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lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don't know how to rate this. Because there were things about the book I absolutely loved. And then there were things I absolutely hated.
What shines the most are the characters. They were basically what kept me reading. The story lives with these characters, their friendship is just so special and wholesome. So, I hated what happened at the end because this is just cheap writing.
And as much as I loved the setting and atmosphere of the story and the adventure of it, the writing felt very rushed and convenient most of the time. There was A LOT of world building crammed into a very small book. I could hardly keep up with every new description and magical object or power. When nothing else was going on, it was easy to imagine the magic and the locations, for example the amazing hotel. But as soon as there was action involved, I couldn't picture anything at all. Which is a shame because I feel these places were really cool. But I liked that riddles were included into the book, even though they were either too easy or too vague. And for someone who is interested in a lot of cultures and myths and history, there were a lot of references too (Maybe a little too many even...).
I'm not particularly interested in the plot anymore, but I will probably continue the series for the characters, their diversity and the discussions about colonialism and theft of art/cultural artifacts from other cultures. It's really cool that this is part of a YA series these days.
What shines the most are the characters. They were basically what kept me reading. The story lives with these characters, their friendship is just so special and wholesome. So, I hated what happened at the end because this is just cheap writing.
And as much as I loved the setting and atmosphere of the story and the adventure of it, the writing felt very rushed and convenient most of the time. There was A LOT of world building crammed into a very small book. I could hardly keep up with every new description and magical object or power. When nothing else was going on, it was easy to imagine the magic and the locations, for example the amazing hotel. But as soon as there was action involved, I couldn't picture anything at all. Which is a shame because I feel these places were really cool. But I liked that riddles were included into the book, even though they were either too easy or too vague. And for someone who is interested in a lot of cultures and myths and history, there were a lot of references too (Maybe a little too many even...).
I'm not particularly interested in the plot anymore, but I will probably continue the series for the characters, their diversity and the discussions about colonialism and theft of art/cultural artifacts from other cultures. It's really cool that this is part of a YA series these days.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Ableism
discworldwitch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Hate crime, Antisemitism, Ableism, Racism, Colonisation, Sexual content, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
astoryofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This review is EXTREMELY long, sorry not sorry :) but the headings of the topics have been highlighted if you want my opinion on a specific thing. I also remind you that English isn't my mother tongue, so sorry for the mistakes.
I had high hopes for this book, which is unfortunately a disappointment. I know a lot of people compare this book to Six of Crows but I'm still looking for the similarities. We certainly have a group of young people who are leaving for a heist, it does not go further, and I find that many dreams are sold for, in the end, little material in reality. But let's start with the positive:
The writing :
I have to admit, Roshani Chokshi has a nice pen, and on a purely stylistic approach, I really liked the way she brought it about, the way she described what surrounded her characters. It was not the writing that made my reading difficult, and if I had had less trouble with other points, I sincerely think that I would have liked this book a little more and that I would have read it much faster.
The diversity :
We really feel that this happened naturally in the author's choices, that there is nothing to force. The characters live in an era in which colonialism and racism still have a great place, that they are anchored and develop in the society of the end of the 19h century, becoming whole parts of the functioning of the European States, in particular in the economy. And as it has been for other countries in other times, and this since Ancient Greece. We follow these characters living in this society that attacks them from all sides, every day, whether through cultural appropriation or colourism. And since we have the points of view of these characters, we understand how much they are dispossessed of what belongs to them, how much they are erased by society, how much it hurts them without them being able to do something about it. There is this moment when Laïla explains how she feels about all this, and that even if she knows who she is deep inside, it's difficult to move forward. It's the same for Enrique, as a Spanish-Filipino person.
I would have liked to see a bit of the same in Zofia, to whom I felt very attached (my family fled Poland in the early 1930s, like many Polish Jews). But there wasn't as much depth, other than a few sentences here and there to remind us that she was Jewish, and that was why she had been rejected and found her way to Séverin and the group. Likewise, a very little backstory on this subject also with Séverin, I find, since it is only mentioned once that his mother was Algerian.
I really enjoyed seeing so much diversity among the characters. Although I remain a little sad that the two bisexual (and pansexual?) characters were the more outgoing, the less "serious" and that one of them find themselves playing the unfaithful one during a part of the heist.
