Annoyingly necessary note to my review: I read this book in its entirety and I am reviewing the *content of the book.* I believe authors can write whatever they want to write, *particularly* about their own people and culture, and bullying an author is never okay. You don't agree with their thoughts/what they write? Then don't buy their book. Simple enough.

This review will also have spoilers.

I think this book suffers hard from debut syndrome, and this exact book and plot could have been written well if done by someone else/the author improved her writing. The writing is not great, it felt very childish. I found it easy to read, as in it felt very stream of consciousness, but it was not written well. There were some times I very much rolled my eyes. For example, "Don't look at me like that." "Like what?" "Like I'm the bad guy." Seriously?!

My issue is not the plot, but how it was executed. I think the setting and concept were very interesting and innovative. Romans (ancient? Unsure. I was not picturing them in togas but who knows) somehow came to this land (Pingu? Which is also a childish show about a penguin which confused me), gave them opian (ok really? call it opium or give it an entirely new name), and were essentially colonize them for reasons we don't really know. Was my explanation poor? Probably because the world building struggled HARD. It was never explicitly explained that the Romans came through some sort of portal in the sky. Which is weird, because the author does SO MUCH infodumping. The world building just needs significantly more work. The world is there - just isn't conveyed to the reading. Anyway, the main character is taken by the Romans, and the prince wants her to kill people for him with his magic. Why? We don't really know. The main character doesn't know, which tracks, but there isn't really any reason ever given. She finally agrees to kill for him and BOOM 48 people later. We don't see any of this happen, we don't really understand how or why Ruying is willing to do it so many times for him without explanation. And after these 48 assigned kills she all of a sudden trusts him entirely. Why? We have no idea. We are never given opportunities to see why she trusts him, we are just told that she does. She's clearly becoming romantically interested in him but nothing happens that would indicate that he is worthy of her feelings. This felt very much like an issue of being told, not shown.

Is this a colonizer romance? I mean, kind of? But Stockholm Syndrome is a thing, and I think that writers are allowed to write about complicated things. People get feelings for bad people all the time. She is romantically interested in him. In the end she realizes he's terrible (because she's shown explicitly by someone else, she has no critical thinking skills of her own. It never once occurs to her that he could be lying to her) and she turns away from him. So there is romance between the oppressed and the oppressor, but it's not written in a way that shows it's positive. I think people online are being extremely over the top about this.

Finally - why is this labelled as adult? It's absolutely YA. The main character is SO naive, and while she's over 18 we're in her head, and she thinks very much like a teen. This has some very dark topics, but I think those can be addressed with a content warning. (Also - how is the human experimentation stuff a shock when the author addresses it in the author note that is placed BEFORE the book?)

I am giving this two stars instead one because I think the author has some really creative stories in her, and can learn to be a better writer. Also she is being bullied unnecessarily.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing style was clunky and repetitive to read at times, and suffered somewhat from telling over showing. The worldbuilding also felt very bare, likely a side effect of the first-person perspective.

2.5 stars

Pangu was invaded by the Romans, who brought opian, a powerful drug which has disastrous outcomes for people who become addicted. Ruying, has been blessed with death and has the power to kill. When her power is discovered by Antony, a Roman prince, she’s faced with a decision: become his private assassin, or die.

The world building and character development were both lacking for me in this book. I wanted more background information about both Rome and Pangu. It actually took me some time to figure out that Rome had colonized Pangu. There also wasn’t enough explanation of Rome which apparently was a whole different world with technology that is incredibly far ahead of Pangu.

Ruying was disappointing for me. She had such potential as a strong female character with incredible power, but her decisions and actions are unrealistic. It’s not really believable that she would turn on her own people for Antony. The romance between Ruying and Antony was also unrealistic. At the end, Ruying finally came around and understood what her family and friends had been trying to tell her, but it took her so long and was just disappointing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC.

Note: I plan to post a feature of this book on my Bookstagram (http://www.instagram.com/babsreads18) on release day. I do not plan on including my review in that post. Authors deserve all the hype and support they can get on release day and beyond!

