Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

As de picas by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

138 reviews

recycled_personalities's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I would rate it higher if I could. This has risen to the top of my list of books I’ll recommend forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

spooderman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Eating disorder and Pregnancy

snd1101's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Rape, and Alcohol

jayisreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

I didn’t love or hate this book. It was fast-paced and engaging, but I felt that it was a little predictable… only because it was marketed as being similar to Get Out. And… yeah, it was, but with “dark academia” vibes. If I hadn’t watched Get Out or went in without knowing its similarities to the film, I probably would have enjoyed the twists far more than I did.

Ace of Spades was incredibly ambitious in what it wanted to tackle, but I felt that it wasn’t as well executed as it could have been. Perhaps this would have played out a lot better if it were a duology or something, but I think Àbíké-Íyímídé wanted to address too many topics in one book. Chiamaka’s biracial identity is one that I would have loved to learn more about (because it clearly impacted her), but isn’t really touched on. Similarly, Devon’s gay identity is one the author does dive into a fair bit, but it’s generally from a position of showing how Devon has to deal with homophobia more than anything else. There were really interesting points made about the incarceration of loved ones, socioeconomic status, etc. that clearly shaped the lives of the protagonists, but they weren’t fully developed.

The cast of characters were probably the strongest part of the book, with many of them being incredibly memorable. I wish Àbíké-Íyímídé developed the side characters more, because that might have helped address a lot of the “tackling too many topics at once” issue.

Again, I thought this book was pretty engaging. I think there was a lot left to be desired, but, at the core of it, Àbíké-Íyímídé draws attention to an ongoing issue in the academy of how Black students are (mis)treated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Outing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

calamitywindpetal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gun violence

shine_books1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Racism, Vomit, and Alcohol

jasminealizae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Poorly written. A lot of loose ends. Conflict/whole plot of the story resolved in one chapter. A waste of time. The author completely dropped the ball in their approach in attempting to tackle racism, classism and eugenics. Made Chiamaka conveniently bisexual when it suited the storyline then nothing came of it.

Jamie clearly started the fire. Devon ended up with Terrell? What happened to Andre? What was the point of Devon’s father being on death row? What happened to Devon’s brothers? Chiamaka was just okay with her white father being racist? The whole family dynamic between all of the characters was unrealistic. How did Belle’s sister come back from the dead? What even happened with Belle? What happened with Jack?

More importantly what happened to the time that I’ll never get back from reading this “book”?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

averyrembish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, and Car accident

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

kirstenf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

WHAT A HELLA RIDE.... 5⭐

First, I wanna say thank you to Miss Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé for creating the world about Niveus Private Academy. This book is beyond perfect! Well, at the start... it feels usual, but after you read about 40 pages of the story, the chills started. I can imagine myself; there... being Chiamaka Adebayo. I positioned myself as her as I read the whole story.

Ace of Spades simply stole my heart! This book is a brilliant book. Disturbing, giving so many chills, brutally-emotional, scary at some points.. but this book is brilliant. Even scarier even there's no ghosts in this story. 

This book is the one to read and I hella can't put the book down even for only five minutes. The story, the characters, the settings, the plots... are perfect and sickeningly good! This is why I put this book in the front line of my Spooktober reads. Spooky things not always comes from ghosts thingy, am I right?

I never find the thriller-mystery book that left chills so much; even now.. when I write this review and finished reading this already. This book leaves a gasp for me and makes me smirk at the end; the epilogue.

What a perfect of twisted 'oh' ending. All hail, Ace of Spades! ♠️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization