I recently finished The Gilded Wolves (read my review on that here: https://www.readwithpolina.com/2024/06/10/book-review-decadent-magic-in-the-gilded-wolves/ )and fell in love with the characters in that book. After that, I went and picked up the Silvered Serpents straight away. I was excited to be swept away in the wondrous world that Roshani Chokshi crafts with her words.

I always feel a bit doubtful whenever I pick up a sequel. After falling in love with a book, I’m scared I’ll be disappointed by the coming books. (Or worse – if the series is ruined for me by the ending). However, if there’s one thing I can say with confidence, it’s that this book was far from a disappointment.

(Warning: Spoilers for the first book, The Gilded Wolves.)
After Tristan’s death, all the members of Séverin’s team are shadows of themselves, Séverin especially. Haunted by guilt and shame, he searches for a solution to end his pain forever: godhood. Slowly distancing himself from every human emotion he can, he gathers his team to set out on a mission that might be their death – or their salvation.

The team goes out in search of The Divine Lyrics, which is said to grant the reader the power of a god. The book was last traced in Siberia in a place called The Sleeping Castle.

Roshani luxuriates in her descriptions of the cold, glittering castle. She plunges us headfirst into a setting that leaves us shivering with both awe and fear. The book is filled with the magical and the gruesome in equal measure. I noticed that this book was notably darker than the previous one. I found the parts I enjoyed the most in this book were when the author really dug deep into the character’s emotions and unearthed hidden fears through the horrific situations they went through.

The setting was beautiful in this book, though I didn’t like it as much as Paris. I felt like the author had a stronger vision of Paris and its beautiful, terrible history. That knowledge really reflected in the first book. Though Siberia was beautiful and described with relish, it lacked a certain emotional resonance. It was just a place where the characters went, instead of a setting pulsing with life.

I really, really enjoyed Zofia’s characterization in this book. She was incredible in the book, but she was given even more depth here. I loved her growth throughout the book, and she still stayed so true to her character.

In this book, the author really made Laila suffer. Seriously, she went through so, so much pain. In the previous book, we found out that Laila was ‘made’ and that at 19 years old, she would be ‘unmade’ and die. That knowledge really gave this book a lot of urgency, as we were racing against a ticking clock – Laila’s remaining days of life. The most important part of Laila’s character is her deep kindness, though here, it was more torn and frayed after numerous betrayals. Still, I loved how resilient she was in the face of all she was going through. She was trying so, so hard.

Enrique, a bit overlooked in the previous book, was given a lot more depth in the Silvered Serpents. His eagerness constantly being overlooked, him always feeling like he isn’t being heard, never fully belonging… that pain was articulated so perfectly in this book.

God, it was so hard not to hate Severin in this book. He was so cold and so unreachable. It was beyond painful to read how terribly he treated those around him, and himself, in his grief. He became so hyper-fixated on the goal he set for himself that he determined not to feel anything at all until he reached it.

His relationship with Laila was SO painful – god, after their familiarity in the first book, seeing how bitter and hurtful Severin was with her here was the peak of agony. The team had begun slowly unraveling and losing trust in him, a sight contrasted even further after their friendship in the first book. The team hadn’t just lost Tristan – they’d lost Severin too.

I especially loved how his deep-seated trauma about his aunt abandoning him was expanded on in this book. Matriarch Delphine was a major character in the Silvered Serpents – Severin’s old ‘Tante FeeFee’. Of course, her presence brought a lot of pain to Severin, and raised a lot of questions in our head – if she loved him, why did she leave him? Finally, our questions were answered.

The flashbacks from the first book came back here, but in a completely different light. Another aspect of Severin’s grief was discovering the hidden darkness Tristan had in his soul. The demons he’d kept hidden from the team.

Now, we revisited Severin’s memories of all his caretakers with a new, sinister light – Tristan’s refrain of “Don’t worry, you’ll always have me” (paraphrased) took on a whole different angle. This book really focused on the different faces love wears – hate, silence, jealousy, darkness. All of it love, warped but pure.

The thing I loved the most about this book was, of course, the characters. As always, they were the backbone of this book – we were filled with pain for them, love for them and above all else, we hoped that everything would work out in the end. The situations the author painted were so complex and full of hurt – Severin’s distance, Enrique’s desperation, Laila’s painful hope, Zofia’s anger, Hypnos’ ache to belong. While reading, I truly felt myself pulled this way and that with the characters’ emotions.

Roshani’s true skill is a mastery of creating characters. Even when there were parts of the book I didn’t like, the characters really made it an overall enjoyable experience.

I actually didn’t like the puzzles in this book that much. In the first book, that was one of my favorite parts – the mixture of mathematics and history to create compelling problems that you solve along with the characters. However, in this one, I can’t even think of any memorable puzzles. They were all kind of just ‘solved’ and you didn’t even think about it. I didn’t feel like the solutions had any real weight, or that we were trying to solve them along with the characters.

Also, I didn’t like how the characters were thrown into dangerous situations. In some parts somewhere in the middle of the book, I felt like the characters were purposefully dumbed down in order to get them to venture into these situations. I can’t believe that Zofia would ever enter a place without thoroughly examining it before and realizing its danger, and especially not alone when she was told to wait. There were multiple parts like that where I just thought “Wow, that felt forced”.

Even though I’m really happy with the characterization in this book, I think the author did sacrifice on the mystery and intrigue in order to get more depth with the characters.

In conclusion, this book is a heavily character-driven, beautifully painful story that mixes together a glittering setting with a sense of urgency that drives the story forward. All the characters grow and evolve so much in this book, and it’s so beautiful to watch. I didn’t love this book AS much as the first, but it was still a very needed continuation and an incredible sequel to the Gilded Wolves.