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A review by matmatmatty
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.
The start was a bit slow and dark, and felt a bit dragging. But after finishing it, I understand why it was like that.
This was a really interesting story, and showed what it was like to live under a colonising force really well.
I think a lot of people calling this a "coloniser romance" either aren't reading the whole book, or aren't engaging with the story. As a daughter of the commonwealth, I can feel for Ruying and understand her actions.
I can see why some people might not like this, but this isn't a romance and if you take what you read in reviews as being the plot of this book, you may miss out on a good piece of literature.
EDIT: I wanted to take some time to actually get my thoughts down properly. But spoilers ahead:
This story started quite dark for me - I felt that our MC was only really talking about how her life sucks now, and when I compare this to a dystopian like The Hunger Games, it felt a bit whiny. I understand that the start was setting the scene, though I still think tht could have been done a bit better.
In terms of people calling this a coloniser romance, I saw this as more a discussion about privilege and race in relationships and love. Ruying is kind of forced to be with Anthony (in the sense, she is literally put before him without her agency and doesn't really have a choice in deciding whether or. not she should be his assassin). Regardless of if she knew everything about him, there is still a power imbalance and she is at his mercy. BUT ALSO he is saying everything she wants to hear. Is it a lie, or does he really want to do right by her people? I felt that this part of the story was the strongest, and as a Black British woman, who is reminding everyday of the atrocities my country committed to my ancestors and people who look like me, I really resonated with it. Of course Ruying would fall for the powerful man who wants to and has the power to set things right for her people - I probably would. And when we find out the truth, everything has been torn from herand I thought that was really powerful. Instead of realising she has been played and everything is hopeless, she takes matters into her own hands. I'm actually quite interested in the next book.
Do I think this was a perfect book? No. Do I think this was awful? No. I would say the good parts outshine the bad parts, but also get others may disagree. Do I think this deserves a lot of the hate it gets? Also no.
The final few chapters were the strongest part of the book in my opinion, but I do think that if you have to tell someone to keep reading because 'it stops being bad soon' something hasn't quite gone right.
That being said, I enjoyed this overall, and would encourage others to give it a try.
The start was a bit slow and dark, and felt a bit dragging. But after finishing it, I understand why it was like that.
This was a really interesting story, and showed what it was like to live under a colonising force really well.
I think a lot of people calling this a "coloniser romance" either aren't reading the whole book, or aren't engaging with the story. As a daughter of the commonwealth, I can feel for Ruying and understand her actions.
I can see why some people might not like this, but this isn't a romance and if you take what you read in reviews as being the plot of this book, you may miss out on a good piece of literature.
EDIT: I wanted to take some time to actually get my thoughts down properly. But spoilers ahead:
In terms of people calling this a coloniser romance, I saw this as more a discussion about privilege and race in relationships and love. Ruying is kind of forced to be with Anthony (in the sense, she is literally put before him without her agency and doesn't really have a choice in deciding whether or. not she should be his assassin). Regardless of if she knew everything about him, there is still a power imbalance and she is at his mercy. BUT ALSO he is saying everything she wants to hear. Is it a lie, or does he really want to do right by her people? I felt that this part of the story was the strongest, and as a Black British woman, who is reminding everyday of the atrocities my country committed to my ancestors and people who look like me, I really resonated with it. Of course Ruying would fall for the powerful man who wants to and has the power to set things right for her people - I probably would. And when we find out the truth, everything has been torn from herand I thought that was really powerful. Instead of realising she has been played and everything is hopeless, she takes matters into her own hands. I'm actually quite interested in the next book.
Do I think this was a perfect book? No. Do I think this was awful? No. I would say the good parts outshine the bad parts, but also get others may disagree. Do I think this deserves a lot of the hate it gets? Also no.
The final few chapters were the strongest part of the book in my opinion, but I do think that if you have to tell someone to keep reading because 'it stops being bad soon' something hasn't quite gone right.
That being said, I enjoyed this overall, and would encourage others to give it a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Trafficking, and War
Minor: Child death and Death of parent