To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang

3.5 Stars

Recommended Ages: 14+

Release Date: April 16, 2024

If I could sum up the predominant message in To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, it would be, "war makes monsters of us all." It's actually a quote from George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows, but it's apt. The author, Molly X. Chang, was inspired to write To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by the occupation of Northeast China by Japan and Russia in the 1930s and into World War II, as told to her through stories by her grandfather. Her grandfather, however, told her these stories as if they were folklore, the horror of the occupation and experimentation perhaps too traumatic without their removal from reality. This context is important--the trauma and choices made in times of war are important. Without that context, it's easy to misunderstand our protagonist, Yang Ruying,

The story is set in a realm of magic made of several kingdoms. This realm is lost to time, without electricity or modern conveniences. We find out quickly that this realm has been invaded by another through a hole torn in the sky.. This other realm appears to be more like our own--perhaps our current times or even the future--and the invading force is a Roman Empire that either never fell, or was reborn. Rome is an occupying force that uses science against the weakening magic of the realm it comes to subjugate. While an Emperor still sits on the throne, he bows to the will of Rome, which occupies half of the city of Pangu, where Ruying lives, and controls the other half through intimidation and a new, highly addictive drug called opian.

Ruying is a Xianling--someone born with a Gift. Her Gift is Death. She can steal the Qi, or soul, of the living and drain their life. This makes her an outcast and would make her desirable to both her own kingdom and Rome if they found out about her.. Unfortunately, a prince of Rome, Antony Augustus, does find out about her Gift and she is captured in a raid that takes several other Xianlings. Antony offers her a choice--kill for him or see your family suffer. Rome wants something from her land, although she doesn't know what it is. Will she betray her country and people to keep her loved ones safe? Would she kill so others can live?

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods asks how far you would go to protect the people you love. Is it okay to become a monster if you believe it is for the greater good? Is it right to sacrifice the few for the many, and if so, who gets to decide who lives and dies? There are no good choices for Ruying. There is no path that as a reader you can point to and say, "this is the righteous path." Every choice leads to death and loss in war, and she is asked to choose a path that will lead to the most acceptable deaths and losses. But could such a path ever exist? This is a book of moral conundrums. Ruying is a good person who is willing to do very bad things because the alternative, in her mind, is worse.

I went into this book thinking this was supposed to be a fantasy with romance. It's not. It's certainly not a romantasy. What Ruying feels--even romantic feelings--are all a product of the situation in which she is placed. They are a part of the choices she has to make and the new beliefs and feelings she has about her world and its oppressors, caught on the brink of war. I think some reading this book misunderstand the romantic elements in this book to be part of a love story, but to me they feel more like part of Ruying's personal journey toward the decisions she makes at the end.

Prior to reading To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, I saw reviews that called out the book as problematic because of a romance between an oppressor and the oppressed. Now that I've read the book, it's not the book that is problematic, it is the romance. The romance is meant to be problematic. Ruying knows it is problematic. That is made clear from the start. We hear her thoughts about her feelings throughout. These are feelings she does not want to have; feelings she believes she should not have. It would follow that the reader should be feeling that too. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods does not romanticize colonization or colonizers. What it does do is give us a window into the mind of a young woman who often feels outcast and unworthy and who is undergoing severe trauma and trying not to lose her humanity in the process.

Given all that, there are some things I believe could have been done better. The worldbuilding doesn't feel complete. Why is "Rome" a power? Is the realm Rome exists in like our own, some future time period, or entirely different? I would have liked to have a more thorough description of the magical realm. We know it has multiple empires, has gods, myths and religions of its own. but I couldn't get a true feel of its scope or politics.

Additionally, most of the action was off page, especially once Ruying is taken into custody by Rome. We hear Ruying's thoughts about things that she did, but we don't actually see her do them. Even her feelings towards Antony often seemed to grow and change off page rather than through interactions that we actually get to see. As such, the book felt insular and slow-paced at times. The pace didn't speed up until the last quarter of the book, when most of the important action occurred.

Overall, I admire the complexities To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods sets upon the reader. The horrors of war; the inhumanity of occupation, the degrading allure of power, are all woven into a story that has magic, but feels all too real given the world we live in today.

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