Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

6 reviews

hobbithopeful's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

If you like Six of Crows you're going to love this book! My deepest regret in life will be not reading this sooner.
A historical fantasy set in an alternate history in France The Gilded Wolves follows a found family of lovable and diverse characters. Their primary goal is to help Séverin regain his place as a Patriarch, a title stolen from him when he was younger, and a way to guarantee everyone gets what they most deeply desire. Along the way they plot, heist, and use magically forged objects to achieve their goals.  This story follows 6 different characters, all unique with their own backgrounds and complex personalities. It is a testament to the writing talents of Roshani Chokshi that the narrative was easy to follow. I never felt confused or lost, or had the urge to construct a string map to keep track of the plot.
I adored the magic system in this book! All the imagery and inventions were so intricate and beautiful, I felt like I could see all the descriptions around me. It was so cool watching the characters figure out the puzzles, I liked how there were illustrations on the pages so the reader could also try to solve them as well. (Not me though, it is over my head!) I really liked Zofia, it is so great to read books with autism representation. I saw a few reviews not liking how she was written, but I thought it was very accurate. (Especially how sensory adverse she is!) I think it is important to remember there is no right way to be "autistic" and everyone has such a wildly different experience it's impossible to compare.

 Favorite Moments: Hypnos being extra, Laila laying a cookie trail, all the clues and puzzles, and Séverin's parental figures depicted as the 7 sins
Least Favorite: The ending *ugly cries*
 
This book follows strong themes of colonialism, racism, and trying to find your place in a world that only sees you by your race. I highly recommend it, and can't wait till the next book comes in from the library so I can find out what happens next! (Oh yeah, it ends on a bit of a big reveal/cliffhanger, fair warning)




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judesbxtch's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

how do i even start..to say it simply, it’s a masterpiece! this is one of the most talented authors i’ve ever seen..her skill and intelligence is so evident in the pages that you can’t help but admire..the characters are their own entities and work well alone and together..super cool plot..i’ve got to say for me, personally, it was kinda slow at times because there are a lot of descriptions but it’s so beautifully described that you feel you are part of that world completely
anyway to conclude, HIGHLY RECOMMEND 4.75⭐️

-found family
-heist 
-angsty romance 

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nannahnannah's review

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2.0

Oof, I hate giving super diverse books (especially by authors of color) lackluster ratings, but this book just didn’t do anything for me.

The Gilded Wolves is a heist story much like (and I can’t help but compare it to) Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows. The difference being that The Gilded Wolves seems to be made up of several smaller heists (and then suddenly the climax is there and you don’t notice it because it seems exactly like the smaller heists! But more on this later). Otherwise this book has what makes the duology enjoyable: a diverse cast of somewhat eclectic characters, dialogue made up of a lot of bickering, and people bound together by a plethora of bonds, debts, and other things that force them to work together.

So that sounds pretty great, right? What makes it sound better is the setting: 1889 Paris, with elements of steampunk (-ish) and science fiction. The book’s Kaz figure, Séverin, was cast out of the super powerful Order of Babel, which basically runs the world in this parallel history. What I believe is that people tried to actually build the Tower of Babel. When the tower fell, the fragments that lie buried in the earth now are all-powerful. The people in the Order of Babel are patriarchs that have some sort of magical bloodline that’s Holy and link back to the fragments (which some believe can “awaken” the fragments true power and let them play God). Sound a little confusing? I felt like I was one step behind the Entire Book. Even now I still don’t understand how any of this works.

Anyway, Séverin is from one of these bloodlines, and during the official “tests” to inherit his patriarchal status, he got tricked and received a false negative. Since then, he’s been vowing his revenge -- and to get another test, of course. So here’s our big heist: get some thing for another patriarch so that patriarch can blackmail another patriarch so Séverin can get another test. And to do all this, he needs his band of friends.

So that’s the exposition. Sounds like a wild ride; however, the book’s execution really fell flat. The characters that seemed like they would shine became one-note and their diversity seemed to be there just to tick a box -- many of their facets were mentioned only once or twice, and had nothing to do with their lives or personality other than these mentions.

I think the biggest example of this is Zofia, the Polish, Jewish, and autistic character. I love her, even though she annoys me the most. I’m sorry, girl. Zofia being Jewish is mentioned maybe one or two times in the book. And they’re just that: mentions (“Oh yeah, Zofia is Jewish”; “I’m Jewish, so Christmas is weird”). It’s possibly the most random and unnecessary thing, and it’s probably only there to make the book more “diverse” without any work on the author’s part. Aka, the worst way to try to make something more diverse. I know some people like to have characters whose diversity isn’t like … “a huge thing” all the time in books or other media but like … something mentioned once or twice isn’t diversity. It’s just lazy.

Speaking of Zofia, though, I have to mention the autistic representation. Both me (autistic) and my (autistic) friend agreed this is probably a good standard of how not to write an autistic character. Zofia is an extremely annoying stereotype of an autistic person who exhibits typically male traits (and yes, I understand not all autistic men have these and that many women also have these, but e.g. being extremely good at math or science, has absolutely NO idea how to behave in social situations, and similarly, having no idea what jokes or sarcasm are, being awkward in general, and hyperfocusing on interests - in this case it’s engineering [an interest to do with science, which goes along with her talent]). And in Zofia’s case, she has all of these traits to the extreme, as if all these features are switches to turn off or on instead of a sliding scale.

