Wanted to like it more

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I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did; ultimately I'd say if you're interested in reading it, then go for it, but it's not one that I'll be actively recommending to my friends/family. Jokingly described by the author as "National Treasure but with hot people," it certainly delivers in that regard, and I enjoyed the puzzle/clue aspects that were based in history and mathematics. However, the overall pacing felt slow, and by the end all the high-action points had muddled together in my mind to the point where I had forgotten about some of them. It was also difficult to keep track of what was happening overall during complicated action sequences. The "gang of misfits" cast will inevitably draw comparisons to Six of Crows, especially since there is a heist element to The Gilded Wolves. While the Wolves cast is diverse and fairly interesting, it fails to reach the heights achieved in Six of Crows - I didn't develop strong emotions of any kind toward any of the characters, and I would've liked to see more into the mindset of Séverin and Laila, who are positioned as the leading POVs. Enrique, Zofia, and Hypnos were most interesting to me, while Tristan seemed to exist solely to aid in Séverin's characterization. The Forging magic was initially intriguing, with details about how users had to understand the physical composition of the item they're trying to influence (like Tristan having an affinity for the water within plants). However, it quickly devolved into a catch-all for imbuing any and every item with magical properties. The twist ending (literally, last sentence) failed to excite me, though there are some interesting setups for book 2, including a faux romance and the chance to move the story out of France.