The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves, 2)

In this book, we have the thief buddies™ coming together for their "one last mission." And let me tell you, Chokshi really took everything that she established in the first book and built on it spectacularly. There were so many more things at stake in this book and you can feel it in the characters' behavior. Everyone is just having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day in this book. But, that's what made it so good. The high stakes and the tension between the characters, particularly between Séverin and the rest of his team. Séverin has really evolved into this almost morally grey character. He's willing to do anything he can to reach the ending that he wants. Quite frankly, I think this made him an even more compelling character than he was before. Chokshi also took the time in this book to let us get to know the characters a little better. We find out things we didn't know (particularly about Madame Kore and somewhat Tristan) and we get a look into the evolution of their relationships with other people in the group. This is, once again, especially true of Séverin. The person that he has turned into in this book is almost unrecognizable, but at the same time it makes sense. I said it the last time in my review of the Gilded Wolves, but Chokshi has such a mind for vivid storytelling. The way that she is able to put you in a time and place just using words is dazzling. It felt like I was in the frigid palace in Siberia, or at the Russian ballet with Séverin and Laila. She is also fantastic at imparting the emotion of the characters so that you completely understand what they are going through. It is because of this, that the characters felt human. Gone are overpowered protagonists who seem to experience the world shallowly. It was all just very well done, and I really do applaud Chokshi for her knack for description. In short, if you read the Gilded Wolves and you weren't sure if you wanted to read the Silvered Serpents, don't hesitate! This book is everything the last book was and more. The changes we see taking place in the relationships of the characters, coupled with everything that is at stake make the story incredible. Authors need to take note, this is how you write a sequel that isn't boring. I don't think that this book ever dragged like the first one did at times. I enjoyed the first book, but I loved the sequel. I'm so excited to see where she takes the premise of the next book! I can promise you that I will be reading it, and I'm really looking forward to it.

The Silvered Serpents is the second novel in The Gilded Wolves trilogy and it picks up not long after the close of the first novel. Each of those working with Séverin are struggling to deal with their feeling about the death of Tristan at the end of the first book. Laila blames herself for not having revealed the core of darkness that was eating Tristan alive. Zofia wonders what she might have done. Enrique feels distanced from Séverin even as he sees that Tristan's death is eating his friend alive inside. Hypnos dances around all of the no-longer-merry band he wanted to join, but always hovering on the edges of belonging. They are shadows of themselves, and Séverin especially begins to grow colder, harder, and angrier than the young man we met in the first book. As his diffident relationship with Laila sours by degrees and the clock counts down her life, Laila pulls away from L'Eden, even if she hasn't given up the quest for some of the treasures the group must seek. She takes Enrique and Zofia into her confidence about the fragility of her situation, and her reasons for continuing to help the group as they seek out The Divine Lyrics that she hopes will provide answers to stop her impending death. But what are Séverin's reasons, really? And after the revelation at the end of the first book, that Séverin isn't the heir to the house he believes he is, exactly who is he really? The Silvered Serpents builds upon the complex story that Chokshi is trying to tell, showing us how each of her major characters strives to find a place and people with whom they fit. Since the first book, we felt that was L'Eden and with each other but the edges of this tapestry are badly frayed. Séverin's hubris in thinking it's his job to protect everyone from everything begins to rub them all the wrong way, especially Enrique, who becomes unsure whether that protection isn't really just a way to control everyone, with Séverin keeping all his players in a state of play, when and where he wants them. Yet through all this, Laila and Zofia shine. Zofia, who is so clearly on the high functioning autism spectrum, makes progress in her interactions with the others in this novel and begins to recognize her own strengths instead of just her weaknesses. And her emerging greatest strength is her great courage in wanting to help Laila. Laila is more defined in this book, less a femme fatale than an alluring, all-mothering figure. Laila is the one who knows how everyone wants and needs things, and yet she is also growing weary of putting up with Séverin and his growing callousness. Enrique also evolves in this novel, coming to see Hypnos, Séverin, and Zofia with clearer eyes. I enjoyed this second book and found the introduction of Ruslan and Eva to be an interesting if predictable development. The revelations at the end of this novel offer insight into the revelations of the first novel and set up daunting possibilities for the third novel of the trilogy. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Chokshi closes out the trilogy. I received a paper and digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi is a bound masterpiece. I did not think anything could be better than the first book of this trilogy, The Gilded Wolves, but I was very, very wrong. In this book we see the lengths the main characters are willing to go for each other, and the emotions they have for each other are palpable. The tragic romance between Séverin and Laila was especially heartbreaking and sob-worthy, and I find myself not knowing what to do now that I have lost them once again until the publication of the final installment of the trilogy. Every time I turned the page, a shocking twist lay waiting for me, and not once did I find myself bored. This book will absolutely be the best book I’ve read this year, and I eagerly await the final book, which I know will be even better.

In great shape. Looks brand new!

