Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

17 reviews

daniellekat's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I wanted to like this more, but I think I'm just not the intended audience. Although exciting, the plot was somewhat predictable, and full of holes. So many characters were introduced for specific plot purposes only to be completely dropped later. And the characters that did stick around were one dimensional and lacked growth. The 

quick and neatly wrapped up

ending was lackluster and added to the book's strange pacing. This tackled some big and necessary themes, but ultimately missed the mark for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Classism, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Stalking

Minor: Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Sexism, and Death of parent

ohyeahshebomb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

A high 3.5 stars

This book unfortunately took 7 months to read due to it starting off as a buddy read, but the first 1/3 of the book just agitated me (as a black woman) and just brought back the horrendous encounters I've had and those I'd heard stories of. The story didn't feel like a story. I'm glad I decided to pick it back up and follow through, I flew through the second half of the book within two days. 

A few things I think detracted from the book was the copious amounts of love interests/connections. Maybe I'm too far removed from high school, but it was just overkill to me. I also felt like the book could have benefited from more explanations. Specifically how we got to the protesters, Belle, Devon's father, and Dre, but I digress. I also wanted more of a climax, the book it's self dragged on for me but there the climax was so rush, you'd miss it if you blinked. 

I hope that the white people that pick this book up see the modern day implications of being Black. 

I look forward to reading Where Sleeping Girls Lie!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Child abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

theuncannydani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Racism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Stalking, Classism, Death, Car accident, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual harassment, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Confinement, Alcohol, Suicide, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Cursing, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug abuse

gabyleyendo's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide attempt, Outing, Police brutality, and Self harm

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

This was absolutely not what I expected it to be. It was thrilling, infuriating, and heartbreaking all at the same time. I thought some of the author’s beliefs were maybe spelled out a little too much rather than being less obvious and allowing the reader to come to the same conclusion but because of the subject matter and the target audience, I understand why it’s written that way. Also, there were a few scenes that were written in a way that felt too over the top and unbelievable to me, but being a white woman, it could be that my limited personal experience with racism has created a blindspot that disallows me to see something like those scenes actually happening in real life. Despite the two critiques of this novel, I really enjoyed it. It was fast paced and interesting and I think teenagers will really enjoy it and adults could really learn from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Stalking, Child death, Gun violence, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Murder, Police brutality, Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Abandonment, and Grief

tetsueki's review

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Racism, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Outing

Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

sonoma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Death, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Fatphobia, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

luananki's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

ace of spades made me feel angry, disgusted and sad. it took me a while to get into it and it could’ve been kept shorter in my opinion. it was especially frustrating how long it took the characters to talk to each other. other than that i enjoyed ace of spades a lot.

i loved chiamaka and devon and that we got to see the mystery unravel from both perspectives. they’re very different but that’s what i appreciated the most. i also loved how the lgbt+ topic was approached. it obviously played a huge role in everything but it didn’t feel forced in any way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Stalking, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

booksbyantheia's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Paranoia, empatía, conocimiento.

(Reseña en construcción)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical content, Racism, Blood, Bullying, Slavery, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

anapthine's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Classism, Death, Homophobia, Murder, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Gun violence