Gripping, dark and full of suspense. I loved seeing Ruying's descent down a path full of sins in order to protect her family. I liked the way Molly explored the personal cost of survival during oppression and the chemistry between Ruying and her love interests sizzled.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sighs.... 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠I really, REALLY wanted to like this book, partly because of the boycott by that other author. and partly because I love Asian-inpired worlds and enemies-to-lovers romance. But this wasn't it... And I'll explain why.

1. the main character
Ruying has the Death's magic, as in she has the ability to kill people by pulling away their qi.

1.1 She has endless internal monologues where she goes on and on about what her magic does to her and about how much she doesn't want to kill anyone. She explains how her magic is tempting her to kill but she keeps resisting it. If she doesn't want to kill people because her magic takes time from her lifetime or because it's immoral, I get it!! But Ruying didn't want to kill people for her people's resistance, and yet, after 36 pages of talking to Antony, she's up and killing her own kind. Firstly, 36 pages for a dialogue was too much, and I absolutely love dialogues! 36 pages for a single dialogue that succeeds into making her kill her own people. I'm sorry, but if you had to kill someone, if things hit the fan, and you were forced to pick a side, then you'd choose to kill your enemies? Not your own people? Not the other way around? It was absurd! Also, quite oddly, for a person with the ability to kill people, for someone who is described as a killing machine, she doesn't really kill many--only those that Antony tells her to.

1.2 Antony has her in a cage, threatens her with her loved ones, and he presses a button that electrocutes her...And she raves about his pretty green eyes? He forces her to kill someone as a test, and after she does, she sobs and accepts his embrace and consolation? And she never stops to question her own feelings? She never judges them? She never actually think that this isn't okay?

1.3 Whatever Antony says, she believes him?!!! She has no proof of what he says is true or of him honoring their deal. Yet, she believes and defends him throughout the book. Everybody tells her he's evil (not that we needed to be told, it was VERY EASY TO DEDUCE that on our own, but Ruying's mind is a mess) and yet she doesn't stop believing him. She doesn't even hesitate or doubt him!

1.4 She needed to see the laboratory to realize he's evil, and even then, she hears him out....She sees the atrocities they commit to her people, to her best friend despite her deal with him where he was supposed to set her free, and she goes back and hears his explanation????? He had the power to close it down or at the very least he's had the power to work against them.

2. the romance
I literally have no words. I love my enemies-to-lovers but this isn't it. Ruying's and Antony's relationship is TOXIC and a manifestation of Stockholm's syndrome. But the text is written in a way that wants to make you root for them, the whole storyline is there to push them together. And it gave me shivers, like whole body shudders from how wrong it is. A reviewer said that it is promoted as an enemies to lovers but that the love interest isn't the colonizer...Well, that's not how the text framed it in this book. I can see Baihu, the friend, as a potential love interest, but book 1 was about bonding with our colonizer, so I dunno!

3. the worldbuilding
It was a CHOICE to make Rome and Romans as the enemy peoples. In the foreword, the author explains about her background, about how this book is heavily inspired by Manchuria's history and lore. It was so touching and it made me excited to dive in! But how does that make Rome the enemy, I don't know... I get it, Rome is the symbol for western civilization, but it doesn't really land. It annoyed me so much. At one point, Antony compares Pangu's gods and their own, and he mentions the Roman and the Greek gods like Minerva and Zeus, whatever examples he mentioned. How did we get there?! So Rome believes or believed in those pantheons and also has machines and missiles etc? It would have been so much better if the author had chosen to name these enemy people something else, instead of using Rome and confusing us all. We don't even know the year in Rome, as in when are we in time?

I was also uncomfortable by the whole "Pangu has magic and no science" and "Rome has all the technology in the universe". Okay, if you're reliant on magic, you don't need technology, but 1. they weren't reliant on magic. They barely had temples where the Xianlings (those with magic) could train, and that was with great tolerance. 2. the Romans attacked and colonized Pangu 20 years ago. During these twenty years, didn't the resistance and the Emperor's advisors attempt to make technological advancements? And since the "Pangu has magic and no science" and "Rome has all the technology in the universe" was REPEATED AGAIN AND AGAIN, it made me all the more uncomfortable because it reminds me of the rhetoric that western civilizations have used for centuries, that Asian, African, and South American countries have no culture, no technology, so they're not civilized etc.......

I also hadn't understood that Pangu is the name of the world or planet? (see, I don't know even now.) I thought it was the name of Ruying's land, but it's the name of the whole world/planet and Pangu comprises of other empires and kingdoms. I realized it towards the end of the book when we traveled to another empire in Pangu.

