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A review by nickyxxx
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
4.0
4,5 stars
It’s hectic, it’s gut punches, it’s wonderful quotable lines, and it’s a little bit gay. This is the book for me.
I regret waiting so long before picking this up because this is easily one of my cutest reads of 2023.
Let’s not beat around the bush, there were a lot of characters. And normally that’s crime number one in my opinion, because a story should ideally be told with only the necessary characters. But in this book it was alright. It was more than alright, because each of them got their own time to shine and each of them had their very unique additions to the story development. This is how a big cast should be done; everyone has a personality, including quirks, and although the dialogue was a little cringy or childlike at times, each of the characters were fleshed out and recognizable in a crowd. And let’s not forget how most of them struggled with something, an inner demon if you will. Laila the most of all and I’m very disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of that, although I do suspect that is something for the sequels.
The story itself was so chaotic and fast-paced I couldn’t make head nor tails of it. The core was explained early in the book and it was the leading thread throughout the story; without that thread I would not have understood a single thing. There was so much magic that it was almost too much, and it didn’t really seem cohesive at times. Sometimes the magic was suddenly there, awfully convenient to save the characters from certain death. I read this book with miniature two-line summaries at the end of each chapter and had I not done that, I would’ve lost my mind.
But the writing style saved so much of this book. The dialogues were overall great and very intuitive and natural; the gut punches at the ends of chapters were real. And there were plenty amazing quotes that I’d frame and hang on the wall to read before bed-time, and that’s always worked wonders for me. If not for the plot, I’m buying the sequels for the writing.
And then when the dust settles and you think the story is going to end well and calm… you’re wrong. New rivalries, poisonous love affairs and secrets add a whole new layer to the story. Things are definitely not over yet.
It’s hectic, it’s gut punches, it’s wonderful quotable lines, and it’s a little bit gay. This is the book for me.
I regret waiting so long before picking this up because this is easily one of my cutest reads of 2023.
Let’s not beat around the bush, there were a lot of characters. And normally that’s crime number one in my opinion, because a story should ideally be told with only the necessary characters. But in this book it was alright. It was more than alright, because each of them got their own time to shine and each of them had their very unique additions to the story development. This is how a big cast should be done; everyone has a personality, including quirks, and although the dialogue was a little cringy or childlike at times, each of the characters were fleshed out and recognizable in a crowd. And let’s not forget how most of them struggled with something, an inner demon if you will. Laila the most of all and I’m very disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of that, although I do suspect that is something for the sequels.
The story itself was so chaotic and fast-paced I couldn’t make head nor tails of it. The core was explained early in the book and it was the leading thread throughout the story; without that thread I would not have understood a single thing. There was so much magic that it was almost too much, and it didn’t really seem cohesive at times. Sometimes the magic was suddenly there, awfully convenient to save the characters from certain death. I read this book with miniature two-line summaries at the end of each chapter and had I not done that, I would’ve lost my mind.
But the writing style saved so much of this book. The dialogues were overall great and very intuitive and natural; the gut punches at the ends of chapters were real. And there were plenty amazing quotes that I’d frame and hang on the wall to read before bed-time, and that’s always worked wonders for me. If not for the plot, I’m buying the sequels for the writing.
And then when the dust settles and you think the story is going to end well and calm… you’re wrong. New rivalries, poisonous love affairs and secrets add a whole new layer to the story. Things are definitely not over yet.