The Silvered Serpents Review

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The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: September 22nd, 2020

They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.

Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost — one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God.

Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.

As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.

A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.

GOODREADS—BOOKSTORE LINK

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This e-ARC was provided by the publisher from netgalley but this does not impact my review which is honest and unbiased.

First of all, if you haven’t checked out The Gilded Wolves you should probably read taht first because this review WILL spoil TGW (Here‘s my review for TGW).

I’m still not over Tristan’s death… and neither is the crew (Speaking of which, is there like a group names for this dysfunctional found family?). All of them are dealing with their grief and they’ve all separated which was so sad to see because IT HURT.

Let’s just start off with how much I wanted to punch Severin in the face. Like right from the beginning to near the end?! He was just doing dumb thing after dumb thing all in the name of protecting his friends but he really wasn’t being a good friend?! UGH. The THINGS HE DID. I love a book that can give me every emotion, even anger haha

I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the Laila/Severin dynamic this time specifically because of the dumb things Severin kept doing. I was really excited about the possibility of the “fake dating” trope but it was definitely utilized in a different way than I was expecting here. The angst in this one really leveled up for this one but it was a bit too frustrating for me. Especially in Laila POV when Eva was introduced I was easily frustrated with the “love triangle” trope that was being presented. Of course, it just added to the amount of emotions and chaos so while I didn’t completely enjoy it, it didn’t knock off any points for me.

You know what I DID really enjoy? More friendship scenes with Laila and Zofia. I LOVE THEM. Also the dynamics between Hypnos and Enrique and Zofia?! I LITERALLY LOVE THEM. Enrique was basically my favorite character in TGW and I was so happy that he continued to be number 1 on my list along with Zofia. Their dynamic is just *chef’s kiss*. I really wanted to just give them hugs throughout the book. *EVERYBODY JUST NEEDS TO LISTEN TO ENRIQUE WHEN HE TALKS, OKAY?!*

I also just really understood Hypnos so much in this book. Like he made me sad and angry but I also just really related to him which was a LOT of emotions to deal with.

I really loved that the character’s were just expanded a lot in this book. I’m a sucker for great character development and getting to see each perspective and their dynamics (the amount of wholesome and also frustrating moments I have highlighted is amazing).

I was really proud of myself for actually being able to wrap my head around the magic and world building a little more this time while reading especially after re-reading TGW. I don’t know why I felt that it was confusing the first time around but this time it was more expanded and easier for my weak brain to handle.

The only reason it’s not a five star read is because the ending happened. I think in the beginning of the year when I requested the book I was pretty positive it was a duology but I think it got expanded (which is totally awesome and great) later so when I read this and it just ENDED LIKE THAT my head just couldn’t wrap around it. On top of that, it took me a good twenty minutes to understand what exactly happened at the end and I’m not usually a fan of confusing endings (for example, City of Brass). This is my personal thing because my brain has limited capacity of understanding when reading. BUT anyway, overall this was still a fantastic ride. The last 30% I read all in one sitting because I was so engrossed in the story and it was fantastic!

If you love an amazing squad with great dynamics, the feeling of wanting to punch a character for being so incredibly frustrating but also understanding them, just absolutely amazing characters that deserve hugs, a really intriguing magical system, a really angsty couple, and of course, a little bit of mystery and a bunch of heist you should definitely pick up this incredible sequel!