Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 400 pages
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: September 21st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
In love they breathed. In destiny they believed. In the end, will divinity be their demise?
After Séverin’s seeming betrayal, the crew is fractured. Armed with only a handful of hints, Enrique, Laila, Hypnos and Zofia must find their way through the snarled, haunted waterways of Venice, Italy to locate Séverin.
Meanwhile, Séverin must balance the deranged whims of the Patriarch of the Fallen House and discover the location of a temple beneath a plague island where the Divine Lyre can be played and all that he desires will come to pass.
With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, unearthly songs and the shining steps of a temple whose powers might offer divinity itself… but at a price they may not be willing to pay.
Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of her New York Times instant bestseller, The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with the final riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever.
NOT ALL I HOPED FOR.
Do you ever sit on a review because you’re not sure what to write?
That’s how I feel here.
I wanted to love this desperately because I’ve enjoyed the whole series, but something ultimately did not click for me here. I didn’t feel as connected to the characters, the story seemed repetitive and very slow moving, and the ending? *sigh*
I missed this groups usual nature around each other. I know things have changed. So much changed though that I felt like I was looking at a new cast at times. I wanted more puzzle solving and quiet antics. I needed more of them together and working together too.
The ending left me really shrugging my shoulders. Since my emotional connection had dissipated I found I was more vexed than anything about what happened. It left a few things open and another thought or two that I think would spoil if I said. The epilogue was incredibly generic and I’m still in a twist about it.
It was nice being back in this world and getting to read the last tale of The Gilded Wolves. The interesting historical fiction + fantasy combo worked for me (even if it didn’t always make sense). I’m hopeful to read whatever Chokshi writes next.
Overall audience notes:
- YA Historical Fiction + Fantasy
- Language: a little
- Romance: closed door
- Violence: physical and magical altercations, murder, explosions, some blood depiction
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