspirations behind the fantasy settings was a way for the author to not have to delve so deep into creating a world from scratch. If the reader can draw upon the real world knowledge, they can fill in any gaps in the holes. I would have liked to have Pangu's geography and history a bit more fleshed out. Rome is barely touched on, other than that they brought disease, weapons and drugs to Pangu. I did find it intruiging when Antony had mentioned that Rome was just one country in their home world. I had so many questions after that piece of information.
There are some triggering topics covered in this book. The descriptions of how Rome has destroyed Pangu's culture and continues to find ways to take more and more from its people is tragic.
The more I think about this book the more nuance I feel it has. By this I mean, Ruying's response to everything that happens to her. Antony just sucks so far. I do want to know more about him though.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that wants a thought provoking read for topics on morality, war, poverty, global pollution, and anti-colonialism. I wouldn't call this a romance, which is how the author has been presenting it as on her social media. It has a romance subplot but it's not heavy on the romance at all.
Happy reading!
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
When you encounter stories that touch on colonialism and how it impacts both sides of the scale, I feel like as a reader I need to broaden my perspective. This is a story that encompasses deep loss turning into rage. It is also a story of greed.
Ruying as a character is so flawed and undergoes a peculiar developmental arc throughout the book. She has been raised under a regime that oppresses her people in so many ways. In the beginning, the hopelessness and fear she feels that she can make any difference feels incredibly relatable. The feeling only heightens when considering the responsibility she feels to provide for her family, one being an elder that needs medicine and the other being, for a lack of a better term, drug addict.
Too often, we expect the main character immediately to rise above and combat the injustices they see in the world. This, combined with powers that grow stronger with a short training arc is an archetype that is overdone. It was refreshing to see a power that weakens its wielder. However, the nature of her power itself raises a line of moral questioning, which I feel was appropriately done within the book. We see her go from being reluctant to kill, to being forced to kill, to then justifying herself over and over again.
Which brings me to the relationship she has with the male lead. This books really benefits from the lack of Antony's POV. I rather enjoyed the uncertainty of whether or not Antony was truly the white savior he was presenting himself to be. I find the author's storytelling choices to keep us guessing on that front to be impressive. It's the way literally every side character tells her not to trust him, to stay true to her people and to not forget how their colonizing has personally affected her. Every single time, this is usually followed up with the violent ideas of a vigilante that wants to revolt against Rome. On side keeps preaching war while the other side preaches ideas of peace. For Ruying, who desperately wants to live in a world of peace, where her loved ones can remain out of danger, combined with her sense of duty towards her family, I can empathize with which ideas she would latch on to, even if they are coming from the enemy to her people.
Considering all this, I do have to acknowledge that not once throughout this entire book did I feel that Ruying had complete agency over her actions. The dynamic between her and Antony was at times sickening, and at others somewhat fascinating. But if I was to convince myself as a reader that these feelings between them were real, then this is truly an enemies to lovers situation. It's dark and morally questionable that these two should feel anything for each other. Initially, Antony merely sees her as a tool and Ruying is constantly afraid of her loved ones dying. On this front, I was actually relieved that any bond formed off the page, in the midst of a time skip of about 4-6 months. As a reader, I did not want to feel as attached to Antony as Ruying. He was keeping secrets (his literal war crimes) all the way til the end of the book. To me, it felt as though she had constructed a defense mechanism in her mind in order to maintain a sense of normalcy. There are a few times she wishes that she could just play pretend that they are just a boy and a girl, with no burdens or responsibilities. Yet because of the core nature of their relationship, I like that it feels like even when she trusts him that she never fully puts her faith in his cause. (For me personally, this is the first time I have wanted the childhood best friend second lead to be the one that gets the girl. Thank you to Baihu for constantly making her doubt Antony when she's being gaslit a little too hard.)
