Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is an Asian inspired young adult romantasy. I wanted to like it. I should have. Its own voices, dark romance, things I like. But the prose is too often purple, there really were no shades of gray. I’m sorry, but this was painful to read.

I was provided with an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

2.5 stars (Rounded up)

Liked:
Depicts the harm caused by colonialism

Very interesting premise with a unique blend of modern technology and magic

Overall, the character development for the FMC is very well done particularly towards the end of the book

Disliked:
Slow to start off

I wish the FMC's love interest was anyone else (Stockholm syndrome, anyone?)- this was a big downfall to me and is the main reason I rated it as low as I did

I will say upfront that I am nervous about posting a review of this book and not sure I can post it to goodreads, given the accusations that the author has been doxxing and harassing reviewers on that platform. But, I read the book, so I will give my thoughts here.

This was initially hard to get into because of the extreme repetitive nature of the writing. The author would often repeat the same story, worded slightly differently, or make the same point multiple times within the same chapter. The number of times that Baihu’s background was explained was absolutely mind numbing, or the discussions of Ruy’s father’s addiction, or the conquering of the world.

Once we got into actual plot, it felt like the author just used time jumps and hand-waved huge portions of it. Why spend SO much time over explaining the concept of opioid (sorry, opian) addiction a thousand times just to set up this assassin for the colonizer storyline, then not even go into most of the assassinations? the middle part of the book is all this very uncomfortable romance plot which doesn’t make a ton of sense with so little actual plot occurring. then, everything is shoved into the last 10% to create action, answer the questions the main character had literally been asking over and over and over, and do the “big reveal” which was very clearly hinted at several times earlier.

I was deeply uncomfortable with the treatment of addiction, with the lack of nuance around discussions of abusive relationships and the colonizer/prisoner romance that was set up (even if in the end, they aren’t going to be together). I think it’s possible to handle these topics with skill and sensitivity but I don’t think this book does that. It feels like someone reading Babel and thinking, what if this was over explained more and also focused on a doomed romance?

I just had a really bad time with this book.

DNF at 13%

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC but this book isn’t for me.

I am only going to comment on my own preferences and opinions and not mention anything from other reviews that I have seen.

So, this book starts off giving you this HUGE info DUMP of world building that doesn’t really make sense at all. And not only is it a huge dump of world building but also past building. The author takes us through so much about the past of her and this childhood friend that I don’t even know what’s happening in the PRESENT until like chapter 3. And this info dumping continues on and on. It’s like she can’t just write a dialogue without interrupting it with paragraphs of information.

Also, this FMC is doing so much for her sister who is addicted to this drug but she doesn’t even know why her sister started using the drug in the first place? A drug that her father died from? Also if one of the love interests is this childhood friend then I am 100% not interested at all.

Ultimately I just think this book and I will not vibe so I’m going to bow out here.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. There are so many things that come to mind with this book so I’ll start with the good and finish off with the bad. First of all, I love the world building in this story, it was so lush and colorful with ties to real historical events, it easily immersed the reader in the setting. The power system was also incredibly intriguing and unique and really made for some gripping action scenes. The unfortunate downside was that much of the strong elements in this story were overshadowed by problematic themes. Initially, I had been told this would have a childhood friends to enemies to lovers sub-plot, and while there were notes of that, I was also met with a colonizer romance as an unappetizing side dish. I’m certain things could shift in the following books but overall the romantic undertones in this book left me uncomfortable and unsure of whether I want to continue with the next installment. The pacing also left me wanting, there was a lot of indecision and back and forth on Ruying’s part that made some sections a little slow for my liking.

When the Roman’s came from the sky, they brought with them their advanced weapons and technology. They used them to rain down violence and bring the empire of Er-Lang to its knees. Magic is fading in Pangu and while Ruying was blessed with death magic she is still powerless to save her people or her family from the violence and oppression of Rome’s colonization. That is until one of the princes of Rome learns of her ability and offers her a deal. Betray her people and help the Prince become King of Rome and in return he will insure her family’s safety. Ruying must decide if her and her family’s survival is worth living on her knees.

Overall I enjoyed this book. While I was left with a number of questions about the world as a whole, this is the first book in a series and I am hopeful that we will get more world-building in coming books. I really liked the concept of the magic system, particularly the fact that use of magic costs the wielder time off their life. This book explores the complexities of colonization, freedom, oppression, and peace.