I guess I just want to say there’s more to us autistic people than these above characteristics (usually shown by men). We really are faceted people, and if you’re writing an autistic girl, just take a second to look up autistic traits unique to girls (usually, of course). I say this because I’ve never ever seen autistic girls presenting characteristics in media other than the ones mentioned above. Ever. And this is what prevents us women from being diagnosed until maybe later in life, when we’re wondering why things are/have been so difficult for us.

Okay, but enough about that. About the book as a whole:
It’s written in multiple PoVs, exploring all of the main characters’ points of view, and even one of the villains-turned lovable enemy (- Hypnos - who’s probably now one of my favorites). The only problem is that Roshani Chokshi wrote everyone’s PoV with the same exact voice and just different words. The thing about PoVs is that they explore entirely different minds - they shouldn’t sound the same! But if I read a passage and ignore names/personal information I couldn’t be able to tell who’s narrating.

Not everything is bad, though! I LOVED that there were little add-ins about colonialism and how it affected native people’s homes, etc., because there is so very little discussion about that in YA -- actually little to none in any young adult media, to be honest -- where the villains are (mostly) white and rich “colonizers” (not a slur, btw!). But then the book failed to really delve into that further, so I’m hoping it will in the next installments, and that this was a setup for it. Because having a biracial lead dreaming of revenge and getting his seat as a horrible patriarch himself isn’t a very fulfilling protagonist goal … I often didn’t feel like cheering him on, lmao! The MC isn’t very likable, and him becoming one of those evil patriarchs would make him worse! He claimed to say he’d be different, so I can see this being a struggle for him later. It’s a very mature plotline, one I wished was larger in the scope of things!

There was, however, a mention of something called the “Esplanade des Invalides”. Something that’s a larger attraction than the Eiffel Tower. In the book, according to newspapers, it contained a “N*gro village with almost 400 Africans in their natural habitat”. It’s mentioned maybe one other time, and is never expanded on again. I understand the author wanted to mention how different this parallel world is from ours, but if she’s not going to explore this or do something about it, just mentioning this horror for the sake of … I don’t know, shock value or something is kind of disgusting. It made me want to stop reading.

Things also seemed to resolve and happen too easily, just to keep the plot going. Each heist seemed too easy (even when things got difficult!). It just all seemed too planned, too rehearsed, like a play done too many times before its opening. Maybe it’s just me. Or maybe it’s like … in those action movies where they have one sexy woman among a bunch of men, and because she’s the only woman she just HAS to be super strong and amazing and perfect at what she does, right? Well that’s not the rep we want; we still want women to be women, and to struggle and to find things difficult, etc. I think that’s what I wanted from each character at their designated “thing”.

Laila was perfect at baking and dancing and being her “public figure”. She’s never failed at any of this - it’s only outside events that throw a wrench into things. Same with Zofia. When things go wrong, it’s “unexplainable” or due to outside events. Etc., etc., etc. I know they’re experts in their respective fields but it’s still kind of exhausting to see these six perfect people never really doing wrong! Enrique’s maybe the exception to this, and probably why I like him the most.

I also felt a step behind everything because some events were told in inner monologue, like “Séverin remembered when Tristan interrogated the man”, etc. He what now? When? Is this important? And it happened over and over in the book. I felt like things weren’t properly explained. The magic system, for example. What, exactly, are the Babel fragments, and how do they work? The characters all seem to know, but they never share it with me. There’s lots of details that pass me by and that just seem important but are lost on me because I feel like since the author knows her world so well, she doesn’t remember to explain it.

I’ll stop here. I’m not sure I understand all the rave reviews, when I wanted to stop reading in So Many Times. Toward the ending (--and that climax was a little wimpy, I think we all can agree it wasn’t a climax) the action picked up, but only to peter out. I hope the next books get better, but I don’t think I’ll read them. There are a lot of people here who love this world and these characters who can appreciate them a lot more than I will.

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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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. 

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alouette's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

another complex book that it's hard to sort out my feelings for. time for a pros and cons list!

pros
  • the diversity!! most of the main cast was bipoc, some were also queer, and zofia (my beloved) was on the autism spectrum. that last one was really awesome to see because rarely have i come across books about characters with ASD in which their mental disability isn't the main focus but rather just a part of their character. loved it.
  • banter and character dynamics! their interactions were fun with also plenty of complexities and depth, and i was rooting for them the whole way.
  • the whimsy and the magic system! while it was confusing, it was also intriguing. the puzzles they solved + the magical inventions they used were fun to follow in each individual instance, and i liked the illustrations as they made new discoveries. it helped me visualize what was happening and get more immersed.

cons
  • confusing worldbuilding. the intertwining of actual history with heavy fantasy elements was interesting, but we were thrown into it with little preamble and even the baseline of the main plot got hard to follow at times. the flowery writing was lovely for my imagination but did not help when trying to understand what was actually going on.
  • a lack of character development. now, i don't mean that the characters weren't plenty rounded, just that they weren't dynamic. everything about them was pre-established (again, we're thrown right into this world abruptly) and they've all known each other for years. while this made for some fun dynamics, it meant that i sensed little change in any of them by the end.
  • the villian...
    he really came out of nowhere and i didn't even understand what the heck his magical blood powers were. when they talked about the stealing of House Kore's ring being an inside job i was expecting some betrayals, not this weirdo...
  • the ending... quite rushed and disappointing.
    tristan deserved so much better in terms of character development and time devoted to him, and then it felt like what happened to him was absolutely brushed past, both the trauma he suffered and then his actual demise. still don't know what the heck was up with the birds, the reveal that he was killing them was super rushed and not explored.

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micheala's review

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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.




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