To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

Informationen zum Autor Molly X. Chang is a first-generation immigrant born in Harbin, China. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is her debut novel. Klappentext NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this magical epic fantasy, the gripping first novel of the Gods Beyond the Skies series, a young woman gifted with the power of Death must decide if saving her family is worth betraying her country. The gorgeous first edition hardcover of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods features a poster, color endpapers, a custom-stamped case, and a foil jacket! 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 rivalswhose deaths he swears would be for the good of both their worlds and would protect her people from further brutalizationher 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? Leseprobe 1 The 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 temptationto take something from them the way ...

Autorentext

Molly X. Chang is a first-generation immigrant born in Harbin, China. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is her debut novel.

Klappentext

**NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this magical epic fantasy, the gripping first novel of the Gods Beyond the Skies series, a young woman gifted with the power of Death must decide if saving her family is worth betraying her country.

The gorgeous first edition hardcover of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods features a poster, color endpapers, a custom-stamped case, and a foil jacket!

“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?

Leseprobe
**1
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The 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 magic and science balanced at knife’s edge.

I could kill one o…