Publisher: Wednesday Books
Series: The Gilded Wolves #1
Format: e-ARC
Source: Netgalley
ADD TO GOODREADS
Amazon
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 this book free from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
At first glance I thought this would be another Six of Crows type because it had all of the elements-a band of misfits with a dark leader, siblings, a LGBT romance, heists, etc. But once the story took off it was obvious that there were definitely some differences, which was good.
The cast of characters made the story that much more enjoyable. All of them were complex in their own way, and were struggling with their own personal issues. Laila is a good example. She has this completely other persona that not many people know about. She's a performer, and her performer personality is completely different than her regular one. When she's not performing for her adoring fans, she's baking decadent and delicious treats in the hotel kitchens. Laila's main struggle in the story is her relationship with Severin, the leader of their group. She knows that they cannot be together for a very important reason, but she still has issues staying away because of their history. Severin's issues stem from his inheritance being stripped from him at a young age by the Order. He has spent his life trying to reclaim it, and it has sometimes clouded his judgment. My favorite character was Hypnos. He's this wealthy and flamboyant member of the Order, but he longs for more. He wants real friends and for people not to look differently because of the color of his skin.
The racial and religious issues present during the story felt very real even for the time period, especially because of the diverse group that was operating during the story. Enrique, Hypnos, and Zophia struggled with the tensions that come with these hard issues. But throughout the story they handled them very well.
I struggled with two elements to the story, and one was the ending. It just felt very rushed and cliche, like we knew it was going to happen. But I think the very last page's cliffhanger more than made up for it. I definitely wasn't expecting that. The other element was that sometimes during the story it felt too modern for the time period, which was supposed to be set during the 19th century.
Overall I think this was a good read with a lot of potential in the sequel, especially because of the cliffhanger ending.
No comments:
Post a Comment