I had high hopes for this book, which is unfortunately a disappointment. I know a lot of people compare this book to Six of Crows but I'm still looking for the similarities. We certainly have a group of young people who are leaving for a heist, it does not go further, and I find that many dreams are sold for, in the end, little material in reality. But let's start with the positive:
The writing :
I have to admit, Roshani Chokshi has a nice pen, and on a purely stylistic approach, I really liked the way she brought it about, the way she described what surrounded her characters. It was not the writing that made my reading difficult, and if I had had less trouble with other points, I sincerely think that I would have liked this book a little more and that I would have read it much faster.
The diversity :
We really feel that this happened naturally in the author's choices, that there is nothing to force. The characters live in an era in which colonialism and racism still have a great place, that they are anchored and develop in the society of the end of the 19h century, becoming whole parts of the functioning of the European States, in particular in the economy. And as it has been for other countries in other times, and this since Ancient Greece. We follow these characters living in this society that attacks them from all sides, every day, whether through cultural appropriation or colourism. And since we have the points of view of these characters, we understand how much they are dispossessed of what belongs to them, how much they are erased by society, how much it hurts them without them being able to do something about it. There is this moment when Laïla explains how she feels about all this, and that even if she knows who she is deep inside, it's difficult to move forward. It's the same for Enrique, as a Spanish-Filipino person.
I would have liked to see a bit of the same in Zofia, to whom I felt very attached (my family fled Poland in the early 1930s, like many Polish Jews). But there wasn't as much depth, other than a few sentences here and there to remind us that she was Jewish, and that was why she had been rejected and found her way to Séverin and the group. Likewise, a very little backstory on this subject also with Séverin, I find, since it is only mentioned once that his mother was Algerian.
I really enjoyed seeing so much diversity among the characters. Although I remain a little sad that the two bisexual (and pansexual?) characters were the more outgoing, the less "serious" and that one of them find themselves playing the unfaithful one during a part of the heist.
"She meant nothing to me" cried ***, dropping to his knees.
"She?" repeated ***. "I was talking about a he."
"Oh." *** winced. "Him too?"
This leads me to the characters in general, first negative point:
The characters :
Other than Zofia, I didn't feel any chemistry for any of the characters. They seemed empty to me, too superficial, and like in many YA plots which want to be mature, they don't look their age. They're all 18 (I thought they were 16 at first) and they can do it all, they're incredibly smart, to the point of beating the bad guys who look like they're in their 30-40s. The thing that pissed me off the most is that the author describes Enrique as a historian. No. He may be a history enthusiast, but he's not a full-fledged historian at just 18. I will be 20 years old in a few months, I will be entering my second year of history studies, and that does not mean that I am calling myself a historian. I will be when I have validated my doctorate in history research, so when I am at least 25 years old, and if I succeed in my studies.
As for the relationships between the characters, I found them meaningless, like pulling out of a hat. We are informed that two of them had a relationship but I find that there is no chemistry between them. (view spoiler) at the end of the book for no reason. The only relationship that could have made sense is the one between Séverin and Tristan but it is completely relegated to the background at the same time as Tristan, who we do not know that much since he does not appear for long.
Besides, I didn't like Séverin. He has no charisma and he's just selfish and full of himself (I hate people like that). I did not manage to identify Laïla, who seemed to change her personality at times, which was very unsettling and so I did not give her much interest, unfortunately. I had the impression that Enrique and Hypnos were just cut and paste of each other, so there was no originality in either of them. Again, only Zofia seemed whole to me and herself (I also wanted to add that it is implied she might be autistic).
The plot :
I found this book to be very long, and there weren't many surprises. I had guessed almost all the twists and turns, so I wasn't surprised when it came to the revelation. The promised heist plot is not really there, or at least it is not very obvious. We certainly have characters who sneak into a place to steal something, but it is not the whole plot, just a part of it, and it lacked depth. I found the story quite disjointed: the book is cut into several parts which are very uneven, and I did not understand this division so that I was a bit cut off in the few actions.
In addition, these parts were opened on extracts of documents of the Order of Babel, or things like that, with each time a piece of random information, a number, which seemed to me to be a date, and a historical mark presented like this:
Part II
Excerpt from Reports of New Caledonia
Admiral Théophile du Casse, French faction Order of Babel
1863, Second Republic of France under Napoleon III
First thing: the Second Republic of France is a regime that extends from 1848 until 1852. The Second Republic ends with the self-proclamation of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor, thus becoming Napoleon III under the regime of the Second Empire (1852-1870). So no, there was no Napoleon III under the Second Republic (only the president Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte), and it would have taken a simple Wikipedia search on the part of the author to find out.
Part IV
From the Archival records of the Order of Babel
The Origins of Empire
Mistress Marie Ludwig Victor, House Frigg of the Order's Prussian 1828, reign of Frederick Wilhelm IV
I will pass on my incomprehension of why the author mixes the English and German names (Frederick William in English and Friedrich Wilhelm in German). I'm also wondering if the "1828" refers to a date (which would be normal) or the faction number. Because, if this figure does refer to the date 1828, know that Frederick William IV of Prussia reigned from 1840 to 1861. It was Frederick William III who was King of Prussia in 1828.
I'm not going to dwell on the mistakes in the Russian name of Catherine the Great at the beginning of parts V and VII, written "Yekaterine Alekseyevna" when it comes to "Yekaterina Alekseyevna".
Regarding the hypothesis of the dates, know that the figures indicated in parts V, VI and VII correspond to the dates of the reign of the persons mentioned below (Catherine the Great and King Umberto I of Italy). I think you'll understand that as a history student it made me cringe a bit.
The worldbuilding :
I didn't understand the worldbuilding, I found it too messy as if the author believed that we already knew everything when we had just discovered the universe. The idea of the Forged objects was interesting, but I had the impression that they were only there to facilitate the actions of the characters by making the thing more modern, like gloves that reproduce the traces of the hands, plotters, jammers or recorders. In my opinion, the only effect of Forged objects is to modernize the era and make it more alive, which means that we find ourselves in a universe that is too modern for the time and anachronistic. I can't even figure out if there is a real magic system behind it all, and if so, what is it? What's the point? And, the puzzles used in this book are very well-known puzzles, so there's no surprise, especially for someone who read this kind of book, like The DaVinci Code. For example, the Sator square which, as we know it today, is not that mysterious (the Sator square would be just a game).
But what annoyed me the most is that the author fell into the trap of the perfect Parisian aesthetic. Why is it necessary, from the moment when the action takes place in Paris, that the characters live in a private mansion to drown their sorrows in champagne? Why can't the author do a minimum of research to write the few French words that there are, without spelling mistakes? Especially when a few pages later it is written correctly? And when the author invents a legend about the honeybee as a symbol of Napoleon? No, Napoleon did not choose the honeybee as his symbol after having turned the fleur-de-lys upside down, it was one of his advisers who suggested this animal to him (as others advised him the lion, the eagle or others) because it was already the symbol of the Merovingian kings, and more precisely of Childeric I who had borrowed it himself following his trip to Thuringia.
If you want to denounce cultural appropriation, respect the culture of the country you are setting your story in, and in the case of The Gilded Wolves, the french culture: verify your dates and don’t make mistakes about french history; write french words/sentences correctly, and stop thinking France and Paris are just an aesthetic. Being French, being Parisian, doesn’t mean you drink champagne in your hotel particulier during the whole day! I know it's a very general problem, whether it's in books (romance or fantasy), in movies or series. But understand that when a French person sees/reads this, it's just exhausting and insulting. Just like it is for other cultures.
A little lesson of French historiography :
During my reading of The Gilded Wolves, I also rediscovered this obsession with the French Revolution that non-French people have. I would already like to announce that no, France did not go through one French revolution, but several. In everyday life, the French Revolution refers to the one of 1789, but when you do research (what is supposed to be done when writing historical fiction) it would be nice to know and spell it out. Especially since, during the Third Republic (the republic under which the plot of The Gilded Wolves takes place), the rooting of history was a political struggle over the interpretation of the French Revolution of 1789. Where some only wanted to recognize the revolution of 1789, many refused it and preferred the dates of 1792 (beginning of the Republics in France) or even 1793. The very debate of the national day, in 1879, at the very beginning of the Third Republic, divides on the fact of celebrating July 14, 1789 (the storming of the Bastille) or July 14, 1790 (the celebration of the Federation, where Louis XVI has sworn to the Nation), because the storming of the Bastille is considered too bloody by some to become a national day. And it is for this reason that the year is not specified in the law, and it shows to what extent there was also a refusal of the glorification of 1789. So no, everything did not revolve around the revolution of 1789 and the Storming of the Bastille. It is as if I came to say that the war for American independence boiled down to the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
In her author's note, Roshani Chokshi advances: "History is a myth shaped by the tongues of conquerors". The story has indeed long been told by the winners because, for most of them, they were the only ones to be still there. But to say that is, in my opinion, erasing the very nature of the work of a historian. In France, history is identified as a discipline and a true social science between 1860 and 1918 (the story of The Gilded Wolves takes place in 1889). The vision remains very political but the historians of the time are opposed to the idea that history is only a "simple eloquence"(Fustel de Coulanges). This professional turning point took place between 1876 and 1900, and it was from 1880 that history became a full degree at university. The multiplication of reviews and historical books is extremely important, the publications are multiplied. Methods of analysis and criticism are developed to avoid mistakes. Of course, history faces criticism, but it is becoming more and more impartial. In the second half of the 20th century, postcolonial studies developed, which aimed to go beyond the Eurocentric vision which continued despite the end of colonization. It is the very project of subaltern studies to give a voice to those who have not had the right to express themselves!
So no, as a history student, I won't let an American author who hasn't studied history say that sort of thing.
All of this leads me to conclude that The Gilded Wolves made me angry, and I think that's also why I struggled to like this book and give it a chance. Everything was ruined by preconceptions. If it hadn't been for so many mistakes and contempt (because yes, I perceive it as contempt) this reading might have been 3/5. And I am not sorry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Ableism, and Antisemitism
Anxiety, spidersbookcaptivated's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, and Racism
Minor: Antisemitism, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Torture
s3lin's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, Antisemitism, and Death
Minor: Homophobia and Biphobia
coolbeancat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Death
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Racism, and Ableism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Grief
mmefish's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is book… is not good.
First of all, it’s super messy. Roshani Chokshi attempted to include too many things in the narrative, but none of them were written well. Info dumping does not stop until very late in the book and I had to constantly re-read entire paragraphs to make sense of the erratic descriptions.
The characters: at first, I enjoyed reading about Enrique and Zofia (I did not care about the rest of them), thinking that their personality traits will lead to some character development. But no. We finish right where we started.
THE JOKES. WERE. AWFUL. The banter got old very fast and pretty much everything Hypnos said was terrible.
The romance. In short: “we wanna fuck”. There was one good moment between Enrique and Zofia but then it got lost in a love triangle with Hypnos (really?).
The plot. We’ve seen it million times. And it includes many accidents when someone’s foot/hand slipped.
In conclusion: there is really nothing redeeming besides the diversity of the cast. Oh yeah, the book is also supposed to talk about the atrocities of 19th century France (according to Author’s note) but… it does not, not really.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Death
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Self harm
literarypenguin's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book has been on my tbr for quite a while, so when I saw it and the beautiful cover I knew I had to get it and read it right away. I was very surprised how fast I fell in love with the characters and the setting, there were moments where I didnt even want to put it down or when I did I knew later on that I really wanted to read more. Now I am not saying this was perfect cause no book is perfect but it was perfect for me and what I love in my reading. It might not be that way for some but that's completely okay. Now onward to my fangirling!
The Characters:
Severin, The Leader-
”He was deception steeped in elegance, from his sharp smile to his unsettling eyes. Séverin’s eyes were the precise color of sleep – sable velvet with a violet sheen, promising either nightmare or dream.”
Roshani Chokshi has such a divine way with words. I could picture Severin so well in my mind. He has that elegant type of beauty, a type of handsome that other people could only dream of. He did have a very interesting habit of chewing on cloves, especially when he was deep in thought, I am a little more then curious to know how he picked up that habit. I can handle cloves in small doses but the way he was popping them into his mouth must have tasted intense. He wasnt just the leader of the group but also kind of like a father figure to the others. When I learned about Tristan and Severin's childhood with their many foster fathers and not all of them loving, it broke my heart. I came to understand how Severin became the way he is now and I loved that he chose to name his foster fathers after the seven deadly sins. I gave this alot of thought and I came up with the idea that they had real names but he called them by the names of the sins because that is how he chooses to remember them. Typical Severin move! From all the characters in the book he was the most driven and torn. To not only lose his parents in a tragic accident but to lose his legacy and be shunned by his family, the people who loved and took care of him since he was born, that wounded him so deeply and it would drive anyone to see vengeance and retribution. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next book but I have a strong feeling he is going to go dark.
