The Gilded Wolves: A Novel (The Gilded Wolves, #1)

by Roshani Chokshi

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Severin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Severin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Severin will need help from a band of experts:

An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

• ISBN10: 125014454X
• ISBN13: 9781250144546
• Publish Date: 15 January 2019
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Wednesday Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 4.5 Stars

Sigh. I have a weakness for Roshani Chokshi's writing... I've never met a book she's written that I haven't loved. She is some sort of magic master of writing. That is my official statement, yes.

[pagingserenity]

Wow that was a really rich read. I loved the found family and magical worldbuilding. The reimagination of history and the diversity of the characters was great too! But it was a tad predictable - I wasn't too surprised when some of the major events happened.

But that ending though!

Full review to come.

[Linda]

Mysterious. A little dark. Subtle humor. Great character growth.

[nannah]

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

Book content warnings:
slavery mention
In-period racism

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.

[paperbackjedi]

3.5 stars.

[bgsbooks18]

DNF this book.
This is one I wont be able to get into. I just don't feel like it's my cup of tea at the moment but I will try to read this in the future.

There won't be any Six of Crows comparisons coming from me since I have not read SoC yet. Looking at the reviews, there are some similarities, so I might just pick that one up soon.

This book was hyped. I saw it everywhere, and I got way too excited about it. Don't get me wrong, I really liked it, but I don't understand why I saw it everywhere while I believe this book is just not for everyone. You must love the puzzles, you must be ok with the fact that even though this book takes place in Paris, the setting is really described. Yes, they are in Paris in 1889, but that is all. It is not beautiful, it does not have the 'American Paris' feel, as I like to describe it. Because honestly, it feels as if Americans have a lovelier idea about Paris than Europeans tend to have. If you don't mind these things and enjoy characters that are diverse and definitely not perfect then I would definitely recommend this book.

First, the characters were incredibly smart. I was not entirely sure about their ages, but they knew so much. Which also made them stereotypes of themselves. The smart science girl, she knew everything, but she had no social skills, did not care for clothing, and had pretty bad anxiety. The caring boy, always looking out for everyone, too afraid that people cannot be trusted, and even when caught, only cares if someone takes care of his animals. Although I must admit that we did see another side of Tristan in the end after his death. Still, most of these characters were some overdone chlichés. For me, it did not matter. I loved them all. Even the romance between Severin and Laila, which did not have a start but was just there. I personally enjoyed that we did not see the beginning of this romance, I am sick of seeing romances develop and it was nice to just know that there was something going on, and we would maybe care about it later. Often the start of the first book is seen as the 'beginning' of these people's lives. Well, they already had a life and this romance started before it. I am here for it.

I do believe that the puzzles were not that well explained if one has no knowledge about the subject. Especially, in the beginning, I had struggles following the way how they solved the puzzles, but the mathematical puzzles were a bit easier for me. I definitely see how this could be a downside for a lot of people. Because of this reason, I am actually surprised about the hype surrounding this book. Was it just because it was featured in a book box?

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Follow all my reviews over at The Bent Bookworm!*~

Wolves were everywhere. In politics, on thrones, in beds. They cut their teeth on history and grew fat on war.

My heart was both incredibly full and totally shattered when I finished this book. I immediately raced off to see when Book 2 is due out, and *gasp* there’s not even a DATE yet! How shall I survive? *melodramatic scream*

Characters

The Gilded Wolves is the story of friends. The most unlikely group of misfits who, despite their myriad differences, fit together and work together and love each other – even if they won’t come out and say it in so many words. I love this squad so much! Jury is out on whether it will be on par with my current favorite squads (a tie between the Lunar Chronicles gang and the Night Court circle). There is a TON of diversity as far as nationality, color, and sexuality. The diversity actually feels natural, too, not just “thrown in” for good measure the way it does in so many books published recently. I think part of this is because the author herself is of a mixed heritage and it gives her a unique viewpoint from which to write.

“You know how moths look at a fire and think, ‘Oooh! shiny!’ and then die in a burst of flames and regret?”

“Vaguely.”

“Right. Just checking to be sure.”

I loved Severin and Tristan, the brothers-not-really (they're not, right? not actually?). Loved them so, so much. I really wish a little more of their back story had been explained, because while there are little tiny pieces of Severin’s story told through flashbacks (usually only a couple of paragraphs long), it really just wasn’t enough! Must. Have. More.

