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A review by jareadforfilth
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.25
The Gossip Girl and Get Out quotes at the beginning are a perfect representation for what this book feels like because this is a WILD RIDE. What an incredible debut, and the fact that this book was written while the author was in college?! Gagged.
The complexities here are profound and this is a wonderful but horrifying representation of how I’m sure it can feel to live as a black person in a white patriarchal culture. I love the queer black Rep here, it’s so important to have more and more representation of non-white queerness and to have the intersectionality of homophobia and racism that bleeds through.
This book becomes so much more than I was expecting and I was gripped and so terrified for Chi and Devon the entire time! There was just so much each of them had to endure coming on them from all directions and it was horrifying and soooo stressful, like they really only have each other and they’re not even friends which I think is profound in itself—they’re forced to have each others backs even though they don’t particularly like each other all because of the color of their skin, but NO ONE ELSE can be trusted. It’s unfair but such an impactful message by the author.
I did wish we saw more of the takedown of Niveus coming from Devon and Chi instead of a random unexplained fire that I’m pretty sure was Jamie somehow, but I did love the symbolism of that hellhole going down in flames. Also, seeing them work through what’s happened to them and making the moves to show how they got to the epilogue instead of just showing them successful and empowered could have been a really incredible detail I wish we’d gotten. Lastly, I wish there’d been some resolution regarding Devon’s dad. The hurt and loss he must have felt at being deceived by his parents must have been equally profound to what he was experiencing (though less vindictive of course) and I wish we could have gotten to see Devon put himself first and get the conversation he deserved
The complexities here are profound and this is a wonderful but horrifying representation of how I’m sure it can feel to live as a black person in a white patriarchal culture. I love the queer black Rep here, it’s so important to have more and more representation of non-white queerness and to have the intersectionality of homophobia and racism that bleeds through.
This book becomes so much more than I was expecting and I was gripped and so terrified for Chi and Devon the entire time! There was just so much each of them had to endure coming on them from all directions and it was horrifying and soooo stressful, like they really only have each other and they’re not even friends which I think is profound in itself—they’re forced to have each others backs even though they don’t particularly like each other all because of the color of their skin, but NO ONE ELSE can be trusted. It’s unfair but such an impactful message by the author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Stalking, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Confinement, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Hate crime, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship