Roshani Chokshi returns readers to a beautifully crafted world of magic, intrigue, relationships and revenge. Chokshi's lush writing style enhances the complicated relationships and motivations that drive each character, leaving the reader wanting more. The Silvered Serpents narrative feels colder and darker than The Gilded Wolves, picking up flawlessly from the end of the first novel. However, despite the overall darker feel, The Silvered Serpents is most definitely a novel about hope and family -- a light that peeks and pulls at the corner of darkness. Chokshi's work is always a pleasure to read, and The Silvered Serpents is no exception!

I did not really like the first book of this series but i decided to give the second one a try. I really enjoyed this one far more that the first one. I was glued to the page and i flew through this book. I will be recommending this book to my friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I wasn't sure how Roshani Chokshi could top The Gilded Wolves, but she didn't disappoint.

Months after the events in The Gilded Wolves, Severin and his team are still reeling from an unexpected loss when they should have been celebrating a victory over the Fallen House. Severin's hunt for a long lost artifact becomes more desperate than ever, as he becomes determined to protect the people left behind. Other members of his team are just as motivated to find the Divine Lyrics, but for another reason entirely. Their search takes them out of Paris and into Russia, where they encounter obstacles placed by their adversaries and by the demons none of them are willing to talk about. The stakes are impossibly high for the mission of their lives.

One of the things I loved most about The Gilded Wolves was the dialogue, and despite the more somber tone of The Silvered Serpents, Chokshi managed to insert banter and witty comments in all the right places. There are just enough moments that remind the reader of the average age of Severin’s team, because for all of their numerous accomplishments and skills, they’re still 20 something year olds who can mourn the loss of sandwiches and name a giant metal leviathan David. Throw in a good ol’ friends to lovers to friends to frenemies to lovers to...enemies? You get the gist - I’m sold.

Another of the many things I love about Roshani Chokshi’s writing is that she doesn’t just throw in representation for representation’s sake - she has her characters get mad and indignant and tired of being seen as background props. Their cultures and heritage shape the way that they see the world and interact with others and it’s just so affirming to see my own indignation and exasperation, and things I’ve actually said, represented in literature. I’ve been in Enrique’s shoes, shouting to be heard. The Silvered Serpents continues the work in The Gilded Wolves and makes me feel seen, and there’s something so powerful about that.
Roshani Chokshi’s writing continues to be incredibly clever in The Silvered Serpents. She places clues in plain sight for readers to try and parce together, and even when I thought I had the twists figured out, she still managed to surprise me. It was impossible to stop reading The Silvered Serpents, and I found myself anxiously awaiting the next moment of free time I could get to read. This is one of those books you seriously won’t be able to put down! (And SERIOUSLY, if anyone’s ready to scream about that ending with me...I’m waiting.)

My full review will be posted on my blog (currently under construction) in October.

Severin, Laila, Enrique, Zofia, Tristan, and Hypnos return with a ferocious tale of double-crossing, lethal heists, and enigmatic puzzles. Roshani Chokshi does a wonderful job of heightening the stakes. Each character undergoes a unique arc. Shocking events push the sextet to the breaking point. I cannot wait to devour the grand finale.

Everything has been building to this book.

We have heists.
We have travel.
We have stakes that are higher than they ever were before.

Also can I just give a shout out to Roshani who knows how to craft beautiful sentences?!?!!?! They aren’t always the type of lines to get tattooed or put on a mug, but they are oftentimes just so beautiful constructed I have to pause and go “wow, that’s amazingly written.”

This book has such a realistic portrayal of grief. I love how each character handles it differently. All of their actions make sense for who they are. You can feel their pain. Understand their motivations.

I think the line "Love does not always wear the face we wish." will have me forever broken tbh. It's such a...haunting and beautiful quote.

There is less banter and lightheartedness in this book than was in the first, but that makes sense given how that book ended. But don’t worry!!! The book still has funny bits:

“Why isn’t he going in?” muttered Hypnos.
“Fear of dismemberment,” said Zofia. “If I were designing thief-catching mechanisms, I would have a device rigged to attack the first three people who entered.”
Hypnos stepped behind Zofia. “Ladies first.”

I love the character arcs. I loved the storyline. The tension. The plot twists. It was grand.

And that ending!!!!! Oof. I’m going to need a bit to recover.

Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings: infertility (prologue), mentions of suicide, mention of stillbirth (chapter five), grief, a person disguises themself as someone else to trick someone into doing sexual things, mentions of child abuse, body mutilation, self-harm for forging purposes, drugging people without their consent, violence, some gore