Antony as a character is still shrouded in mystery. I wasn't a fan of the one POV chapter we had from him, not because it confirms he has real feelings for her, but because of where it was placed in the narrative. I would have rather we discovered that after we learn his secret and betrayal. Other than that through Ruying, we were only able to see a few aspects of his true motivations. From Ruying's perspective, we see her humanize him, because he has a backstory that he shares with her. It was bound to happen with the prolonged time spent together and the nature of her work for him. And yet the ending of this book reinforces that any society that endeavors to colonize and steal resources from another is doing it, and will always be doing it, out of greed. As I was reading, I thought it was always a bit iffy that she saw past the monster that he is to her people and trusted him.
But when I really thought about it, it was a great starting point on a few questions. Would it be wrong to empathize with your enemy? Wouldn't it be easier to act against an enemy when you understand them better? Is Ruying a weak character for aligning herself with the path of least resistance? Is Antony truly the lesser evil? Can their societies even go back to the way things were? What if war and death is the only solution to save the people of Pangu?
So then comes the rage. I love how this book ended but also not quite. How she was in such a vulnerable place mentally and emotionally throughout the entire book and finally pushes back to regain some agency. The way I see she's switching allegiance from one charismatic leader that wants the dirty work to happen in the shadows to a charismatic leader that is pushing for an all out war. I would rather she lean into the archetype of becoming a badass leader that forges a path that neither of these men can fathom.
My fascination with the characterization aside and relationship dynamics between the two leads, I was pretty happy with the prose. It was riddled with proverbs, metaphors and similes, sometimes to the point of being overdone. I would rather see this then simplistic writing style, which has been my experience as of late. I was intrigued by the use of Chinese characters within the novel as well.
Which brings me to the worldbuilding aspect. It's clear that Pangu as a whole represents a historical period in China. Rome represents today's western civilization. I feel like the real world inspirations behind the fantasy settings was a way for the author to not have to delve so deep into creating a world from scratch. If the reader can draw upon the real world knowledge, they can fill in any gaps in the holes. I would have liked to have Pangu's geography and history a bit more fleshed out. Rome is barely touched on, other than that they brought disease, weapons and drugs to Pangu. I did find it intruiging when Antony had mentioned that Rome was just one country in their home world. I had so many questions after that piece of information.
There are some triggering topics covered in this book. The descriptions of how Rome has destroyed Pangu's culture and continues to find ways to take more and more from its people is tragic.
The more I think about this book the more nuance I feel it has. By this I mean, Ruying's response to everything that happens to her. Antony just sucks so far. I do want to know more about him though.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that wants a thought provoking read for topics on morality, war, poverty, global pollution, and anti-colonialism. I wouldn't call this a romance, which is how the author has been presenting it as on her social media. It has a romance subplot but it's not heavy on the romance at all.
Happy reading!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Grief, Drug abuse, and War
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Torture and Violence
michela_wilson's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
2.0
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was a book I could not wait for. I thought the plot sounded fascinating and death magic is always so interesting when done well; but unfortunately, I could not have been more disappointed while reading this book. In fact, I almost DNF'd it because of how uncomfortable I got towards the middle when the romance officially began. Let's break down why this book gets a no from me.
The first thing I want to mention is that this is a colonizer x colonized romance. While I am all for enemies-to-lovers, this was a Stockholm Syndrome dark romance disguised as YA enemies-to-lovers and it was frankly just abusive. There was no equal footing between Ruying and her love interest so instead of an enemies-to-lovers plot it turned into pages of watching a woman get tortured and brainwashed by her abuser. It made me think that this was trying to be a dark romance book for a younger audience and that really rubbed me the wrong way.
The romance itself was also extremely underdeveloped and it made me think that it wasn't even in the original draft of the book. To be honest, I think I would have loved this book so much more had the romance not been in there at all (and as a romantasy girlie that shocked me).
The worldbuilding also suffered because the romance took precedence, leading to multiple pages of lore dumping that interrupted the pacing of the book entirely. The world itself was fascinating and I did love the sci-fi elements, but I began losing interest when the book focused more on telling me how the world works rather than showing me how the world worked.