”Séverin closed his eyes. It wasn’t about enough. Tristan would never understand. He had never felt the pulse of an entirely different future, only to see it ripped from his grasp and smothered in front of him. He didn’t understand that sometimes the only way to take down what had destroyed you was to disguise yourself as part of it.”
”Memories unsettled him. He hated the thought that he might have missed something, and he didn’t want time warping how he remembered things because he didn’t trust himself to remember without bias. And he needed to. Because only then, only with absolute impartiality, could he detect where he had gone wrong.”
Laila, L'Enigme-
”She hated seeing someone hold an empty plate and always thought everyone was hungry. She knew everyone’s secrets even without having to read their objects. At the Palais des Rêves, she turned that radiance into an allure that earned her star billing and the name, L’Énigme. The Mystery.”
Laila was such a intriguing character! She's a Indian women with the ability to read a objects history and has a maternal nature. She cares about everyone and treats the rest of the crew like her children. She bakes for them and listens to their troubles but when night falls she becomes L'Enigme and dazzles the crowd at Palais des Rêves! She is definitely a temptress who knows how ensnare her victims to get what she needs but her tempting seems to effect Severin more then anyone. Just like the other characters she has a darkness lurking in her past and I was so surprised to learn what it was. From what I understand she was a stillborn and was forged into living with the help of a cygnet and jungle cat fur? It explains why her hair is fur like and her eyes are black. The catch though is that beings who are forged like that dont live longer then 19 years old. That's the main reason why she stays away from Severin and desperately wants a cure. By the end of the book though I dont know if her and Severin will be able to recover the love they had for one another. I really hope so!
”She didn’t want to glide through life, unfeeling. She wanted to know everything while she could. She didn’t want the ghosts of thresholds not crossed hanging over her. She didn’t want one night. She wanted a chance.”
“Her mother's voice rang in her ears: 'Don't capture their hearts. Steal their imagination. It's far more useful.”
Enrique, The Historian-
”When he realized he didn’t have the talent, he chose to study the subjects that felt closest to Forging: history and language. He could still change the world… maybe not with something as dramatic or grand as Forging, but in more intimate ways. Writing. Speaking. Human connection.”
I admired his character so much! He is a bisexual Spanish-Filipino man with a love for history. I loved that mixture! He wasnt to good at socializing but he had a great sense of humor and a brilliant mind. Unlike the others, he didnt have a forging ability but he makes up for it with his resourcefulness and wit. The one thing I loved was seeing him struggling with not only his racial identity but his sexual identity as well. He struggled with trying to fit in to both sides of his heritage but would always feel like a outsider. I would have loved to learn more about him but hopefully in the second book I will. I do want to know what happens to him, Hypnos and Zofia because leaving us in the dark at the end not cool!
”There were Forged dragons out of myths from the Orient, Sirenas with heavy-lidded eyes, bhuts with backwards feet. And though they were not all his tales, he saw himself in them: pushed to the corners of the dark. He was just like them. As solid as smoke and just as powerless.”
”Nothing but a symbol?” repeated Enrique quietly. “People die for symbols. People have hope because of symbols. They’re not just lines. They’re histories, cultures, traditions, given shape.”
Zofia, The Phoenix-
”A month later, ten students locked themselves in the lab with her. Again came the sounds, smells, laughing. The other students didn’t grab her. They knew the barest touch – like a feather trailed down skin – hurt her more. Calm slipped out of reach no matter how many times she counted backward, or begged to be let go, or asked what she had done wrong.”
Zofia is so precious to me! She is a socially awkward Jewish- Polish woman who loves math and gets completely absorbed into her work. It is implied that she has some type of autism and gets very nervous in social situations and has her little quirks that help her cope. I despised the students that mobbed her at university and used her insecurities and her aversion to touch to torment and abuse her. Enrique and her made such a great team and played off of each other perfectly. I do wonder what happened to her after Tristan's death and how it effected her. I felt so bad for her after she saw Hypnos and Enrique kiss, she was just starting to come out of her shell and now she is withdrawing herself again. I dont want her to be alone!
”What it could do did not seem within human grasp, but that was the thing about numbers. They weren’t like people, who could say one thing and do another. They weren’t like riddles of social mannerisms or conversations. Numbers never lied.”
”She was reminded of all that she could not detect. All that she could not do. She could storm into a room, but she could not command its attention through charm. She could face herself in the mirror, but she could not spark imaginations with her face. Zofia stepped back. She should stay in the world she knew. And not reach for one she did not.”
Tristan, The Botanist-
”His love and his fear and his own cracked mind made it easy to convince him that betraying you was saving you.”
Tristan was such a surprise! He was the youngest of this motley crew with a love for his pet tarantula Goliath. He loved building little terrariums before he would make them a real thing. Even though he shared a painful childhood with Severin it seemed like he got out of it unscathed. Boy was I proven wrong. I was troubled by the words that Joux-Roubert said but I never thought Tristan would do something as cruel as this. The birds that disappeared from the garden I knew something was wrong with that! Tristan no !!! I would love to find out why he did that hopefully in the second book we will. I should have known that not getting his POV was a red flag that something bad was going to happen. He didn't deserve to die that way!
”What? I’m hungry. What about you, Tristan? What do you want?”
“This,” Tristan said quietly. “Just this.”
Hypnos, The Patriarch-
”He knew the other boy’s skin, a deep umber like the rain-soaked bark of an oak tree. He knew the textured hair cropped close to his head. Even knew his strangely colored eyes, a blue so pale they looked like panes of frost.”
At first Hypnos wasnt a part of them but I adored him so much! I loved his flair and his dramatic attitude but he had a source of innocence about him. Hopefully in the next book we got his POV and we get to see more from him. I loved his need to want to fit in with the crew and it seemed to me like all he wants is to have friends and people to treat him like a normal person. That he is unapologetically into men and doesn't hide it or apologize for it makes him that more of a interesting character. I really need more of him!
”What’s going on here” – said Hypnos, his voice rising as a bizarre grin spread across his face, - “is that you care for me. We’re all friends. We’re friends going to save another friend! This is… this is amazing!”
”I had to choose, and perhaps the Order forced my hand in this. But what no one tells you is that even when you decide which world you will live in, the world may not always see you as you would wish. Sometimes it demands that you be so outrageous as to transcend your very skin. You can change your name. Your eye color. Make yourself a myth and live within it, so that you belong to no one but yourself.”
The Setting-
I loved the world! The beauty of Paris, from the streets at night to the wonder of the Effiel Tower was simply breathtaking. Having the catacombs beneath Paris be the setting of a battle was a perfect choice and it was such a unsettling feeling to know the bones of the innocent were being used to destroy the world. This world was so beautiful and I loved exploring it all! I hope the same beauty will be in the second book!
The Writing/Plot-
The writing was very engaging and action packed. There definitely wasnt a dull moment. The differing Povs was a good choice because we get a sense of what's happening during a certain situation that can connect to another. I loved the mystery and the riddles and puzzles added just the right touch to the experience. I need to know more about this Fallen House and what they are going to do now that they have risen again.
The Romance-
The romance was so so good! Laila and Severin had such a strong bond but they both felt like they couldn't act on it because of different reasons. They had a magical moment one time but promised to never have a moment like that ever again. It is very obvious they both care deeply about each other and want to be with each other but they both can't. I really hope that they can pursue that relationship in the second one but I dont know! What Severin said was such a horrible thing to say to someone regardless if your grieving or not! Enrique, Zofia and Hypnos there relationship and friendship was so cool. I was heartbroken in the end when Zofia saw the kiss between them but I hope that doesn't change anything between them.
Conclusion-
The Gilded Wolves was everything that I needed and craved in a book! I loved watching this story unfold and can not wait to read the second one! I can not reccomend this book enough!
The Characters:
Severin, The Leader-
”He was deception steeped in elegance, from his sharp smile to his unsettling eyes. Séverin’s eyes were the precise color of sleep – sable velvet with a violet sheen, promising either nightmare or dream.”
