To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

Sadly not for me. I did this as a buddy read and that's the only reason I kept going.

I couldn't understand the relationship between the two main characters, there was nothing to explain their closeness or why they came to work together.

The author also frequently used popular phrases linked to TV shows and films. Within 30 pages I'd text my buddy reader to complain about a concept that had been lifted from Star Wars and the book was quoting Spock from Star Trek. In addition, the villains are Romans who use a drug, Opian, to control the population. There's too many references to real world things (or very similar terms to real world things) to stay engaged in the world the book attempts to create. The Romans have polluted their world and use science versus the Empires who use magic. It feel a bit preachy at times and the characters were just so hard to like or care about. The book ends with a cliff hanger setting it up for the sequel. I wish it luck and hope it does well but I won't be reading it.