This could be absolutely fire with a few strong edits! Since I had an advanced copy, I’m hoping some of those edits were made for the final draft. The main character felt a little bit adrift, and the pacing felt off at times. Overall, though, I definitely enjoyed this read. It felt like a mix between Iron Widow and Shatter Me, with a dash of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. The world building has a lot of potential to take the story to interesting places, and I’m curious as to how the series will play out.

this is definitely closer to a 3.5 read. i feel bad that the author had to spoil the relationship dynamic between the mc and the "love interest" because people are saying this is a colonizer romance. i see where the author is taking it, as more of a cautionary tale, but for a debut i do wish the world was more fleshed out to really color the experience and history that inspired this.

Rating: 4/5
I received eARC for my honest opinion.

I saw the beautiful cover of this book and requested it without even knowing what I was getting myself into. Oh, let me tell you I am happy that I did because I loved Asian folklore, the slow burn, the enemies to lovers, the magic system mixed with science, it has lies and deceit, and everything else you would want in a fantasy.

This book is about a young girl named Ruying who has the magic of controlling death, she can kill anyone and all she has to do is move her fingers. She is in a world that is cold, and ruthless now, it used to be beautiful and lush but after the Romans came and shined pretty things to their emperor, making promises that they never wanted to keep but had to make sure that they had their foot into this world. Now it's all about death, drugs, and scheming.

Ruying is done with all the death in her country but doesn’t know how to go about making peace or getting the Romans to leave her land, but she will do anything that she can. When she is kidnapped by one of the Princes of Rome, Anthony and asked to help him restore peace and give back to the people, she falls for him and all the words that he tells her, but something in the back of her mind has been eating at her… Is it all a lie and he is just using her? You will see a strong young FMC in this book, you will watch her garble for the truth because what she has come to understand from the prince Anthony and what she is being told and shown are two different things. She doesn’t know who to trust and that worries her the most because she has always been so sure of things before. I loved how the author wrote about her internal struggles that Ruying was having because you really helped you to connect with her character and to understand the choices that she was making. She knows that war will bring on a lot of deaths that are not necessary, but can they truly have peace after all the heartbreak and loss that her people have gone through, all for the sake of science.

I cannot wait for the next book to see what Ruying will choose and the next part of the story as well.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to review this book.

4 🌟

I read this book and kept hoping for some relief from the unrelenting oppressive feeling of the book. I imagine that was what the author was aiming for--since the Romans had invaded and were essentially enslaving and oppressing the natives of the land. I appreciate how Ruying tried to be strong. Her love for her sister and grandmother left her with no choice but to use her gift in a way she didn't want. Antony, typical of oppressors and colonizers, justified his methods. It is a complex novel, and it is not happy at all. I like Ruying and the humanness and dedication to the family she holds on to. Her world is crumbling around her, and she must choose. I like how it ended, for I feel Ruying will become the force I sense in her once she gets herself centered on the right cause. I prefer some light in my books, but this one did not have any light- oppression, manipulation, poverty, and sadness prevailed. However, I believe Molly X Chang has something MORE coming in the next book--a rebirth and rising. I hope so. It will be so worth it. Whatever her faults, I like Ruying and her heart; she is a warrior. I have no idea what will happen with Antony, Ruying, or any others, but I am here for it.

Moved a little too slow, and wasn't easily capturing the attention. I wanted to love it, but it wasn't quite there for me.

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. I'm tired of books being mis-marketed and I think this one majorly was. This is called enemies to lovers, but really it feels like dark romance. The male love interest is abusive towards that FMC and that is romanticized throughout the book. If nothing else, the MMC has the FMC killing her own people and she's falling for him??? This is not love, he is manipulating her. Honestly, a lot too dark for a YA romantasy.

Other than that, the worldbuilding was lacking. I still don't know that I understand the world or systems in place here or why anything is happening. Why are the worlds separate? What era are we working in? What are the RULES?? I needed a lot more explanation and I think a first book in a series is supposed to do a lot of that work.

