The Gilded Wolves

The Gilded Wolves Book Review by Roshani Chokshi

This book was...I can’t quite place it. 

I definitely enjoyed it! And to me, it seemed like the reading experience went very quickly, which is usually synonymous with an enjoyable read, but there were definitely other moments when my head would cock to the side and I would think, “Huh?” and “I don’t get it” and “What even is happening right now?”

That about sums about my experience with The Gilded Wolves, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 

No, but really, 

 is the epitome of my exact taste and preference when it comes to a YA novel, at least on paper. Let’s go through the list:

1. A group of misfits coming together in some sort of friendship group/intimate team? Check. 

2. Banter and fluid dialogue? Check. 

3. Whimsy, magic, imagination, and world building steeped in exaggerated history? Check. 

4. Romance galore? Check and check. 

So if this novel checked all of the boxes, why aren’t I lauding it as the best thing I’ve ever read? 

I’ll get to that, don't worry. 

First, I’ll start by saying that this book isn't the most original thing I’ve ever read. In fact, it probably doesn't even crack the top ten. This criticism will likely come up time and time again so I’ll just say it from the get go: having all the ingredients for a good book does not make it a good book. I do think The Gilded Wolves is a fun, fluid, and interesting read, but it's not the best in any category compared to other YA books out there. 

It’s not the best romance, the best friendship, the best magic, the best history, the most well-written, and it’s certainly not the best heist novel I've read, that cake definitely goes to Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows. 

It’s like this novel has everything you want and nothing at all simultaneously. 

Our main characters consist of a group of five individuals, all within their stereotypical archetypes of course. 

You’ve got the stone-cold calculating leader that chews cloves of all things, the beautiful girl that’s sort of a robot, the half Filipino boy who struggles with his identity and proving himself, the flamboyant aristocratic outsider, and the girl who can only think, breathe, and speak science, but doesn’t understand a modicum of social interaction or communication. 

They were good characters, but they just weren’t the best. They weren’t memorable in the slough that is the ocean of YA original characters. They had good moments of banter, friendship, and interaction, but also moments of overbearing cliche, unbelievable character dialogue options, and very predictable motivations and actions. 

The plot is worse believe it or not. 

The bare bones of the story is that you have a society in which there are secret Houses that possess Babel rings-artifacts that display their House’s standing as well as give them unique powers- and things called Babel fragments which are buried...somewhere. 

These fragments essentially gift certain people of the population abilities and advantages while other people are just...normal, I guess. I don’t know, no one seems to care about the disparity. 

Then there are other things like Sphinxes which are...guards, I think? But not? I actually don’t even know if they’re truly human. And other cool technological and magical items like Mneno Bugs which record stuff and umm, Tezcat Doors which allow you to see out, but not in or something? 

If you haven't caught on by now, the magic and world building of this novel has much to be desired. 

It’s like Chokshi has the ideas down, the rough outline of what her world looks like and how it operates and how the characters live and struggle in this world, but instead of giving it to us, she gave us the Sparknotes version. 

Half the time I was reading, I felt like I was missing a good 50% of the content needed for the stakes and tension to actually mean something, which is such a shame because her ideas are interesting. They have so much potential.

 I love the idea of old Houses and historic artifacts and complicated political histories interwoven with social implications and new-age technology, but the world-building and magic system just falls flat on his face. I needed more from Chokshi about the world and how it operated and less conversation about Tristan’s goddamn tarantula. 

We read as our main group of five attempt to steal and retrieve a Horus Eye-some piece of something that acts as a Somno-a default button basically-to Babel Fragments. Confused? I am too. 

This book, at the end of the day, is nothing special, but it is enjoyable. This book has several tropes and several things I love, which honestly made this a fun, amusing, and worthwhile read. I’ve actually already gone out to buy the sequel The Silvered Serpents already which is a positive connotation in and of itself. 

  I genuinely found this book delightful, but I also think it's because the parts that comprise this novel are all things I adore, whilst the sum of the parts is...lackluster and unforgettable. 

Since we are still in Quarantine and I miss concerts dearly, here is a metaphor for you: if anything, this is the opener to the band that you've actually waited at the concert to see. The opener isn’t horrible by any means, and it’s similar to other musical artists you like, but it’s not the main attraction or the highlighted draw, and at the end of the night, you’ll forget you watched it in the first place. 

Recommendation: If you like what I like, which are misfit groups, romance, historical Paris, magic, and heist novels, then you will definitely find it as engrossing and fun as I did. If you want something to rock your world, to compete with the likes of other YA juggernauts, then well, this book is not for you. Go read Six of Crows instead. 

Score: 6/10