🌹~ The Gilded Wolves ~🌹➸ Book Review! [1/3]

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🌼 Hello :)  🌼 

I just wanted to give all of our new readers a warm welcome before we dive into the review, thank you so much for stopping by! I appreciate it <3 

Summer is in full swing! Here in Canada, its melting everyone's ice creams and giving us nasty sunburns. Not to mention all the mosquitoes currently trying to invade my house.  With my birthday last week (This blog is a year older! You guys are 3 now! Yay!) and all the summer sightseeing, I've been trying to use my summer vacation in the most productive way possible.

In fact, I even made friends with a male sparrow named Julian :) 

The lazy summer vibe seems to have put me in yet another reading slump, but with the help of huckleberry scented candles and several Korean choco pies, I have successfully averted the crisis by going back to some of the books on my bookstagram that I posted pictures of, but never really reviewed. I was shocked to find out that I never put out a full length review for The Gilded Wolves series, and went to work right away ;)

It may or may not take a while to review the other books in the series because I'm going to vacation soon, and I also have a lot of photos to upload/edit, but I'll get to it ASAP!

Let's cut to the chase~

(*transition noises I'm sorry I couldn't think of a better transition*)

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This book was the first YA novel of Roshani Chokshi's work that I read, after previously reading her middle grade series; the Aru Shah series. 

Roshani Chokshi ^

After reading her more lighthearted and humorous (yet interesting) work, let's just say that The Gilded Wolves was a HUGE step up, especially the different yet similar writing style. I guess you could say the writing was more mature, which is expected as its a YA novel. As soon as you start reading, you are hit with the delicious decadence of her exquisite writing. 

(That was my attempt at sounding like a fancy writer like Roshani Chokshi if you couldn't tell) (Anyway, moving on) 

Fanart by Nicole Deal

There's just something about the way she crafts her words and forms sentences, something that makes you want to frame them and put them up in a museum to be admired. This really stood out in The Gilded Wolves, the fact that the story is set in Paris amplifies the elegant vibes it radiates. Now, instead of just reading through delectable words that seem to roll off your tongue, you get to read through delectable FRENCH words that roll off your tongue. 

I could go on for ages about how pretty Roshani Chokshi's writing style is, but since this blog post seems like its gonna be a long one, we're gonna move on to my favourite part...

\\ ~ The Characters ~ //

(All the art used for each of the characters is by Nicole Deal from Roshani Chokshi's website)

We all love a multiple POV book, they give us insight into each character/element in the story and help us make better connections in relation to the plot. This book has 5 main characters: 

 Severin is the "main"-ish character and the "leader" you could say of the  team. According to the description of the book, Severin is a 'treasure hunter and wealthy hotelier'. The hotel he owns is a famous Parisian hotel called L'Eden. It is also the place where all of the characters live and meet up, serving as one of the main settings of the book. Severin is usually the brains of their missions and definitely has a thing for Laila. 

Laila as L'Enigme !!

Laila is an Indian Bharatanatyam dancer with a 'sinister past', as the book description states. She seems to have a *ahem* "history" with Severin, which explains all the (romantic?) tension between the two. She also has the ability to read objects, to see their past and where they have been/what they have been through. Her alter ego is the esteemed (scandalous) cabaret performer L'Enigme.

Enrique is Severin's historian, and as the book describes, 'a historian banished from his home'. Enrique reminds me of the word 'chic', and also tends to play the role of 'mood lifter' quite often. He's one of the more comedic characters, and I admire his passion for history, mythology, and culture/beliefs in general. He's Filipino and to me he appears as someone with strong values. Enrique may or may not have more than one love interest (Zofia and Hypnos, who is another character), but who can blame them? 

Zofia is their engineer, with an 'affinity' for fire/heat. This earned her the nickname of "Phoenix". The book describes her as 'an engineer with a debt to pay' and in fear of spoiling too much, I'll let you guys read the book to figure out the debt part. Zofia is crazy good with numbers and is also Jewish. Her character is very intriguing, as she seems to be more introverted but speaks exactly what's on her mind. 

And now the final member of this uniquely crafted team, Tristan. He is Severin's brother (albeit not in blood) and an insanely talented florist. Tristan has an affinity for water that helps plants grow, helping him create the beautiful gardens at L'Eden. Also, he has a pet tarantula named Goliath <3

Each of the characters are unique and have their own set of goals and morals, and I really liked how they seemed to have reflections of Roshani Chokshi herself in their personalities and traits. I also found myself connecting to Laila's character, as a Bharatanatyam dancer myself (you can see my ghungroo bells in the corner of the picture at the beginning of this post!) :) 

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Now that we're introduced to the characters, lets talk about the plot and how the ending absolutely destroyed me.

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I'm not sure if its just cause I'm stupid or because of all the fancy mythology and godly concepts but I think I found some parts of the book slightly confusing. I definitely had to read over some parts to make sure I understood what I was reading. 

The thing that made it way more tangled and hard to pick apart was the fact that the mythologies used were a mix of mythologies from different places and different people, instead of just focusing on one religion or country.

For example, in The Gilded Wolves, fragments of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) were inside the Eye of Horus (an Egyptian symbol turned into an artifact in the book), mixing Egyptian concepts and Jewish/Christian concepts. Very intertwined indeed. (Btw for those who wanted to know, the picture on the right is on page 48 of The Gilded Wolves.)

Mixing all of these mythologies and beliefs made the plot way more complicated to understand. I think what the book was trying to portray was that all the cultures and stories from people all over the world were connected, which I found interesting. 

An aspect of this book I really enjoyed was the "treasure hunting" aspect, where the characters acquire clues, break codes and generally prove that they're smarter than us on ten different levels. The way the plot progressed as they uncovered clues and solved codes kept you immersed in the story. I'm getting Dan Brown vibes ;)

What's different about The Gilded Wolves from other books is that it makes you want to learn more about the the historical themes and events that make an appearance throughout the book. I spent way too long falling through google rabbit holes about the Exposition Universelle. I even ended up using it for a French project (which I aced btw) so thank you Roshani Chokshi for enlightening us. 

By the way, a fair warning, you will not be prepared for what happens at the end. Because the best authors tend to make their endings particularly tantalizing.

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This book immerses you in French culture and gives you a look into the lives of the rich and enigmatic in 19th century Paris~

Reading The Gilded Wolves will raise your standards for writing while making you fall in love with its characters and their personalities <3 I recommend reading this book if you're ready to add more characters to your list of fictional character crushes, but also if you're interested in complicated yet unique mythology and tangled plots. 

Thank you for reading today's book review! <3 

I'll see you soon :)

Sincerely, 

Sapphire