A review by greenmtgirl
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

1.0

A few representative sentences/phrases:

"Which meant she had to be prepared for an unexpected burst of light." (Come on, you either prepare or it's unexpected. Can't be both.)

"Laila took a couple steps forward, pausing long enough to let the growing crowd outside the hall see her hand slide up his arm. 'I wanted to surprise you,' she said silkily. Then she turned to face the open door and the growing crowd of curious faces. 'Are we to have an audience?'" (Growing crowd twice in one short passage.)

"Séverin’s eyes were the precise color of sleep—sable velvet with a violet sheen, promising either nightmare or dream." (The purplest prose.)

"A network of crystal vines and quartz veins formed the walls, as if they were sumptuously below the ground." (That is not how one uses that adverb.)

"On her lips, it sounded like a talisman. Something that could protect him. Chew up the dark." (A lot of odd, even nonsensical, word choices.)

"Enrique mimed a zip over his mouth," despite the fact that the zipper didn't exist for another couple decades.

"we could harness the essential essence" :sigh:

Also: do you know how hard it is to draw blood by biting your tongue? And yet it happens multiple times to characters in this book (and not because of head trauma). As does drawing blood by digging your fingernails into your palms, which would require you to have specially sharpened your nails.

And then there was the ending. I've never wished so hard that I had quit reading 85% or so through the book. I won't say what happens, but prepare for joylessness.