Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

22 reviews

manoushp109's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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? No

3.5

absolutely horrifying - i am not a reader who does well with thriller novels or anything but i just picked up this book bc the cover is beautiful and i had heard so much about it. a lot of the tw were handled pretty well and written well. i was scared almost the whole time i was reading it. the ending was a very satisfying one that gave me a lot of closure. didn’t like the main characters in the beginning but by 50-70% of the book in, i rly liked them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Child death, Racism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Gore, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Violence

Minor: Suicide attempt

paulrichard's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Outing

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death and Stalking

komiification's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring fast-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, and Racism

Moderate: Sexism, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Classism, Racial slurs, and Suicide attempt

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This truly started my February with a bang. Y'all - I can't believe this is this author's debut. I'm stunned. I barely even have the words for how remarkably paced, written, and set up this entire book was. This was one of those books that I knew I was going to be in love with, but was so scared that it would fall below my expectations, so I kept putting it off. I'm so glad I stopped putting it off.

For a YA novel, Ace of Spades is fucking horrifying. The drama is constant, it does not let you breathe for even a minute. Every single person every page is a suspect. I've been describing it to friends as "Get out" meets "Gossip Girl" meets "Pretty Little Liars" meets "Elite," because it has vibes of all of those particular works. It's a thriller that checks all of my boxes and even has queer representation. However, it goes so much deeper than just those things. At its core, this isn't just a story about an anonymous texter trolling these two students (Chiamaka and Devon). It is a harrowing tale of Institutionalized racism. The horrors within these pages are deep and dark, and worst of all, real. I loved it. If you're late to the hype train like me, I highly suggest you pick this up.

I hope this was a coherent review, my brain isn't at full working capacity. I'll add edits to this if I need to!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, Blood, Violence, Drug use, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Death, Child death, Outing, Homophobia, Gun violence, Racism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Classism, Murder, Racism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Child death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Confinement

laila1007's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

I picked this book up thinking it was fantasy, and it is the first time I don't regret making an impulsive book purchase.
The plot is just...wow. Just when you think the characters can't get any deeper in hot water, things take an even steeper turn for the worse. I found the beginning slightly difficult to get through, but things picked up pretty quickly and I'm glad I didn't DNF it.
The characters are, for the most part, alright. I found both the main characters a bit whiny in the beginning, but it improves throughout the book, and character development as subtle but solid. Chiamaka seems to take high school way too seriously, but seeing where the plot goes, she wasn't completely wrong to. The other characters are almost all intolerable, as they should be.
The pacing was brilliant, apart from the first few chapters, and I finished the book in just two days. The plot had me gripped, and honestly, my heart broke a little with every page. It was in pieces by the end.
 

The only thing that bugged me was a few loose ends. I wanted to see Devon confront his mother about his dad being dead. I wanted to hear what Belle had to say to Chiamaka. What she did was unforgivable but I still wanted some closure on that relationship, because it was great before we find out how Belle is involved with Aces. I really wanted to see Chiamaka face off with Belle's sister, after the latter had haunted her for so long.

 
The ending had me shivering, and all in all, this was definitely worth the tears it cost me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, and Suicide attempt

itsemlyyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Violence

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

 This novel is terrifying. Easily one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read. Doubly so because I’m mortified that it could be true.

Ace of Spades follows two Black students – Devon and Chiamaka – through their senior year at Niveus Private Academy. Both are good students, both work hard to be where they are in life. Both are about to have terrible, horrible, unforgiveable things happen to them.

To talk too much about why I loved this book (as a read, I just feel like I need to separate that from “as a reality” because yikes) would be to give away all the plot twists and horrifying revelations. This is one of the things that make reviews for thrillers so frustratingly difficult to write! Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé has done an amazing job of setting up characters that are layered and deceitful, characters you care about, characters that you really, really love to hate. Our protagonists are also very different and also absolutely amazing. Their resilience astounds me and has grown my respect for the resilience of all Black people and the resiliency they need to exhibit daily.

This was a book that, despite how invested I was, I had to listen to in pieces. I was listening to Ace of Spades on the road one day and I had to turn it off because what was happening in the book was making me feel physically sick. It’s that emotionally investing. I can’t recommend enough that folks should pick this one up, but also know that there’s some pretty nauseating behavior in its pages.

Àbíké-Íyímídé’s debut sets high expectations. The writing is solid and gutting, the character development is out of this world, and there’s such a wide variety of twists that by the end of everything you’ll probably have lost all hope for the protagonists (at least, I did). I await her next book with eager anticipation.

If the hype about Ace of Spades hasn’t drawn you in yet… take this review as a sign that it’s time to pick it up and give it a read. It’s easily appealing to anyone from young adults to any age adult despite its private high school setting. Ace of Spades examines the very real evil that exists in the hearts of so many people in our world and the strength of those who succeed despite it. It’s an excellent book and it will hurt you in all the ways it should. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Violence

mallory10100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

god this book was amazing!! gossip girl meets get out…but it’s Black and queer!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Vomit

HIGHLY recommend this book!!

miraswrld's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol and Police brutality