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A review by girlgetsbook
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
adventurous
dark
informative
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
3.5
It took me a while to read this book, because even though the premise is amazing and well executed, I think the pacing and the writing were a bit off and I struggled to find my way to the book again, even though it absolutely got my attention once I picked it up.
I loved the idea behind this book, I had no idea it was going to tackle these kind of issues and was pleasantly surprised by that. I love when the fantasy element of a book serves as a tool to further enhance the themes the author wants to portray, and it's done beautifully and tragically here with the Order representing the hold Europe has on other continents it invaded and the magical artifacts being symbols of pieces of culture, history and lives stolen from said places, and the representation of the real-life racism, xenophobia and exploration that people of color suffered at the time, especially, as the author mentioned represented by the gross Exhibition that is the scenary for a big part of the plot, that is inspired by events that actually happened.
The magic system was very ingenious, a mix of mythology, religion and science and the worldbuilding was incredible even if it took a while to be fully explained which dragged the pacing a little bit. I think the action scenes and the heists should've been planned out better because a lot of it was told and not shown and some things came super easily to the characters and some aspects of the mission were never fully explored to create a better rhythm to the action.
I love that most characters were BIPOC and I loved the discussion around the biracial characters and the angst some of them feel for being a mixture between invader and invaded, I relate to that as a white latina myself. In this aspect the characters really stood on their own, their history, their struggles and how this systemically racist and unfair society impacted their lives and their goals for the future, it was all really important and full of impact to read about. The characters were amazing and their representation well done but I think the problem for me was when they came together, especially during the action. Some of them, really had their places and were able to shine during key moments, like Zophia and Enrique. I LOVED Zophia and I loved the neurodivergent representation, I absolutely relate to her struggles fitting in and one scene in particular hurt me personally because of how real it was, besides that she was brilliant and basically did most of the work, I want her to be happy forever. Enrique also shines amongst the others, I feel like more than anyone else we get to understand who he is, where he's been, his stregnths and weaknesses, for me he was the main character of this book, and I'm not complaining, I love my queer historian to pieces. Now to the others: Séverin was the leader, yes, but sometimes I felt something was missing, it didn't feel like there were any stakes for him when it came to his goals until much later in the story, he had his revenge plot but nothing felt precisely urgent, driving him to his goal at that precise time (what I meant to say was that he was successful and financially stable enough to continue not having what he wanted for a long time, maybe if something financial drove him, his plot would be more engaging to follow). Aside from Séverin, there was Laila, I loved her, and like I said she stands on her own, to the point where I would read a book about her adventures chasing what she wants and her haunting background and interesting magic, however I felt like the author herself didn't know her, when it came to interacting with other characters she felt like a caregiver most of the time, never really living for herself, and during the action it never felt like she was in synch with the rest of the characters, like the author just used her because she needed someone to do something, she has amazing powers but it was mostly used before the action. Tristan and Hypnos were very much supporting characters in this book so I don't have a lot to say about them, except that I like Hypnos and am confused by Tristan, nothing was really well explained about him.
When it came to the characters' dynamics I also felt like they were a bit weird, and after thinking about it I came to the conclusion that it just feels like they already know each other for too long, there isn't for most of the time any conflict of interest or anything for them to discover about one another that is important for the plot, I feel like their relationships are book three level and we didn't see most of the developments between them. The ones that do have conflict are exactly the ones I'm the most invested in, like Séverin and Hypnos and Enrique and Zophia, all these characters feel like they have something to learn from one another and that makes for more interesting dynamics, aside from them, though I appreciate the warmth that surrounds the group, it just didn't feel earned enough, with one character in particular retreating to a worse version of himself by the end of the book.
Because of how everything happened off-page I also struggled to root for Séverin and Laila, it felt like they already had resolved this a long time ago but somehow they still acted like hormonal teenagers around each other, it felt like they were only physically attracted to each other because the author wanted to create that tension every time, which gave less space for me to believe in their partnership as thieves and even as friends really.
The love triangle was unnecessary, I think the author had the idea for the first relationship and as she wrote the book realized the chemistry of the other couple but decided to maintain both anyway, I don't want to see any of them suffer.
The villain paled in comparison to the actual threat of the systems surrounding the country and the systemically racist and invader institutions running the country, it felt very villain of the week and not an actual problem to be faced, the villain was very mustache-twirling to my liking.
Overall this was an okay book with an interesting worldbuilding and premise but that lacked a bit in terms of plotting and pacing. I will continue reading the series and maybe my opinion will change.
