Misfit Camaraderie Meets Thrilling Heist in Magical 1889 Paris
A delightful combination of misfit camaraderie and a thrilling heist, The Gilded Wolves is fun and exciting. Chokshi has woven an intricate and deeply involved story with this new approach to a supernatural/magical ability: Forging.
Forging is the ability to manipulate or enhance an object, either physically changing it or showing a manipulation through mind forging. It's complex but fresh, which is a commendable feat for Chokshi. Forging is part of an elaborate history tying to the biblical Tower of Babel and its remaining fragments, controlled by the Order of Babel. The Order is constructed from members of Houses of families, similar to a royal lineage and royal courts.
Forging is introduced a little heavily in the beginning, along with the history and entire set-up for the world, but it's completely worth the little bit of info-dump thrown into those opening chapters. I know no other alternative, so I get why it is all there early on.
Propped up against the Paris backdrop featuring a newly constructed Eiffel Tower, and coinciding with the Exposition Universelle of 1889, The Gilded Wolves is hard to put down. Between the characters, the settings, and the detailed history, I was entranced by the atmosphere and intensity so well-written by Chokshi.
Séverin, the main narrator and head of the band of misfits he calls his crew and family, is both cold and removed while still practically vibrating off the page with his vulnerability. Revealed both through his interactions with his crew and through flashbacks that read like dark fairytales, I could not get enough of Séverin as the narrator.
This is what I wanted, and didn't quite get, from Six of Crows. So any fan of that one should be thrilled with the web Chokshi has constructed for this new world that melds perfectly with the real-life 1889 Paris in which it is set.
Forging is the ability to manipulate or enhance an object, either physically changing it or showing a manipulation through mind forging. It's complex but fresh, which is a commendable feat for Chokshi. Forging is part of an elaborate history tying to the biblical Tower of Babel and its remaining fragments, controlled by the Order of Babel. The Order is constructed from members of Houses of families, similar to a royal lineage and royal courts.
Forging is introduced a little heavily in the beginning, along with the history and entire set-up for the world, but it's completely worth the little bit of info-dump thrown into those opening chapters. I know no other alternative, so I get why it is all there early on.
Propped up against the Paris backdrop featuring a newly constructed Eiffel Tower, and coinciding with the Exposition Universelle of 1889, The Gilded Wolves is hard to put down. Between the characters, the settings, and the detailed history, I was entranced by the atmosphere and intensity so well-written by Chokshi.
Séverin, the main narrator and head of the band of misfits he calls his crew and family, is both cold and removed while still practically vibrating off the page with his vulnerability. Revealed both through his interactions with his crew and through flashbacks that read like dark fairytales, I could not get enough of Séverin as the narrator.
This is what I wanted, and didn't quite get, from Six of Crows. So any fan of that one should be thrilled with the web Chokshi has constructed for this new world that melds perfectly with the real-life 1889 Paris in which it is set.