Title: The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves #2)
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Rating: ★★★★½

ARC provided by Wednesday Books through a giveaway. 

I’m convinced Roshani Chokshi cannot write a bad book. The Silvered Serpents is a marvelous, exciting follow-up to The Gilded Wolves. The story is darker and forbidding. One of the characters begins to take unscrupulous path to achieve his means and it gives the book a bit of an edge. While I missed the light-heartedness of the previous book and the fun interactions between the characters, the evolution of the series into something more serious perfectly matches the content of the story.

The tension in The Silvered Serpents builds and builds throughout the story until the reader is rushing through the pages, eager to reach the climax of the action. There are plenty of plot twists, reveals, and ousted secrets to pull you into the book. Each character remains excellently written and flesh-out. I love every single one of them and want to protect them all from the horrors of the world.

Séverin – He’s broken and suffering, reeling from The Loss they experienced. He becomes distant and aloof from the others, and heads down a dark path in order to protect those he cares about.

“Séverin Montagnet-Alarie knew there was only one difference between monsters and gods. Both inspired fear. Only one inspired worship.”

Laila – Time is racing as her nineteenth birthday approaches. She feels the weight of her fatal secret but refuses to share the burden with her friends. She’s also trying to convince herself that she no longer has feelings for Séverin but we all know that’s a convenient lie.

Enrique – Still the sarcastic historophile trying to prove his worth to the world (seriously, we are the same person).

The heroes in Enrique’s imagination always ran off with maidens in their arms. So he rolled up his sleeves, put one arm around her legs and the other at her waist, hoisted her up–and then immediately put her down.
“I’m weak,” he groaned.

Zofia – Agrees to help Séverin with one more heist. She misses her friends, but her sister and sick and she would rather be at home with her. She also doesn’t want to burden her friends, so she keeps her worry to herself.

Hypnos – He just wants to be included and have friends, OKAY. I feel like an overprotective mother wishing her son would be included with the cool kids.

“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.”

The dynamics between all the characters continues to impress and thrill me. The tortured angst between Laila and Séverin creates such emotion in the story and I’m completely invested in their relationship. As far as the other romances, one sputters out by the end of the book, but at the same time another begins to spark.

I would almost argue that The Silvered Serpents surpassed The Gilded Wolves, but I find them both to be excellent in their own ways. Roshani Chokshi has written another thrilling, heist-filled story full of dark magic and friendship. The cliff-hanger ending will have you begging for the next book.