All in all, this one fell a little flat for me and I was hoping for a lot more from what sounded so exciting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

This options are my own and not affiliated with NetGalley or the author.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a story of survival, ruthlessness and doing whatever it takes to protect those you love.

This novel is inspired by the Siberian people hard history, the struggles of living, and what was given so generations ahead could thrive.

This novel is deeply emotional, full of turmoil but most importantly the hope that can save the nation. Ruying our main character has known poverty and struggle under Romes rule most of her life. The magic that fuels their world, was no match for the Science that Rome brought to conquer the land and enslave the native people.

Ruying is willing to do whatever to secure a future for her family, even if that means bearing’s the enemy and becoming unrecognizable to her family.

I really enjoyed this book, the world was interested and held deep real life cultural ties. I would most definitely read another book by this offer.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Unfortunately, this story just fell off for me. I wish the invaders weren't Romans from Rome as I kept imagining Ancient Rome and then they would be said to have guns and I'd be like "oh yeah they're not that Rome". I didn't really like Antony for any purposes, and Ruying was a little naive and hypocritical when it comes to Baihu.
There were some grammatical mistakes that took me out of the story as well.

I loved Ruying's powers and how she views it vs. her family, and I wanted more Baihu and sooner! The basis for the story is great I just couldn't get into it.

This was absolutely fantastic! And I am beyond grateful to have received an ARC from Netgalley.

Molly spun a world of magic reminiscent of the cultivation novels I've learned to love and twisted it to give readers a taste of dark Asian history.

Ruying puts her family's lives above all else and ends up using her gift of Death to work for the enemy. But along the way, she unintentionally puts her heart on the line, thinking that she has found someone to love her despite all of the secrets between them.

And she's not wrong. We get a small glimpse of Antony's perspective and he is proving to be an epic villain that will burn the world for the woman he loves.

It's a star-crossed romance that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time but was still filled with a full story that could stand on its own feet if it had to. I can only imagine how much more twisted the story is going to turn out in the next book. I have a feeling that the rebellion is going to make things even more twisted than it already is.

Please, please, please go read this book. It's now one of my absolute favorites!

I don’t like to not finish books when they are arcs, but this one was very hard for me to get into and not one that I see myself finishing anytime soon. The book cover art was absolutely beautiful and I had such high hopes from the description, but I was pretty much let down from the beginning. The world building was hard for me to grasp in a way that brought the book alive for me and the characters were difficult for me to connect with and care about their development and storylines. I’ve seen some amazing reviews for this book and I’m glad that others are enjoying it. Unfortunately it was a miss for this time but I’ll be checking this author out again for sure!

This is the the writing style and the story telling wasn't for me. DNF at 41%

I thought this was an amazing idea and thought the whole magic of death and such was intriguing. I read so far into the book because I was invested in Ruying as a character and wanted to see how she develops in the story. But this sort of fell through for me.

The best way I can describe this book that made it hard for me to read is the over describing of everything and not enough character emotion and inner dialogue. There would be a sentence from a side character, then we go into a long back story into that character. Some action is happening, then the whole story stops and something else is described in detail. I never had a book where I read so much about the world but still didn't understand how it works.

Then world is painted to be very poor and primitive. Then randomly, a hand gun will show up, then a randomly a gadget will show up. Then it really lost me when they were in a car. There was a lot of story set up in Ruying world but there was no story set up in the dark prince's or the Roman world. Who are these Romans, the ones who conquered these people. How do they do it, where did they come from and why do conquer the way they do? What is their motivation? So many unanswered questions and just saying that they are Romans and they are bad isn't a good enough explanation for me.
The Romans also mentioned science created certain things. I love the idea of magic vs science idea but this didn't really dive into it as I hoped. You just have to assume that they defeat magic with science because they said so.
<spoiler>You find out maybe 38% of the book that they are kidnapping these people that have magic and using them for there own gain. It would have been nice to have a little more story set up. </spoiler>

This story started with the opian drug that Ruying sister is dealing with. Her family history of getting addicted to the drug. Who else got addicted to the drug. Her short dialogue with the guy who was giving it to her. Her marriage prospects and why she needed to get married. It was long. An extremely slow start to the story but I wanted to hang on just in case it just got better. It didn't for me unfortunately. Apparently, a rebellion is mentioned. Didn't go into that.

