Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Gilded Wolves

I usually don't like comparing books to other books because most times they can't live up to the expectations.
This book however reminded me so much of some of my favourite books:

It has:
- a found family that reminded me a lot of Six of Crows (especially Kaz & Séverin!)
- a magical Order reminding me a lot of the Shadowhunters
- tattooed vows that reminded me of ACOTAR
- great unique gifts that reminded me of Raybearer

and somehow while reminding me of so many other books and series this book managed to stay unique.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I can't wait for the sequel. The only reason I'm not quite giving it 5 stars is the ending & Séverins behaviour in the end.. Careful: BIG SPOILERS AHEAD!

I get that he is hurt and grieving but what he said to Laila is in my opinion pretty unforgivable.. He knew how insecure she was about that and still he said it and didn't even apologise.. so so shitty!! The are both hurt but she did they right thing and overcame her fears while he was just an asshole.
I generally really liked Séverin throughout the book but this just didn't stick right with me..

Also what happened to Tristan was so unexpected and super sad. I usually get emotional very easily while reading but I didn't cry this time. I was sad but not THAT sad. That is also one of the reasons I decided to not give the book 5 stars. It didn't manage to ruin me..

I guess I did like the characters but I wasn't really attached to any of them. I do like though that the other is not afraid of killing of her main characters.

Also I really liked Laila and I think her POV was also always the most interesting to me. I really hope she will stay kind even after what happened because in one of the last chapters we get to see the new her and I have to say I don't like it. She carries her hurt around like a blade and that is so unlike her.

What I probably enjoyed most about this book was the scenery. Paris 1889 but with magic and secret societies.
I still have a lot of questions about the magic system and general world building but I hope that will all be clearer to me when I read the sequels.

I also really enjoyed the Authors Note at the end. What the author said about the Exposition Universelle and "La Belle Epoque" was really interesting. I like that she said you cannot just take the good and ignore the bad and I think you can definitely see that in the book as well. It has the glamour but also the seriousness which you already know I love in my books :)

Content Warnings

onamoonbeam's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

hghhh.. characters
this is the first all words book i have read on paper in. years?? so like. what a time. i also have a bad habit to skip over words and read too fast so i may have missed a few details. but
i did not really understand what was going on with the puzzles but i love zofia's and enrique's dynamic and also both of them individually. i guess my main gripe here is that

Tristan just had such major death flags around him the whole time like he never seemed like a main member of the group, just someone who Severin cared about enough to spur character development. i really liked his biologist role tho. wish we got to see more of him

me when the. sequence is fibonaccing!!!!
the italicized bits of severin's previous fathers at the beginnings of chapters were very good
and what a cliffhanger! i feel like we've only seen a bit of this world so far and i want to see more holy shit

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alexiab's review against another edition

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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.

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karambit's review against another edition

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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

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bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed the book! It is not the best oneI have ever read but it has a potential to be one of my favourite series. Even though it did have some similarities with Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, it still had a different vibe to me (less dark, more adventurous and more fast-paced writing style than in SoC).

Let´s start with the things I loved - characters! I enjoyed all POVs and cared about all of them. My favourite one was Zofia as I loved her mathematical and only fact-based way of thinking. Laila was a sweetheart and I loved her! Enrique was smart and funny at the same time which I love about characters. Séverin was my favourite too until the end of the book. So I don´t know what to think about him anymore. Another aspect of the book I liked were all these riddles and puzzles and random facts. That is what made the story interesting and fast-paced. Also the magic system using forging was so fascinating!

But what ruined my excitement from the story was THE ENDING!!! Like why?

Tristan´s death was not suprising really and I liked him the least but why did we need to know that he was a psycho killing birds after he died? It completely ruined the character, the vibe of the book and it was such an unnecessary information we could live without. Also, I hate "the love triangle" between Zofia, Enrique and Hypnos (it was unnecessary too and felt really forced). And Séverin being the biggest asshole was a cherry on top and Laila does not deserve to be treated like that!

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book, really liked it and even though it had its flaws, I still want to read the other books in this series becase it was very enjoyable read! :)

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childoflight's review against another edition

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4.5

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i liked it. i just felt like the book lacked that extra step of vibrancy that really brings books to life. i felt as if something important- some greater substance was necessary for me to truly love this book

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lilifane's review against another edition

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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.

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