The writing itself was very choppy and repetitive (especially at the beginning) and it felt like there was no trust put in the reader to follow along with the world Molly X. Chang built. However, several later chapters felt extremely well-written and had beautiful prose and I am just sad that it did not carry throughout the rest of the book. Again it felt like Molly X. Chang was forced to put more explanations into a wonderful world of resistance, and I hope that she was not forced by the publisher to dilute her original story.
Then there is the main cause of my disappointment, the execution of the magic itself. The magic of the Xianlings is the coolest part of this book. The Qi and folklore explaining how magic works were fascinating and the death magic Ruying holds was why this book was my most anticipated read of the year! However, the moments when Ruying learned to wield her magic were skipped over in a time jump. There was also so much promise at the beginning where Death speaks directly to Ruying multiple times while she wields her magic and then Death does not speak again until the end of the book. Exploring Death's magic would have been a great way to tie the world into Ruying's story while also exploring why Death chose Ruying to give his gift. Again I felt like there was a lot of lost potential here, which makes me disappointed.
That being said, the last chapter did change a lot of things for me and I am hopeful for the next book and the next chapter of Ruying's story. I hope that the romance gets left behind and the world and magic become more prominent as this series continues. Molly X. Chang has the potential to be an incredible YA fantasy author with this series and I hope that the lost potential from the first book is explored in the later ones.
Thank you to Netgalley and Molly X. Chang for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The first thing I want to mention is that this is a colonizer x colonized romance. While I am all for enemies-to-lovers, this was a Stockholm Syndrome dark romance disguised as YA enemies-to-lovers and it was frankly just abusive. There was no equal footing between Ruying and her love interest so instead of an enemies-to-lovers plot it turned into pages of watching a woman get tortured and brainwashed by her abuser. It made me think that this was trying to be a dark romance book for a younger audience and that really rubbed me the wrong way.
The romance itself was also extremely underdeveloped and it made me think that it wasn't even in the original draft of the book. To be honest, I think I would have loved this book so much more had the romance not been in there at all (and as a romantasy girlie that shocked me).
The worldbuilding also suffered because the romance took precedence, leading to multiple pages of lore dumping that interrupted the pacing of the book entirely. The world itself was fascinating and I did love the sci-fi elements, but I began losing interest when the book focused more on telling me how the world works rather than showing me how the world worked.
The writing itself was very choppy and repetitive (especially at the beginning) and it felt like there was no trust put in the reader to follow along with the world Molly X. Chang built. However, several later chapters felt extremely well-written and had beautiful prose and I am just sad that it did not carry throughout the rest of the book. Again it felt like Molly X. Chang was forced to put more explanations into a wonderful world of resistance, and I hope that she was not forced by the publisher to dilute her original story.
Then there is the main cause of my disappointment, the execution of the magic itself. The magic of the Xianlings is the coolest part of this book. The Qi and folklore explaining how magic works were fascinating and the death magic Ruying holds was why this book was my most anticipated read of the year! However, the moments when Ruying learned to wield her magic were skipped over in a time jump. There was also so much promise at the beginning where Death speaks directly to Ruying multiple times while she wields her magic and then Death does not speak again until the end of the book. Exploring Death's magic would have been a great way to tie the world into Ruying's story while also exploring why Death chose Ruying to give his gift. Again I felt like there was a lot of lost potential here, which makes me disappointed.
That being said, the last chapter did change a lot of things for me and I am hopeful for the next book and the next chapter of Ruying's story. I hope that the romance gets left behind and the world and magic become more prominent as this series continues. Molly X. Chang has the potential to be an incredible YA fantasy author with this series and I hope that the lost potential from the first book is explored in the later ones.
Thank you to Netgalley and Molly X. Chang for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, War, Toxic relationship, Racism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Genocide