Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

1054 reviews

k8lynn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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? No

5.0

i love this book!!! could not stop reading it & when i wasn't reading it i was thinking about it. the audiobook only enhanced this experience!!

*also trigger warning for gay people being forcibly outed to the public

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Misogyny, Outing, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Toxic friendship

public_nuisance's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

I loved this book! The author did great at letting the reader figure out what was happening at the same time as the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Classism

Minor: Car accident

thehannahclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Car accident, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Drug use, Homophobia, Death of parent, Violence, Sexism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Classism

ahsirgverse's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use

alychee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Violence

meganders22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexism, Mental illness, Drug use, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Drug abuse

moondaisyy's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Bullying, Car accident, Outing, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Homophobia

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

wanderlust_romance's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

 When an unknown cyber bully is terrorizing the only two Black students at prestigious Niveus Academy, it’s tough for these MCs to believe that the motivator is racism. The first half of the book has a slower pace, building up the tension, developing the characters, and laying out the plot to break down Chiamaka Adebayo and Devon Richardson. It’s so interesting to see the different approaches each character took. Chiamaka put her trust and faith in existing power structures: the headmaster, the press, her popular friends. Devon maintained such a heavy dose of skepticism, trusting no one after being betrayed by so many in the past. The underlying themes in Ace of Spades: sexual identity, image / presentation, racism, class disparities, are all laid bare as the true terrors haunting these two main characters. It would be easy to complain that the racism these two face is too over the top. But that’s exactly the point. Anti-blackness is pervasive in so many structural institutions that it’s simply accepted as part of how society functions. But Chiamaka and Devon push back against it, take the narrative into their own hands, and ultimately burn it all down. Quite literally. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Bullying, Homophobia, Outing, and Racism

Moderate: Body shaming and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts