To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods
(Sprache: Englisch)
She has power over death. He has power over her. When two enemies strike a dangerous bargain, will they end a war . . . or ignite one?
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She has power over death. He has power over her. When two enemies strike a dangerous bargain, will they end a war . . . or ignite one?“With hauntingly poetic prose, Molly X. Chang spins a tale at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and the very real devastation that colonialism brings down on colonized peoples.”—Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iron Widow
Heroes die, cowards live. Daughter of a conquered world, Ruying hates the invaders who descended from the heavens long before she was born and defeated the magic of her people with technologies unlike anything her world had ever seen.
Blessed by Death, born with the ability to pull the life right out of mortal bodies, Ruying shouldn’t have to fear these foreign invaders, but she does. Especially because she wants to keep herself and her family safe.
When Ruying’s Gift is discovered by an enemy prince, he offers her an impossible deal: If she becomes his private assassin and eliminates his political rivals—whose deaths he swears would be for the good of both their worlds and would protect her people from further brutalization—her family will never starve or suffer harm again. But to accept this bargain, she must use the powers she has always feared, powers that will shave years off her own existence.
Can Ruying trust this prince, whose promises of a better world make her heart ache and whose smiles make her pulse beat faster? Are the evils of this agreement really in the service of a much greater good? Or will she betray her entire nation by protecting those she loves the most?
Lese-Probe zu „To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods “
1The sky was crying again.
All around me, my world wept. Gray, icy tears caressed my skin, shivering cold in the late-summer heat. With deliberate steps, I passed the Fence that carved my city into halves, guarded by Roman soldiers and their white-knuckled grips on the guns that haunted our nightmares, ready to shoot me down over perceived slights.
I hated these men. Hated their stern, foreign faces and foreign attires from beyond the shimmering portal high in the somber sky that now joined our two realms. A glistening fracture, looming over my broken city like the all-seeing eye of a vengeful God who was not here to love and protect, but to torture.
To inflict unimaginable pain and suffering, as the Romans had for over two decades now.
Every day, I cursed this road, this fence, their loaded guns, and every trace of Rome that marred my world like a permanent stain.
Yet, I still bowed my head for them, still walked this road week after week, under hawk-like gazes, for the drug that killed my sister slowly, but without which she would die fast like a flower cut from the stem. At least with opian, Meiya might live another two, three, or even five years like Father had.
Without it, she might not live through the season.
Some Romans wore disgust and hate clear on their faces. Others wore smirks and lust.
One pursed his lips and let out a sharp whistle that made my spine flinch cold.
Death s magic thrummed quiet under my skin: embers ready to kindle into wildfire the moment I allowed it.
I had no reason to fear these men. Given my powers, I had no reason to fear anyone.
With an arch of my hand, I could dip into Death s realm of stark grays, pluck qi from their bodies until only corpses remained. A constant temptation to take something from them the way they had taken so much from us.
But Grandma had raised me to be cautious. A girl could never be too careful in this age of colonial destruction, where the peace between
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magic and science balanced at knife s edge.
I could kill one of them perhaps two or three if I was lucky. But I couldn t kill every Roman who marched this city. Their heads high with arrogance, entitled to claim anything and anyone they pleased.
Though years had passed, memories remained vivid like a fresh dream: the first time I witnessed one of my own slaughtered in cold blood under Roman hands.
I was still a child and Father was still alive and kind as he d ever be.
It was murder by gunshot, execution-style. And the fingers that had pulled the trigger belonged to none other than their eldest prince Valentin Augustus. Just three years older than I was, he d shot a man dead before hundreds of witnesses for the audacity of placing soiled hands on the prince s pristine clothes, for daring to beg him for the pennies he kept carelessly in pockets. Pennies that would enable a father to feed his starving child.
If I closed my eyes, I could still feel my father s shaking hands holding mine, smell the fear that radiated from everyone in that crowd like a foul stench. The very fear that emanated from my own skin the moment I heard that sky-splitting bang. A primal thing from deep in my belly.
