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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, Death, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Torture, and Vomit
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: Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
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, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Torture, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Gun violence, and Medical content
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: Drug abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Colonisation, 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: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and War
cneighbors36's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
2.25
"To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" is Molly X. Chang's debut novel. I was really torn with this review for a few reasons. First, the book was not what I expected at all. The book is really heavy and deals with very deep issues, which I did not expect going into it. Additionally, I did not like the MMC or the romance at all. The relationship honestly felt very problematic and more of a controlling power dynamic. The ending did make me feel somewhat better, though. I enjoyed the author's writing style as it was very descriptive, but Ruying's thought process did feel repetitive at times. The world-building in the book is intriguing and unique. However, it can sometimes be challenging and could have been explained better/more. I am unsure if parts were left out due to the FMC not knowing it, and we are supposed to be learning as she does, or if it was just a mistake on the author's part. I will probably pick up the next book to see which direction the author plans to go with the series, but I won't be in a hurry to do so. In the next book, I hope we see more detail on the world-building and magic system.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent
Minor: Torture and War
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
TO GAZE UPON WICKED GODS is a collaborator's view of colonization, as a girl with the power to wield death agrees to work with a prince among the colonizers because he promises to use her in pursuit of lasting peace.
Ruying has been trying to keep her twin sister alive and their grandmother cared for even as everything else is falling apart. Their city is divided, literally, with half of it carved away for use by the Roman colonizers from another world who have held the city in their grip for more than two decades. The Romans brought a powerfully addictive drug with them, promising it would unlock the people's magic but all it has brought is pain. After losing their father to the drug, Ruying is trying to wean her sister off of it, bargaining away whatever possessions she must in order to keep her family together. Already in this precarious state, Ruying is unable to say no when a mistake lands her in Roman dungeons, faced with torture and death unless she agrees to help one of the princes with his dreams of peace through Death like only Ruying can wield.
Ruying is a fascinating main character. Normally I don't like characters who make terrible decisions when a better option is clearly available, but that's not quite what's happening here. There's an ongoing discussion of which definition of "better" should be applied. Ruying's choice might not be the one I would make, but I completely understand why she does what she does, and I don't know for sure if I'd actually disagree under the same circumstances. That tension makes for an excellent story, with Ruying fully committing to her choices once they're made, but then remaining open enough to reevaluate her situation as new facts come to light. At her core, her goal is to protect her family at any cost, and that drives her to a great many things which she would not otherwise accept. Ruying isn't the only one making such choices, early on she interacts with a sort of friend who has been collaborating with the Romans in exchange for access and power. She judges him at first, then comes to understand why he does so. Ruying finds herself in a colonized/colonizer romance, always aware of the coercion which is inextricable from her position. She cares for Anthony, but any safety she feels is always at his discretion. He might really love her, but there's no risk for him in that, not really. Whereas Ruying knows that if she loses his favor, she and her family could lose everything in an instant.
The worldbuilding is excellent. It focuses on the people, the language, and culture, frequently including passages and their translations. There are also frequent reminders of how the Roman invasion changed things, never letting the reader forget that it hasn't always been this way, even though for the reader, it has, because this is our first view of this world. As the first book in the series, this doesn't have to resolve any particular major plot point because it's still setting things up for later. Ruying makes an important decision towards the end in a way that serves as an emotional resolution/climax of the story, while establishing a new status quo for the sequel.
TO GAZE UPON WICKED GODS is a collaborator's view of colonization, as a girl with the power to wield death agrees to work with a prince among the colonizers because he promises to use her in pursuit of lasting peace.
Ruying has been trying to keep her twin sister alive and their grandmother cared for even as everything else is falling apart. Their city is divided, literally, with half of it carved away for use by the Roman colonizers from another world who have held the city in their grip for more than two decades. The Romans brought a powerfully addictive drug with them, promising it would unlock the people's magic but all it has brought is pain. After losing their father to the drug, Ruying is trying to wean her sister off of it, bargaining away whatever possessions she must in order to keep her family together. Already in this precarious state, Ruying is unable to say no when a mistake lands her in Roman dungeons, faced with torture and death unless she agrees to help one of the princes with his dreams of peace through Death like only Ruying can wield.
Ruying is a fascinating main character. Normally I don't like characters who make terrible decisions when a better option is clearly available, but that's not quite what's happening here. There's an ongoing discussion of which definition of "better" should be applied. Ruying's choice might not be the one I would make, but I completely understand why she does what she does, and I don't know for sure if I'd actually disagree under the same circumstances. That tension makes for an excellent story, with Ruying fully committing to her choices once they're made, but then remaining open enough to reevaluate her situation as new facts come to light. At her core, her goal is to protect her family at any cost, and that drives her to a great many things which she would not otherwise accept. Ruying isn't the only one making such choices, early on she interacts with a sort of friend who has been collaborating with the Romans in exchange for access and power. She judges him at first, then comes to understand why he does so. Ruying finds herself in a colonized/colonizer romance, always aware of the coercion which is inextricable from her position. She cares for Anthony, but any safety she feels is always at his discretion. He might really love her, but there's no risk for him in that, not really. Whereas Ruying knows that if she loses his favor, she and her family could lose everything in an instant.
The worldbuilding is excellent. It focuses on the people, the language, and culture, frequently including passages and their translations. There are also frequent reminders of how the Roman invasion changed things, never letting the reader forget that it hasn't always been this way, even though for the reader, it has, because this is our first view of this world. As the first book in the series, this doesn't have to resolve any particular major plot point because it's still setting things up for later. Ruying makes an important decision towards the end in a way that serves as an emotional resolution/climax of the story, while establishing a new status quo for the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Medical content, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
savannnah_reads's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
HEROES DIE. COWARDS LIVE.
I was promised an “epic fantasy” and even star crossed lovers but you know what I got? A COLONIZER ROMANCE.
The beginning started so strong. There were so many lines that had me giddy because I finally found another ARC that I could get into and was written well. Unfortunately, the threads of the story started to come undone around halfway through, and by the end, everything felt rushed and confusing.
We start with Ruying, a young woman in a setting that is basically medieval China (under a different name). She is very firm about (and repeats it every chapter) her willingness to do anything to protect her twin and her ailing Grandmother. Ruying also has powers like a small sub-section of her world, but no one knows where the powers came from or why each person that has them is unlike anyone else. Three people can have water powers, but one might have the ability to control bodies of water, one might control storms, one might be able to suck water out of the environment. Ruying’s power is Death as in she can suck the Qi out of anyone to the point that they die.
We kind of murkily also discover that her kingdom is actively being colonized by Rome (yeah, Rome, Rome. Why the author gave fantasy-China a different name and not Rome, I don’t know). But this version of Rome is set far enough into the future that they have guns, universal remotes, emergency room equipment, bulletproof glass, fighter jets, and nukes.
For 20 years, Rome has steadily invaded Ruying’s world through a portal we truly get no details on. It’s just a portal that showed up one day and never left; it just exists in the sky and is never mentioned again.
Anyway, Rome is colonizing book-China and exerting God-like authority over Ruyings people thanks to their “science” (a major theme is that the ever-lessening magical powers of this world can’t stand up to the “science” of Rome, aka progress/advancement/technology/weapons)
Ruying encounters a man named Antony (yeah.) that she knows is a villain, but surprise, he’s hot and she gets a crush while acting as his assassin under duress. The thing is, all the assassin-ing happens off page. We just hear about how randomly skilled she is for a 19 year old with no formal training or experience, but never really see it.
Things progress, betrayals are had, feelings go back and forth etc etc until some very predictable plot twists and a random chapter thrown in from Antony’s POV that spoils the whole “is he actually a bad guy? Or is he just misunderstood?” Question. Because honestly, for the whole middle part, I wanted to believe that he was secretly scheming for the good of both worlds in a way that would be revealed in grand fashion. But instead, it really is just a book about a girly falling in love with her oppressor. Even when he’s come close to killing her, forced her to kill people he admits are innocent, holds a gun up to her head,, tells her that he’s willing to sacrifice people for the “greater good” (which people’s greater good?) and only ever made weak excuses as to why he’s doing what he’s doing for his rickety-ass plan to “save the world.” She turns her back on the culture and people she says over and over and over that she’s wholly dedicated to and protective of.
