Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for providing me with a digital arc of this book!

I want to start this review by pointing out that I have never written a review of a book so heavily controversial before. I hear and understand each and every person this book has impacted negatively, and my sorrow is with them all. As a white woman, I have very little place in speaking on the opinions of the BIPOC people affected by this story, so if you wish to understand the impact this story has had on that community, I would recommend reading through other Goodreads comments yourself.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a historical fantasy story set in a world where Rome has colonized China. The main character, Ruying, is a girl granted the ability to inflict death on others, with the understanding that death will take from her own life as repentance. When she finds herself on the radar of a Roman prince, Antony Augustus, Ruying is forced to become an assassin on this side and kill her own people in order to protect them against a war between magic and technology.

I found myself frustrated with this book as a whole. I think the largest criticism I have is the pacing of the story. Nothing was drawn out in the way it should have been, and it took me entirely too long to even get into this book because it was so slow in the beginning. The magic system wasn't very developed at all, despite being pivotal to the story as a whole. I found the world to be bland and underdeveloped, and the characters annoyed me most of the time. I was annoyed with how little belief Ruying had in her family and friends, the very people she had sought to protect when they told her the truth.

I completely understand where other readers are coming from when they say this is a colonizer romance, and while I agree, I don't think that that is what this story primarily was. I never believed that Ruying loved Antony. All that I saw was a traumatized girl doing whatever she could to save her family and trusting that the person who protected her family would also extend that protection to her people.

In the end, there was little I enjoyed about this book. It was in large need of more edits and sensitivity readers. As a reader, one of the things I love most about creative writing is the fact that it is a highly controversial art form, one that everyone perceives differently. While that is a beautiful thing, and everyone should have the freedom to write the things they wish to, more sensitivity should have been extended to something based on the history and suffering of real-world people. 2/5 stars.

I have been refraining to say anything about this book after reading about all the controversies surrounding it but the more I think about it, the more I agree with a lot of the things reviewers are saying. I feel like the characters weren't all that compelling and their romance more so. It was not believable at all on top of the very problematic aspect of the heroine falling for the man who was actively involved in colonizing her people and had held her family hostage to ensure her co-operation. Maybe that was on purpose and we'll see how that happens in the next installment in the series, but for now, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, really.

The story started out so beautifully but sadly got boring and often repetitive to me.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to Del Rey Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is one of the tougher reviews for me to write. I make a concerted effort to avoid reviews before and while I read a book, but hearing opinions about this story was hard to avoid with all the drama surrounding it. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was quite enjoyable.
As a first book, there are a lot of positives here, Ruying is a character who refuses to give up and tries to everything in her power to fight for her family and friends, and while she definitely has numerous questionable decisions, she is easy to root for. She fervently wants peace for her people and to see her culture survive and thrive, so she is willing to do things she used to believe were unthinkable in the hope for peace. I also really liked the development of Baihu's character over the course of the story and wish this partnership was much more developed (and not necessarily romantically) and maybe that is something that is planned for future books in the series.
The disservice that's done to the overall story is the focus on the romance aspect, as it is a small amount of the story and honestly.......not that romantic. I am all for falling for the villain and love a good villain, but Antony honestly is just meh on the page. I kind of feel like this story fell victim to the popularity of romantasy books and I wish it had focused on the political machinations and the fight for Pangu's future, as the dystopian elements were all there, but the execution overall just fell short.

This book is about a girl blessed with the ability of death, living during the colonial occupation and rule of a kind of modern Roman Empire she has lived a difficult life and witnessed a lot of injustices.
Then an important figure discovers her powers and she’s offered a position where she must reevaluate her principles and ask herself what she’s capable of

It’s super engaging and intriguing
The characters are well written and the atmosphere is superb, this book really takes you to a distant land where things are not so different from our reality

Ok so I loved this book. It’s world and the magic within it were written in a way that felt so right. The story is twisted and manipulative and I am here for it. Ruying is such a great character and as flawed and afraid as she is, I cannot wait to see her claim that courage as her own in the next book. Anthony is complicated, I want to hate him and part of me does, but his part in this book is not as simple.

A lot of telling instead of showing. The author had a dynamic idea, I can see the potential for this story but I struggled to get immersed in the story.