Evil ran in all Roman veins common as blood, but Valentin Augustus was rumored to be something worse.
The city whispered of his brothers, too.
The middle prince who lived on Pangu soil with Valentin, but no one had ever seen him venture beyond the Fence.
The third and youngest prince, who was a blood-thirsty military protégé and the only prince who remained in Rome as their grandfather s right hand.
Their mighty yet odious grandfather, whose disdain for my kind shaped the politics of two worlds. Whose callous heart doomed my Empire to this bitter fate.
Cruel and monstrous, all o
I could kill one of them perhaps two or three if I was lucky. But I couldn t kill every Roman who marched this city. Their heads high with arrogance, entitled to claim anything and anyone they pleased.
Though years had passed, memories remained vivid like a fresh dream: the first time I witnessed one of my own slaughtered in cold blood under Roman hands.
I was still a child and Father was still alive and kind as he d ever be.
It was murder by gunshot, execution-style. And the fingers that had pulled the trigger belonged to none other than their eldest prince Valentin Augustus. Just three years older than I was, he d shot a man dead before hundreds of witnesses for the audacity of placing soiled hands on the prince s pristine clothes, for daring to beg him for the pennies he kept carelessly in pockets. Pennies that would enable a father to feed his starving child.
If I closed my eyes, I could still feel my father s shaking hands holding mine, smell the fear that radiated from everyone in that crowd like a foul stench. The very fear that emanated from my own skin the moment I heard that sky-splitting bang. A primal thing from deep in my belly.
Evil ran in all Roman veins common as blood, but Valentin Augustus was rumored to be something worse.
The city whispered of his brothers, too.
The middle prince who lived on Pangu soil with Valentin, but no one had ever seen him venture beyond the Fence.
The third and youngest prince, who was a blood-thirsty military protégé and the only prince who remained in Rome as their grandfather s right hand.
Their mighty yet odious grandfather, whose disdain for my kind shaped the politics of two worlds. Whose callous heart doomed my Empire to this bitter fate.
Cruel and monstrous, all o
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Autoren-Porträt von Molly X. Chang
Molly X. Chang
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Molly X. Chang
- 2024, International, 368 Seiten, Maße: 15,5 x 23 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Del Rey
- ISBN-10: 0593724763
- ISBN-13: 9780593724767
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
With hauntingly poetic prose, Molly X. Chang spins a tale at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and the very real devastation that colonialism brings down on colonized peoples. Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iron WidowThis book is a thrilling gut punch, both lavishly magical and devastatingly human. Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of Strange the Dreamer
Readers will be on the edge of their seats wondering what s going to happen next. Adalyn Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Belladonna
A heart-pounding, brilliant debut that shines with pure magic. Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals
An electric collision of science, magic, and a terrifying alternate history, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is the complex romantic fantasy you ve been waiting for. Hannah F. Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf
A fantasy rich with heart and rooted in ancestral memory, a romance that will leave readers on the edge of their seat, a story that will take one s breath away this book is the complete package. Thea Guanzon, New York Times bestselling author of The Hurricane Wars
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is absolutely captivating, with a fierce heroine torn between love and loyalty as two worlds collide with devastating consequences. Emily Thiede, author of This Vicious Grace
As ambitious as it is heartfelt, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods cements Molly X. Chang as an explosive new talent in fantasy. I was swept away by this debut and eagerly await her next book. Isabel Cañas, USA Today bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is desperate, grasping, breathless, filled with hard choices and characters who seek some measure of peace in an unforgiving land. Intensely riveting character dynamics in a truly unique world make this debut an absolute stunner!
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Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter
History and fantasy, sisterhood and betrayal, the tragedy of empire and triumph of the human spirit are vivid interwoven threads in an extraordinarily fine debut. Sarah Rees Brennan, author of Long Live Evil
History and fantasy, sisterhood and betrayal, the tragedy of empire and triumph of the human spirit are vivid interwoven threads in an extraordinarily fine debut. Sarah Rees Brennan, author of Long Live Evil
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