4. the plot
I'll just say one thing about the plot. If Baihu had shown the laboratory to Ruying at the beginning of the book, either before we met Antony or before she started killing for him, we would have solved the entire book. It's mind-blowing. If only the resistance had shown the laboratory to her, she would have joined them. If only Baihu had shown it to her at the beginning, she wouldn't have trusted Antony, and she wouldn't have killed so many of her people. They literally had evidence and a strong motivator to get her to join them, and we get it towards the end of the book...And if you think that maybe they couldn't get in so easily and they needed time, well, Baihu got in the building with Ruying in toe, flashed his badge, and walked right in...

5. the writing
Endless repetitions. Endless internal monologues. You can literally skip 10% of the book and you won't have missed much. The repetitions about Pangu's current state, the comparisons to Rome, and the repetition of similar internal monologues about poor Ruying's troubles, Grandmother's history, and her "to use or not to use her magic" dilemma which later turns into "I'm using my magic, how much of a monster am I now?" dilemma.

IF the author had chosen to come up with a name for the enemy people and had come up with different background for them instead of repeating "they have technology"
IF the text didn't romanticize this extremely toxic relationship with Antony: I mean, if you really want them to have a relationship, then make it clear in the text that it's toxic, have the mc doubt what the heck is going on, or Idk, have the mc hate Antony's guts? That could work too lmao
IF the book was framed with toxic relationship and not enemies to lovers
IF we didn't have endless repetitions and monologues

then it could be okay. As it is, I'm sad to say that I do not recommend this book.

** Nothing I mention here speaks of the author's intentions or beliefs. It's all about what is in the text and how the text reads. All in my humble opinion.

Firstly I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy of this book.

Thank you for providing the additional reviews. Here's a book review incorporating elements from the reviews you provided:

"To Gaze Upon Wicked" by Molly X.Chang is a promising first book. The book itself offers a interesting blend of fantasy and elements of science fiction set in a world where magic clashes with advanced technology. The story unfolds in the land of Er-Lang, a Chinese-inspired realm that has been invaded by the Roman Empire, whose inhabitants possess extraordinary abilities. Among them is our confused, scared, strong and loveable protagonist Ruying, gifted with the power to wield death magic, a skill both feared and lusted over in both worlds.

Readers are brought into a universe where Earth's environmental degradation has led the Romans to seek out new lands for exploitation, resulting in a clash of civilizations and moral complexities. This was a wild and interesting concept to imagine modern day civilisation as we know it with the lush and lavish interiors resembling a time when Rome was the height of its power and conquered most of Europe.

The protagonist, Ruying, finds herself manipulated into a dangerous game of politics and betrayal when she is coerced into becoming an assassin for the Roman prince Antony and the two fall for each other. While some reviewers found aspects of the romance subplot to be less compelling, particularly given the coloniser status of the male lead, others appreciated the morally ambiguous nature of the characters. The dynamic between Ruying and Antony, elicits conflicting emotions, adding depth to their relationship and the overall story.

the novel's gripping conclusion left me eager for more, promising future developments and character growth in subsequent instalments.

Wowsa what an experience this was! I knew very little of what this book was about before going into it, and I was so pleasantly surprised, and completely addicted to this story. This is an epic fantasy, with scifi elements, and a chinese inspired world being taken over by the roman empire. Er-Lang which is the name of the land that Ruying, our FMC, is from. From my understanding Er-Lang, and the other lands on this continent, Pangu, is on a different planet than earth. When the romans invaded their world 20 years ago, they did so by ascending from the sky through a portal. Earth is almost completely destroyed by the hands of us humans, global warming, pollution, overconsumption etc. So this is why the romans through their advanced technology found Pangu, and want to exploit the land and inhabitants to help Rome survive. Some of the inhabitants of Pangu, are so called Xianlings, and they are gifted with magic. Ruying is gifted, or cursed, with death magic. Which basically means she can absorb someones Qi, their lifeforce, and inevitably killing them. This whole build up and world building was so interesting, and made so incredibly intrigued to where this story would take us. Ruying essentially becomes an assasin for the bad side, the romans, and this gave me a bit of Throne of glass vibes. Which, hello, love 🫶🏼 We also get so much corruption, villain arc, very morally grey characters on both sides, villain love interest, colonization and more.

And that ending! Totally came out of nowhere! Like I knew something bad was gonna happen, but this was really shocking and I’m in desperate need of book two immediately!