What I liked:

- I feel like there could have been more world building and explanation of the magic system, but I did like what was there.
- Intriguing right off the bat
- The battle between a world with magic and a world with technology

What I didn’t like:

- The romance🙄 besides the problematic dynamic, it was just not believable at all. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be? Idk
- The time jump somewhere in the middle of like, 6 months or something (sorry, I finished this book last month lol). I think that time jump makes the reader miss out on the developing relationship between Ruying and Antony.
- Maybe it’s just me but it felt weird to call “the other guys” Romans when everything else was purely fictional? That also just enforces the fact that Ruying is falling for her colonizer…
- I wanted more explanation of the magic system…it seemed pretty random honestly
- Ruying was honestly so annoying and was constantly making terrible decisions lol

Stay tuned to see if I’ll continue the series!

I was excited for this book because it at first reminded me of the song of six realms. But man was this very very different. The first 20 chapters are just her complaining about how to give in. Then its written as an enemies to lovers and it just felt extremely wrong. It gave Disney Pocahontas vibes
Antony was very flat. Everyone's personalities were so very one sided. It was so long 3/4 of the book was just internal monologue.

In a world scarred by conquest and magic subdued by advanced technology, "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" plunges readers into a realm where power, intrigue, and ethical dilemmas collide. Ruying, blessed—or cursed—with the ability to wield death itself, finds herself entangled in a precarious bargain with an enemy prince. Molly X. Chang weaves a tale of high stakes and moral ambiguity as Ruying navigates the treacherous waters of political manipulation and personal survival.

Chang's narrative prowess shines through vividly in her depiction of Ruying, a reluctant protagonist forced to grapple with impossible choices. The prince's proposition—to become his clandestine assassin in exchange for her family's safety—propels the story into a realm where alliances shift like shadows and every decision carries weighty consequences.

The novel's strength lies in its intricate world-building, where ancient powers clash with futuristic technologies, creating a rich backdrop against which Ruying's moral compass is tested. Chang masterfully explores themes of loyalty, sacrifice, and the nature of power, deftly crafting a narrative that keeps readers on edge with each turn of the page.

"To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" is not merely a tale of action and intrigue; it delves deep into the psyche of its characters, especially Ruying, whose internal struggles mirror the external conflicts that threaten to engulf her world. Chang's prose is both lyrical and suspenseful, drawing readers into a world where the boundaries between right and wrong blur, and where the pursuit of justice often comes at a profound personal cost.

This novel is a captivating journey through realms of magic and politics, offering a fresh perspective on familiar fantasy tropes while delivering an emotionally resonant tale of courage and sacrifice. "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" is a must-read for fans of complex characters, intricate plots, and thought-provoking storytelling.

I didn’t have objections to Ruying’s feelings for Antony. But that doesn’t mean that I was fully enchanted with Chang’s story. It was an okay story, but it was very predictable. I didn’t feel like she really went anywhere new. I felt for Ruying, she was a very real feeling character with lots of struggles, but she wasn’t quite enough to save the story.

(full review in link) https://thecosmiccircus.com/book-review-to-gaze-upon-wicked-gods-by-molly-x-chang/

I tried to get into this, I really did, but I just couldn't get past how much this book felt shallow to me. Maybe I will try again later, but I don't know. I couldn't connect to this character, nor could I get past the Romans as the main antagonists.

I was intrigued where the story would lead when first first beginning. There were similar concepts to other fantasies I’ve read so I was curious to see how the author would create her world, and if you are looking for a love triangle where you aren’t quite sure who to be rooting for while watching a sister try her best to protect those she loves, then you will likely enjoy this book.
The setting is characters with powers as a minority group and being forced into games of survival, not knowing who is right or wrong, rebels against the reigning empire, and it was enough to make me finish yet the ending left me with more questions I would have liked based off the worldbuilding and plot.
3.5 stars

