Reviews tagging 'Death'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

294 reviews

tales_told_in_gold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Racism

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

oleaceae_18's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

Such a good book! I felt like it was a little bit slow in the beginning, and the resolution at the end was wrapped up a little too quickly in my opinion. But this book is such a good depiction of systemic racism and how everyone around you really is involved. I loved the friendships developed among the black characters. The gaslighting and microaggressions were so aggravating to read, but only because it's so real. I highly recommend reading for everyone. And the authors note was really touching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gaslighting, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Homophobia, Outing, Car accident, Gun violence, Colonisation, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

ctrlcy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Racism, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

molroseh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Bullying, Racism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Stalking

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

nillech's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

A simmering evil lives within these pages of frustrating cruelty conquered only just by a hope that community can triumph over the complexities of generational indoctrination.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Homophobia, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content

behindherpages's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Racism, Racial slurs, Stalking, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Death, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide attempt

bookobsessedmommy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book, but I'll start with a more technical review which is how I chose to rate it. Check the content warnings! Chiamaka and Devon are compelling characters and the whole vibe of the book keeps you on edge. Its like Get Out, but make it high school. I think it's well written overall, but too long. There are whole scenes, like the situation with Devon's dad for example, that could have been cut with little to no change to the actual plot. The beginning drags and so do various parts of the book, which again I attribute to it being too long. The resolution is a bit abrupt, but the epilogue is a welcome addition. (I am a sucker for a wrap up)  As for my personal feelings, I never would have picked this up if I knew how much trauma there was. I read primarily for enjoyment and escape, so this thriller/horror depiction of life in brown skin is a little too real and too scary for me. I was really into the strange mystery of it all for a while, but there are times when it feels like every painful stereotype has been thrown in here to tick things off like a depressing bingo card. Homophobia, racism (blatant and systemic), police brutality, mass incarceration, slut shaming, gang violence. I could go on, but you get the idea. I nearly DNFd multiple times, but I wanted to know what happened. The ending was both surprising and underwhelming, but I'm here for what it represents. Even with my mixed feelings, I would still give this author another shot after checking content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Outing, Bullying, Homophobia, Blood, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

booknerderika's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense

5.0

The amount of stress and anxiety this book gave me was worth it in the end! 

The first half of this book made me feel so uncomfortable because too many characters reminded me of people I knew in high school. I didn't trust any character and questioned everyone's motives until the very end. Reading this in high school would've made me extremely paranoid. I feel relieved that I'm an adult and my kids go to very diverse schools. 

As for the overall story, I was grateful for the

protesters

, but it felt sort of anti-climactic. I wish that scene would've played out differently. It was a little too rushed, but the epilogue made up for it 1000%! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Stalking, Homophobia, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Death, Suicide attempt, and Violence

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow. I really enjoyed this! It was fear and anxiety inducing, like a thriller should be! 

Ace of Spades is the story of Chiamaka and Devon, the only two Black students at an almost all white prestigious high school in America. Someone named Aces stars revealing the two student's secrets and more to the whole school. Aces is out to get Devon and Chiamaka, but who are they? and why?

My only complaint was that the "WHO DID IT?" was spoiled for me thanks to the marketing team and book listing on Amazon! I went to buy this book from Amazon (as it was on sale) and the synopsis on their website spoiled the big reveal for me.

I sometimes hate when the synopsis says, "this novel is X show and Y book/movie put together!", because there's either hardly a comparison or it's spot on and then the story is no longer a surprise. In this case, the examples were the film "Get Out" and the show "Gossip Girl". The comparisons were spot on and because of that, there were few surprises left to figure out on my own.

Overall, I really liked this novel, I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5, I'm knocking off .5 stars because I guessed some of the ending on my own. I'm also knocking a star off because Chiamaka was a jerk and unpleasant, and half the book was from her point of view so I couldn't avoid her annoying personality.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I listened to this for free on libbyapp.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

deepcurvesahead's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gaslighting, and Racism

Moderate: Infidelity, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, and Outing

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Classism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Rape, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Murder, and Suicide attempt