Tuesday, January 8, 2019

ARC Review: The Gilded Wolves



I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion or my review of the book in any way. Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with this eARC!

The Gilded Wolves
by Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Gilded Wolves #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publication date: January 15, 2019
Published by: Wednesday Books, St. Martin's Press
Kindle edition, 464 pages
My rating: 3.5/5 ★

Set in a darkly glamorous world, The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

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, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin 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.

The Gilded Wolves takes place in late 19th century Paris - but with a twist. It follows a group of six on their quest to acquire a historical object. The setting is very atmospheric and overall made for a unique reading experience, which made it easy to get lost in the story.

What stood out to me the most with this book was the diverse cast of characters from very different backgrounds. It was wonderful to learn about how they had all found together and get to know the relationships between them. I got some serious Six of Crows vibes from this group and I loved it! My only minor complaint is that some aspects especially with regard to the romance felt a little rushed and could have been more fleshed out. 

The same goes for the world building. I feel like there would have been room to further elaborate on the magic system especially, which was centered around objects that could be forged to have special abilities. Up until the end I never really understood how this forging actually worked and what it could do, which made it hard to follow the story at times. I'm really hoping we'll get some more information on this as the series continues.

The plot was very fast paced but unfortunately also sometimes seemed rushed to me. I would've liked to spend more time with the characters before being thrust from one action-packed scene to the next. The ending especially was a little all over the place. Within the last few pages, there were suddenly time jumps of a few months with a lot happening in each scene. I would've really preferred for the ending to be told a little more slowly and more patiently, or even to leave some of what happened at the very end for the next book. This way, I had a hard time understanding the characters' actions and just felt frustrated.

Even still, The Gilded Wolves really managed to grab my attention in a time when reading was definitely not at the top of my priority list. It's the first book by Roshani Chokshi I've read and I have to say, there were some very beautiful quotes in here! I really enjoyed her writing style and reading this book has definitely made me interested in checking out her other work. I am also excited to see where this series will go from now. Overall, I would definitely recommend The Gilded Wolves. It might not necessarily be a new favorite of mine but I definitely enjoyed my time spent with these characters.




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