I am belatedly reading an ARC Copy of this book - and thus my review is based on an advanced copy. If changes have been made to the book since, I cannot account for them.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I found this story to be really interesting- especially in the way that the trustworthiness of characters was handled. In a morally gray story full of characters fighting to survive and fighting for an agenda of their own, I found myself questioning the actions of almost every character and especially our main character Ruying. It was hard to watch her make decisions that seemed to neither match her values nor truly advance the plot. Having just read the Skyhunter duology in which a character must also become an assassin for a colonizer state where that character's stakes were high and the desire to liberate her people was at the heart of every calculation, it was hard to read this book and feel that Ruying was directly putting herself and her people in harm's way at every turn. I don't feel she ever really took responsibility for any of her actions. I wasn't a major fan of the romantic subplot of this book - as I didn't find the romance to be a couple I wanted to root for and a lot of the romantic tension felt more a product of Ruying's vulnerability and Antony's obsession with power than any genuine connection between them. I find it hard to reconcile that they could ever truly be a couple of equals and I personally never found any redeeming qualities in Antony that made me yearn for their relationship the way I think I was intended to. The enemies to lovers trope works only when the enemies find a common ground and see each other for their own humanity and worth despite external factors that should impede them from being together. It doesn't work in this book because I do not believe that Antony can ever truly love and value Ruying while his eyes are on the throne and I do not believe his interest lies in her humanity but rather in her potential to grow his own power (and thus control over her own people). Everytime Ruying started to see this, he would offer a small touch or a gentle word. RED FLAGS GIRL!

Giving this a 2.5 because I did find that this book was engaging and that I finished it quickly, but it just didn't hit the marks I had hoped it would as a fantasy, as a romance, or as a book that would help me to understand the impacts of colonization on Manchuria.

DNF around chapter seven. The writing here is poorly done--full of cliches, info dumps, repetitions, confused storytelling, and an over-reliance on overwhelmingly bland exposition that tells rather than shows the bleakness of the book's world. In debuts I often see a lot of inexperience and rough edges but this also felt like incomprehensible trauma porn. I will pass on the sequel.

I had a good time with this story! The characters were written well and i was able to feel attachment to them which i love. i am not totally sold on the romance side of this but i enjoyed the lore and magic system set up in this world and will definitely read the sequel!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC!

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is centered around Ruying, who tries to survive the Romans who have invaded her world. Her magical gift is death and her struggle with it is seen throughout the book. After a series of choices she's stuck working with the very people who invaded. This is the first book in a trilogy.

What I enjoyed about this book was the world and the magic system, it felt unique but also had some real world influences, Romans being colonizers. Ruying is a young girl trying to handle many things and this is evident by the choices she makes but remembering how young she is her mistakes make sense. The writing was also great.

The plot felt like it took around 50% of the book to get into which felt slow but once the story had legs I was invested. We got a lot of inner monologue and I think that affected the character development of other characters. Which made it feel like we barely knew them, and I know this is a trilogy but the "romance" fell so flat and forced it was honestly unnecessary. The story would of been more impactful if the romance plot was in other books once we got more character development.

Overall the ending was crazy and it does make me want to read the other books in the series but I'm not sure if I'd reread the this first book.

Who’s a Coward and Who’s Brave?

When gods invade your homeland and slowly crush your people under their boots, when is the time right to rebel?

When big problems are laid in front of you, is it hard to grapple with them or hard to not?

Is love a weakness? Or the thing that makes us human?

A parting thought: do we all believe our parents’ lives were in halcyon days? Will our children look back on our times and find them simpler, desirable, somehow? Only time may tell.

DNF @ 2%

Thank you Netgalley for the E-Arc exchange for an honest review.

The fact it's the Romans that supposed to be the conquers that come from a portal to the Main Character world is all I need to know about this book. I was already bored in the first chapter.

To gaze upon wicked gods is a first in a ya fantasy series! Idk how long this series will be but I am excited for book 2. Sadly I have to wait till April 2025 for the sequel so long!!! This was a buddy read I did with my friend April from Bookedallaroundtheworld on instagram & Titkok! We started to buddy read this one back in March of this year but I couldn't finish it at the time so I decieded to DNF it at first, but I picked it back up in June and fell in love with it again. Although I don't think that there was any LGBTQ Characters in here it did helped me with a reading challenge and that is: A 5+ word in the title.
I would say it did take me a little while to get into the book just because it's a new world and new characters but overall I really enjoyed it! Solid 4 stars almost 3.5 for me but in the end the fight scene and politics were intruging, I honstley can't wait for book 2!(: