🕊️ ~ The Silvered Serpents ~ 🕊️ ➸ Book Review! [2/3]

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Welcome back!

If this is your first time here, welcome to my blog! I'm Sapphire, the writer and creator. I appreciate you so much for checking out my blog <3 

This post (book review) is part of a series, although you don't really have to read the first review to understand this one, I feel like it would definitely help, especially when it comes to the characters. I'll be linking the first review throughout this post!

The Gilded Wolves Book Review

Thank you for all the love and support! <3

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*Note: This book review is spoiler-free :)*

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If you couldn't tell already with the snowflake dividers and the book picture above, the theme for this book and blog post can only be described as frosty. 

The Silvered Serpents is the second installment in Roshani Chokshi's 'The Gilded Wolves' trilogy, and it sure was a cold, wintry read. Definitely darker than the first book I would say.

If you're new to Roshani Chokshi's work, you're in for a real treat! 

The quality of writing in The Silvered Serpents did not disappoint! I decided to try out annotating for the first time with this book and now that I'm looking back at my pitiful attempt at it, I think I highlighted wayyy too many quotes. Especially phrases like "melted sin", "celestial calligraphy", and "hitobashira". I'll be posting pictures of some of the quotes and phrases I highlighted on my instagram! (@saphsbookblog)

We were also introduced to a couple of new characters and settings (and mythologies!), plus some more insight into the original characters themselves. And their mental states.

Speaking of the setting, you might have already noticed this from the gorgeous palace on the cover of the book, but this book is set far far away from the original location of Paris. 

Welcome to Russia! Moscow in particular. 

St. Basils Cathedral --> present on the cover of The Silvered Serpents, so you might've already guessed where this book is set!

Don't get mad at me for saying this, but I might have liked the Russian aspect/the different mythologies used in this book more than the elements used in the first one, The Gilded Wolves. It somehow felt darker than what we were introduced to in The Gilded Wolves, and I liked that :)

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This second installment takes off with the crew of MC's recovering after the tragic incident that took place in the ending of the first book. This second installment is also 1000x more complex than its predecessor.

I think I would have loved to see more of Tristan's (one of the MC's you could say) emotional/mental state earlier in this series. When this book started, it was hard to fully understand what the characters were talking about when they mentioned the "darkness" and "violence" that Tristan apparently had without reading about some of it first. I understand that not giving us insight into Tristan's mind was meant to give us the effect that no one knew how broken he was because he hid it so well, but it would have helped to clue in the readers a bit. 

Laila and Severin fanart by Gabriella Bujdoso on Instagram

I found myself asking a lot of questions during this book, like "So he wants to be a GOD now?", "Oh great so now we're mixing in MORE mythologies?", and "How has Laila not smacked Eva already?". I think this is mostly because - although this book is a sequel and is supposed to be a continuation of the first - the plot went completely off the rails  and became so much more extensive than the first installment. It felt like all that had happened in the first book was pushed to the side to make room for a new plot. 

The plot isn't the only thing that went off the rails. Our much loved main character Severin changes from the kind, mysterious, and approachable person he was into a cold...shell. A shell of what he once was. He becomes infatuated with becoming a God, disgusted with human mortality.

The events of the last book affected him so deeply that he became a new - not so great - person, which in turn led him to fracture his relationships with the other characters.

The romance in this book was just as cold as the rest of its elements. There was barely any, and the small flickers of romance that did appear were then crushed by Severin. This series' romance can only be described as "slowburn", yet cold. To sum it up, Severin was infuriating.  

The other characters on the other hand, seemed to only grow closer in light of the recent events. There was some conflict and confusion between Hypnos, Enrique, and Zofia (very complicated stuff going on there) and Laila found warmth and love in her friends (which was so sweet by the way, truly warmed up the book). This series really does bring meaning to the term "found family". 

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Like expected, the plot was gorgeous. The puzzles, riddles, treasure hunting, all of it enraptured me. Like I said in The Gilded Wolves' review, definite Dan Brown vibes.

Now, like I mentioned before, we NEED to talk more about how well Roshani Chokshi crafted and implemented the mythologies and stories in this book. Like it should be a crime for someone to write that well. I found myself completely immersed in the tales the characters recited, about stolen girls and Zeus being annoying (what else is new?). I mean, if a writer can somehow make my feeble brain understand historical concepts, they should be awarded.

Didn't mean to insult myself with the feeble brain comment but you get my point here.

Anyway, something(s) I loved and something(s) that I found unique about the Silvered Serpent's implementation of mythology, is how the real life/historical myths were intertwined with fiction to make them fit into the plot. I loved how Roshani Chokshi added her own touch to the stories. 

The other thing I noticed a lot in the Silvered Serpent's writing are the connections and comparisons that were made between the different myths/legends. For example, comparing and spotting the similarities between the Nine Muses and the nine avatars of Saraswathi Devi (celebrated through Navarathri, 9 days for each of her forms). Roshani Chokshi mixed two completely different mythologies to make a cohesive story.

You may have to do some googling to understand some of that, I apologize.

Since this book review is slowly turning into an essay, lets start wrapping it up. :)

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🕊️| The Silvered Serpents, with its intense, what-the-heck-just-happened ending, lovable characters, and chilly temperatures was a great sequel to The Gilded Wolves. 

It had quite a few ups and downs (actually, I think most of it was just downs) and a lot of complex elements that I loved reading through. In a way, it was also weirdly educational. 

🕊️| This book was a great read nonetheless, and I definitely recommend continuing the series if you read the first book. I'm super excited to start the third and final novel in this series, The Bronzed Beasts.

🎉| I'll be getting to work on writing the last review right away, but it may take longer due to schools starting and all :) I'll be updating my Instagram more frequently, so you can head over there for more book content!

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Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Sapphire