The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

When I first heard about this book, I wrote it off as not being my thing. I'll be honest, I don't read a ton of fantasy. I like books I can read quickly, and I've found that a lot of fantasy is too heavy and takes a long time to get through. I don't typically like historical fiction either. But I heard some really great things about this book so I decided to give it a try. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is basically National Treasure, set in France, plus magic.

It's nearing the turn of the century, and Severin is hungry. He's hungry for the House he has been stripped of, and will stop at nothing to earn his deserved title of heir to House Vanth. He, along with his friends Tristan, Enrique, Laila, and Zofia, perform countless heists in the hopes of setting Severin back in his rightful place. But one heist goes badly wrong, and now Severin finds himself locked in a deal with the patriarch of House Nyx, the flashy Hypnos, in order to save his friends. 

I really enjoyed this read! There were heists and treasure, codes and riddles. I loved the different points of view of Severin and the other members of his team. It had great minority representation that was done extremely well. I really enjoyed the comic relief that Hypnos provided. I also was a fan of the fact that the romances in this book were not at all the main story line, and that there was some really good and varied representation.

I REALLY appreciated that this story actually wrapped things up! Yes, this appears to be the first in a trilogy, but so often books end with a major event and they're over. No discussing how it impacted the characters, or the events following. This one actually provided what I felt was a fully developed ending, showing how each character was impacted and behaved as time progressed. I understand the importance of a cliffhanger to keep a reader hooked on a series, but this is proof that you don't have to have one to keep a reader's interest. I can't wait for book two!

But as much as I liked all of those things, something still felt...off maybe? There were some parts I had to drag through that I felt lacked depth and detail. Things didn't always tie together well. I really can't put my finger more specifically what was lacking or what felt wrong, but I just couldn't bring myself to give this a full five stars.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars