Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Ace of Spades

ACE OF SPADES is a dark academia thriller thriller where two high-achieving students suddenly have everything they thought they knew come crashing down after a mysterious texter begins revealing their secrets one by one.

The pacing is amazing, starting out with hints, whispers, and strange inconsistencies before building into series of much-needed confrontations and gripping turns. The eventual reveal of Aces' identity is narratively satisfying, immediately begging for a re-read once the solution is known. This is a thriller which can absolutely survive that re-read, but this review won't spoil the ending. The alternating perspectives kept things moving, and contributed to the sense of missing information as often events would happen where the other main character would get information and the current point of view character would just get rumors or partial glimpses.

I love Chi and Devon as protagonists, especially the way they interact with (or, early on, avoid) each other. They're very different people who end up having to work together to figure out what's been happening to both of them. They have a lot of time on their own, trying to deal with everything.

The secondary characters are complex without taking over the narrative. Their parents and other figures from home have enough attention to feel like real parts of their worlds while not not being the focus.

This is a thriller with much needed aftercare in the form of updates after the main events. It's just enough to give closure and a sense of where they end up, and it works really well. This is a hell of a debut, I wish there were something else I could read right away because this is just fantastic.

The way different slices of their lives and identities were used to torment them and which parts Aces carefully danced around was very well handled.

Because Aces' plan relied on tormenting Chi and Devon for their existence as Black people, but they also didn't want to reveal that that was the reason, they attacked them for everything but that. Everything from outing one of them for being queer, to making them doubt their memories of past events, even the confusion and fear from making sure the target of each particular text was the only one to miss the message each time. All of it came together to make them even doubt that racism was the reason for the bewildering and never-ending harassment. Aces (and the narrative as a whole) used the tension inherent in it being very obvious to an outside observer that race is a motivation when the only two Black kids are the targets of the bullying, but the Black protagonists immersed in their very white school felt like if they said Aces was racist then they would be wrong somehow for pointing out this possibility. It's a facet of how white supremacy upholds itself that it treats the people who call out racism as being as bad (or worse) than the people actually being racist, a point which is made explicitly in the book. The intersection of Blackness and queerness then was used for additional torments, because while both were loathsome to Aces, only one (queerness) was treated like an okay aspect to openly hate. It shows how neither kind of marginalized identity was safe from Aces and their hatred of these characters.

There's a series of final confrontations which I loved but can't say much about without major spoilers. Some of them ramped up the existing tension and some were more emotionally complex where catharsis was sought and not received, or where a confrontation was expected and then didn't go the way they thought.

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

It's been a long time since I've read a book I felt like I couldn't but down, but Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé delivers. This story is centered around two Black seniors attending the very elite Niveus High. Both Devon and Chiamaka are such strong, talented, and capable students, but they have secrets which threaten to tear their future and dreams apart. When a strange figure called Aces begins to reveal some of Devon and Chiamaka's questionable actions to the student body, the two must work together to save themselves.

This book is unapologetic in its representation. With Black excellence at the center of this story, it was a refreshing take on the "ritzy school drama" trope. Chiamaka is the ultimate goal-setter, striving for the best options. She's the student who can do it all: get good grades, hold student body positions, and organize a team to help her get there. She's cut-throat, at times overly so. She only considers herself to have one true friend, with most of the friends in her circle merely pawns to help her look the part for college applications. Chiamaka is certain that Yale University is in her future, despite the anxiety that claws at her when she's alone. Devon is in some ways, Chiamaka's foil. Prior to his senior year, he was more of an invisible student. Devon may not have a lot of friends or popularity, but he is a gifted musician with dreams of attending Julliard. Devon brings a level of reality to the narrative. He isn't wealthy like Chiamaka is. Devon's mother works several jobs to allow him to attend a school which will help Devon reach his dreams. Despite Devon's challenges, he also is a straight A student with high hopes.

Another part of the book I loved was how similar Niveus High is to the high-achiever high school experience. While Niveus High feels more sinister than your typical high school (this is a thriller after all), I found myself relating to the academic and performative stress displayed throughout the book. High schools, especially those with rich student bodies, serve as a constant reminder that education has become a competition rather than a place of learning. Chiamaka and Devon both attend Niveus and feel the need to be better than their peers. The fear that they will fall behind and live a mundane life is one which many teenagers fear over, especially those who are committed to using their grades to maintain or uplift their current socio-economic standing. This pressure compounds the more minoritized identities a person belongs to. As both Chiamaka and Devon are Black and LGBT students, the pressure stays incredibly high for both of them to conform to societal expectations while also standing out. This task, of balancing excellence and remaining socially digestible to white communities, is something Devon and Chiamaka realize is impossible.

Any gripes that I have about this book is incredibly small. I found myself wondering why all of Chiamaka's relationships with other girls were met with drama and competition, while there was at least some part of the story where Chiamaka had made meaningful connections with boys. I also thought aspects of Terrill and Devon's relationship to be overly predictable, especially with how Terrill was incorporated into the plot of the novel. I had originally considered giving this book 4 stars for these reasons, but realized that these elements are more tied to the genre the book embodies than inherent flaws present in the book itself.

Make sure to preorder this book or buy this from your local library ASAP. You won't want to miss out on one of the best YA of the year. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book.

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