Roshani Chokshi has such a divine way with words. I could picture Severin so well in my mind. He has that elegant type of beauty, a type of handsome that other people could only dream of. He did have a very interesting habit of chewing on cloves, especially when he was deep in thought, I am a little more then curious to know how he picked up that habit. I can handle cloves in small doses but the way he was popping them into his mouth must have tasted intense. He wasnt just the leader of the group but also kind of like a father figure to the others. When I learned about Tristan and Severin's childhood with their many foster fathers and not all of them loving, it broke my heart. I came to understand how Severin became the way he is now and I loved that he chose to name his foster fathers after the seven deadly sins. I gave this alot of thought and I came up with the idea that they had real names but he called them by the names of the sins because that is how he chooses to remember them. Typical Severin move! From all the characters in the book he was the most driven and torn. To not only lose his parents in a tragic accident but to lose his legacy and be shunned by his family, the people who loved and took care of him since he was born, that wounded him so deeply and it would drive anyone to see vengeance and retribution. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next book but I have a strong feeling he is going to go dark.
”Séverin closed his eyes. It wasn’t about enough. Tristan would never understand. He had never felt the pulse of an entirely different future, only to see it ripped from his grasp and smothered in front of him. He didn’t understand that sometimes the only way to take down what had destroyed you was to disguise yourself as part of it.”
”Memories unsettled him. He hated the thought that he might have missed something, and he didn’t want time warping how he remembered things because he didn’t trust himself to remember without bias. And he needed to. Because only then, only with absolute impartiality, could he detect where he had gone wrong.”
Laila, L'Enigme-
”She hated seeing someone hold an empty plate and always thought everyone was hungry. She knew everyone’s secrets even without having to read their objects. At the Palais des Rêves, she turned that radiance into an allure that earned her star billing and the name, L’Énigme. The Mystery.”
Laila was such a intriguing character! She's a Indian women with the ability to read a objects history and has a maternal nature. She cares about everyone and treats the rest of the crew like her children. She bakes for them and listens to their troubles but when night falls she becomes L'Enigme and dazzles the crowd at Palais des Rêves! She is definitely a temptress who knows how ensnare her victims to get what she needs but her tempting seems to effect Severin more then anyone. Just like the other characters she has a darkness lurking in her past and I was so surprised to learn what it was. From what I understand she was a stillborn and was forged into living with the help of a cygnet and jungle cat fur? It explains why her hair is fur like and her eyes are black. The catch though is that beings who are forged like that dont live longer then 19 years old. That's the main reason why she stays away from Severin and desperately wants a cure. By the end of the book though I dont know if her and Severin will be able to recover the love they had for one another. I really hope so!
”She didn’t want to glide through life, unfeeling. She wanted to know everything while she could. She didn’t want the ghosts of thresholds not crossed hanging over her. She didn’t want one night. She wanted a chance.”
“Her mother's voice rang in her ears: 'Don't capture their hearts. Steal their imagination. It's far more useful.”
Enrique, The Historian-
”When he realized he didn’t have the talent, he chose to study the subjects that felt closest to Forging: history and language. He could still change the world… maybe not with something as dramatic or grand as Forging, but in more intimate ways. Writing. Speaking. Human connection.”
I admired his character so much! He is a bisexual Spanish-Filipino man with a love for history. I loved that mixture! He wasnt to good at socializing but he had a great sense of humor and a brilliant mind. Unlike the others, he didnt have a forging ability but he makes up for it with his resourcefulness and wit. The one thing I loved was seeing him struggling with not only his racial identity but his sexual identity as well. He struggled with trying to fit in to both sides of his heritage but would always feel like a outsider. I would have loved to learn more about him but hopefully in the second book I will. I do want to know what happens to him, Hypnos and Zofia because leaving us in the dark at the end not cool!
”There were Forged dragons out of myths from the Orient, Sirenas with heavy-lidded eyes, bhuts with backwards feet. And though they were not all his tales, he saw himself in them: pushed to the corners of the dark. He was just like them. As solid as smoke and just as powerless.”
”Nothing but a symbol?” repeated Enrique quietly. “People die for symbols. People have hope because of symbols. They’re not just lines. They’re histories, cultures, traditions, given shape.”
Zofia, The Phoenix-
”A month later, ten students locked themselves in the lab with her. Again came the sounds, smells, laughing. The other students didn’t grab her. They knew the barest touch – like a feather trailed down skin – hurt her more. Calm slipped out of reach no matter how many times she counted backward, or begged to be let go, or asked what she had done wrong.”
Zofia is so precious to me! She is a socially awkward Jewish- Polish woman who loves math and gets completely absorbed into her work. It is implied that she has some type of autism and gets very nervous in social situations and has her little quirks that help her cope. I despised the students that mobbed her at university and used her insecurities and her aversion to touch to torment and abuse her. Enrique and her made such a great team and played off of each other perfectly. I do wonder what happened to her after Tristan's death and how it effected her. I felt so bad for her after she saw Hypnos and Enrique kiss, she was just starting to come out of her shell and now she is withdrawing herself again. I dont want her to be alone!