He wished he didn’t know what he had lost. Maybe then every day wouldn’t feel like this. As if he had once known how to fly, but the skies had shaken him loose and left him with nothing but the memory of wings.

Severin, the leader of this merry (or not) band, is a complex character. I’m a complete sucker for anti-heroes, so I was predisposed to like him, buuuuut at the end he is super super shitty to Laila. I understand WHY – he’s hurting, and either to keep himself from hurting or as an attempt to ease the pain he lashes out at her. Not to mention freezing everyone else out as well, but especially her. That was…completely uncalled for. Laila, being who she is, sees beyond his heartless words and actions to the pain underneath. Their relationship is far from resolved in this book, but I hope – I really hope – that Laila remains true to herself, regardless of her feelings for Severin. It could turn into a toxic relationship very quickly unless Severin actually allows himself to heal.

Laila, the magnificent baking queen with a mask of glitter and sensuality. She is amazing and so, so strong. Despite being very young she kind of gives off the mama bear vibe and I adored it. Her relationship with Severin is unique in YA in that they actually have history, it’s not insta-love or even lust. As I said above…it’s not resolved, at all, and I’m very interested to see how it goes in the following books.

^I feel like this would be Zofia’s face on the regular.

Then we have…my darling Zofia. Who is about the most awkward human being on the face of the planet, and I adore her for it. I feel like maybe she is on the spectrum, due to the way she immerses herself in projects and reacts to people? Also the ways she takes things literally. I love it so much.

“What on EARTH are you doing?”

“I am imitating patterns of flirtation.”

“Wait. You’re flirting. With…ME?”

“Maybe I have the methodology wrong.”

Oh, Zofia. She’s also a math whiz, and counts to keep herself calm. Also Zofia + Enrique would be awesome.

Oh yes, Enrique. I really feel that Enrique didn’t get enough screen time in this story and I’m hopeful that he gets more in the future books. He seems to have so many layers to him, and he just wants everyone to be happy and get along. Oh, and he’s a historian! Mad props.

Tristan, sweet, spider-loving Tristan (yes really). He reminded me of a little brother that everyone wants to protect and love on, which is essentially what he is to this entire group but especially to Severin. I loved his constant experiments and just his general vibe. Now I have to shut up because SPOILERS but dear god my heart!

I cannot WAIT to see what happens to this awesome squad in the next book! Also kind of terrified because like I already said…MY HEART.

Setting/Worldbuilding

Paris is dual-faced in this book – on one side, glittering and sparkly (hello, Laila), and on the other dark, dangerous, and hateful (oh, is that you, Severin?). In the shadowy places in between is everyone just trying to survive and find their place in a world that would cut them down and leave them bleeding on the street. The magic system was, to me, the weakest part of the story. I still don’t quite understand how forging works? Or how the ability is passed on or down or whatever? It was fascinating but I really need it spelled out in more detail.

Plot

“Nothing but a symbol? People die for symbols. People have hope because of symbols. They’re not just lines. They’re histories, cultures, traditions, given shape.”

The heist! I actually usually don’t like books involving heists, they give me a very Oceans 11 vibe and I get so nervous I literally can’t sit still. However, this one had so many puzzles and clues and different places to go I just HAD to keep reading. It was awesome. Even if I still don’t quite understand the magic behind the forged artifacts, it was enough for me that they were THE most valuable and coveted items on the planet and people would kill for them. How the squad got to them and the allies they had to make along the way was just…aaah! I WAS THERE FOR IT.

Overall, 4.5/5 stars. Half a star off for my confusion over the magic system. All the stars for the squad. This is truly a YA book, with young characters who act young (but not too young), and with sex being more innuendo than action. I loved it. Book 2 please hurry!

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[Laurie]

Review posted on https://lauriesbookshelf.com
One of the most hyped and anticipated books of the first few months of this year was definitely The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. I was a little on the fence about this book, but after seeing so much positivity about it I decided to grab a Kindle copy.

Expectations

As stated before, I was not that excited when I first heard about the release of this book. Most people compared The Gilded Wolves to Leigh Bardugo's Six Of Crows and I'm not a huge fan of Kaz Brecker and his dreggs. All those positive reviews set my expectations real high and I decided to buy this book. It was absolutely hyped, so it should be good right? Right?! No, not really. The Gilded Wolves did not meet my expectations at all.