What really finally just caused me to want to put this book down is Prince Anthony. He was painted to be this kind, different than the other brother character. Green eyes and such. But as soon as we get one on one with him, the character just fell flat. Had a 180 on his personality, his actions were opposite to how he was built up, and became just unlikable immediately. As some would say in reviews, felt like a cardboard character. Sort of reminded me of Erin Warren in Shatter Me series and I am like "I am done."

I was let down because of the beautiful cover and the wonderful premise. It didn't execute for me that I have hoped in this story.

This was not good, and the marketing seems off with this one. The colonialism in this is also not okay.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the e-ARC of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, set to publish April 2024. I give this a 3.5/5 starts. While the overall premise of the book was very interesting for me, the execution felt lacking. The writing style was not my personal favorite. This book had so many metaphors and so much repetition that it created a bumpy read for me. Ruying is a young woman who is trying to save her family from the roman colonizers. She also has the touch of death as her power but does not want to use death. There is a lot of talk about how ruying is but not much show. It felt sad because she is a victim of her shitty circumstance and power-hungry men she's surrounded by. This is a colonizer romance and did not come off as a morally gray/enemies to lovers story. Antony is psycho but hot, however with him being a colonizer and ruying being the oppressed, this just missed the mark and felt kinda ick. That being said, this series has a lot of potential and could be done so well. I will read the second book when it comes out. I did not hate this book and i will read the second, but it was just missing something, I don't know. Hence the 3.5/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3/5 stars.

I will begin with that I am biased in this review. I saw a video on Tiktok from Readers for Accountability that went into the problematic elements of this book BEFORE I read it, so it did give a lens to read it through. Saying that, this is a colonizer romance and no amount of morally grey/evil is okay when you're doing it for a reason can condone this.

Now, I think if someone read this without prior knowledge, it would be an okay read (minus the problematic colonizer romance). But, it still wasn't great? I was only hooked in the story to see how Ruying and Antony were going to continue to "develop."

A couple of major issues: the world building, the fact that it's Rome....but coming from a Portal? The fact that Ruying is blinded by her own ambition the whole story (like, y'all, she ignores Antony literally saying they've experimented on her people), the weird power and technology imbalances, etc.

I should have read this sooner, because I am now going to be stuck with a special edition from illumicrate (fairyloot?) and I don't think I want it.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods explores the life of Ruying, a woman who lives in the land of Pangu, a fantastical version of China. Pangu has been colonized by a group of people called the Romans, who have subjugated the people of Pangu with science and technology. At the start of the book, the Romans and the people of Pangu seem to be on the brink of war. Some who live in Pangu are blessed with powers, but they have been dying out. Ruying has the power to take the life force from people. She gets kidnapped by a Roman Prince who discovers her gift and forces her to be his assassin in order to protect her family and save their worlds.

~

This book tried to talk about several different things and I am extremely uncomfortable with how it handled all of it. I do recognize that I was gifted with an advanced reader copy and there will be some differences between this version and the formal publication version. However, there were many issues that should have been picked up on at this stage in the process. This book needed an editing team that could not only handle the craft of the writing, but also the content of the writing. The writing was riddled with metaphors and repetitions to the point that reading certain scenes felt disjointed. There were many holes in the world building, so much was going on. I can understand that the intention here is to create a series, but we need enough cohesion and background to be able to follow the plot of the first book.

