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vulpeculex's review against another edition
3.0
i struggled to get into this one as quickly as i did with tgw but i flew through the second half and i’m rly interested to see where the final book goes after the ending of this one. zofia is definitely my favourite character i just love her
jonnaandherwails's review against another edition
4.0
NOTE: Thanks to Wednesday Books for providing me an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! Any quote used in this review is taken from the e-ARC, and the final print of the book may differ.
"Love did not always wear the face one wished it would. Sometimes it looked downright monstrous." - The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi
Although full of wit and culture, The Silvered Serpents seems unable to reach the same energy that The Gilded Wolves provided its readers. Don't get me wrong. I still love this book, and will continue to support the entire series. However, middle book syndrome is real in this case.
Chokshi continues to give us a world interlaced with religion and myths. Her extensive knowledge of all these symbols and how she delicately chooses to piece them together amazes me. And, what's really striking is how she provides us with characters coming from different cultural backgrounds and is still able to highlight each character's identity with respect to their cultures.
In The Gilded Wolves, Hypnos is easily my favourite character. I mean, he's really just a kid who wants love and attention, and I would be willing to give that to him. However, The Silvered Serpents gives us a different side of him—a seemingly manipulative, user-friendly individual who's as confused as we are in regards to what he really wants in life. Hypnos' manipulative (a.k.a. playful) tendencies, however, doesn't even begin to describe that of Séverin's.
Read the rest of my review here: https://jonnaandherwails.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/the-silvered-serpents-by-roshani-chokshi-book-review/
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"Love did not always wear the face one wished it would. Sometimes it looked downright monstrous." - The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi
Although full of wit and culture, The Silvered Serpents seems unable to reach the same energy that The Gilded Wolves provided its readers. Don't get me wrong. I still love this book, and will continue to support the entire series. However, middle book syndrome is real in this case.
Chokshi continues to give us a world interlaced with religion and myths. Her extensive knowledge of all these symbols and how she delicately chooses to piece them together amazes me. And, what's really striking is how she provides us with characters coming from different cultural backgrounds and is still able to highlight each character's identity with respect to their cultures.
In The Gilded Wolves, Hypnos is easily my favourite character. I mean, he's really just a kid who wants love and attention, and I would be willing to give that to him. However, The Silvered Serpents gives us a different side of him—a seemingly manipulative, user-friendly individual who's as confused as we are in regards to what he really wants in life. Hypnos' manipulative (a.k.a. playful) tendencies, however, doesn't even begin to describe that of Séverin's.
Read the rest of my review here: https://jonnaandherwails.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/the-silvered-serpents-by-roshani-chokshi-book-review/
SUPPORT ME FOR MORE WAILS:
Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads | Wordpress
this_ace_needs_space's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
5.0
do you ever just wanna reach into a book and slap some sense into a character? well, i constantly wanted to do that with severin. (i still love him tho)
tagoreketabkhane31's review against another edition
5.0
I really wish that people would stop the comparisons between SoC and tGW - while they share similaires and perhaps even the general makeup of the main male and female protagonists, both are so radically different in their messages and temperament, and that change is paramount in the second book of the trilogy, the Silvered Serpents.
Séverin, Laila, Enrique, Zofia and Hypnos along with the rest of the cast of characters introduced in the first book return a couple of months after the events of the first book, as they focus their sights to Russia and the host of the Winter Conclave for the Order of Babel. As each characters processes the events from the end of the first book, we can immediately see that the tenor and pace of the second book would dramatically shift and I think this was needed for Chokshi to not only showcase her characters in a different light, but for them to also grow in their abilities and prepare for the grueling mental and physical challenges that they were set to face.
My only disquiet with the book is the way that Séverin discovered the meaning of Laila calling him Majnun. I wish it had been in a more intimate/painful setting for him, and that he would’ve had more time to ruminate in its meaning.
The ending of the book follows in the tradition of the first book, with the reader left with wanting more. I can’t wait for the third book, because I know it will be amazing!
Séverin, Laila, Enrique, Zofia and Hypnos along with the rest of the cast of characters introduced in the first book return a couple of months after the events of the first book, as they focus their sights to Russia and the host of the Winter Conclave for the Order of Babel. As each characters processes the events from the end of the first book, we can immediately see that the tenor and pace of the second book would dramatically shift and I think this was needed for Chokshi to not only showcase her characters in a different light, but for them to also grow in their abilities and prepare for the grueling mental and physical challenges that they were set to face.
My only disquiet with the book is the way that Séverin discovered the meaning of Laila calling him Majnun. I wish it had been in a more intimate/painful setting for him, and that he would’ve had more time to ruminate in its meaning.
The ending of the book follows in the tradition of the first book, with the reader left with wanting more. I can’t wait for the third book, because I know it will be amazing!
7oranges's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
hevans_'s review against another edition
5.0
THIS IS HOW A SEQUEL IS DONE. RESTORED MY FAITH IN HUMANITY. RAAAAA READ THIS SERIES
lesserjoke's review against another edition
3.0
Given the fairly direct character parallels, this sequel continues to read like Six of Crows fanfiction with the serial numbers barely scratched off. (If author Roshani Chokshi hasn't read that bestselling YA fantasy series about a teenage heist gang whose members so clearly resemble her own cast, it's an extraordinary coincidence and still an issue that a competent editor should have cautioned against.) And that's fine, so far as it goes! It's an engaging concept, and even though this volume's high levels of angst make it less fun than its predecessor, there remains that delirious National Treasure vibe to the worldbuilding, where seemingly no artifact can be hidden or deadly trap rigged without some elaborate riddle hinting at a solution. The Crow knockoffs are a good match for such circumstances, despite spending a majority of this novel in painfully-obvious mutual pining situations that a quick conversation could clear up or missing the equally apparent warning signs of the eventual villain reveal.
Ultimately this title's biggest fault is probably that it's the middle book of a trilogy, a slower stretch of story that introduces new complications but never quite gets around to resolving much before the inevitable cliffhanger ending. Little here is actively bad, but it's not particularly distinctive for the genre, either. I expect I'll push on to the next/last installment at some point -- for the continued autistic Jewish representation, if nothing else -- but I can't say that I'm in any hurry for it.
[Content warning for antisemitism, racism, domestic abuse, slut-shaming, rape, and gore.]
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Ultimately this title's biggest fault is probably that it's the middle book of a trilogy, a slower stretch of story that introduces new complications but never quite gets around to resolving much before the inevitable cliffhanger ending. Little here is actively bad, but it's not particularly distinctive for the genre, either. I expect I'll push on to the next/last installment at some point -- for the continued autistic Jewish representation, if nothing else -- but I can't say that I'm in any hurry for it.
[Content warning for antisemitism, racism, domestic abuse, slut-shaming, rape, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog