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The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves, #2) by Roshani Chokshi Published by Wednesday Books on September 22, 2020
Genres: fantasy
Source: NetGalley
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They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.
Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost — one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God.
Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.
As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.
A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.
Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of her New York Times instant bestseller, The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with another riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever in The Silvered Serpents.
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:
grief, mention of infertility and suicide, mention of stillbirth, antisemitism, mention of child abuse, violence, blood, drinking
☂️ DIVERSITY: Bi-racial main characters: Séverin (French and Algerian), Spanish and Filipino (Enrique), French and Black (Hypnos). Indian main character (Laila). Polish, Jewish and on the autism spectrum main character (Zofia). Queer main characters (Enrique, Hypnos).
There are no spoilers in this review.
I ENJOYED…
☂️
- One of the strongest suits of this series is the characters. Roshani Chokshi is a master at building unique character voices. Told from multiple POV, we get to follow each of their journeys and, well. You know how much I care personally about characters in my stories and here, I cared about all of them so, so deeply. Each character had their own arc, picking up from the first book, The Gilded Wolves and growing so much in different ways, I loved that so much. Obviously, I had my favorites, but I really enjoyed all characters and, for me, that’s a win.
- Severin’s journey as he tries to handle his grief, the way he closes off, the way he changes, gets colder and more calculating by the second…
- Then there’s Laila, my favorite as she struggles with her own curse and being her own time-bomb, finding her own strength and desperately wanting to protect her friends,
- Zofia, getting braver by the second and facing her fears, her growth as a character being stunning,
- Enrique, my second favorite little bean, deserving of the very best, to be heard and loved and ahh he deserves SO much,
- Finally, Hypnos, the funniest, adorable friend that might crack a joke or two to dilute the tension yet will fight for you.
- There’s so much to be said about the stunning relationships between the characters. Laila and Severin’s complicated relationship, the yearning and desire and want and love as they push each other away. The friendships between each of the characters, there’s SO much to root for and yearn for and hope for. I loved that!
- The world-building was just as rich as in the first book of the series, The Gilded Wolves. The Silvered Serpents brings us in a cold, snowy, mysterious palace in Russia. I was transported by it all, the author’s beautiful prose, the descriptions of the setting, everything felt vivid and beautiful. The Gilded Wolves felt mysterious, thrilling and gave me all the National Treasure and secret quests vibes. The Silvered Serpents took these vibes to another level. With more danger, still exciting plot twists and puzzles. With a coldness, a freezing menace looming over them at each time. Maybe it’s because the characters changed, grew, the stakes are different, they are different, too. All I know is that you can feel the characters and the world grows more dangerous with each step you take and, with each page you read, you can feel stress breathing down your neck. Tension done at its best.
- Just like its predecessor, The Silvered Serpents was a thrilling read, once you pick it up, you can’t stop reading it, compelled to know what will happen next. And, let me tell you, you’re not disappointed. Between the twists, turns and surprises and an ending that leaves you gasping (and screaming. I mean, I was like, WHAT THE HELL????)The Silvered Serpents brings this series to a whole other level and I can’t wait to see what will happen next.
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- This is very much a “me” thing, but it took me a little while to really get into The Silvered Serpents. This prevented me from being captived by the book straight away and, unfortunately, took a bit out of my enjoyement at first, too.
OVERALL
☂️
If you’re looking for a captivating adventure with a beautiful world-building, squad goals and relationships you’ll scream for and about, I definitely recommend giving this series a try. This sequel held up to the first book for me, and promises even more twists and turns and please please give me a happy ending in the last book okay thank you very much.
FINAL RATING : 4 drops!
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Did you read The Silvered Serpents or/and The Gilded Wolves? What did you think of this book or the series as a whole?
Do you have any recommendations of similar books?