About the end
what the fuck was that? I'm not even talking about Tristan's death, it was kind of obvious he was going to either die or be used somehow by the Fallen House again, what I don't get is the bird scene? What does that prove or represent? Why was it just thrown in there when he isn't even alive to defend himself (which makes me think he might come back again but evil maybe? Which is worse than death honestly, but I'm thinking he might be the true heir for the house so yeah maybe he will be back). Séverin was gross, I understand pushing someone away but then being offensive while at it? He just was mean for no reason, really hard to ship this couple rn.
I loved the idea behind this book, I had no idea it was going to tackle these kind of issues and was pleasantly surprised by that. I love when the fantasy element of a book serves as a tool to further enhance the themes the author wants to portray, and it's done beautifully and tragically here with the Order representing the hold Europe has on other continents it invaded and the magical artifacts being symbols of pieces of culture, history and lives stolen from said places, and the representation of the real-life racism, xenophobia and exploration that people of color suffered at the time, especially, as the author mentioned represented by the gross Exhibition that is the scenary for a big part of the plot, that is inspired by events that actually happened.
The magic system was very ingenious, a mix of mythology, religion and science and the worldbuilding was incredible even if it took a while to be fully explained which dragged the pacing a little bit. I think the action scenes and the heists should've been planned out better because a lot of it was told and not shown and some things came super easily to the characters and some aspects of the mission were never fully explored to create a better rhythm to the action.
I love that most characters were BIPOC and I loved the discussion around the biracial characters and the angst some of them feel for being a mixture between invader and invaded, I relate to that as a white latina myself. In this aspect the characters really stood on their own, their history, their struggles and how this systemically racist and unfair society impacted their lives and their goals for the future, it was all really important and full of impact to read about. The characters were amazing and their representation well done but I think the problem for me was when they came together, especially during the action. Some of them, really had their places and were able to shine during key moments, like Zophia and Enrique. I LOVED Zophia and I loved the neurodivergent representation, I absolutely relate to her struggles fitting in and one scene in particular hurt me personally because of how real it was, besides that she was brilliant and basically did most of the work, I want her to be happy forever. Enrique also shines amongst the others, I feel like more than anyone else we get to understand who he is, where he's been, his stregnths and weaknesses, for me he was the main character of this book, and I'm not complaining, I love my queer historian to pieces. Now to the others: Séverin was the leader, yes, but sometimes I felt something was missing, it didn't feel like there were any stakes for him when it came to his goals until much later in the story, he had his revenge plot but nothing felt precisely urgent, driving him to his goal at that precise time (what I meant to say was that he was successful and financially stable enough to continue not having what he wanted for a long time, maybe if something financial drove him, his plot would be more engaging to follow). Aside from Séverin, there was Laila, I loved her, and like I said she stands on her own, to the point where I would read a book about her adventures chasing what she wants and her haunting background and interesting magic, however I felt like the author herself didn't know her, when it came to interacting with other characters she felt like a caregiver most of the time, never really living for herself, and during the action it never felt like she was in synch with the rest of the characters, like the author just used her because she needed someone to do something, she has amazing powers but it was mostly used before the action. Tristan and Hypnos were very much supporting characters in this book so I don't have a lot to say about them, except that I like Hypnos and am confused by Tristan, nothing was really well explained about him.
When it came to the characters' dynamics I also felt like they were a bit weird, and after thinking about it I came to the conclusion that it just feels like they already know each other for too long, there isn't for most of the time any conflict of interest or anything for them to discover about one another that is important for the plot, I feel like their relationships are book three level and we didn't see most of the developments between them. The ones that do have conflict are exactly the ones I'm the most invested in, like Séverin and Hypnos and Enrique and Zophia, all these characters feel like they have something to learn from one another and that makes for more interesting dynamics, aside from them, though I appreciate the warmth that surrounds the group, it just didn't feel earned enough, with one character in particular retreating to a worse version of himself by the end of the book.
Because of how everything happened off-page I also struggled to root for Séverin and Laila, it felt like they already had resolved this a long time ago but somehow they still acted like hormonal teenagers around each other, it felt like they were only physically attracted to each other because the author wanted to create that tension every time, which gave less space for me to believe in their partnership as thieves and even as friends really.
The love triangle was unnecessary, I think the author had the idea for the first relationship and as she wrote the book realized the chemistry of the other couple but decided to maintain both anyway, I don't want to see any of them suffer.
The villain paled in comparison to the actual threat of the systems surrounding the country and the systemically racist and invader institutions running the country, it felt very villain of the week and not an actual problem to be faced, the villain was very mustache-twirling to my liking.
Overall this was an okay book with an interesting worldbuilding and premise but that lacked a bit in terms of plotting and pacing. I will continue reading the series and maybe my opinion will change.
About the end
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Violence, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Torture, Biphobia, and Child abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Biphobia