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friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The vibes. I loved reading it and wanted to come back every time. It isnt 5/5 just because I didnt understand where we were in the space sometimes and I did not understand their age. When I started the book i thout that they were adults but they're like 18. Overall love love highly reccomand will definitly be continuing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Antisemitism, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Racism, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, and Xenophobia
Minor: Self harm and Suicide
quillify_'s review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
Everything in this book is designed to appeal to a Western audience, make it easy for their comprehension: the barest exploration and impact of colonialism, easy to pronounce names, cookie cutter characters that fit your favorite tropes, a romance built purely on sexual attraction that an allosexual audience can consume without much critical thinking. And most of all, erasure of a significant chunk of history.
In Ms. Chokshi's own hypocritical words: "When we revise the horror and sanitize the grotesque, we risk erasing the paths that led us here."
No offence, but that is what this community does every day by promoting and recommending this book.
In Ms. Chokshi's own hypocritical words: "When we revise the horror and sanitize the grotesque, we risk erasing the paths that led us here."
No offence, but that is what this community does every day by promoting and recommending this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Misogyny, Colonisation, Classism, Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual content
alexiab's review
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
HELP I AM A PUDDLE I AM GONE I AM DECEASED 😭😭
Oh my GOD what an excellent start to a trilogy. The characters are incredible and I love all of them with my whole heart, the plot is interesting and twisty and gOT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT?! the magical world is unique but easy enough to follow, the drama, the humour, all of it is WONDERFUL.
And that ending?! Ripping my heart out more than once, flipping the whole story on its head while also setting up a killer plot for the sequel??
BE STILL MY HEART IM DESPERATELY IN LOVE.
Oh my GOD what an excellent start to a trilogy. The characters are incredible and I love all of them with my whole heart, the plot is interesting and twisty and gOT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT?! the magical world is unique but easy enough to follow, the drama, the humour, all of it is WONDERFUL.
And that ending?! Ripping my heart out more than once, flipping the whole story on its head while also setting up a killer plot for the sequel??
BE STILL MY HEART IM DESPERATELY IN LOVE.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Self harm and Torture
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? No
5.0
5 ⭐ CW: violence, descriptions of blood, pet tarantula, child abuse, slavery mention, human zoo mention, death of parents, antisemitism mention, subtle racism
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is book one of the Gilded Wolves trilogy. This is the second Chokshi book I've read this year, and I loved it! I flew through the story and now I wish I had the next book!
We get different POVs from each of our characters: Séverin, our ring leader and hotelier trying to get his inheritance back; Tristan , his brother in all but blood who owns a pet tarantula (why did no one warn me about this?!) And loves gardening; Enrique, the historian who is trying to find his place in the world when he fits nowhere; Zofia, the Jewish, neurodivergent engineer with a debt to pay; Laila, a performer with a secret and a quest; and Hypnos, the Patriarch of House Nyx (although we don't get his pov until the end).
This was such a fun read! It's like if Six of Crows met Indiana Jones/antiques roadshow. The story is set in the Beautiful Era in Paris where opulence, science, and industry are flourishing. Chokshi gives us such an illustrious setting, but doesn't shy away from the horror that was also present at this time due to racism and colonialism. We get a heist and found family trope. All each of these characters want is to belong, to have a family, for them to all be together.
I loved all of the character moments we get throughout the book. I love all of the small, but loving things they do for each other. Like Laila makes sure she is always clear with her instructions to Zofia and brings her favorite cookies. Séverin is our broody, handsome guy that keeps pushing his feelings down about Laila (serious Kanej vibes). Hypnos is my favorite! He's charming, annoying, and chaotically bisexual. I love how flamboyant he is. I really need for Hypnos, Enrique, and Zofia to be poly.
So. Many. Mixed. Race. Characters! Both Séverin and Hypnos are the sons of enslaved women and French noblemen, and this plays a role in how they are treated in society. Enrique is Filipino and Spanish, but his features appear more Spanish and so he suffers from not feeling Filipino enough and we see this reinforced when he is brushed off by the Illustrados. I also didn't realize that Chokshi herself is mixed race, being Indian and Filipino. I think this is also the first book I've read that had Tagalog in it.
Now I need to get my hands on book two! This definitely a new favorite for sure.
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is book one of the Gilded Wolves trilogy. This is the second Chokshi book I've read this year, and I loved it! I flew through the story and now I wish I had the next book!
We get different POVs from each of our characters: Séverin, our ring leader and hotelier trying to get his inheritance back; Tristan , his brother in all but blood who owns a pet tarantula (why did no one warn me about this?!) And loves gardening; Enrique, the historian who is trying to find his place in the world when he fits nowhere; Zofia, the Jewish, neurodivergent engineer with a debt to pay; Laila, a performer with a secret and a quest; and Hypnos, the Patriarch of House Nyx (although we don't get his pov until the end).
This was such a fun read! It's like if Six of Crows met Indiana Jones/antiques roadshow. The story is set in the Beautiful Era in Paris where opulence, science, and industry are flourishing. Chokshi gives us such an illustrious setting, but doesn't shy away from the horror that was also present at this time due to racism and colonialism. We get a heist and found family trope. All each of these characters want is to belong, to have a family, for them to all be together.
I loved all of the character moments we get throughout the book. I love all of the small, but loving things they do for each other. Like Laila makes sure she is always clear with her instructions to Zofia and brings her favorite cookies. Séverin is our broody, handsome guy that keeps pushing his feelings down about Laila (serious Kanej vibes). Hypnos is my favorite! He's charming, annoying, and chaotically bisexual. I love how flamboyant he is. I really need for Hypnos, Enrique, and Zofia to be poly.
So. Many. Mixed. Race. Characters! Both Séverin and Hypnos are the sons of enslaved women and French noblemen, and this plays a role in how they are treated in society. Enrique is Filipino and Spanish, but his features appear more Spanish and so he suffers from not feeling Filipino enough and we see this reinforced when he is brushed off by the Illustrados. I also didn't realize that Chokshi herself is mixed race, being Indian and Filipino. I think this is also the first book I've read that had Tagalog in it.
Now I need to get my hands on book two! This definitely a new favorite for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Self harm
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Antisemitism
karambit's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Murder, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Biphobia
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
micheala's review
4.75
This is the type of heist novel that I really enjoy. I love when the team is already friends when it starts. We do also have the aspect of the outsider/new to the team with Hypnos, but the other five have already been working together for a while and have formed bonds.
I will say that out of the six main characters, I just didn't really like Enrique all that much. He did grow on me (again) in the last third of the book, however he just wasn't a character that I vibes with. On the other hand, Zofia was probably my favourite character. I loved seeing how she interacted with the different situations and I'm hoping to see more of her POVs in the second book.
Overall I still really enjoyed this book and I'm excited to continue with the trilogy.
I will say that out of the six main characters, I just didn't really like Enrique all that much. He did grow on me (again) in the last third of the book, however he just wasn't a character that I vibes with. On the other hand, Zofia was probably my favourite character. I loved seeing how she interacted with the different situations and I'm hoping to see more of her POVs in the second book.
Overall I still really enjoyed this book and I'm excited to continue with the trilogy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Racism, Torture, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Self harm
Minor: Slavery
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