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jennb_reading 's review for:
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods
by Molly X. Chang
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I want to say that this book overall had the potential to be an amazing first installment to a new series. I thought the world was interesting and unique and there were interesting stakes and the premise of magic vs science is such a cool concept. To say that I was very excited to read this book would be an understatement. However, as much as I honestly wanted to love this book I had a hard time due to the character development.
I didn't buy the MMC and FMC's love story, our FMC, Ruying, went from hating the Romans and anyone associated with them to falling in love with one of the princes. That would have been fine however we skipped over the first six months of their relationship where they would have supposedly begun to fall in love. So for me, it felt very insta-love which isn't my favorite trope and just made the relationship so much less believable. Not to mention because we didn't have those building blocks moments for their character development and relationship the choices Ruying was making didn't make sense and were at times more than a little confusing. I understand that the author was trying to write morally grey characters and also play around with the idea of what if our main character wasn't brave but gave into her more cowardly urges. Which in theory could be very interesting, but I don't think she pulled it off as well as I hoped, and left me as the reader wondering why anyone would think that Ruying's choices made any sense for her family and people's long-term survival.
There was also the odd choice of putting in a lot metaphors within the text which I didn't love since it drew me out of the book and felt forced in there just for the sake of being there. I would have much preferred if the author had made those metaphors as the chapter title or something like that so that the writing didn't feel as forced and clunky.
I'd say this was a very low 3 star (probably more like 2.75), I believe that this has a lot to do with the fact that this is the author's debut novel and so she hasn't quite perfected her craft. I'm leaning towards trying the next book to see if things come together and get better, because like I said before I can see the potential of what the author was trying to do. I thought the world was interesting and we were just starting to get information at the end of this book that could explain some of the mysteries this world had.
I didn't buy the MMC and FMC's love story, our FMC, Ruying, went from hating the Romans and anyone associated with them to falling in love with one of the princes. That would have been fine however we skipped over the first six months of their relationship where they would have supposedly begun to fall in love. So for me, it felt very insta-love which isn't my favorite trope and just made the relationship so much less believable. Not to mention because we didn't have those building blocks moments for their character development and relationship the choices Ruying was making didn't make sense and were at times more than a little confusing. I understand that the author was trying to write morally grey characters and also play around with the idea of what if our main character wasn't brave but gave into her more cowardly urges. Which in theory could be very interesting, but I don't think she pulled it off as well as I hoped, and left me as the reader wondering why anyone would think that Ruying's choices made any sense for her family and people's long-term survival.
There was also the odd choice of putting in a lot metaphors within the text which I didn't love since it drew me out of the book and felt forced in there just for the sake of being there. I would have much preferred if the author had made those metaphors as the chapter title or something like that so that the writing didn't feel as forced and clunky.
I'd say this was a very low 3 star (probably more like 2.75), I believe that this has a lot to do with the fact that this is the author's debut novel and so she hasn't quite perfected her craft. I'm leaning towards trying the next book to see if things come together and get better, because like I said before I can see the potential of what the author was trying to do. I thought the world was interesting and we were just starting to get information at the end of this book that could explain some of the mysteries this world had.