Unfortunately, I could not finish this book. I was super excited to pick it up, and the author's note gave me the impression that I would be reading the tragic story of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and that magic could be used to fight back against these colonizers, even with their technology. But instead of the Japanese, we have the Romans, and instead of Manchuria, it is a fantasy version? Overall, this was done in a very very strange way. The Romans are even written in a way where you could just change the word Roman to Japanese and you would get the same effect. Or, if one group is going to be out of fantasy, just make both of the groups that way. The world immediately disengaged me. The writing disengaged me even more, unfortunately. Perhaps if it was well-written, I would have been able to move through the story and forget about the ideas the author's note led me to believe, but the writing worsened my experience and drew out the story's flaws even further. It is just too repetitive unfortunately. I believe a sentence along the lines of "our magic was not match for their science" was repeated in almost 5 different ways in the first chapter and a bit of the second alone. I wish I could have read more, but I just could not manage to finish it.

Molly X. Chang creates a masterful story blending fantasy and historical fiction with the modern/futuristic world. I was a bit hesitant to read at first based on the summary since I'm often disappointed by such premises. I am so glad I took the chance to read this because it was everything I wanted and more. Ruying is an excellent protagonist because she is flawed and willing to do anything to protect her family, even at the destruction of herself. Too often when you have characters in this position, author's have a hard time balancing them being too knowledgeable of everything and get a bit hamfisted in their way of trying to show their intellect to the reader. Chang's depiction of Ruying being on the road to hell paved with good intentions creates a refreshing story that is more genuine and endearing. The fact that Ruying shows how clever she is and that she knows how cruel the world can be, but can still hold onto that trusting naivety to want to believe in someone makes her a more realistic and interesting character. Chang has created the perfect example of a right person wrong time situation and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment. I have already pre-ordered the book and begun telling all my friends/co-workers/anyone who lets me speak that this book is a must read.

** I do want to note that at the end of page 281, I believe there might be a mistake due to editing/draft changes on a scene as a characters name is mentioned before Ruying figures out who they are in the next paragraph. It made it a bit confusing but genuinely the scene was so jaw dropping I had to go back on the read aloud function to make sure id heard that right and gasped out loud. So regardless of the accidental spoiler it was still a twist I had not anticipated.

I had such high hopes for this read and in some instances it met those expectations.

The cover is gorgeous, the story is unique, and her powers are very cool.

There was quite a bit of info dump in the beginning and a lot of tell versus show. That makes sense for a debut, I think.

I also did not love the relationship, at all. Based on the ending, there will (hopefully) be a shake up for the second book in the series, but the MMC made me feel so icky. I have hopes for her and someone in the next book and I hope my theory is correct!

Either way; read if you’re a fan of fantasy!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Well... I wanted to love this story. A girl with the power of death? Magic versus science? Anti-colonial themes? Yes, please.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm only lasted the first few pages. The concept for this book was amazing - but the writing left me wanting.
I know this is a YA but dare I say, it reads younger? The sentences often read short and clipped. There are times when there's about to be an attack, as in sword in your face attack, and then we get a half page of back story of "Yeah, this reminds me of the time when..."

The MC goes over the same narrative in her head over and over again, and does a really rapid flip in her psyche to work for the colonizing Romans. I'm not sure if this was meant to mean the MC was trying to self protect in light of her situation, but it did not come across that way.

I was expecting a lot more in depth description of the magic and science - where really all we get is that somehow a portal opened up and the colonizing science-y Romans have big guns - I was expecting so much more - whatever technologic and scientific advances you wanted to see dreamt up just... weren't there.

The magic also leaves one wanting - barely nodded at besides a surface level explanation of gifts that people on Pangu have.

All in all bummed at the read, I'd recommend a pass on this one.

First, I want to thank Random House for approving me to read this arc. It’s the first time I got approved by them and I was so excited to read this! Since they trusted me with an e-ARC I couldn’t wait to finish and leave a review for them.

Here is what went right: Lovely cover, interesting plot, cool world set up with Asian background, cool magic system, and interesting things do happen. As an Asian myself, I want to support Asian Fantasy and would love to see that genre grow, so I was ripe to give this book five stars. But perhaps I went into this with too much expectation?

What went wrong for me: The writing style - while having a strong voice and sometimes beautiful descriptions - was packed with fragmented sentences, over the top at times and very repetitive. The writing style is Tell, not show, which I just don’t jive with.

The pace is slow at the start and does change after we get more introduced to one of the main guy characters… but then the things that start to happen were just very distasteful for me.

I’m usually very open and accepting whatever happens in a story and even if I don’t like it, or even hate what happened, I understand WHY it needed to be there for the overall story and enjoy it for what it is. Being Korean, I’ve seen a lot of dramas and stories about being occupied by another country and while heartbreaking, I never shied away… so I don’t know what’s off… I’m really confused why I didn’t love this book.

I firmly believe there are no bad books and every book is a huge labor of love. There’s just books that fit or don’t fit us and for me, it just didn’t fit unfortunately.

To Gaze Upon Wicked told a captivating tale of magic, trauma, and unexpected alliances. The author weaves Chinese myth/culture into a fantasy world that pulls you in immediately.

The plot had me so hooked I finished this book extremely fast; I felt like I couldn’t put it down for a second. If you have a thing for villains, this is the book for you. The main love interest is truly a bad guy while at the same time making you feel for him. The author does a great job of keeping you from forming a hard opinion on whether the two main characters are good or bad people.

I really can’t wait for the second installment!

At times, I was definitely reminded of some other recent works I have read when it comes to the world-building.

Free ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

In short, I have mixed feelings about this book.

First, I'll start with the positivies. I really loved the ideas behind this book. I admire both the strength and the resilience of the author to continue to push for stories of the atrocities that were committed in Manchuria, as they are often intentionally omitted from history books or ignored. Unit 731 is a harrowing crime against humanity that deniers and the perpetrators have tried to hide for decades. It is one of the most gruesome cases of human experimentation and colonization that I've read about. I was curious about the approach discussed in the forward of this book by the author to utilize fictional storytelling in order to process the generational trauma of this event. Like many, I also first heard of this book because it was being targeted by review bombing on goodreads for racist reasons and jealousy.

As far as the contents of the book go, I find the main ideas extremely interesting. They bring a fresh take to the sci-fi genre, adding a critical lens and historical influence for the usual magic vs. science type of story. I love the idea of death magic, and initially was drawn in immediately by the nature of Ruying's powers in how they were described. I was excited to read a story and to experience a magic system imbued with elements from Chinese culture. Many of the descriptions of the environment was detailed and gorgeous in the way I love from fantasy and sci-fi series.

Now for the negatives, which outweigh the positives for me. I felt extremely uncomfortable with the "enemies" to lovers trope being utilized in order to create a romance between Ruying and Antony. I was very confused as to why the author would choose this route. This is not simply a standard "enemy" in this story but a colonizer, a violent oppressor. The power imbalance and the absurdity of this relationship kept taking me out of the book and making me feel unsettled as a white person reading it. This narrative, of a white man being somehow impossibly different despite his royal and racist upbringing, and a Chinese woman being somehow in love with him despite his family destroying her land, her family, and massacring her people, feels extremely wrong. It feels similar to the problematic narratives I remember being present in romance and fiction books a decade ago when I was a younger teen. Several other reviewers, especially women of color, have written on their perspectives and offense at this in length - please read their thoughts and criticisms of this.

In terms of the structural content of the book, I really felt myself getting irritated and bored with Ruying - there's a lot of telling but not showing of her powers and their deadly nature. She always shows mercy and constantly flip flops on herself. I just feel that, a character with death magic, dealing with the severe trauma of what she would have been going through, would be stronger, more developed, and more willing to take action. She didn't feel morally gray to me, but rather just uncharacteristically passive for a character with so many long internal monologues about how angry she is. There are also several extremely repetative paragraphs and narratives that could be deleted entirely that would make the story flow much quicker without taking away from the plot. It was disappointing for me, as again - I loved the big ideas the author has for this series and her talent for writing is clearly present, but the ideas could be polished a bit further and the filler/repetitiveness cut down so that these positives can shine through.

This book suffered from its advertisement, I think. It was marketed as a high fantasy but it definitely felt more relationship focused, and not in a good way. It was also listed as YA on some sites and adult on others. Seeing that it's published under Del Ray, which is not a YA publishing imprint, and the subject matter in this book, I would not call this YA. I judge fantasy in three main categories; characterization, magic system, and world-building. It's really hard to do all three well, but I'd hope that at least one of them can carry a book. Even if one is strong, I normally end up enjoying the book.

