Well, that was interesting. Very, very interesting.
The Gilded Wolves is something special, but at the same time it does have its flaws. The first thing I will start obsessing about immediately is the characters.
Hypnos is the best thing that happened to this book and no one can convince me otherwise. This book would be nothing without him. He's charming, handsome ASF, always making jokes during a time he probably shouldn't be, and HE KISSED ENRIQUE. OH MY GOD. (Let's get one thing clear: I do not ship Zorique. They're cute together but Enrique and Hypnos is LIFE FOREVER. I have a feeling that Enrique will end up with Zofia, just by the way they act around each other (that was not a spoiler, it was a prediction). When that happens, I shall be a sad bean for the rest of my lowly, book-hoarding life. OKAY WAIT CAN WE TALK ABOUT HYPNOS' HERITAGE. HYPNOS IS HAITIAN AND SON OF A FRENCH ARISTOCRAT AND I'M HALF HAITIAN WHICH IS BASICALLY FULL HAITIAN SO THAT MEANS WE ARE SOULMATES.
Zofia is my best friend, favorite character, and all around the best person in this entire novel. She's so different from the others and I despise that she always feels left out or that she doesn't belong. Like GIRL, you don't need to fit in; let the world mold itself into something better for you. I hope she never, ever changes because she's odd, and different, and weird, but that's what makes her so lovable.
Laila is a goddess. I love her character. She's sort of the motherly figure among the six five of them and it's really endearing. I love her interactions with the others and her sweet, kind heart. I love that she bakes and she always smells like sugar and rosewater. Those are such small details and Jesus knows how much of a simp I am for those.
Severin is a god, my boyfriend, and everything beautiful and sexc and lovely in this world. UGH. He's like, French or something (guessing by his name), and that's fucking hot. He's also really smart, which is always a plus, and the BANTERRRR with the other characters always had me rolling on the fucking floor. I'm such a simp for this dude.
Enrique is your average goofy, sarcastic piece of shit that stole my heart on page twenty. I adore the little shit so much. I love his obsession with history, his constant bickering with Zofia over the significance of history over math, and his overall interactions with every single person in this book. He's a lovable little bean. I would seriously date him if he was real.
Tristan comes last. You know how bitches are like, "Last but definitely NOT least?" Yeah, no. Tristan is definitely LAST and LEAST important, LEAST relevant, and LEAST favorite. I don't know what people are saying about him in other reviews, but I ... don't ... really ... care for him like that?? I'm sure a lot of people love him, and if you do, MY BAD, but he was kind of annoying, and he sort of betrayed them, which no one even mentioned, which I thought was really weird (I get he was a good person so they forgave him, but still, it was ... weird). And then you have that part where Laila finds out the reason why the fucking birds were dying, and that was when I came to the conclusion that I hated Tristan and he could die for all I care. And then ... and then he (view spoiler). I didn't really give a shit. Roshani Chokshi having (view spoiler) just goes to show that she didn't give a shit about (view spoiler). (I'm obviously kidding, she probably loves him.)
To all the Tristan fans, I'm ... sorry I guess? I mean, I didn't feel like he fit in with them anyway, but they're all a bunch of misfits so it didn't really matter who you put them with.
I liked the friendship in this story, but I didn't feel like there was enough of it. I mean there was friendship, but I wanted more loyalty, I wanted everyone to accept Hypnos as one of them much earlier in the book. It was obvious that he's had good intentions from day one, and I found it a little annoying that just because Severin didn't like him meant that everyone had to act like they didn't like Hypnos. I'm pretty sure everyone has their own fucking minds and can think for themselves (unless I'm mistaken, please let me know). Just because Sev doesn't want to work with Hypnos doesn't mean the rest of them had to hide how they felt about him. I would've shown my affection for him regardless of what Severin had to say about it.
Now, to address the elephant in the room. "Is this book like Six of Crows?"
"A lot of people are saying if you liked SoC then you'll definitely like TGW."
"I enjoyed both books but The Gilded Wolves is so much better!"