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

What a relief to be honest! I’ve had a few books in a row now that did not live up to my expectations, and I was a little worried about To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods in the first 10%.

Was this perfect? No. In a way I couldn’t quite convince myself that the main character would trust certain people in this. It felt maybe a tiny bit forced to me.

But I didn’t dislike any of the characters. I thought Anthony was interesting, in a “this person is awful” way.
I found the world building inventive and fun; the whole concept of Ruying’s world versus a dying earth, and the way the lore was woven together so seemlessly.

I think the most important thing was the pacing in this book. Things happened quickly enough that it kept my attention the whole way through; and while no twists were particularly surprising, I felt at least interested enough to want to know what happens next.

Solid 3.75⭐️!

Nail biting Asian enemies/lovers fantasy packed with morally grey characters making questionable decisions at every page turn. Perfection.

From a no shame Anthony stan - thank for this Molly, thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this eARC.

Full review and trope list posted after publication day.

Firstly I was drawn to this book because of its absolutely beautiful cover, but also I found the premise intriguing.
Beautifully written and fleshed out world building.
The romance may no be to everyone's taste due the coloniser status of the male character.
But I love in books, morally grey character, which this book does perfectly.

This is a difficult book to review for a number of reasons.

I think the premise of this novel is interesting and poignant, and I appreciate the personal connection the author has to the topics and themes covered. However, I'm not sure this book has been branded and marketed correctly or that some of its more complex or sensitive themes have been handled appropriately devolved from said marketing. This book has quite clearly been marketed as a new/young-adult fantasy romance, and I think it could have instead benefited from a focus moreso on mature, romantically devolved storytelling and marketing. I think that many of my problems with this book could have been smoothed over if there wasn't such a clear focus on marketing to particular popular young-adult tropes (such as the love-triangle and enemies-to-lovers romance).

I don't strictly have a problem with the concept of the depicted romance between the novel's primary characters, however I find the relationship that develops uncompelling throughout. Consequently, the punch of the twist of the mmc's behavior is utterly unsurprising. I find the sympathy extended to the mmc by the text itself disconcerting. If this sympathy was simply a consequence of the main character's unreliable narratorship, I would understand that depiction, but Antony's chapter muddies this interpretation and expects a similar sympathy from the reader, also. As the novel stands, I cannot see WHY Anthony appears to fall for Ruying despite his general behavior towards her people, and I find this reciprocal element of their relationship far less compelling than if he was being manipulative.

In terms of worldbuilding, I find the general premise, again, interesting but flawed. There is a lot of heavy-handed exposition very early into the text explaining elements of the novel's lore and history that I find bogs down Ruying's narrative voice. Recurrently I found myself wondering why, in the middle of conversations with characters, Ruying seemed to take a mental break to internalise a lore-drop for an imagined audience. I had a similar issue with Antony's use of Ruying's culture's language and terms, which were regularly exposited by him to her, uncontested. If this had been a flaw of character and emblematic of his inconsideration to Ruying and her people, I would find this compelling, but to my eyes it is not presented that way by the text. Instead, his use and immediate translation of (to him) a foreign language comes across as unnatural explanation for the reader.

I did find the last few chapters of the book compelling, primarily due to the more naturalistic presentation of future worldbuilding and the promise of a more vengeful Ruying. I think that, when romantically unattached from Antony, she could be presented as a far more compelling character. I am otherwise also interested to see if some of the other, more compelling characters of this book (including Ruying's childhood friend, Baihu; her sister, Meiya; and the Sihai prince Feng) are developed in a further series.

I would be interested in seeing if some of these issues I have with this novel are smoothed over with a subsequent book, but as it stands I don't think I could currently recommend this book as a standalone.

Let's start with the good things. There are few but they are there. The cover, for one is GORGEOUS. The idea is also pretty cool- a portal between Rome which is like modern day with cars and guns etc, leading to a world that is ancient China where people possess magic. The concept sounded so cool and I was ready for some great commentary on colonialism. But that didn't happen.

The negative aspects of this book far outweigh the good. The writing is... bad. There's tons of tropey cheesy dialogue that is something you've probably heard of before in fantasy movies and romance ones too. It is so overdone and dramatic.

THIS BOOK IS SO UNSERIOUS. Tell me why our main character Ruying in cosying up with the coloniser who literally IMPRISONED her, KILLS and TORTURES her people, actually HIT her the first time they met, and proceeds to fall for him like a whiny little child with Stockholm syndrome. It was SO BAD. Not even in a way that can justify it. Like the romance was DRYYYY. And the love interest/coloniser/abuser/Antony? The absolute wORST man I've ever read about. He's so badly written that he doesn't know what to be on the page. He smiles and smirks in every scene- it's so repetitive that I rolled my eyes every-time he was speaking.

