It is hard for me to decipher how much of the current (Covid-19) world is infusing itself into my moods, making me hanker for mysteries and simultaneously perhaps making other reading less satisfying. Rohani Chokshi's young adult fantasy novel, The Gilded Wolves, was hard to get into but became more enchanting (no pun intended) as it went on. The early chapters introduce all the major characters but felt elusive with so many references to the imagined elements of the story that I felt I was swimming upstream and not gaining momentum. I bought this book a bit over a year ago during a trip to NYC (where I currently cannot visit my daughter and do another traditional Barnes and Noble run!). I was charmed by the reviews I read and of course drawn to a fantasy that takes place in the Paris of 1889, with the Eiffel Tower built and ready to welcome the world to the Exposition Universelle. This is all nicely built into the sweeping fantasy. I did particularly love this presentation of that edifice I still love to see: "No one would call it beautiful, but that hardly mattered to Zofia. Beauty did not move her. But the Eiffel Tower did. It was immensely awkward. If the streets looked sewn together with a neat hand, la Tour Eiffel was the ungainly needle pinning it all into place. It lanced through the grand boulevards, elegant cupolas, and buildings draped in sculpted gods. It would never blend in, but always demand witnessing." That pretty much saved the entire book for me! I did love the characters more and more as they coalesced into a team in spite of all their oddities. I liked the oddities. Yet I was impatient to finish and don't know if this was the first book of a planned trilogy or not... the ending upended me just when I needed something golden to hold on to.

Arrived yesterday!

I have several Chokshi books on my wishlist and I'm looking forward to reading this one! Thank you so much for the RABCK!

This book is fine. It will appeal to people who like Davinci Code and YA and historical fantasy. Unfortunately, I am only one of those markets and not in the Venn Diagram for all 3. There is also the crux of what aspects of history and myth entrall a reader - another place where the Venn Diagram of this book and my interests do not overlap. (And in the very few places it did, I have disagreements with the presentation.)

I like reading good books and several of Chokshi's books ended up on my TBR based on recommendations. Most of the above is not really the fault of the author. She wrote a book for an audience that isn't me. However, I also did not care for the writing style, the way the characterization was done, the backstory by memories at the beginning of ever scene, the way I felt manipulated as a reader, and the way the book ends with a set-up for the next book in a way that so very-much did not work for me. For those who loved the book, they will be thrilled there is at least a sequel.

I loved the worldbuilding that did not involve aspects of our real world - the Forged items and the inherent magic within was so interesting and appealing.

I will be finding a new home for this book.