”What it could do did not seem within human grasp, but that was the thing about numbers. They weren’t like people, who could say one thing and do another. They weren’t like riddles of social mannerisms or conversations. Numbers never lied.”
”She was reminded of all that she could not detect. All that she could not do. She could storm into a room, but she could not command its attention through charm. She could face herself in the mirror, but she could not spark imaginations with her face. Zofia stepped back. She should stay in the world she knew. And not reach for one she did not.”
Tristan, The Botanist-
”His love and his fear and his own cracked mind made it easy to convince him that betraying you was saving you.”
Tristan was such a surprise! He was the youngest of this motley crew with a love for his pet tarantula Goliath. He loved building little terrariums before he would make them a real thing. Even though he shared a painful childhood with Severin it seemed like he got out of it unscathed. Boy was I proven wrong. I was troubled by the words that Joux-Roubert said but I never thought Tristan would do something as cruel as this. The birds that disappeared from the garden I knew something was wrong with that! Tristan no !!! I would love to find out why he did that hopefully in the second book we will. I should have known that not getting his POV was a red flag that something bad was going to happen. He didn't deserve to die that way!
”What? I’m hungry. What about you, Tristan? What do you want?”
“This,” Tristan said quietly. “Just this.”
Hypnos, The Patriarch-
”He knew the other boy’s skin, a deep umber like the rain-soaked bark of an oak tree. He knew the textured hair cropped close to his head. Even knew his strangely colored eyes, a blue so pale they looked like panes of frost.”
At first Hypnos wasnt a part of them but I adored him so much! I loved his flair and his dramatic attitude but he had a source of innocence about him. Hopefully in the next book we got his POV and we get to see more from him. I loved his need to want to fit in with the crew and it seemed to me like all he wants is to have friends and people to treat him like a normal person. That he is unapologetically into men and doesn't hide it or apologize for it makes him that more of a interesting character. I really need more of him!
”What’s going on here” – said Hypnos, his voice rising as a bizarre grin spread across his face, - “is that you care for me. We’re all friends. We’re friends going to save another friend! This is… this is amazing!”
”I had to choose, and perhaps the Order forced my hand in this. But what no one tells you is that even when you decide which world you will live in, the world may not always see you as you would wish. Sometimes it demands that you be so outrageous as to transcend your very skin. You can change your name. Your eye color. Make yourself a myth and live within it, so that you belong to no one but yourself.”
The Setting-
I loved the world! The beauty of Paris, from the streets at night to the wonder of the Effiel Tower was simply breathtaking. Having the catacombs beneath Paris be the setting of a battle was a perfect choice and it was such a unsettling feeling to know the bones of the innocent were being used to destroy the world. This world was so beautiful and I loved exploring it all! I hope the same beauty will be in the second book!
The Writing/Plot-
The writing was very engaging and action packed. There definitely wasnt a dull moment. The differing Povs was a good choice because we get a sense of what's happening during a certain situation that can connect to another. I loved the mystery and the riddles and puzzles added just the right touch to the experience. I need to know more about this Fallen House and what they are going to do now that they have risen again.
The Romance-
The romance was so so good! Laila and Severin had such a strong bond but they both felt like they couldn't act on it because of different reasons. They had a magical moment one time but promised to never have a moment like that ever again. It is very obvious they both care deeply about each other and want to be with each other but they both can't. I really hope that they can pursue that relationship in the second one but I dont know! What Severin said was such a horrible thing to say to someone regardless if your grieving or not! Enrique, Zofia and Hypnos there relationship and friendship was so cool. I was heartbroken in the end when Zofia saw the kiss between them but I hope that doesn't change anything between them.
Conclusion-
The Gilded Wolves was everything that I needed and craved in a book! I loved watching this story unfold and can not wait to read the second one! I can not reccomend this book enough!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Ableism and Blood
Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia
thecourtofreading's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
"you can change your name, your eye colour. make yourself a myth and live within it, so that you belong to no one but yourself."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Racism and Ableism
Minor: Bullying, Biphobia, Animal cruelty, and Homophobia
diifacto's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Racism