Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

45 reviews

sydelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL. there was no dull moment in this book and i swear to everything i possess this was a book that is the closest thing to perfection. this kept me on the edge of my seat and i kid you not my jaw dropped about 20 times while reading this. heavily covers racism, homophobia, classism, and other social issues, and the writing was extremely good. minor spoiler:

i would want to point out how great the foreshadowing is on the littlest things (unless i'm just overanalyzing everything)

but honestly, i would do ANYTHING just to read this book for the first time again. literally 10/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Misogyny and Death of parent

nyoom's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

danidamico's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? N/A

4.5

Perdón????? Quién le dio a esta novela el derecho de ser tan buena. Tenía nervios de que el hype fuera puro humo pero NO, no lo es. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé creó un libro espectacular que mezcla a la perfección lo juvenil del YA con un clima de tensión y suspenso digno de las mejores novelas de crimen. La novela fue promocionada como una cruce entre Gossip Girl y Get Out de Jordan Peele, una descripción gnuinamente acertada. 

Dos estudiantes de un prestigioso instituto, Devon y Chiamaka, se convierten en las víctimas de una persona anónima que envía mensajes de texto esparciendo rumores sobre ellos. ¿Qué es lo que ambos tienen en común? Ser los únicos alumnos negros. Lo que comienza como un simple caso de bullying se transforma en una pesadilla no muy alejada de la realidad. De hecho, para nada alejada de la realidad, y justamente por eso mucho más terrorífica.

Más allá de la trama que está buenísima, en cuanto a lo narrativo la autora logra desarrollar el relato de una manera muy eficaz e ingeniosa. Si bien la novela está narrada a dos voces, intercalando capítulos desde el punto de vista de cada protagonista, la historia nunca deja de avanzar. Esto lo señalo porque he leído otros libros en los que al usar ese tipo de narración, cada capítulo cuenta lo mismo desde los distintos puntos de vista, lo cual muchas veces me aburre. Acá no sucede eso y el ritmo de la historia se mantiene siempre en movimiento. El manejo de la tensión también es genial, haciendo dudar al lector y manteniendo el misterio a lo largo de la mayor parte del texto.

En fin, me encantó. Es una novela fresca, original y muy bien lograda. Increíble saber que es el debut de Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, definitivamente me interesa continuar leyéndola en el futuro. Más que recomendable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

islabuchanan's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

This book was really interesting and made you really think about things you haven't thought about before, the end was very good and quite inspiring!
The characters were lovable (-jamie🤢) and had very sad backstories 
Very nice I recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Lesbophobia

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a wild ride of a high school thriller about two students who are targeted by a mysterious figure who seems to know everything about them. The first half was a little too slow for me, but the second half knocked my socks off. The twists were great, the character voices were fun, and I liked the ending.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Slavery, Vomit, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol