Hi everyone and welcome back to another Epic Epilogue post! This week, I’ll be talking about popular tropes, but done by BIPOC. This is something we see a lot in the book community, which is comparing books by BIPOC as *insert book by white author* or complaining about the excessive use of a particular trope. But, to me and many others, tropes might be overused because they’re done by white authors. BIPOC bring many new twists and voices into those tropes to make it unique and their own. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see it.

I’m going to feature three books this week, two I’ve read and loved, and one that I’m very excited for! Let’s start:

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Many people talked about how The Gilded Wolves was basically just Six of Crows, which is in poor taste. Heist novels are nothing new, and The Gilded Wolves is an ownvoices novels with genuine representation. As compared to Six of Crows, which while being diverse, is still written by a white woman. I’m not shitting on Six of Crows, I love that book! But The Gilded Wolves is different from Six of Crows, and it was very disappointing seeing people shit on it because they considered it a ripe-off.

The Gilded Wolves was like a love letter to nerds, to be honest. The rich history interwoven in the story, the world, Zofia’s facts, everything about it made my heart happy. I felt very ~smart~ reading it.

This book features several popular tropes that I would like to see more BIPOC trying:

• Found family/group of friends
• Heist novels

The group that we get in The Gilded Wolves own my heart. Every single one of them is trying their best and I would like to protect them from harm. It’s been quite some time since I’ve read the book, so here’s my review from when I wrote it: review.

The next book I’ll talk about is:

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

Some might complain about yet another fantasy book with a quest for our heroes to fulfill. But I ask, are any of those books set in a world inspired by Ancient Arabia and is heavily influenced by it? Probably not.

Reading this book was when I finally saw elements of my day to day life in a book. It was fantastic and exhilarating whenever I came across an Arabic word that I understood.

Some of the popular tropes in this book:

• Quest
• Enemies to lovers
• Girl pretending to be a guy
• Found family/group of friends

This lush fantasy book will transport you to a place that you never want to leave, with character you wish were real. I absolutely loved this book and I’m due a reread before the release of the sequel!

Last but not least:

Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

This book features one of my all time favourite tropes: FAKE DATING!!

There’s something about this trope that makes me very happy, and I’m always happy to read it. This, alongside marriage of convenience, are tropes that we need to see more BIPOC tackling. Give me that angst, that acting, that “we kissed for other people but really we liked it so now what” complication. In conclusion, give me all!

This book releases November 10, 2020 and I’m very excited to read!

All this to say that we need to give BIPOC authors the chance to tell stories in genres and with tropes that some people deem “cliche” or “overused” because it’s different. BIPOC authors bring new things to the table, and I think we’re all better for it.

Thank you for reading and see you next time ❤