My girl Ruying ignored every red flag that was slapping her in the face. She even occasionally snaps out of her lovesick puppy shtick, only to fall right back into it when Antony smiles at her with dimples.
I think this was an interesting (or at least a first, for me) examination of the messiness of interpersonal relationships under colonialism. Of the merits between honoring the past and those who have shaped history and forging forward for progress, but destroying your history. Of people trying to figure out if what they do as an individual matters in the grand scheme of things. If justifying some for the sake of the masses is justified. I also really liked the way Antony was a super villain but in a way that was carefully crafted; he didn’t just stomp in and crush people, he learned their culture and beliefs and language. To me, that makes him even more insidious because he knew exactly how to hurt people.
I just think it needs a few more rounds of editing, clearer and earlier world-building, and if you’re going to have the colonized fall in love with the colonizer just to have her be betrayed by him, it needs to be more drawn out and really soak in the feelings of disgust and confusion. And when she’s in that, keep her in it, harder to really drive the impact of the betrayal.
Another emphasis on needing more editing. I know this was an ARC, but there are lots of grammatical errors and the twist with the experiment gets ruined bc it’s confusingly accidentally revealed before the actual reveal of her name. And some of the dialogue was confusing in a way that it takes you out of the story. Things like characters supposedly in mideval times saying things like “is he going to be okay?” And “don’t paint me out to be the bad guy” plus their use of both gold coins AND pennies????
Things I wanted more of:
- Baihu!! He was a really interesting and complex character and I was much more interested in his espionage between worlds
- Ruying’s daddy issues; I wanted more about how they probably manifested in her speedy trust toward Antony; the need to belong and be taken care of!
- Baihu eating Ruying UP about her naivety
- The magic system. In this book, the only explanation for it that we get is “no one knooooows where it comes from! It’s just there!!”
Favorite Quotes:
“Heroes die. Cowards live.”
“To say Er-Lang Baihu was a villain would be a stretch. To say he was innocent was a lie.”
“Frustration was dark crimson. It tasted of ash when I tried to swallow, scorched my throat before clotting my lungs.”
“All heroes fail to pass the test of love.”
“I fear you the way mortals fear gods.”
“He pushed me away, loaded a bullet into the gun, and pressed it against my head this time.
‘Your power is exquisite—and you are beautiful. But there are plenty of pretty things in this world. Don't think for a second that I, Antony Augustus, am someone who sees a pretty girl and loses his head or grows soft. If I were like that, I would have been killed a long time ago, and Rome would never meet its greatest ruler.’”
“His eyes met mine, without fear. As if daring me to prove my words. I gripped the gun tighter. ‘Call off the snipers!’
‘Or what?’ ‘Or I'll show you how much of a killer I can be.’ ‘Do it,’ he whispered without taking his eyes off me, his body too close to mine in the confined space, his voice a taunting rasp.
‘Do it. Kill me. Pull the trigger.’”
Thank you to NetGalley and RandomHouse for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, War, and Injury/Injury detail
quakinginmybooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
First things first, I requested Molly X. Chang's "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" after hearing about it from the review bombing scandal. I generally don't read YA and probably wouldn't have paid attention to the book otherwise. That said, I'm glad I read this book and I'll eagerly await the next in the series.
Chang built a fascinating world divided between magic and technology; a fictional magical Manchuria suffering under colonization and Roman colonizers fleeing a world they polluted to death. As a xianling, someone capable of using magic, Ruying possess a terrifying power. She's able to pull another's qi from their body and release their souls; at the cost of harming her own qi.
Likable and despicable at turns, Ruying makes morally grey choices in a morally grey world. Ruying is both victim and villain, hero and coward. Willing to kill or do whatever it takes to protect her family, but afraid to face the problem of colonization head on. She desperately wants to live out a dream of peace, falling for Anthony, one of the two Roman princes despite herself.
I don't always care for romance, especially not spicy tiktok books, but this "enemies-to-???" was well blended in and didn't become an annoyance. The paranoia and distrust I felt for Anthony was quite fun, trying figure out his deal. And what a "deal" it was.
As someone learning Chinese, I enjoyed the bilingual bonus. The inclusion of Chinese hanzi (characters) and chengyu (idioms) delighted me, especially puzzling them out before the provided English translation.
There were a couple spots where some editing could be done, but I read an ARC copy. This book is very much a set up for the rest of the series, a ton of world building and the main character overcoming the "refusal of the call to adventure." That's not to say it's boring, the story kept me engaged and interested. I want the next part of the story and absolutely look forward to reading it.
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, and Death of parent
sol_journal's review against another edition
dark
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
4.0
Thank you so much Random House Publishing- Ballantine, Molly X Chang, and NetGalley for the eARC! All thoughts and reviews are my own!
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The StoryGraph
Posted on: 8 December 2023
3.6 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.
I’m trying to beat the colonizer romance allegations away with a stick, but I’m not educated enough to even begin defending why I think it’s not one, so bear with me, readers, because this is gonna be A Ride as I get my thoughts together.
Okay so, I like the premise of this. I throughly enjoyed the idea that Chang has here. I just feel like it was lacking in the sense that… okay yeah, it’s a YA book but I almost wish it wasn’t so more topics would be hit further in depth than the rating would (I assume) allow. I’ll probably end up flagging this as a spoiler-review because there’s no way I can avoid mentioning a few key details throughout it.
But TL;DR: Ruying isn’t a full apologist. There’s a lot of potential to be had with the story and the characters, but it also feels like it’s lacking in some places. (I go more in depth below!).
When people say that death happens off-page more than on- yeah. It does. Well, there’s some of Ruying’s abilities being displayed at first (to show how her magic works), but once we as the readers have an established sense of the ‘how’, it does a bit of a time-skip. We get Death’s brief point of view (which I kind of almost want to see more of but I digress) and then it continues on with the story where we see a few more deaths done by Ruying. I think that readers are meant to feel the weight of these deaths by the constant mention of Ruying doing it for the Roman side rather than fighting for and with her own people. We are shown her guilt for her work, the constant back and forth between ‘is this right?’ and ‘is this wrong?’
It’s kind of hard to feel for Ruying (and many characters in that matter), in my opinion, because I couldn’t connect to her. I feel that we could have learned more about her personality and her motives besides being family-driven. Chang writes in instances that make Ruying care for her sister and her grandmother, but I think I wanted to feel more? This isn’t to say that Ruying is a bad character, but rather, I just would’ve liked to see more of her. There was almost a bit more tell not show. I understand that YA novels do have length limits and that this is also a series (so more may be uncovered later), but if it was longer, I think it could have been fleshed out more to include some more scenes of her past that explain who she is now with the knowledge she has now. We’re told that she can sneak around easily and knows how to fight some because her grandmother was the actual brains behind her grandfather’s title so she showed her grandchildren these skills to help them. I would’ve loved to be shown some of this though, or add some flourish or something to it? Just- it felt like something was missing throughout. The characters (not just Ruying!!) felt a little flat to me. I hated the villains for the sake of what we are told they did, but I wish there was more to their character like- show me how vile Valentin is. Show me why the Ghosts and the Phantom are on thin ice. Show me why Baihu is doing what he is. Show me more of this revolution and the tension. That’s one of the issues with first person because it limits the readers to what this character sees and feels, and I think that (for me at least) I would’ve loved to see more of the surroundings and the people interacting with Ruying, and how they come into play more than just the surface level understanding we get. Her family (the whole reason she’s roped herself into this mess) also eventually fades off into the background some and I would’ve loved to see more of them (or some split POV with Meiya because I feel like she’s going to be a larger piece on the board soon).
And now, on to the romance side of things. The reason I say this isn’t inherently a colonizer romance is because Ruying doesn’t excuse what Antony does. She <i>knows</i> that he is bad and is doing so much bad, but she can’t help how she feels when he treats her nicely. She’s captivated by this different, poor boy side of him that relates so much to her. She feels that he’s different than his family. She never fully excuses his actions and even tries to nip these feelings in the bud because she understands that he still had a hand in killing her people and making a wreck of her home and her world. I feel like that’s what separates this from an actual colonizer romance because Ruying doesn’t make excuses nor apologizes (she does claim that Antony is helping both sides though, but this is also a thought that she half-believes when put up against the people she’s told to kill for him). I think it really depends on how one defines a ‘colonizer romance’. I don’t really vibe with the romance plot in here either though, because she is still falling for the enemy and not in the sense that the enemy is just a morally grey villain- he’s literally the adopted son of the Roman leaders who are wanting to take Jing-City for their own survival (all explained in more detail literally the last few chapters of the book). I didn’t really like the way their romance tried to play out, but I can also see why it was playing out because Ruying is singled out, alone in this cold side of the world where she doesn’t fit in and suddenly somebody is unafraid of her magic and her past and finds her beautiful. I just didn’t vibe with the idea of who this somebody was, ya know?
I really thought this book would be almost like Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (and spoilers here for that book real quick) but if after Lan was captured by the Elantians, she didn’t escape and was forced to help them find the demons instead. It had similar premises with the colonizers raiding lands not their own, all for more and more power. I even liked the magic system Chang has established in To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. It’s explained more how it works also at the end of the book, but it’s a solid system that really makes me want to see more.
Do I think I’ll stick around for the rest of the series? I think so. The way this one ended did make me want to see more of it, but it definitely hasn’t been my favorite read. It’s right up my alley in themes that I like, all the way down to this young, hungry, and desperate girl willing to do anything for her family to survive. There’s just some places that it lacks in and places that it could be better played out in.
If you stuck around to the end of this review, I commend you! I literally did not know how to get my thoughts together to lead this nor how to end this beyond saying that it’s a pretty good read! It does read like a YA though (which I don’t know why I was expecting a more adult book when I knew it was YA????). I feel like I’ve also rated it higher than it’s initial 3 star I was planning because it has a lot of potential! It has redemption in the next book, and it just has the type of character I want to see all the way through to the end. Ruying is desperate for the chance to keep her family safe. She’s entirely naive to the way the world is and relying on just what she knows and what she wants to believe to be true. She has a lot of room for some growth and change, and I think I really do want to see that happen enough to continue with the series.
There’s a chance I’ll come back and edit this review after sitting on my thoughts more, but as of now, I’ll leave it at it's initally earned 3.6 (4) stars.
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The StoryGraph
Posted on: 8 December 2023
3.6 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.
I’m trying to beat the colonizer romance allegations away with a stick, but I’m not educated enough to even begin defending why I think it’s not one, so bear with me, readers, because this is gonna be A Ride as I get my thoughts together.
Okay so, I like the premise of this. I throughly enjoyed the idea that Chang has here. I just feel like it was lacking in the sense that… okay yeah, it’s a YA book but I almost wish it wasn’t so more topics would be hit further in depth than the rating would (I assume) allow. I’ll probably end up flagging this as a spoiler-review because there’s no way I can avoid mentioning a few key details throughout it.
But TL;DR: Ruying isn’t a full apologist. There’s a lot of potential to be had with the story and the characters, but it also feels like it’s lacking in some places. (I go more in depth below!).
