The Silvered Serpents

Great read, fast-paced, engaging from the get-go.

The first few chapters are just Severin dealing with his hurt lashing out and punishing the people who care about him. I have no interest in reading that or continuing the series

Nearly 3 weeks after reading the first book, we get into the second book with Julie and Manon. Unfortunately it was again a big meh for me :/ It manages to be better than the first one but I didn't find it particulary interesting. Some characters are boring or unlovable, like Séverin (a pity because he was one of the very few I liked in the first book) and I still didn't understand the usefulness of Laila... There are some good points like a good story, good riddles (too far-fetched), some romantic tension and a very good surprising ending ! So, in the end, I'm gonna read the last one but not very soon :D

3.5 actually p good. i think the ideas of this books and character arcs were pretty intriguing and i was invested in the mystery. but man sometimes the writing and scenes were just so clunky or confusing and contrived. like enriques arc was good til like the end and laila arc made sense and was awesome in many points and zofia is my fav character but generic growing brave arc and severin actually had a character in this that wasnt just generic edgy protag (still edgy but less generic) but each of them has super contrived moments that made me go like ok the story beat hits but execution wasnt there.

if the book was tighter it would actually be super compelling but instead a lot of it was like wait what god what mythology why is this happening. so much felt drawn out too long or too rushed!! but cool nonetheless

I enjoyed the story and the setting. It felt a bit choppy and repetitive but that didn't stop me from reading, my interest in the story is pretty strong.

predictable and i hate severin

This series is a great slowburn miscommunication idiots-in-love story with the most glorious cast of side characters I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. Hypnos is my favorite.

The adventure! The drama! The splendor! The angst!

I love all the characters, but I have to say Séverin and his brooding man-pain could get a bit tiresome. However, it served a purpose, so I wouldn't call it a drawback – it just made me look forward to the other characters' chapters more.

Despite my complaint about Séverin, one of my favorite aspects of The Silvered Serpents is the characters deal with their grief and pain from the first book. It's an integral part of the story and not ignored.

Some of the plot points were a bit predictable, but the story still held my interest. I'd say it served more as setting up the next book, in terms of where this story ended and exploring the world more.

Overall, a wonderful sequel to The Gilded Wolves. I can't wait until the next book comes out.

Audiobook Review: I had listened to The Gilded Wolves this summer, and when I started reading The Silver Serpents as an eBook, it just didn't live up to the first book. I waited until I could listen to the audiobook. The narrators do such a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life. The accents are fantastic - much better than what I could try to conjure up in my head if I read it. I think half the reason Hypnos is my favorite character is because of P.J. Ochlan's performance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“She could not see her hope for what it was, nothing more than a silvered serpent.”

It was fun to return to this series again (even though I've forgotten most of the plot of the first book oops).

Likes:

* Enrique is now my favorite character. Followed by Zofia. These guys had great lines and were the most fun characters to read.

* The different cultures and mythologies referenced were a nice touch. I liked it a lot.

* Ruslan was also fun to read.

* The name thing that Laila mentioned was something I was relieved to read because the name had been irking me since the first book because nobody these days in India names their kid THAT!

* Saw the ending coming but it was still good.

Dislikes:

Nothing was too dislikable. I enjoyed this book. Though Séverin was annoying for 80% of the book and I wanted to slap him

my brain's on again which i guess means book plot twists don't surprise me anymore BUT i got the found family content i love so much from this series so i'm a happy gal

I've realised I really really like angst. Like I knew I liked it, but I didn't realise that I actually prefer angst until I read Wayward Son (sequel to Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell). So, while I do really love happy endings and the sequel being all happiness and butterflies; I like the sadness and angst, especially with bountiful amounts of yearning and yearning, all the while the angst just builds and builds and it's all so gorgeous.

And this is definitely the case in this book. You have Séverin perpetually pining over Laila, and that makes him sad. And he's sad because of the very sad, awful thing that happened at the end of The Gilded Wolves (which is, you know, we don't talk about that, okay). He must be so tired from thinking he's doing things all wrong and a team that he's bound to let down and/or lose them; can we all just chip in to buy him a gift voucher for a couple of therapy lessons? Like, please, Séverin, accept some love from your team.

And then on the other hand, Laila is also pining over Séverin, and I can now definitely count them as a favourite ship, and they need to be together at the end of the series. But there's another issue that she also has to worry about, and which issue does she need to be worried about more? And the two of them go back and forth on their relationship and feelings, all written excellently and it's all so good.

Don't get me even started on how much I love Hypnos, Enrique, and Zofia. I love them so so much. Like I said below, I love all the cast equally but I do have a special super interest in these three because they seem to share the same thought – that they don't belong, that they're most likely annoying. Like, HI, I resonate!! FULLY! So that's probably why I feel so much for them because I can relate to them just a little bit more than the others.

I had so many emotions while reading this. So, so many emotions – my Kindle is just full of it. If you're a reader who reads for emotions and is wanting to find more books that'll make you swoon and squeal (or whatever your choice is), then I highly, highly recommend this series.

Roshani is just a master at creating prose for her characters. Its all so beautiful. I don't even feel like I'm sitting on my couch and watching a movie while I'm reading – the prose and the story and the way the characters speak with each other makes me feel like I'm right there with them. Basically, I just want to eat the words, I know that probably doesn't make any sense at all, but that's how I'm feeling – like I want to pick up the words and chew the words.

I love how sometimes, in the kindle notes I'm like Roshani, this and Roshani, that; like I personally have Sunday lunch with her or something, like she'll read this review and then invite me to lunch

I think it's more of a 3.5 again but I'm rounding up.

As this sequel release got postponed by a long period, I've actually had the ARC for months now but I just didn't feel like reading it too early. And I'm always apprehensive about Roshani's writing because it doesn't always work for me, and with this weird year and my raging reading slump, I didn't wanna take any chances. But I finally felt the urge to pick it up and I'm glad I did before the release date, though I'm still processing my thoughts about what I ultimately feel about it.

Roshani's writing is always exquisitely beautiful and poetic but as a reader who loves simple straightforward prose, I'm not always in the right mindset to enjoy her work. But it didn't feel that way this time. I found this sequel much easier to read and I finished it in just two sittings which surprised even me - maybe I'm just used to her style now or maybe it was slightly less flowery this time around. I also didn't find the pacing to be slow like many other readers seem to have; I actually thought it was pretty fast even though I agree that it's not as action packed or tense as The Gilded Wolves. The descriptions of the Sleeping Palace, the withering cold in Russia and just everything that they found in that palace was all very lush and vibrant, and I could totally feel the chill in my bones.

But the historical references, the puzzles and riddles, and the theme of grappling with colonialism that seeped through the words in the first book, didn't have the same affect in this sequel. I guess we lost a bit of that newness and it became something expected, and the author didn't really expand on the magic system much in this book. Literally my only major complaint from the first book was that Forging wasn't explained properly, and I felt like despite the presence of many Forged objects this time around, the art of Forging itself took a backseat and we got to know nothing more about it. In that sense, this sequel was much more character focused than plot focused.

And the characters are where I'm unsure how to react. I really do love them all, especially Laila and Enrique and Zofia. But I didn't feel much of a connection to Severin in the first book and while Hypnos is interesting, I wish we got his POV too. But this time, every single one of them is wallowing in their own grief, keeping secrets from each other, there's hardly any open communication between any of them - making it all feel like an overblown angst fest which I didn't wanna deal with. It's obviously not the book's fault because even the first book had a lot of angst and pining, but I've really lost the taste for that sort of tropes these days and it made my enjoyment of the book not very satisfactory.

To conclude, this was a good middle book which I thought had great writing and created a beautiful atmosphere. You'll definitely enjoy it more if you prefer character driven stories with a lot (and I mean a lot) of angst. While I found the identity of the villain to be pretty predictable, I did not see the twists at the end coming and that was a nice surprise, and a good way to keep my interest on for the finale.

In this sequel to The Gilded Wolves, the once close-knit team of Séverin, Laila, Zofia, and Enrique has drifted apart in the wake of Tristan's death at the hands of the Fallen House. Haunted by the loss, Séverin becomes obsessed with locating an artifact he believes could turn him into a god. He convinces the crew to help him with this one last mission, which leads them into the heart of Siberia.

The Silvered Serpents is a bit darker than the first book, given that the relationships between the crew members have deteriorated due the tragedy at the end of The Gilded Wolves. However, it's still an exciting page-turner full of magic and mythology, with some great character development. Another cliffhanger ending will leave readers wanting more!