Writing style

I have to admit that I don't know how to judge Roshani Chokshi's writing style. It's not bad, but it's not that mindblowing either. I found it okay. This was my first book by this author though.

Story

Well, here we are, the part of the review I have a lot to say about. The story. The Gilded Wolves is told from multiple points of view and so far, so good. Multiple POV's are no problem for me. I ended up getting an audio/ebook combination of this book and the thing I found really frustrating, annoying and unnecessary were the forced French accents in the audiobook. It was that bad that I had a tough time getting into the story and I ended up returning the audiobook to Audible with this feedback. Dialogues didn't capture me and I didn't feel any connection to the characters. This unfortunately did not change when switching to the ebook. I ended up reading mostly from the ebook because of the poor audiobook performance. The male narrator was also really monotone, the female one was decent.



Let's get deeper into the storyline. It was in a nutshell: confusing. At the 82% mark I was still confused and I didn't get the point of the whole thing. Well, if that happens, something is definitely going wrong. This had nothing to do with the language, the English is fine and easy to follow. The magic system was vague, the world building was lacking and it was slow. According to many people, the story was fast-paced, but I cannot relate. In my opinion, the plot could have been excecuted much better, especially regarding the previously stated things.



However, I am able to highlight one positive thing about this book: the diversity. The Gilded Wolves is a hell of a diverse book and it feels like it's coming naturally. It doesn't feel forced at all. All characters have a different background and this has been woven into the story so well. However, the history the group shared together could be highlighted some more. The only characters whose history together you get to know are Séverin and Tristan. You will get to know a bit of the past of the others, but you don't get to know them in depth in The Gilded Wolves.



Unfortunately this book didn't work for me and therefore I won't read the rest of the series.







Do you agree with me on The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi?
This review was originally posted on Laurie's Bookshelf

[lauriesbookshelf]

Review posted on https://lauriesbookshelf.com
One of the most hyped and anticipated books of the first few months of this year was definitely The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. I was a little on the fence about this book, but after seeing so much positivity about it I decided to grab a Kindle copy.

Expectations

As stated before, I was not that excited when I first heard about the release of this book. Most people compared The Gilded Wolves to Leigh Bardugo's Six Of Crows and I'm not a huge fan of Kaz Brecker and his dreggs. All those positive reviews set my expectations real high and I decided to buy this book. It was absolutely hyped, so it should be good right? Right?! No, not really. The Gilded Wolves did not meet my expectations at all.

Writing style

I have to admit that I don't know how to judge Roshani Chokshi's writing style. It's not bad, but it's not that mindblowing either. I found it okay. This was my first book by this author though.

Story

Well, here we are, the part of the review I have a lot to say about. The story. The Gilded Wolves is told from multiple points of view and so far, so good. Multiple POV's are no problem for me. I ended up getting an audio/ebook combination of this book and the thing I found really frustrating, annoying and unnecessary were the forced French accents in the audiobook. It was that bad that I had a tough time getting into the story and I ended up returning the audiobook to Audible with this feedback. Dialogues didn't capture me and I didn't feel any connection to the characters. This unfortunately did not change when switching to the ebook. I ended up reading mostly from the ebook because of the poor audiobook performance. The male narrator was also really monotone, the female one was decent.



Let's get deeper into the storyline. It was in a nutshell: confusing. At the 82% mark I was still confused and I didn't get the point of the whole thing. Well, if that happens, something is definitely going wrong. This had nothing to do with the language, the English is fine and easy to follow. The magic system was vague, the world building was lacking and it was slow. According to many people, the story was fast-paced, but I cannot relate. In my opinion, the plot could have been excecuted much better, especially regarding the previously stated things.



However, I am able to highlight one positive thing about this book: the diversity. The Gilded Wolves is a hell of a diverse book and it feels like it's coming naturally. It doesn't feel forced at all. All characters have a different background and this has been woven into the story so well. However, the history the group shared together could be highlighted some more. The only characters whose history together you get to know are Séverin and Tristan. You will get to know a bit of the past of the others, but you don't get to know them in depth in The Gilded Wolves.



Unfortunately this book didn't work for me and therefore I won't read the rest of the series.







Do you agree with me on The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi?
This review was originally posted on Laurie's Bookshelf