My thanks to the publisher for accepting my request at NetGalley for the eARC, my apologies for a very belated review. The loss of Tristan and the revelations of his dangerous mental state have twisted apart his family, Zofia goes to her sick sisters side, Enrique seeks out a voice in scholarship, only Laila stays by Séverin's side counting down her last days leading up to her birthday. Séverin who has become cold, withdrawn and calculating. He remembers the gold blood, the feel of wings and horns. If he would become a god, he could bring back Tristan, if he could become a god, he could save them all, protect them all, forever, if, if... First he must gather all of them, unite them, broken as they all are, they must still seek out the Divine Lyrics. It's a quest Hypnos joins them in and they're not alone in this adventure as trust is brittle between them and love wears many faces, as many as the enemies hidden among the Houses. My heart hurt reading this, heavy as the writing was. Outside the mysteries of the novel I found curious the names of Séverin's mother Kahina and the matriarch Delphine oddly linked elsewhere in Outrun the Wind by Elizabeth Tammi for Delphine is linked to Apollo of Delphi too.

If you like realistic fantasy with romance healthily intertwined, read the first book (Gilded Wolves) and then read this one. Trust me, you will love this. The second story has a slow buildup but, by God, I was squealing in excited anticipation at just the right times. Chokshi is quickly becoming my favorite author and I am on the edge of my seat, left to wait until I can get my hands on the third book.

Hopeful. I was so hopeful that I was going to get what I wanted from this installment, but I didn’t. And now I’m mad. I still gave this book 3 stars because I would have liked it overall if I decided to ignore the ONE thing I hated. The journey the...affinities, the setting, the relationship development (😡) were all very pleasantly depicted and the story overall was enjoyable. I find myself at a loss when it comes to trying to truly dissecting this book because just like the Gilded Wolves, a vast majority of the fast-paced action parts go over my head, and so trying to remember those along with the revelations and such are always hard for me. Just overall this world and the idea of the affinities and the various rooms with moving animals...it all usually goes over my head. Reading it, I can’t usually picture it and decipher who’s doing exactly what in my head. The visual image is blurry and therefore I usually end up a bit confused by the end of certain chapters where the characters are facing their various obstacles. With that said I will point out the one thing that upset me, and know that this is definitely spoiler. My ship sunk. It plummeted to the bottom of the ocean never to be seen again, and I’ve never been more upset. You don’t give me gay just to take it away. YOU DON’T. I will cut you!!! Like, gilded wolves set up Hyprique well enough that I TRUSTED Rosh in giving me that patriarch of House Nyx and historian fantasia I needed in this second installment. Instead, I got the opposite 🙃. Imagine how crushed I am, having waited for this for a year and being excited to get to read it early... I literally chose this over another book BECAUSE of Hyprique. Ha. And now...here we are. Me, full of salt. Rosh, murdering my ships. My relationship with this series, possibly tarnished.

I loved this entire series!!! Usually I find it hard to stay interested in fantasy series but there was never a dull moment in this series and it has amazing characters. Book was in great condition.

The Silvered Serpents continues the adventures of her pack of damaged, dangerous, magical teenage treasure hunters in Belle Époque Paris, although it expands the canvas, with much of its action taking place in Russia. Like The Gilded Wolves before it, the book is both a fabulously twisty heist novel, and a deftly written condemnation of the iniquities of empire — the damage colonisation does to both the colonisers and colonised. The book never lets readers forget that the glittering beauty of this opulent period of European history is built on exploitation and bones. The quintet of characters at the heart of this series each represent (in terms of both their identities and experiences) the interplay of privileged colonising empires, and the peoples such empires exploited and harmed. None of this is heavy handed — but it's impossible to miss. Like all the best middle novels in trilogies, The Silvered Serpents ends on a cliffhanger, with multiple questions unanswered (and asking new questions of its own). I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this plays out in the concluding novel.

The Silvered Serpents is just a brilliant part two for the Gilded Wolves. The characts just lure you in and the found family hits very deep. The ending was a bit off in some ways, or let's say, you shouldn't take it all too serious. Still a five star read for me definitely.

The Silvered Serpents picks up shortly after the events of The Gilded Wolves, but the stakes are even higher in this one as out motley crew of misfits are running out of time to find the Divine Lyrics, the one thing that can save Laila, though most of her friends do not know this. After the death of *character* in the first book, tensions between the team are at an all-time high, with Severin descending into himself to avoid hurting, as he plans to use the Divine Lyrics to become a god so he can protect his friends. The relationships in this book were frustrating lol I just wanted to yell at all of the characters and smoosh them together to make them kiss like Barbie dolls haha. But the story was so good, the plans going awry, the reveals, the betrayals... loved every minute!

good

This was one of the best sequels I have ever read and it only cemented my love and appreciation for The Gilded Wolves trilogy. There is no question in Chokshi's skill in crafting compelling characters and scenarios where we're on the edge of our seat, hoping for the best. It's impossible not to love them, share in their pain and sorrow, waiting for things to get better. I can see Séverin, Laila, and Zofia so vividly between the lines of each page, I know what Enrique fears and what Hypnos desires the most. I say it's one of the best sequels due to how action-packed it is, the story quickly continues where it left off and there is no time to catch your breath. Simultaneously, it's a slow narrative where you learn what each character is dealing with emotionally as they try to grow from their experiences. And I was always on the edge, anxious about what could happen next. All I can say about the ending is that I screamed into my pillow and then cried because I have to wait to read the conclusion. Truly, there's nothing I disliked from this: from the characters to the enigmas, the beautiful writing, and the atmosphere of a cold palace near the Ural mountains. The discussions about colonialism, tokenism, white people's belief that they have a right to strip away another culture's identity and artifacts, and how society pits girls against each other and raises us to hate one another. I love this so much and I highly recommend reading this trilogy. There are not enough words to explain how incredible it is.