A review by regularjinks
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang

challenging dark 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

3.0

I know this book got slaughtered in reviews calling it a "colonizer romance". I think that's unfair to the book and was probably the result of intra-community YA author squabbling, but I also really can't give this more than a 3.

I think I see what the author is trying to do. I also think this book desperately needed a more competent editor (there are several proofreading errors, among other things), and the character-building was mushy, for lack of a better word. I found myself frustrated with Ruying, the FMC, often—
she's clearly written to be smart and perceptive, but half the time she's saying "haha surely not" to things happening that are waved directly in front of her face. Whether she's ignoring this by choice isn't really clear because a lot of her interiority is obscured when it counts, and the events she's conflicted over happen largely offscreen.


To the book's credit,
the MMC is never presented as very sympathetic, and it's clear which side is the wrong one.
That said, the writing ultimately feels indecisive. I don't know if it's that the author isn't willing to commit to writing Ruying with the principles she wants to profess or if she's trying for a more symbolic narrative. I can see the point being a metaphor for
how someone could develop sympathy for their oppressor, or why someone might become a collaborator.
  It seems as though the author couldn't really decide what she wanted the MMC to be, either—
his argument is enough to bait Ruying into believing it, and he's then mustache-twirlingly evil in his methods.
It's jarring. The direct reference to
Unit 731 feels like it isn't really mine to comment on outside of saying the author has the right to expand on her own people's history, even if it's using a ghoulishly cruel part to do it.


I want to believe the second half of the duology will resolve the issues this book had, and that the judgment of the first book is maybe too hasty. I hope I'm right.
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