Ruying is so dumb. Like this girl is actually the worst- she doesn't know her own thoughts. She makes the stupidest decisions, then cries and goes running into the colonisers arms after realising what an idiot she is. Yes, she'll do anything for her family, but c'mon- this girl is so lost. The entire direction of the story just lost it after she met the love interest.

The world-building was so underdone. We don't know how the portal opened. We don't get any more depth into this world other than they are being colonised and killed for their magic. And we are told CONTINUOUSLY about science and magic going head to head, in the most wishy washy way. I'm convinced the author was just throwing the phrase 'science vs magic' without knowing what she was talking about.

And the writing. Yes, this was the worst part, because it reads like when I used to write wattpad stories with FAR too many elipses, anti-climatic chapter endings that made no sense, REPETITIVE phrases on steroids, and sooooo many short sentences. It needs MAJOR editing.

Overall, no hate to the author, because she seems lovely. But I'm just questioning how this coloniser romance even got published- it makes no sense to me, honestly. Everything was just so flat and bland.

I am not going to lie I was absolutely attracted to this book because of the beautiful cover - full props to whoever the artist is for that.

I feel conflicted on this book. The premise is really interesting and I liked certain elements such as the importance of family and the unique take on the power system they have in this novel. The use of Opian as a way to control the population was also interesting and I think the impact of that was felt seriously throughout the whole book. I also appreciated the implication of queerness in some other side characters although I wish this could have been explored more directly but understand it may have taken away from the overall plot.
However, the world building was not the best. As others have mentioned it wasn't really clear until about half way through the novel that Rome was literally a portal from another planet above the city. This disconnect made it difficult to follow the plot fully for a good half of the book.
As well, I feel conflicted on Ruyang and her relationship with Antony. I just really couldn't get on with them as a romantic pairing considering all of the atrocities he and by extension his family are committing against her people. Even at face value, we are meant to cheer them on but he tortures her, threatens her and her family, electrocutes her when she was challenging him. Yes there are some "cute" moments nearer the end of the book but the entire time I just found it difficult to root for them. For a debut, it isn't a bad book but the colonising element just wasn't it for me.

I'll look into picking up the next book as there was enough potential in the story for me to find out what happens.

I struggled a little bit with the pacing, especially in the first half of the book. There was a lot of dragging and repetition. However, the writing style and characters definitely made up for it. The metaphors, the imagery… *chef’s kiss*. The characters were dynamic and I didn’t feel like I was reading a YA fantasy, if that makes sense? BUT, although I loved the characters individually, the romance was not my cup of tea. Overall, this is getting 3 stars because while I loved the premise and the writing, I had some fundamental issues with the pacing and plot. (Full review to come closer to release!)

*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Children's, Penguin for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars
I started reading this book and because life happens, I left it somewhere at 20%. A few weeks later I picked it up again and I couldn't remember anything except how frustratingly complicated this book was. If you think it's a fantasy, it's not. It's a sci-fi but it's not? Where Rome fits in a sci-fi?
Also, okay I really love Asian mythology, okay? But come there has to be another sort of magic besides gi or qi or whatever, right? I've read a lot of books with qi and I have to say, something. If you can write a sci-fi Rome based world you can possibly write about s0mething other than gi right?
So yeah, I try reading it through but after a while I read it just because I wanted to give a chance to the author.
The plot was sometimes too complicated and sometimes it was way too simple. I don't know as a debut it was ok.

Thankyou netgalley for this arc
Oh my gosh this book 😱😱😱
I don't have any words right now.
Absolutely beautiful and EPIC

The writing was beautiful and I felt that the characters were very strong and three-dimensional. I did feel that the first four chapters were very unbalanced in the ratio of world building and plot. There seemed to be only small clusters of action and dialogue among giant clumps of exposition. This made it slow to get into, I’d say the plot doesn’t really pick up until part two.

I really like how all the characters are very morally grey. They’re likeably unliakeble unlikeable. The romance was also written really well. Ruying and Anthony will pull on your heartstrings like Ruying pulls on qi.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods' by Molly X. Chang.