Let's start with characters. The beginning did grip me. It started off fast-paced with the main character, Ruying, stealing from the people that rule to help what was left of her small family. It set her up to be selfless and self-sacrificing, but also willing to do what is necessary. However, as the story went on, she seemed to lose all agency and just seemed to become someone else entirely. The "romance" was cringy and didn't feel natural at all. Can someone please tell me why we have all of these stories where the woman falls in love with her oppressor's? It is not romantic, it is not fun to read about, and we need some better ideas. Enemies to lovers is a trope I can enjoy, but in this context I absolutely hated it.
It is made worse in the fact that Ruying is basically the only character that we really get to learn anything solid about for at least half of the book. There is a lot of speculating about Antony happening, but he really isn't expanded upon until far too late.

Now for the magic system. This is probably the strongest bit of the book. It was very interesting to learn about what we were given, which honestly wasn't much. We know that sometimes their powers are hereditary but sometimes not, using it shortens your lifespan for some unexplained reason, and that those with powers are slowly dwindling as their kingdom dwindles alongside it. The bones were definitely there, but I feel like I needed to learn more to fully appreciate the magic in this world. Ruying's magic, death, is something that I really love in fantasy. Death magic is super interesting and there are many different interpretations of how I can be done. My issue with Chang's created magic system, is that it wasn't built or explained particularly well. We were told "this is what these people can do" and not really given much more than that.

The worldbuilding was the worst of these three categories. The different planets never made sense, especially because all we were given was "there's a portal in the sky that planes fly through". Also, the creativity in the worldbuilding was very subpar. The kingdom where the story takes places is a fictional China, but the bad guys are from Rome? Does that mean they came from our world? Earth? The whole book I was picturing ancient Roman gladiators but with a modern twist. Also, the drug that a large portion of the population was addicted to was called opian, which was just opium with a different name. I think Chang had a lot of interesting ideas, but sadly none of them were written to make sense.

I hate that I don't like this book. The description sounded so promising and I was expecting a lot of internal struggle, death magic, and once the rebels were brought up I was also hoping for more of them. This book didn't need a hint of romance either. While romance in fantasy can be great and I do enjoy reading it, there are some fantasy books that do not need it. Just because fantasy-romance (romantasy) is a hit these days, some authors just need to leave it out entirely. I'm just glad this book didn't go full romantasy and did keep it to a more minimal aspect of the book. Overall, I didn't enjoy this reading experience, and judging from a lot of reviews, I'm not the only one with similar thoughts.

This book had a lot of potential. It is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and Chinese history and mythology. It focuses on our main character, Ruying who is cursed by the power of death and living in a world scarce with magic and oppressed by a nation that is scientifically advanced. Due to the rarity of her magic, she is discovered by Antony, the enemy prince, and offered a deal where she has to decide if protecting her loved ones is worth becoming a traitor to her country.

I really loved the premise of the story and the discussion of morality. Although certain thoughts were repetitive, I did find the dialogue between Ruying and the other characters really interesting. It really asked the ethical question is peace worth sacrificing several Pangu people if it saves the lives of many? Ruying is put in a position where she has to make an impossible choice. In the end she chooses a path that she believes will lead to the least amount of loss. However, it doesn’t save her from the guilt of her sins, and as the story progresses, she starts to question her decision.

I think the strength of the story is definitely Ruying’s journey as she struggles to keep her humanity. Although Ruying naivety was frustrating at times, I kind of understand why she desperately defends Antony and believes in him. All her life she has felt undeserving and outcasted by her people due to her gift. Antony made her feel valued and worthy. He encouraged Ruying to explore her magic, and in a way, made her feel powerful. Although Ruying believes in Antony dream of peace, she also knows he is an ambitious man who will do anything to achieve his goals. However, despite all that and knowing secrets are still being kept from her, part of her is still not ready to face the truth, because then how could she justify her killings in the name of peace.

