yanners's review against another edition
2.0
This was a bit of what you would’ve called an atrocity.
It was the usual textbook heist with one stony dude, one hypocritical seductress, one diffident scientist, one unselfconscious historian, one cumbersome brother and one incompetent sponsor. wHaT cOuLd poSsiBLy gO wRoNg?
That is, pretty much everything.
But at the end of the day, all this character profiling was pointless because the heist was a big flop. The point of a heist is for close calls and near-death experiences but what did I get? Unentitled brats rearing tarantulas and one close encounter with sword-swinging guy. By unentitled, Mr Bastard Tristan who is the saltiest person out there and by close, they were standing like ten metres away, so not even in stabbing proximity.
And, hear me out: they painstakingly break into vaults, prance across stages and attend dinner parties just for Mister Racked-with-guilt to change his mind and say no?
Big no no there
Monsieur Severin, for all the 18-year-old testosterones he can manage, is incomprehensibly dumb counting on the fact that he never has actual backup plans, and sucks at concealing his emotions in general. He’s some hotshot son of the House of Vanth who likes eating cloves and stalking Laila with his eyes and is horrible at managing his crew. When his weak little brother Tristan becomes hostage, level-headed him falls into a trap without even trying to be come up with a plan first. Oh right, and he likes lamenting over the fact that his can’t date Laila only for HE to be the one who can’t reciprocate when the time comes.
Speaking of Laila, whose only assets lie in her big busts and infinite wardrobe, I’m suddenly reminded by the demoralising lack of female characters I can side with. Zofia is denser than osmium and at this point, I’m confident that she’s some dysfunctional android they picked up from a shady dealer (like the kind that isn’t there the next day so you can’t return the wares even if they’re faulty?). Girl, even if you love math, it doesn’t mean you spend every second computing the squares of 10394472. That’s just hands down creepy.
There’s plenty of other plot holes like the fact that the matriarch of some fancy schmancy house has one measly guard to protect her and even I still don’t really understand the 5W1Hs of what’s going on. They’re in Paris? It would’ve been more believable if they were some underground civilisation in Algeria. And they sell artefacts? So basically posh people version of the black market.
And then the plot goes from a nice heist to some civil rebellion which I want no part of (someone come pick me up)
2 stars
It was the usual textbook heist with one stony dude, one hypocritical seductress, one diffident scientist, one unselfconscious historian, one cumbersome brother and one incompetent sponsor. wHaT cOuLd poSsiBLy gO wRoNg?
That is, pretty much everything.
But at the end of the day, all this character profiling was pointless because the heist was a big flop. The point of a heist is for close calls and near-death experiences but what did I get? Unentitled brats rearing tarantulas and one close encounter with sword-swinging guy. By unentitled, Mr Bastard Tristan who is the saltiest person out there and by close, they were standing like ten metres away, so not even in stabbing proximity.
And, hear me out: they painstakingly break into vaults, prance across stages and attend dinner parties just for Mister Racked-with-guilt to change his mind and say no?
Big no no there
Monsieur Severin, for all the 18-year-old testosterones he can manage, is incomprehensibly dumb counting on the fact that he never has actual backup plans, and sucks at concealing his emotions in general. He’s some hotshot son of the House of Vanth who likes eating cloves and stalking Laila with his eyes and is horrible at managing his crew. When his weak little brother Tristan becomes hostage, level-headed him falls into a trap without even trying to be come up with a plan first. Oh right, and he likes lamenting over the fact that his can’t date Laila only for HE to be the one who can’t reciprocate when the time comes.
Speaking of Laila, whose only assets lie in her big busts and infinite wardrobe, I’m suddenly reminded by the demoralising lack of female characters I can side with. Zofia is denser than osmium and at this point, I’m confident that she’s some dysfunctional android they picked up from a shady dealer (like the kind that isn’t there the next day so you can’t return the wares even if they’re faulty?). Girl, even if you love math, it doesn’t mean you spend every second computing the squares of 10394472. That’s just hands down creepy.
There’s plenty of other plot holes like the fact that the matriarch of some fancy schmancy house has one measly guard to protect her and even I still don’t really understand the 5W1Hs of what’s going on. They’re in Paris? It would’ve been more believable if they were some underground civilisation in Algeria. And they sell artefacts? So basically posh people version of the black market.
And then the plot goes from a nice heist to some civil rebellion which I want no part of (someone come pick me up)
2 stars
jj_29's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
1234567_run's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
ali_jenna's review against another edition
2.0
I was so confused the entire time I was reading this book. At first it seemed kind of like a knock-off of Six of Crows, but then it got weirder. It was like all the sudden this guy came out of nowhere and captures Tristan and then I don't even know. I went to see Seussical the Musical Jr. recently and this book reminded me of that because I had no idea what was going on most of the time. I think the author was trying to incorporate way too many things into the same book. Also what was the deal with Laila and Severin (yes i know there's an accent somewhere) not being a couple? It was explained but not very well. All the characters were kind of annoying and also, again, sort of like Six of Crows. Like Severing was Kaz without the smartness, Laila was Inej, just whiney, Zofia was Jesper, but literally without social skills, Enrique was like Nina I guess? and Tristan was Wylan except plants. Oh and that Hypnos guy was idek, but weird. Maybe this book would have been better if it was longer? I generally don't say that about things I don't like very much, but I feel like a lot more explaining could have been done because there were, like I said previously, too many different elements. Also, like I've said for other books, I don't like it when plot twists just come out of nowhere. I mean that's kind of the definition of a plot twist but I feel like if you read really really closely you should be able to predict what will happen, to a point. I don't like it when it's too predictable either though. This book, it was just too much action and not enough actual development of characters and plot.
junghoseok's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Real mad/stressed out right now at that ending. . The worldbuilding was pretty confusing for my lazy brain to fully grasp what was happening most of the time, but I did love the characters and their dynamics, and the writing is superb. In a year I will I will either be mentally and emotionally ready to pick up the second book or I won't have the energy to care. We'll see
Spoiler
Why do the good, too-pure-for-this-world-of-criminals characters have to die? Why?oldgum101's review against another edition
2.0
I can't handle confusing, convoluted plots. Complex plots, maybe. The Gilded Wolves is the former.
mrsdc83's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
rainb0wreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I don’t understand how it’s possibly to want to be 5 people and also want to be with 5 people simultaneously. Don’t tell my girlfriend I said that.