The Gilded Wolves (Review)

This past week, I read The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. I’d give it 4/5 stars.

It was a really nice book, I’m actually kind of surprised because I haven’t really liked a lot of the books I’ve been reading. The summary reflected the plot- there was a lot of suspense, history, and there were so many puzzles. The writing was descriptive, but sometimes it was a bit too wordy and heavy and it distracted from the actual story.

There were multiple plot twists, a vivid setting, and a diverse cast of characters.

The beginning is a bit slow, but about 30, or so, pages in, the plot starts moving. The beginning is full of intricate descriptions and world building.

The ending was a bit disappointing, and, to be honest, unexpected. I think, for me, the ending brought The Gilded Wolves from 4.5 to 4 stars.

I think there might be a sequel? Some aspects of the plot were left loose, and the last page is a bit cliffhanger-ish.

Overall, I would recommend The Gilded Wolves.

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The Gilded Wolves

Originally, I planned on doing a list of the top five books I’m most excited for that will be published in 2019. Except, I only know about one book that I’m interested in reading.

The Gilded Wolves is written by Roshani Chokshi and I’m super excited to read it. It comes out later this month (January 2019). It is supposed to be about a heist (and secret societies?), I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high after Six of Crows. But, The Gilded Wolves takes place in Paris in 1889, and it just sounds really promising.

I’ve read a couple of reviews and The Gilded Wolves has a pretty high rating- around four-ish stars and it’s supposed to have a diverse cast of characters, which is always amazing to read about. Diversity is really important, because it’s realistic and the entire world in interconnected; personally, I really appreciate it when authors acknowledge how there are many different types of people and that they should be represented too.

I have requested it from the library, so it might be the next book I write about.

The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1)

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Five Books from 2018

2018

Looking back at last year, I didn’t read much. These were the five books I read in my spare time and not for school. Majority of them were pretty disappointing.

1). I really enjoy reading about heists, so when my friend recommended Six of Crows (by Leigh Bardugo), I was really excited to read it. Except, there was no heist. This was by far the most disappointing book of 2018, and I tried to like it- Leigh Bardugo has really nice writing. But purple prose isn’t the only thing that can make up for the lack of an interesting plot, so I’d give it about 1 and a half stars out of 5.

2). Crooked Kingdom was an unnecessary sequel. If possible, it was worse than Six of Crows (Bardugo) in terms of plot and pacing. 1/5 stars

3). The Court of Fives trilogy by Kate Elliott: My mom and I actually read these together, and she liked them. I didn’t, but I did find them absolutely hilarious. The first book was decent- maybe 3/5 stars, but the next two books were as if Elliott googled ‘YA Cliches’ and decided to combine them all together. I’d give all three books maybe 2/5 stars?

4). The Girl from Everywhere (by Heidi Heilig) was one of the options we had for a book project last year, and the summary made it sound really interesting. I did Like Water on Stone instead, but I read the book just for the sake of doing so, and I wish I hadn’t. There were a couple of moments I enjoyed, but overall, it was a drag and it didn’t live up to the expectations in synopsis created. I would still recommend it, however. 3/5 stars.

 

5). A Reaper at the Gates (by Sabaa Tahir) was the only book I actually enjoyed last year. I was actually surprised, because A Torch Against the Night was kind of a mess, but I’m glad I read it. There was a lot I liked- the character development, the plot, and Helene’s POV. 4/5 stars

A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes, #3)

A Reaper at the Gates

 

 

An Ember in the Ashes #4

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Hi! So over winter break, I finished reading An Ember in the Ashes and it was pretty good. I’d give it 4/5 stars. I didn’t keep track of what was happening while I read, and since it’s a considerably large book, I’m just going to sum up what happened and my thoughts.

SPOILERS AHEAD 

The Emperor dies and Elias, along with Helen, Zac and Marcus are chosen for the trials. This part made no sense, because the Emperor had no male heir- which is why the trials happened. But Helene is a female- there is no logic for why she was chosen. Zac and Marcus get a start on the trials through cheating and assistance from the Commandant.

Laia gives up her freedom to become a slave. She enters Blackcliff as the Commandant’s personal slave. She meets Cook and Izzy, she spies- and then wait for it- she learns that Darin (her brother) is not in one of Serra’s prisons, but in Kauf.

Essentially, that is the only thing of any interest that happens. The trials and the fear of Laia being found as a spy are the only factors which propell the book forward. Along the way, Elias and Laia meet and fall in love and the book ends with Laia basically burning Blackcliff to the ground and blackmailing Elias into helping her free her brother.

Fun 🙂

But going back to the actual book review. I said this earlier but Sabaa Tahir writes really well. I love her descriptions and she has a really good idea. However,  I really, really, really hate Laia and Elias. Individually, their character arcs are really interesting, but once their stories get intertwined I kind of  lost interest because it’s less I-need-to-win-the-Trials and I-need-to-save-my-brother and more I-really-like-Elias/Laia.

The ending reverts back to being more individual-goal oriented, but there’s this drag about 3/4 into the book which just feels really odd.

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An Ember in the Ashes #3

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This week, I read pages 40-53. Once again, it was only one chapter- Chapter Six, but I think this should be the last week where I only read one chapter for a while.

Characters:

  • Elias
  • Helene
  • Marcus
  • A couple of the other students who are graduating are mentioned, like: Faris, Dex, Demetrius, Tristas, and Zak

Settings: 

  • Blackcliff

What’s happened so far? CONTAINS SPOILERS 

  • ELIAS is acting off and paranoid, so Helene advises him to not behave weirdly. However, she doesn’t suspect he plans on deserting, rather that he is nervous about graduating. The chapter spent a lot of time explaining Blackcliff and the Martial world.

THOUGHTS?

The writing was a bit choppy in this section, but Tahir has really descriptive settings.

“I tear off my mask…the cold metal releases its hold” Is there a name for the metal used to make the masks? And where are they found? I really hope Tahir will explain a bit more about them in the last book. They’re a big part of the story.

Elias is actually really annoying. He kind of just complains and is overall a passive character. I know that there have been times when his choices and actions influence the plot, especially later on in the book, but he spends like 3/4 of the book just going with what’s happening.

QUOTES I LIKED: 

“Elias, stop curling your eyelashes and get out here. We’re late.” (p. 44)

“Through the arches, Serra’s lights glow dully, tens of thousands of oil lamps dwarfed by the vast darkness of the surrounding desert. To the south, a pall of smoke mutes the shine of the river.” (p.52)

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An Ember in the Ashes #2

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This week, I read from page 32-40

So I only read Chapter Five and it follows Laia and her search to find the Resistance. I’m trying to read more in the next couple of weeks, but I’m not sure. I’m thinking about trying to make time to read two/ three chapters per week.

Characters:

  • Laia

Settings:

  • The Catacombs of Serra

What’s happened so far? CONTAINS SPOILERS 

  • LAIA is in the catacombs. She wanders around for hours, but isn’t too worried. It isn’t until night time that Laia realizes how stupid she was by coming in the catacombs, but she motivates herself to continue. But she finds them, however, a patrol approaches and Laia is forced to follow the Resistance.

THOUGHTS?

I never noticed this before, but there are so many instances where Laia gets scared, and I just really appreciate that. Many books now have snarky heroines who know no fear and can do no harm. It’s a nice change to have a narrator who messes up and isn’t so perfect.

Personally, I find the setting to be the best part of any book, and Tahir shares the world perfectly. Society-wise, it  models ancient Rome, but she brings in aspects of South Asian culture and Middle Eastern myths and I just really like the diversity.

On page 39, Tahir wrote, “Izzat means many things. Strength, honor, pride. But in the past century, it’s come to mean something specific: freedom.” So Izzat is basically the motto of the Resistance and that’s how Laia figures out its them. But going back to how Tahir brought in south-asian culture- Izzat literally means respect in Hindi. I know it’s like a really small detail, but it’s just so cool to see non-Latin or non-Greek words in fantasy literature.

So that concludes my thoughts on Chapter Five, and I’m just going to include some quotes I really liked.

“Stop Laia. No such things as ghosts. As a child, I spent hours listening to Tribal tale-spinners weave their legends of the mythical fey: the Nightbringer and his fellow jinn: ghosts, efrits, wraiths, and wights.” (p. 35)

Sana. A Scholar name, short and simple. If she were Martial, her name would have been Agrippina Cassius or Chrysilla Aroman or something equally long and pompous.” (p.37)

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An Ember in the Ashes #1

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This week, I read from page 14-32. But this post will be on the first 32 pages of the book. I didn’t meet my goal of a hundred pages, I only had 10ish minutes to read. But I read enough to write about something.

Characters:

  • Laia- Main protagonist; her parents and older sister are dead and she lives with her grandparents and brother
  • Darin- Laia’s older brother
  • Pop and Nan- Laia’s grandparents
  • Elias- Protagonist; he is about to graduate Blackcliff as he does not agree with its brutal ways. 
  • Helene- Elias’s best friend; she is the only female Mask at Blackcliff other than the Commandant. She is a strict follower of rules; even if she doesn’t agree with them. 
  • Demetrius and Faris- Minor characters; they are the same age as Elias and Helene and are about to graduate.
  • Marcus and Zak- twins; they are also about to graduate and Elias describes them as evil.
  • The Commandant- Elias’s mother; she is the head of Blackcliff and the only female Mask other than Helene
  • Falconius Barrius- about ten years old; he is the deserter

Settings:

  • Laia’s house
  • The Catacombs of Serra
  • The tunnels beneath Blackcliff
  • Blackcliff

What’s happened so far? CONTAINS SPOILERS 

  • LAIA is waiting for her brother to come home; she saw his sketchbook and is worried her is working for the Empire. The Empire is run by the militaristic Martials who have been oppressing the Scholars for 500 years, following their conquering of the Scholar Empire.
    • Darin begins to explain that Laia is mistaken, but before he can, there is a raid. Her grandparents tell her and Darin to leave through the back window, but they are found by a Mask (a highly trained soldier from Blackcliff). 
    • The soldiers kill Nan and Pop and arrest Darin. Laia manages to escape and runs, but is haunted by the fact that she left Darin behind. She wanders the Scholar Quarters, before remembering that the Resistance has to help her because they are the reason her family is torn.
  • ELIAS is about to graduate Blackcliff but planning on deserting, and is down in the crypts to store is supplies.
    • A younger trainee has deserted and has created a distraction, giving Elias a chance to prepare. But Helene, his friend of 14 years, finds him and begins to question him. However, the deserter is found before Helene can figure out what he is planning.
    • He and Helene go to Blackcliff’s bell tower and witness the deserter’s cruel punishment. The deserter ends up dying and, although Elia does not agree with Blackcliff’s brutal ways, he forces himself to act like he agrees so they do not grow suspicious of him.

THOUGHTS?

  1. So, this time I noticed that I’ve been misreading Commandant. I’ve been reading it as “commandment” and its really bothering me.
  2. It’s kind of weird knowing what happens to the characters in later books, but I realize that I’ve forgotten a lot of what happened.

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An Ember in the Ashes

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Hi!

So, I requested a book from the library to read this week, but I completely forgot about it and never picked it up. I decided to just reread a book I read a couple of years ago.

Sabaa Tahir wrote An Ember in the Ashes in 2015. I read it in 2016 for the first time, sometime around the end of November. I read in about a couple of hours because I was completely hooked. I read it again in like late September-ish in 2017, because the third book was going to be published (This was later pushed to June 2018).

Although I don’t like it quite as much as I did the first time I read it, it’s an amazing debut. I recommend reading it, and it’s part of a quartet. The final book will be published in 2019.

An Ember in the Ashes is about Laia and her journey to save her brother. To do so, she has to conquer her fears and spy for a group of rebels known as The Resistance.

I don’t want to say much more, but the basic plot motive becomes clear a couple of pages in.

I started reading 11/01/18, and as of 11/08/18, I am on page 14. I’m trying to make more time to read, so I’m aiming to be on page 100. Because I haven’t read much, I can’t say much, so next week I will talk about the total pages I’ve read (hopefully, it’ll be 100).

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Introduction

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Hi! Welcome to my blog!

I’ve loved reading ever since fourth grade. However, in the last couple of years, I’ve been reading a lot less due to not having enough time.

For every book I read, I will be blogging my thoughts about it. It’ll follow a basic format that includes:

  • the characters
  • the plot
  • the setting

I’m hoping that blogging about the books I read will create the time I’ve been lacking.

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