As for the world building, I wished more information was provided. I understand there are two worlds. Pangu, a world with magic, and Rome, a world advanced in science and technology. Based on the story it seems like Rome is a dying planet. If that is the case how was the portal open between the two worlds? What is powering all these technologies? As for the Pangu empire, why didn’t the kingdoms unite to fight the Romans? Based on the story by Antony and Baihu, it seems like back than Pangu still had powerful magic, so how did It get conquered so easily? What is this prophecy? I think knowing the politics, believes, and history will help make sense of this world.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. Although there wasn’t a lot of action in this novel, the ending did have me at the edge of my seat. With the truth finally revealed, I am curious to see where Ruying will stand. it does set the foundation for a potential epic revolution and I cannot wait.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early in exchange for a review!

Just...wow. I will admit, it took me quite a while to get into this book and understand the plot. It felt like everything and nothing was happening at the same time but once I got into the story I couldn't stop reading. This whole story shook me to the core and makes me think of our own world. This was emotional, heartbreaking, and those last few chapters were so hard to read because they made me feel so sad for Ruying and her people. I had mixed feelings going into this but I'm glad I stuck it out, and I will be anxiously awaiting the next book.

This book was beautifully written. I could vividly see the world of Pangu in my head and the culture is fascinating. The plot of this book is very interesting too. A fantasy world based off of Chinese lore that’s been invaded by humans from Earth? That immediately drew me in!

However, I couldn’t enjoy the story as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t stand the romance. Antony was never even slightly redeemed enough in my eyes that Ruying could fall for him. He was always horrible and making her do horrible things. She’s smart and cunning, it’s how she’s supposed to have stayed alive, so you can’t tell me that Antony said a few pretty things to her and she suddenly forgot he was an evil colonizer responsible for the destruction of her people. I’m glad that at the end Ruying finally sees him for who he has been the entire time but it was just real hard to read her having lovey dovey moments with him.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad read though. I’ll probably keep an eye out for the sequel and to see how Ruying’s story continues.

A beautifully written fantasy novel about morals, survival, and a love for one's homeland.

Ruying's world, Pangu, has been invaded by the Romans. While the Romans live a life of comfort, enjoying the food, culture, and resources of the Ruying's home City of Er-Lang, her people continue to suffer at their hands. But her people are not helpless. Among them are the Xialangs, or those blessed with magic, and Ruying herself has a unique gift. Her magic is the ability to cause death, a power she struggles with and must decide how to use. But when Ruying catches the attention of the Roman prince Antony, she has a choice to make: is her family's safety worth betraying her homeland?

Because I have seen this book referred to as a colonizer romance, I wanted to address that upfront. This book has a romance, but it is a subplot of what is, at heart, a fantasy novel with political plot lines. Many readers who came looking for an enemies-lovers-to-lovers romance have DNF the book at 50% because they had trouble rooting for a romance with a colonizer. Fair. Except, that's not really what this book is about in the end. By the end of the book, I did not believe the author intended this to be a colonizer romance but the setup for a bigger story.

What I loved about this book was how beautifully complex the characters were. Every one of them is very, very morally grey but in a nuanced and balanced way. The childhood friend turned traitor Baihu, the drug addict sister Meiya, Ruying herself, with the power of death, and the manipulative prince Antony. Antony's character shows just enough vulnerability and compassion—never enough to make you like him, the right amount to show that Ruying is unwilling to see him for what he truly is because she is so desperate to see good in herself. I loved how Rome and Pangu were both given such a clear identity in this struggle between magic and science. Rome, with its greed and science, driven only to consume, and Pangu, with its magic and poetic legends.

I did have a few issues with the book. I like Ruying, but being in her head can be.... tedious. Her thoughts are repetitive, with her obsessing over the same moral issues. I also think the book's basic premise could have been better explained. While I liked this civilization being called Rome because, you know, "Veni, vidi, vici" and whatnot, I would have appreciated a brief synopsis of who and what Rome is at the beginning. It took me a bit of time to realize the story takes place in another world, and the bad guys in the story are not historical Rome but are actually... us? I interpret Rome as the civilization that emerged from the future Earth, but I would have liked this to be spelled out better.

Who is this book for?
This book is for those who enjoy a political plotline in a fantasy novel and are not looking for a romance focus. It reminds me a tiny bit of The Cruel Prince. However, I would again caution that this is not a happy, fulfilling romance. Seriously, the guy is actually the bad guy.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m going to review this one in a rather unconventional manner, but when thinking about this read and trying to organize my thoughts into my typical review style, I simply found it all to be too jumbled and all over the place. Moreover, many of my thoughts and feelings have to do with very specific aspects of the books and less to do with overall structure and form of the book.