I'm sorry, what? So, no. That's what we're not going to do. First of all, YOU PEOPLE HAVE NO LOYALTY WHATSOEVER. THE GRISHA SHALL STORM YOUR HOUSE AND STEAL YOUR CHILDREN. I guess it's pretty subjective and it's a matter of opinion, BUT NO. The Gilded Wolves is NOT better than Six of Crows, nor will it ever be. (The beginning of this book lowkey had me thinking it was better than SoC, therefore I'm the one with no loyalty.) I honestly wish people would stop comparing the two books because they're both amazing and contain their own special elements. I'm a HYPNOS-ocrite (see what I did there) because I'm literally about to compare them right now but still, no matter how similar they are, I think both books are really amazing and I'm glad they exist.
I just felt like The Gilded Wolves was. Way. Too. Similar. To Six of Crows. Wayyyy too similar. Let me show you why (prepare yourself you ain't ready for this).
Laila (dancer) = Inej (acrobat)
Severin (mastermind/boss of everyone) = Kaz (mastermind/boss of everyone)
Enrique (constantly making idiotic, sarcastic jokes) = Jesper (constantly making idiotic, sarcastic jokes)
Tristan (baby of the group) = Wylan (baby of the group)
Majnun(madman - this is what Laila calls Severin) = Demjin(demon - this is what Matthias calls Kaz)
Severin eating cloves for ideas = Kaz's "scheming face"
There are probably more similarities that I'm missing but those were the main ones that bothered me the most. The only one I felt was really unique was Zofia. It was like Roshani Chokshi designed her novel from the same formatting as Leigh Bardugo's. Having similarities between books are fine, but just not to this level where it's blatantly obvious that you got inspired by another novel. I understand Roshani's passion for history and math and her need to tell the story of her Filipina and Indian heritage (which is so fucking beautiful and amazing and badass), but it gets to the point where the books are noticeably similar and sort of takes away a bit of the fun of reading the novel.
Anyway, can we talk about Severin and Laila? OH MY GOD. WHAT IS IT WITH THEM. WHY ARE THEY SO PRECIOUS. First of all. First of allllllllll, the TENSION. The ATMOSPHERE. The BANTER.
WHAT
IS
THAT
WHY ARE THEY SO BEAUTIFUL
I do feel that when Laila and Sev are together, they sort of branch away from Kanej because with Kaz and Inej, you don't get that same tension (except the bathroom scene eheh) and it's a much different relationship. I LOVE. THEIR RELATIONSHIP. OKAY? They're the best ship in this entire book and I will continue to root for them (hopefully) in the upcoming books.
There were also times in the book when I didn't really understand what was going on. It's like when your math teacher starts explaining a concept, and all you're doing is nodding because the teacher is so kind and you don't want to disappoint them, so you sort of act like you know what's going on. And then when they walk away, all happy and smiling because they think they just cured cancer by helping you with that problem, you're like, "I cannot, for the life of me, understand what the fuck just happened." The plot was well-written, but there was just a LOT of things I had to remember and a lot of things I DIDN'T remember, and it was sort of hard trying to wrap my head around the complex (and wonderful) world-building along with the complex (and wonderful) plot. All in all, this shit was a lot to take in, but it was amazing.
And now for the end scene. The reader discovers something very important on the last page and I want to talk about it. I know it was supposed to be a cliffhanger but I kind of ... expected it? Like it wasn't shocking and like, oh my fucking geez like I did not ever see that coming. I kinda saw it coming like, page 100 lmao. But OVERALL, overfuckingall, this was a really, really, really great read. It wasn't enough for a Perfect, 104% Flawless, Five-Star Rating, but it was still pretty up there, which is why I gave it four stars. I won't be surprised if I decide to reread it in the next few months. I have The Sequel which I'm excited about, but first I need to read The Dragon Republic because people are talking about a dumpling scene????? and that it will be even more heartbreaking than The Poppy War??? and now I'm curious. And you already know how that goes.