The Gilded Wolves Trilogy by Roshani Chokshi
The Gilded Wolves
The Silvered Serpents
The Bronzed Beasts
An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood. Together, they will join Severin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they fid might change the course of history — but only if they can stay alive.
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Warning: Possible spoilers for book 1 as I’ll be reviewing books 2 & 3:
The Gilded Wolves is a book I fell in love with earlier this summer (you can read that full review here), and I KNEW the second book would probably end with a cliffhanger (it did) so I waited till the third book was out to finish the series and boy, was that the best decision ever made. I cannot describe how amazing these books are. There’s not even a particular thing that wows me because all three books, the plot, the writing, and the characters are all so beautiful and intricate. It’s a fantasy series that takes place in our world following the myth that the Tower of Babel, having been destroyed by God in biblical times, somehow left pieces of magic “forging” abilities in our world. It’s a mix of Six of Crows heist/found family with some serious National Treasure style treasure hunts that take place in three amazing cities around the world. The first book takes place in Paris with the World Fair and the Eiffel Tower and the Catacombs, but then we move into Russia and Italy for the next two and it did not fail to blow my mind.
Although this book is described as a Six of Crows/National Treasure type mix, it’s totally its own work of art. The plot is completely original and combines the most interesting parts of Greek, Egyptian, and Biblical mythologies/lores (from various religions) and uses these great and ancient stories to build the most amazing treasure hunt I’ve ever had the delight to experience. The first book was a great introduction to the world with a lot of combined lore and the seductive Paris backdrop but there’s a lot of terrifying elements to this story which I didn’t expect so I was immediately intrigued.
The second book still carried on with an amazing plot and had a lot of creepy scenes and focused a lot more on the “clue finding” aspect of treasure hunting which I loved. Seeing this team of characters solve an unsolvable puzzle is the height of excitement because they’re so damn good at it. My only problem with the second book was that the characters were very standoffish to one another after the events of the first book and that was my favourite part of the story and I missed that aspect of it so book two felt very cold and lonely for me even though the plot was amazing, but I think that wast the point. The author gets you so involved in these characters that when there’s something broken in the group, you feel it too.
The third book was the perfect conclusion to this trilogy. Don’t go into it thinking it will be action parked from start to finish or you’ll be disappointed. It is full of action, but in a more subtle way and the main focus is character growth and relationships which is why this series has totally burrowed into my heart because character driven stories are my WEAKNESS. The entire story in this book from start to end had me intrigued and terrified in equal measures. The writing, like always is magnificent. There’s just something about this authors descriptive talents that totally transported me to the canals of Venice. And that ending!!! This trilogy was wrapped up so well and in such a real and raw and beautiful way. I don’t know if it was sweet, bitter, or bitter sweet and I still can’t decide how I feel personally, but I just know that it couldn’t have ended any other way that would have satisfied me and made sense to the plot. I will definitely be thinking of this book for a long time.
Now let’s talk about the characters. Character driven stories have always been my favourite and I think that’s why I got attached to this series so fast because these characters, from the start, have always been so intriguing but this book went into character depths that I couldn’t have imagined and even some of my least favourites became so dear to me. Laila’s humanity, Severin’s heart, Zofia’s insecurities, Hypnos’ need for belonging, and Enrique’s self-doubt were all things that hit so hard and were so relatable. Chokshi really breathed life into these characters and made them so real. Their personalities, their struggles, and their relationships with one another were all so human, flawed yet beautiful.
Safe to say that this series has my heart. And I’m torn between wanting to reread and experience it all again and not wanting to touch it for fear my heart will shatter all over again. If you’re into adventure, mythology, and character driven stories, this is the series for you. The first one got 5 stars from me, the second one 3.5 stars, and the third another 5 star adventure. I highly recommend.