I’ll give a quick overview here, however: I did not like this book. I thought the writing was incredibly choppy and stilted with broken up sentences galore, the characters largely unlikable and melodramatic to the extreme, and the plotting muddled, leaving readers unsure of what was going on in basic aspects of the world and how they were meant to interpret the actions and feelings of its characters. It simply failed to be a good read for me in almost every way. That said, as always, there are plenty of readers who may enjoy this more! Specifically, readers who focus less on world-building will likely not be as hung up as I was with much of this story. And those who really enjoy Asian fantasy (as I typically do!) might also want to read this. Now, for the rest of this, I’m simply going to label each section with the struggle point I’m going to focus on. First up:

The Author’s Note/Historical Inspiration

This author’s note was included at the beginning of the book, so it’s clear that the author and publisher intended for it to be read before the story itself. In it, the author writes beautifully of listening to her grandfather recount his memories of Unit 731, a unit of the Japanese Army in late 1930s, early 1940s, that committed horrific war crime experiments on the Manchurian people. Now, I always appreciate when author’s include information like this when they are writing a book inspired by true events, but in this case, it only raised more questions with regards to the decision by the author to name the colonizing force “Rome.” To draw attention to the atrocities of the past by creating a fictional version of the tale for modern audiences is a tried and true practice, and like renaming Manchuria or China “Pangu,” the Japanese forces could have similarly been given a fictional name. And with the inclusion of this author’s note, it would have been clear to everyone what was being discussed.

But to instead take a specific historical event like this that was enacted by one nationality and then write a book and attribute those actions to a completely different real-world country/people is pretty icky. I can’t imagine this choice going over well if something similar had been done with different historical events/groups. For example, writing a book about a colonizing group giving indigenous people blankets covered in disease but then naming that colonizing group, say, Brazil. Nope! Not great! It was also such an easy fix, since Manchuria/ancient China had already been given the fictional name of “Pangu.” Simply do the same and come up with some other fictional name! Not only would this have avoided the “ick” factor we have here, but it also would have made the reading experience more pleasant as a whole. The name “Rome” invokes a very specific picture in most readers’ minds, so to then write a book in which the Romans are zipping around on helicopters and whipping out guns all the time reads as strange. It’s distracting, at best. This lead’s me to my next point, which also starts in the author’s note but than moves into the narrative itself:

“Magic Vs. Science”

There were also some bizarre claims in the author’s note about “science” that really had me raising my eye brows. At one point, the author is reflecting on the past, about how China fought its Western invaders’ bullets with bows and arrows. Now…I’m honestly just confused by this. The note started off talking about Unit 731, so obviously references to bows and arrows make no sense in this context, not even getting to the fact that I don’t believe we’d call the Japanese forces “Western.” But if at this point in the note she’s instead talking about an earlier point of history (there is no indication that this is the case, however, because the very next sentence is again referencing her grandfather), I’m not sure it’s much better! China was significantly more advanced in science and technology than the West for pretty much all of history. It’s not only inaccurate to frame history like this, but almost weirdly offensive against China itself?? I really don’t know how to interpret what the author was trying to say. Maybe I’m missing something, and if so, I’m happy to be corrected, but as it stands this was bizarre to the extreme.

Unfortunately, this continued into the story itself. Ruying, in her overly melodramatic style, goes on and on throughout this book of the impossible power of Rome’s “science” and how Pangu has struggled against it for decades. Aside from the fact that just referring to this over and over again as “science” (“they came at us with science”) makes for a clunky reading experience, it’s also a strange choice. Don’t you mean technology? Saying that Pangu had no sense of “science” is like saying they have no understanding of gravity or of how the stars move through the sky. It makes Pangu and its people sound incredibly stupid, and I know that’s not what the author was trying to say! Beyond this, again, to write a fictional world that is based off ancient China and frame it in a way that makes the Chinese stand-ins repeatedly said to have no understanding of “science” is to downgrade China’s own history of actually being incredibly scientifically advanced.