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I’m so happy you enjoyed the book! I had trouble getting into the first one, but I had no problems here. So far, this is one of my favourite series, I love it so much and I am so, so attached to the characters and if they don’t get a happy ending it might seriously break my heart. They’re so dear to me <3
I’m so, so happy you lovet his series, Kat! I agree, if they don’t get a happy ending I WILL SUE ahha they just deserve it so much ahh. <3 <3
Great review! I still need to read this one.
Thank you so much! I hope you will and will enjoy it 🙂
You’re welcome and thanks!
I haven’t read this series but I want to. Great review!
Thank you so much! I hope you will, it’s fantastic! 🙂
I haven’t read The Gilded Wolves yet but it’s on my tbr so I’m glad you enjoyed this one too!
Ohh I hope you will and will love it, Emme, it’s such a fantastic series. Thank you so much! 🙂
Great review! I’m so excited to continue on with this series!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Thank you! I hope you’ll love it 🙂
4 drops sounds wonderful. About time i start this book.
I hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂
Thanks a lot
I’ve been dying to read this and I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 😀 The ending of the first book left me reeling and I hope I can read “The Silvered Serpents” soon. The relationships between the characters were already amazing in “The Gilded Wolves”! So I can’t wait to see how they’ll develop in here. And because I saw that you did it with the trigger warning: Are you using the new wordpress editor and how did you toggle that text? I’ve tried everything possible to toggle a text in my reviews but it never works. >_<
Ah I can’t wait for you to read this one, I really hope you’ll love it as much as I did 🙂
I am using the new wordpress editor, yes! It is made with HTML, it’s an html tag called “summary”, you can find some quick tutorials for it if you google html summary! Let me know if you can’t find it! 🙂
Thank you so much! <3 I tried it out and it works as long as I use the new editor. If I use the "classic editor" it doesn't work. Guess I'll have to make sure to use the new one then even though I'm still kind of at war with it. *lol*
Oh no! I’m sorry it’s not working. I’m just using the HTML block in the new editor and the code seems to be working for me so far that way. I also used it with the classic editor before by coding the HTML and it worked that way, too, I’m sorry I have no idea what could be going wrong here :/ I hope you’ll figure it out! <3
Wonderful review, Marie! This is actually my current read, so I’m more excited for the ending now!! I love the characters and the writing, just unsure about the plot at the moment but there is time for that become more clear. Glad you enjoyed 😍
Oh thank you so much! I can’t wait for you to get to the ending, I was so shocked haha. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts once you’re done with it all 😀
Ahh Laila is also my favorite and what she has to go through in that book is NOT OKAY. I am so desperate to read the third book, and to get a happy ending for those amazing characters. But also that ending was SHOCKING and put me in a reading slump I’m still not completely out of.
This was an amazing review, and I’m so glad to see you also enjoyed the book!
Right?? It was NOT OKAY to me either ahhh so many emotions. I just want her to be okay.
I can’t wait to see what happens next and just want my happy ending ahah <3 Thank you so much!!
Ahh I read an ARC of this back in January so it’s been a hot minute 😂 All the memories are flooding back and I’m trying to remember what I actually thought of it. I know I liked TGW better than TSS, mainly because Severin’s character took such a violent shift and it kind of threw me off? Honestly still here for a book 3!
I so get that. Severin changed a lot between the two books, though it’s understandable given everything that has happened in TGW. I hope you’ll love book 3, I can’t wait to read it! 😀
Yay, excellent! I found the first book a little slow to get into too, so I’m not surprised that this one takes a minute as well. But it sounds excellent, and I’m very glad to hear that a lot of it is about all of them dealing with their loss and what it means for them all.
I hope you’ll love this sequel just as well, Jenny! Thank you so much for your comment 😀
Ah so sorry, I have been so very behind on blog posts so am late today. But had to catch up on the queen!! Haven’t read this duo but I’m so keen. Such a lovely review Marie xoxo
Ahh don’t worry about it at all, I’m so very late on everything lately, so I get it ahah. <3 I hope you'll be able to read this soon, it's such a good series so far :)