~Treasure Hunt + French Vibes~ -- THE GILDED WOLVES Review #TheWolvesAreComing

ABOUT

Title: The Gilded Wolves

Author: Roshani Chokshi

Series: The Gilded Wolves #1 

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Release Date: January 15th 2019 

Goodreads Page

Synopsis:

Set in a darkly glamorous world, The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

I received an advance copy from the distributor in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion whatsoever.

There is so much to this book and I really don't know how Roshani managed to fit it all in under 400 pages.

There are so many aspects that contribute to this sparkling book that really has me adoring this book. But first, How Dare YOu???? Roshani???? For the last 50 pages or so of this book????

This book takes place in an altered version of Belle Epoque Paris, just as the world expo is happening and the Eiffel Tower goes up. This book oozes with history as we encounter the effects of colonialism. One of the main aspects of the world in this book is the whole Order of Babel, in which "Babel fragments", according to lore, were cast down by God onto Earth and wherever there was a Babel fragment, civilization arose and people who could Forge (or have a special power of some sort) arose as well. With forging came special artefacts that are somewhere of a cross between magical object and spy gadget.

In regards to the colonialism bit, the book starts off with an auction of artefacts from various civilizations around the world that the Europeans had simply taken. It's very reflective of current day events as countries ask for their historical objects back from the British museums and this really great GQ article that links together a series of thefts of Chinese art that is suspected of being the government repossessing their art. I digress. This book has just great commentary on the ramifications of colonialism and what that means for the people who are affected by it even centuries afterwards.

This book follows our awesome diverse cast of Wolves, Séverin, Laila, Tristan, Zofia and Enrique. The whole diverse cast planning a heist gives me Six of Crows vibes which I love. There's of course some tension within the group at points, but overall I love the entire cast.

Séverin is of mixed heritage, as is Enrique and another character, Hypnos. Through them we are able to experience the stigmatization they encounter due to their parentage. "I cannot be both the descendant of a slave and the son of a French aristocrat, even if that is what I hold in my heart," is said by Hypnos and the book is really great at showing how racist and highkey awful the past was even if the aesthetics are great.

Laila and Séverin, oh boy. Meet your new Inej and Kaz. The chemistry between the two is SO PALPABLE. They have a tension and a past together that makes them so magnetic and attracted to each other. It's so great reading about one of them from the other's perspective and promptly I spent the entire book agonizing about the pair of them when they weren't facing IMMINENT DANGER.

Speaking of said imminent danger, one of the very big things that had me so excited for this book is the heist/National Treasure vibes from this book. If there is anything to learn about me at all, it is that heists are one of my favourite genres and National Treasure is one of my all time favourite movies. This book totally has that treasure hunt vibe as our beloved cast hunt down an artefact through their various knowledge of history and math. It's so great and I loved it.

The Gilded Wolves is a sparkling, nuanced novel that also has an awesome treasure hunt and an ending that kind of killed me. I can't wait to read the next book and to read more of this awesome cast of characters.

Happy Reading!