A review by cody_crumley
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

“History isn’t kind to those who see themselves as Gods. To those who try to play Gods”

This is the second book I have gotten from my Illumicrate subscription and while it is not perfect, I enjoyed this more than the first book I received. 

“To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods” is the debut novel for Molly K. Chang and you can tell that even in this world of fantasy, magic vs science that there is a personal experience at the heart of this story. 

The story is about Ruying, someone who has been “blessed by Death”. She is one of the few of Xianglings (people of the nation Er-Lang with magic abilities) who have the ability to drain a person of their Qi or life force. She gets captured by the Romans but is saved by Prince Antony Augustus, who then uses her to kill off political enemies in exchange for the protection of her family. 

The setting and story are an intersection of historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction, but while it does each okay none of the elements feel like they meet their potential. 

The magic system that Chang has created is interesting but never really explained well (unfortunately a common theme). At first it seems like it is spiritual based but ends up maybe being almost like midichlorians from Star Wars. 

Similar experience is with the lore/history of the conflict between Er-Lang and Rome. Apparently Rome discovered a “portal” to this world (never really explained or I missed it). They developed a drug called “opian” and passed it out to Er-Lang as a way for them to solve their fading magic, but the citizens became addicted. The history of this world is personification of the Opium Wars and Manchurian folklore, but again is delivered in clunky info dumps that are not explained in the best of ways.

While there is nothing in this book that I would describe as awful, the only part of the book that I loath is the “romance” between Ruying and Antony. It seems to be a metaphor of dangers and harm caused by colonialism, but like the lore dumps it is clunky and not great. It tries to do a “enemies to lovers” style but I did not find it believable in the slightest 

The plot seems mostly focused on establishing future stories/sequels, especially with the mild cliffhanging ending that leaves plenty of unanswered questions. 

For her debut, Molly X Chang delivers a solid start that is mired by clunky plot, trying to interweave multiple styles of fiction and establish crafted world in less than 350 pages. While it is not perfect, I am actually interested to see where the story takes it and hopeful that this series will continue and with him Chang continues to improve her world-building