Laura's Reviews > To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

"Heroes die, cowards live."
Ruying's constant refrain is only one of the many ways To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods stares unflinchingly at the brutality, humiliation, and despair faced by her and her people from the colonizing "Romans". There are no good choices for Ruying, only different routes to attempt to secure survival for her and her family, most of them humiliating at best and deadly at worst. The reader is swept along with Ruying, and even while her decisions are entirely sympathetic, the question of whether or not she truly has any choices is raised at multiple points, and, I would say, never truly resolved in this book. However, the ending leaves the reader aching for more, to know whether Ruying manages to completely be free. This is not a comfortable read, but I think it's a vital one, if for no other reason than to acknowledge as the author notes that a great deal of this story, while science fiction/fantasy, is based heavily on real events that happened to real people.

For sensitive readers, due to the nature of the story, there are a wide array of content warnings: violence, racism, death, addiction, and more. As far as sexual content goes, assault and coercion are referenced but do not happen "on screen" as it were, and nothing of a graphic nature occurs.