To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

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.

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

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods follows Ruying, a girl with the ability to kill by stealing a person’s life energy. Having hated the ability since childhood, Ruying swears that she will never use it again, but she finds herself forced to use her power when her family is put in danger. Soon, Ruying is one of the most powerful weapons in the war between Er-Lang, her homeland, and Rome, the enemy invaders, and nobody at all – not even people that she thought she understood – can be trusted.

This book was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it absolutely did not let me down. The blurb warned that I wouldn’t be able to pick a character and stay loyal, and it was absolutely true, with every page causing me to doubt who I trusted and who the real enemy was. Ruying is an incredible protagonist whose voice was clear from the very beginning, and her complicated relationships with both Antony and Baihu were fascinating to read. Also, every single character in this book is morally grey, which I adored.

The scene setting and plot were both incredibly strong as well, though I did find the pacing a little off at times, as important scenes seemed to be skimmed over or skipped entirely. This was a minor issue however, and the majority of the story was well-developed and beautifully written.

I truly expect this to be one of my favourite fantasy reads of the year, and I’ll be easily recommending it to anyone who’ll listen. It’s an incredibly fast-paced, unique, morally grey high-fantasy, and I absolutely cannot wait for the next instalment.