A review by columnclub
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.

Putting this aside for now. I might come back to it at some point but not sure it's for me. I loved the beginning and absolutely adored the discussions of colonialism, but started to lose interest when more and more POV characters were introduced. We're told the dynamics between these characters, particularly Severin and Laila, in quite heavy detail early on rather than being given a chance to see them play out.

I know other readers really liked Zofia and the representation of what's strongly coded as autism, but for me, I was really uncomfortable with how it's described -- it felt quite gimmicky and OTT (almost like if Sheldon Cooper was someone's whole idea of what the autism spectrum is). Early on, someone uses the phrase "kill time" and Zofia gives a very overly literal response; Enrique is totally opaque in misunderstanding her to the extent that it feels unrealistic and just there to show the incorrect assumptions people make, etc. I don't know if the author is neurodivergent or on the autistic spectrum herself, but to me it felt an awful lot like an attempt at representation that went too far and ended up stereotyping.

I can see why other readers would love this -- the heist concept is fun, but I stopped connecting with the narrative, unfortunately.