It’s kind of hard to feel for Ruying (and many characters in that matter), in my opinion, because I couldn’t connect to her. I feel that we could have learned more about her personality and her motives besides being family-driven. Chang writes in instances that make Ruying care for her sister and her grandmother, but I think I wanted to feel more? This isn’t to say that Ruying is a bad character, but rather, I just would’ve liked to see more of her. There was almost a bit more tell not show. I understand that YA novels do have length limits and that this is also a series (so more may be uncovered later), but if it was longer, I think it could have been fleshed out more to include some more scenes of her past that explain who she is now with the knowledge she has now. We’re told that she can sneak around easily and knows how to fight some because her grandmother was the actual brains behind her grandfather’s title so she showed her grandchildren these skills to help them. I would’ve loved to be shown some of this though, or add some flourish or something to it? Just- it felt like something was missing throughout. The characters (not just Ruying!!) felt a little flat to me. I hated the villains for the sake of what we are told they did, but I wish there was more to their character like- show me how vile Valentin is. Show me why the Ghosts and the Phantom are on thin ice. Show me why Baihu is doing what he is. Show me more of this revolution and the tension. That’s one of the issues with first person because it limits the readers to what this character sees and feels, and I think that (for me at least) I would’ve loved to see more of the surroundings and the people interacting with Ruying, and how they come into play more than just the surface level understanding we get. Her family (the whole reason she’s roped herself into this mess) also eventually fades off into the background some and I would’ve loved to see more of them (or some split POV with Meiya because I feel like she’s going to be a larger piece on the board soon).
And now, on to the romance side of things. The reason I say this isn’t inherently a colonizer romance is because Ruying doesn’t excuse what Antony does. She <i>knows</i> that he is bad and is doing so much bad, but she can’t help how she feels when he treats her nicely. She’s captivated by this different, poor boy side of him that relates so much to her. She feels that he’s different than his family. She never fully excuses his actions and even tries to nip these feelings in the bud because she understands that he still had a hand in killing her people and making a wreck of her home and her world. I feel like that’s what separates this from an actual colonizer romance because Ruying doesn’t make excuses nor apologizes (she does claim that Antony is helping both sides though, but this is also a thought that she half-believes when put up against the people she’s told to kill for him). I think it really depends on how one defines a ‘colonizer romance’. I don’t really vibe with the romance plot in here either though, because she is still falling for the enemy and not in the sense that the enemy is just a morally grey villain- he’s literally the adopted son of the Roman leaders who are wanting to take Jing-City for their own survival (all explained in more detail literally the last few chapters of the book). I didn’t really like the way their romance tried to play out, but I can also see why it was playing out because Ruying is singled out, alone in this cold side of the world where she doesn’t fit in and suddenly somebody is unafraid of her magic and her past and finds her beautiful. I just didn’t vibe with the idea of who this somebody was, ya know?
I really thought this book would be almost like Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (and spoilers here for that book real quick) but if after Lan was captured by the Elantians, she didn’t escape and was forced to help them find the demons instead. It had similar premises with the colonizers raiding lands not their own, all for more and more power. I even liked the magic system Chang has established in To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. It’s explained more how it works also at the end of the book, but it’s a solid system that really makes me want to see more.
Do I think I’ll stick around for the rest of the series? I think so. The way this one ended did make me want to see more of it, but it definitely hasn’t been my favorite read. It’s right up my alley in themes that I like, all the way down to this young, hungry, and desperate girl willing to do anything for her family to survive. There’s just some places that it lacks in and places that it could be better played out in.
If you stuck around to the end of this review, I commend you! I literally did not know how to get my thoughts together to lead this nor how to end this beyond saying that it’s a pretty good read! It does read like a YA though (which I don’t know why I was expecting a more adult book when I knew it was YA????). I feel like I’ve also rated it higher than it’s initial 3 star I was planning because it has a lot of potential! It has redemption in the next book, and it just has the type of character I want to see all the way through to the end. Ruying is desperate for the chance to keep her family safe. She’s entirely naive to the way the world is and relying on just what she knows and what she wants to believe to be true. She has a lot of room for some growth and change, and I think I really do want to see that happen enough to continue with the series.
There’s a chance I’ll come back and edit this review after sitting on my thoughts more, but as of now, I’ll leave it at it's initally earned 3.6 (4) stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, and Drug use
Minor: Torture, Violence, and War