The Gilded Wolves

A Novel

By: Roshani Chokshi

Narrated by: Laurie Catherine Winkel, P. J. Ochlan

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

An instant New York Times best seller.

This program includes a bonus interview with the author.

Set in a darkly glamorous world, New York Times best-selling author Roshani Chokshi's The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society the Order of Babel seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: an engineer with a debt to pay; a historian who can't yet go home; a dancer with a sinister past; and a brother in all but blood who might care too much. Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

Praise for The Gilded Wolves:

"What’s better than Paris? Nothing. Except, that is, for Roshani Chokshi’s magical Belle Epoque Paris, where a crew of brilliant, tricksy, dispossessed young people are fighting personal demons and powerful foes to carve out their place in the world. This is a book to swan dive into, swim around in, luxuriate in.” (Laini Taylor, New York Times best-selling author of Strange the Dreamer)

"A masterpiece of imagination. Dazzling, sharp, and as dangerous as a freshly polished sword, The Gilded Wolves is a brilliant kaleidoscope of decadent world building, seductive magic, and utterly immersive storytelling." (Stephanie Garber, New York Times best-selling author of Caraval)

©2019 Roshani Chokshi (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code converge in this dazzling new fantasy.... An opulent heist adventure that will leave readers voracious for more.” (Kirkus, starred review)

"[P. J. Ochlan and Laurie Catherine Winkel] animate a large cast of well-rounded characters, a complicated plot, and rich descriptions...Their strong characterizations as well as their use of accents and judicious timing suggest an exciting new series ahead." (AudioFile Magazine)

Please tell me there'll be a book 2!

4.5 stars

The way this ended . . . I'm hurt! And if there is not a book 2 I'll be doubly hurt. This story was awesome! The action, the drama, the passion and the love. And the fact there is a female engineer!! Yaaaaassssss!

I'll just sit here and wait on book 2 . . .

Listen to the Sample!

I didn't listen to the sample before buying, and regret it. The male narrator has a lovely voice for dialogue, but his narrative voice is firm and mechanical. I couldn’t do it and DNF. (Overall and Story set at 3 as a rating is required)

Brilliant, diverse historical fantasy

I've listened to this book 3 times and it's truly amazing! I love how we explore into magical lore, heists and great characters. Plus I think the narrators do a great job at the various accents.

I'm in the minority coz I liked the narration

I've read the other reviews and I know plenty of people who struggled with the narration but I personally thought they were okay. Not the best but okay. The only area where I struggled is that it's hard to differentiate the voices for the two female protagonist. Zofia is Russian and Laila is of Indian descent but the female narrator didn't really try to differentiate their voices or accents and it made it confusing.

I thought you all were exaggerating.

I just finished listening to another series of Chokshi's (the Pandava novels) and was excited to check out other works of hers. The description for The Gilded Wolves intrigued me. I love Fantasy Adventure and I'm also a fan of Historical Fiction, so I figured this novel would be perfect for me-- and you know, it probably is! But I can't say for sure until I read the book myself, because my god, there's no way I am letting this narrator read it for me.

When I first read the reviews that were already here, I wanted to believe that people were being harsher than they needed to be with the male narrator. I've picked up movies and novels with negative reviews before that I wound up loving anyway, and knowing that there were two narrators for this book, I wondered if it was just a matter of one especially talented narrator being paired with a relatively novice one. In short; I was determined to give The Gilded Wolves the benefit of the doubt.

I was wrong.

If you've ever heard Male Siri, this guy is... just a little worse. His delivery is so dry, so robotic, so painful and so willfully unnatural at times that his performance almost felt spiteful, like some sort of petty underhanded vengeance on people who felt like listening to a good story instead of reading it themselves. If his goal was to make me regret buying this novel, he succeeded. I couldn't finish Chapter 1 even though I was interested in the characters and the worldbuilding being presented.

I love Audible because it's allowed me to keep up with books that interest me even with a hectic work/school schedule, so this was genuinely disappointing. My plan is to buy a physical copy of the book sometime and wait until I'm on break to give it a read. I intend to give The Gilded Wolves the chance it deserves.

Amazing, captivating, and needed!

This book will steal your heart, break it, and then forge it back together with magic. The characters will capture you in a maze of interest, curiosity, humor, and the need to protect. An unforgettable read!

Another Fantastic YA Con Story

Among the greats, such as, Six of Crows, The Last Magician and Throne of Glass, this story was great in it's description and excitement of the con. The story kept me enthralled and glued to it's pages night after night. I had to get the audio version, because I could t wait to hear what happened next. I really loved this story!

love it

Loved the story but the male narrator was so bland. He delivered every line so boorishly

who approved the male narrator???

idk who approved the male narrator but wow, I cringed through every chapter he did!! His French accent is good, but telling the story otherwise he's basically a news caster announcing breaking news at the commercial break. please redo this narration!!

The Male Narration was horrible

The other reviews were right - the male narrator’s work on the prose was horrendous. He sounded like a bizarre automaton while reading the prose but completely fine for dialogue. I just did not understand.

Otherwise I enjoyed the story and the female narrator. I do wish they had figured out a way to give Laila an Indian accent (she had been in Paris for 2 years so a French accent didn’t make sense), and at the very least learn how to pronounce the Hindi and Tamil words.