Beyond this, from a fictional stand-point, we are told that the Romans invaded several decades ago. Again, unless we are to seriously devalue the people of Pangu, it belies belief that they would not be able to begin adapting and replicating some of the technology that the invaders brought with them. It’s simply hard to buy from a story front, and I was repeatedly thrown out of the story whenever this discussion of the “Romans and their science” came up.

The Romance

I don’t typically read many reviews of a book before writing down my own thoughts, but I did here because of all of the confusion re: “Rome” and “science” that I discussed above. And when I was going through the Goodreads reviews, I began to notice something strange. This book was continually being referenced as a “colonizer romance” with many readers enraged about the love story between Ruying and her Roman love interest, Antony. What makes this most interesting to me, however, is the fact that here is a real-time example of how either the times have changed or something else went wrong in the marketing of the book.

Readers of this blog will know that long ago I had a very bad “break up” with the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy, and this largely had to do with my dislike of the massive fangirling over the Darkling as a love interest. I was bewildered and put off by how so many fans of that series seemed to think that the Darkling, a literal psychopath and mass murderer, was a legitimate option as a love interest, to be held up right along side the heroic best friend, Mal. Well, low and behold, I think we have the exact same set up in this book, but for whatever reason (changing of the times, the type of fantasy novel this is with the focus on colonization), the pendulum has swung completely the other direction, with fans up in arms that this pretty terrible guy, Antony, is given so much time as a love interest at all! What is missing from many of these reviews is that this book, too, includes a very “Mal-like” character, the best-friend that, by the end of the book, seems to be fully brought forward as the true love interest. Frankly, I felt like the story was fairly clear about all of this. But if you just read the reviews, you won’t see this. For some reason, poor (not really) Antony didn’t see any of the Darkling love that a pretty similar character received in another YA fantasy story just like it!

Now, to be fair to many reviewers, I think there is a major disconnect from the story this book is actually telling and the type of book it is being marketed as. We’ve seen a heavy push by the publisher to label this as an “enemies to lovers” style romance. This would obviously set the reader up to expect Ruying’s primary romance to be with Antony, and indeed, much of the actual “romance,” such that it is, is focused between these two characters. But by the end, we see Ruying forced to grapple with the reality of Antony’s choices and who he is, much like we see Alina become horrified by the Darkling in book one and turn to Mal. I don’t think the marketers or publishers did this one any favors with the way they presented it to readers, and the confused Goodreads reviews prove my point.

All of that said, leaving the confused reviews aside, I did not enjoy this love story. Ruying was incredibly annoying through much of it, melodramatically info-dumping her way through what could have been compelling scenes. For a girl with the power of “Death,” we see practically no assassinations. And from a character that we’ve been warned by the author (again in the bewildering author’s note) to not judge harshly for her actions, all we see is a girl who judges others, doesn’t really kill anyone on page, and then the one time she does she breaks down about it. This is not the “morally grey” character I was promised. Instead, that morally grey character seems to be the best friend love interest who, low and behold, Ruying herself spends much of her time judging for his actions.

This has gotten incredibly long, so thank you for everyone who stuck with me through this messy, rambling rant of a review! I obviously had a lot of thoughts and feelings on this one, but unfortunately, none of it was positive. I don’t recommend you read this book, however, it’s also one of the more highly anticipated titles for the spring, so if you want to get in on the action, I guess give it a shot!

Rating 3: As a story it fails with poor writing, weak characterization, and a muddled plot. But on top of this, we had some really strange choices about how to re-imagine historical events in a fantasy novel that I think not only landed badly, but crashed and burned.

(Link will go live on The Library Ladies on April 20)

I loved the premise of the book as it's really similar to Chinese wuxia novels. The take of the worlds of Rome and China in one story is very intriguing. However, I felt that there was something missing in terms of character building, I understand that this first book is to pave the way for the future books but I also found the focus on Ruying and Antony's relationship not well portrayed. It's a lot of back and forth where it didn't make a lot of sense and also edged on Stockholm Syndrome. Despite Ruying also not being sure on what the truth is and which side she should be on, there wasn't a lot of action. I was hoping to see her grow (find the truth rather than just continuing on Antony's agenda) and harness her powers. Overall, there's a lot of repetition in the writing. This could have been used to flesh out the plot and character building a lot more. I am still looking forward to the second book in the series since it left on a cliffhanger but would really love to see some improvement in the writing.