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.
won this book through bookish and I was thrilled as it compared to six of crows so I was really expecting to like this. This book is a mixture of religion (tower of Babel), history, math and science and the mixture of all this left me confused for the majority of the book. I was hoping that maybe I just missing something in the first few chapters so I went back and reread but I still never felt like the story clicked and it was off like a shot. I gave it three stars as I thought the plot was unique by bringing in a historical religious story and then throwing in the six of crows aspect of having six misfits work together to retrieve an artifact that may or may not bring about the destruction of the world. The reason I think I got lost is I did not understand the riddles or the puzzles that are found throughout the story. Usually, I like this especially in movies but maybe these just went over my head and were to difficult to figure out and that makes it hard for me to enjoy the book. I think it would have worked better if there was a bit more time spent developing the world we are in and the magic system that is in place. My final thought is the book is called gilded wolves maybe that ties in with the mask aspect of the story or I just totally missed it in the book. Maybe I pick this up again and try to give it another go when the next one comes out but for now, I just left rather confused and blah over the whole thing.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
11 January, 2019:
Finished reading
-
11 January, 2019:
Reviewed