'To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods' is Molly X. Chang's debut novel and I was so torn in my review for this for multiple reasons. I must clarify I am grossed out by the romance aspect of Ruying's Stockholm syndrome-y love with Antony and I am NOT rooting for that in any aspect. But I really enjoyed the author's writing style and honestly that's the main reason I need to give this a 4. I know a lot of people have compared the style to Tahereh Mafi's 'Shatter Me' - which is a renowned book for being hated due to the prosey writing style - but that's why I loved it so much. I love a bit of melodramatic writing, give me more of it. As this has been dubbed a trilogy, I am excited to see where this story goes and hopefully Antony leaves forever.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of this year, and I am so happy that it lived up to my expectations. This is a really fantastic debut from Molly X. Chang. The only downside is that I now have to wait for the second book!

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is set in Pangu, after the invasion and colonisation of the Romans, who are looking to utilize the world in order to save their own. There are a lot of similarities between the world of the Romans and our world, specifically the comparison of over pollution and consumption.

The story follows Yang Ruying, who has been blessed with the power of Death, as she struggles to find her place in the world, torn between protecting her family and her people.

This is a really incredible book. I loved the world building and especially the inclusion of Chinese history and culture.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a solid three star book. The premise is incredibly interesting and checks quite a few boxes that the TikTok girlies are going to love.

When I do recommend it, I will emphasise that this is not a fantasy book at all but rather a sci-fi. I don't believe that this was properly communicated in the beginning of the book, making the world building hard to follow (I genuinely thought that the portal in the sky was a metaphor until halfway through the book). Additionally, at the beginning it felt very much like an info dump rather than a well paced, masterful unfurling of the world.

I thought the pacing overall was quite good. This was not a long book at all so I was glad that I felt engaged for 90% of it, especially considering there's nothing worse than a short book that drags on. Despite this, the confrontation at the end didn't hold enough weight, but could be easily overlooked considering how much action was packed into the chapters before it.

I could not STAND her sister - she was giving serious Taryn energy and it was not a vibe. I also wished that Chang had left out Antony's chapter. It erased an element of mystery that would've led to great character development later on and a very shocking Red Queen-esque reveal later on. I would love to see a bit more of Death's perspective and the prophecy element.

Despite these things, I enjoyed this one. The world is interesting and unique. I enjoyed the way that the next few books were set up - both relationship and plot wise. Ruying's motivations were not always 'honourable' but understandable and set her apart from the average YA heroine. I'm excited to see where the story goes in the rest of the series!

The protagonist’s voice at the beginning of this book rings loud and clear and the descriptions are beautiful.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Wow. I really didn't know what to expect from this book going in, but it really blew me away. I have been saying frequently that the fantasy market is too saturated with the same eurocentric stories, so whenever I see something inspired by elsewhere in the world I am all over it. There have been many fantasy books which feature colonialism, oppression and racism, but TGUWG uses these themes to devastating effect, drawing on the author's own family history in Manchuria under Japanese imperialism.

Anyone who has followed my reviews for a while will know that I'm a huge fan of truly morally grey characters in fantasy settings and ooooh boy did this book come through for me on that. Not only is the FMC Ruying extremely morally grey and at times recklessly selfish, but the MMC is a wicked yet charming prince from the oppressive Roman empire, Antony Augustus. Neither have hands clean of blood, and both have their own goals throughout. Despite this, you can't help but warm to them both.

There's plenty of backstabbing and double crossing going on throughout the book, and my loyalties constantly flip-flopped between who might be right, who could be wrong - and half the time there was no clear answer to this. The world setting was interesting and rich, but I still have so many questions. Will we ever see beyond the veil that separates the world of Pangu from the world of the brutal Romans? How much truth is there to the prophecies and legends Ruying grew up hearing?

At times this book felt like a blend of fantasy and science fiction, especially with the element of portal travel and the way science is wielded as a weapon by Rome (who almost certainly come from a parallel world to ours, where the great Roman Empire of old never fell).

All in all I was captivated by this read and cannot wait to read the sequel.

This is a great debut. I enjoyed the world building and can't wait to find out more in the upcoming book. I'm not sure if I love the main character Ruying so far even though I had a good time experiencing everything through her eyes. Her not wanting to hurt anyone while having this power to kill people was understandable but also got annoying fast.
There was some repetition throughout the book that felt unnecessary (her being blessed by death etc.) and I didn't quite understand why Ruying and Valentin felt drawn to each other.
This relationship is also questionable and I think something that people won't enjoy.
I wish the characteres were more developed or some more backstory that is shown and not told. Emotional things happend to some characters that left me with no feelings because there was not enough for me to develop them.
There were some pacing issues but nevertheless some chapters left me on the edge of my seat and made me scream silently.
I can't wait to read the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this arc in exchange of an honest review.