Stories About Colonialism - The Keysmash Blog

The Gilded Wolves: A Nuanced Heist Fantasy That Explores Colorism, Colonialism And Power Struggles

Ratings: 5/5

Short review: Excellent novel is excellent. Highly recommend.

The tea (because there always seems to be a controversy or another whenever a marginalized author puts out a best-seller diverse novel): skip to the bottom.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: child abuse, mild torture and violence

Detailed review: Now this here is a stunning, exciting thought-provoking novel that I can’t wait to get more of. Roshani Chokshi (who made me remember why I love fantasy with her debut novel The Star-Touched Queen and its sequel A Crown of Wishes) once again brings a brilliantly written fantasy/heist story with a cast of incredibly fascinating, lovable characters, an intense and captivating plot line, slow burn romance, and breath-taking world building.

Set in the era of Moulin Rouge in a fictional, glittering and magical Paris, the book, on the surface, is about a team of 5 talented thieves working on their most dangerous and rewarding acquisition. However, as you dive deeper into the story and learn about each characters’ motivations and aspirations, the story begins to explore racism, colonialism, identity and disparity through well developed, diverse characters of all backgrounds. What I loved the most is that the author touches on these topics just long enough to make you pause, and ponder on important questions without taking the focus away from the actual heist.

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It was impossible, of course.
But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor: A Whimsical, Impossibly Imaginative, Lushly Narrated Fantasy

Probably one of the most whimsical, magical, wonderful story I have ever read, Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor is the kind of young adult fantasy novel that challenges what constitutes as “impossible”. It is the kind of story where magic and science co-exist in such perfect harmony that the lines between reality and fantasy are duly blurred, and this vibrant, stunningly improbable world is full of people from all walks of life, each with heartbreaking and yet inspiring stories of their own.

The story begins with Lazlo Strange, an orphaned child who escapes the misery of his terrible, abusive childhood through daydreams of a fabled magical city that allegedly existed up until 300 years ago. He (and the reader) get their first taste of magic when one day, while Lazlo is still a child, everyone across the world forgets the name of this magical city–every time they try to speak it, they can only say Weep.

Things begin to get even stranger after that. But that’s not important at all. What’s important is that after a series of absurd, unfortunate incidents, Lazlo gets the chance to actually visit this mystical fabled city of Weep.

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