With regards to the actual plot, I think a lot of the issues are based in how aspects of the book were marketed and how those aspects were actually written in the book. This book is marketed as an "enemies to lovers story." The focus of this book is the relationship between a colonized woman and one of the leaders in the oppression of herself and her people. The book starts off with a lengthy discourse about how Ruying despises the Romans and details their crimes against her people. So it is jarring when Ruying decides that the Prince is the solution and this is the correct way to go about fighting this battle for freedom, even when she is offered other pathways by so many others that don't involve completely abandoning her personal beliefs. The book starts with an author's note that there are no expectations that you will like Ruying, but maybe you will understand her motivations. Her motivations are very surface level. She wants to protect her family, but her actions really don't protect them anyway. Ruying is constantly so romantically poetic about the Prince even as he physically and verbally abuses her and the people around him. There is no reason to love him, so it is so bizarre to watch Ruying do so. This is not enemies to lovers, this is not morally gray.

I may seem circling in this next section, but I don't want to give spoilers. There are things being said to or happening right in front of Ruying that directly state what is actually happening secretly in this world and she doesn't engage with any of it until the climax of the book. At the climax, Ruying acts like the deep dark secret is new information. It's directly mentioned before the reveal. The author also mentioned in promotion that she took inspiration from her family and some horrific historical events that they lived through. To see the events that transpired in this book knowing what they are based on was awful, especially after reading reviews from people who shared cultures and family histories with the inspiration. These are horrible acts of violence. The only problem that Ruying has with these events is not that they are happening, but that they are happening to her friends and supposedly without her knowledge (it was stated in front of her.) Ruying does not come across as morally gray here. She comes across as just a bad person. And as the reader without having a stake in Ruying, her motivations, her world, it is hard to want to stay with her on this journey.

I was very excited to read this, because the plot summary sounded incredible and the original review bombing of this book was absolutely unfair. But once I started, I was very tempted to DNF. But I wanted to contribute an honest review.

~

Because of all the drama that has surrounded this book, I feel that I have to just underline the following points. The bullying of authors or reviewers is never okay. Threatening anyone over a book is wrong on so many levels. But also, I am a firm believer that once a work is public, it is open to honest critique, which is what I and several other reviewers have tried to do here. because these are important issues to discuss

~
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC; all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for offering me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

First I'd like to say, I think Molly X Chang has so much writing potential. I think this series can be really special if given the opportunity. That said, it does kind of feel like the editor and marketing team let her down quite a bit. I think if you're gonna buy a series for that much money, maybe make sure the entire middle portion is more than just "yeah he's a psycho, but he's kinda hot". Before anyone comes for me about how she was being groomed- yeah I get it. It just dragged on and on and on. Where was the plot other than her being groomed for like 10 straight chapters? I don't think this is an enemies to lovers romance like it's marketed, and I also don't understand the comparison to The Poppy War.

Ruying is supposed to be this strong morally grey villain (ish) female MC who would do anything to save her family, but she is really just a girl who is trapped in a crappy situation with MULTIPLE men who are taking advantage of her and her powers.

Listen- I'm gonna read the next one because like I said, the series has potential. And I enjoyed it for what it was, but it should have been marketed as something else and edited more.

The style was clunky: big long paragraphs with repetitive phrases and very little as far as imagery is concerned. All of Ruying’s character is told instead of shown (ie she claims to be willing to do “whatever it takes” to survive but all we see in practice is hesitation, spiraling thoughts, and judgement of other people who are actually trying to create change). I would have loved to see more of Jing-City and Er-Lang, specifically culture, history, and stories of the Xianlings - beyond the colonizer love interest spitting out random idioms in his “perfect pronunciation”. (That whole thing is also confusing because, like, it’s never stated which language Ruying and Antony communicate in, and all of the phrases written out in Chinese characters in dialogue are then also translated in dialogue? Is Antony assuming Ruying doesn’t know her own culture’s idioms? I’m not bilingual but I’m pretty sure that’s not what being bilingual is like in practice.)

And beyond that, colonizer romance gives me major ick, so even without all the weirdness above, this would be a no from me.

The author’s note about Manchurian history hooked me more than the actual story, so now I think I’m going to go find some nonfiction to learn more about it - so to that end, the book was successful