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712 reviews for:

King of Fools

Amanda Foody

4.02 AVERAGE


one of the best books i've read this year!!

4.5 stars

I really liked the first one, but I found this one to be really repetitive. It could’ve been condensed by a lot, since nothing happened. Just the same movements time after time. I still loved the world and the characters but my god this had middle book syndrome. The ending was fantastic though.
I’m really worried for book 3 now because if a YA book has a bad middle book the whole rest of the series usually sucks too
adventurous dark mysterious 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
adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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
adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

This is the most angry I've been with a book in a very long time...

King of Fools is the dark, angsty sequel to Amanda Foody's Ace of Shades, and when I say it's dark and angsty...I was internally screaming for multiple scenes.
The story begins where the previous book left off, with Enne and Levi having narrowly beat the Shadow Game and the city in turmoil with an upcoming election. Vianca and her son, Harrison, are campaigning on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and Enne, Levi, and Jac are caught in the middle of it. This book is very politically focused and I would say there's quite a bit less action (until the very end). That being said, it still held my attention and I liked the plot twists. I think the thing that bothered me the most was that despite the claims of "lots of danger," it was rare that the characters actually ended up in danger. Even though Enne and Levi had bounties on their heads, no one turned them in; and Vianca didn't use her omertas to her advantage like she easily could have.
And that leads us to the characters...of which I had very strong feelings. For most of the side characters, they didn't grow much and I didn't really love any of them. Lola was okay, I liked Grace, Tock was cool cause she played the saxophone. In terms of the "villains" ... I still think Vianca wasn't nearly as villainous as she could've been, and I know Harrison isn't a villain but he gives me bad vibes. I liked Levi, but he and Enne kind of got on my nerves a bit with all of their lying to each other. They both made stupid decisions and honestly, I didn't really like Enne in this book. Her chapters were my least favorite and as much as I loved the corruption arc, she sided too much with Vianca for my liking and annoyed me at times. But Jac? My little cinnamon roll? He suffered so freaking much and he was my favorite character by a long shot. I only had one issue with him: Sophia. After skimming all of the other reviews and seeing no mention of her, I don't know if people like her or not but I absolutely hate her. She didn't do anything wrong, I just get bad vibes and I don't trust her at all.
King of Fools is the exciting, angsty sequel to Ace of Shades, and I will now continue to be angry about it.
3.75/5
adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

was kind of boring most of the way through (and there are so many subplots and I don't know who half the characters are because I was listening on 2.5x speed), but the ending really makes me want to read book 3 anyway