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A review by sophiesometimesreads
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.75
I needed a few days to process this… wow. What a wild ride this was! I don’t even know if I can properly put this into words but I’ll try. Tagged for spoilers because I don’t think I can write this without giving away some plot points but I’ll try my best to be as vague as possible… but don’t say you weren’t warned!
This book took me on a ride. The book starts off very low stakes and I was questioning what people meant when they said it was high stakes but boy did it get more intense with every part! By the end, I was so scared someone was going to die, that’s how high the stakes were.
I didn’t trust anyone throughout the book, and rightfully so. The only people I trusted were Devon and Chiamaka. Despite this, I didn’t really know who could be behind it all for a lot of the novel. I liked how bits and pieces were fed to us along the way but didn’t make it obvious as to who was doing these things and why, but when it was revealed as to who was behind it, it all started to make sense and everything fell into place.
I don’t really know how to articulate much more without just using the mind blown emoji, this is really just a book you have to read for yourself to see the real impact it has.
The one thing that did drop this rating down from a 5 star for me was the pacing and one detail in the ending. I didn’t like the circumstances around the fire. Don’t get me wrong, I loved to see Niveus burn, but I felt like the explanation and timing of this was way too convenient. I was adamant that Terrell lit the fire as revenge for what Aces did, but they just explained it off as an “electrical fault”. It just felt very abrupt and too coincidental that it happened at just the right time. It would’ve been good if everyone else thought it was an electrical fault but someone had lit the fire and we knew who.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and it was a fantastic, strong, intense, thrilling debut by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and I look forward to reading more of their novels in the future.
This book took me on a ride. The book starts off very low stakes and I was questioning what people meant when they said it was high stakes but boy did it get more intense with every part! By the end, I was so scared someone was going to die, that’s how high the stakes were.
I didn’t trust anyone throughout the book, and rightfully so. The only people I trusted were Devon and Chiamaka. Despite this, I didn’t really know who could be behind it all for a lot of the novel. I liked how bits and pieces were fed to us along the way but didn’t make it obvious as to who was doing these things and why, but when it was revealed as to who was behind it, it all started to make sense and everything fell into place.
I don’t really know how to articulate much more without just using the mind blown emoji, this is really just a book you have to read for yourself to see the real impact it has.
The one thing that did drop this rating down from a 5 star for me was the pacing and one detail in the ending. I didn’t like the circumstances around the fire. Don’t get me wrong, I loved to see Niveus burn, but I felt like the explanation and timing of this was way too convenient. I was adamant that Terrell lit the fire as revenge for what Aces did, but they just explained it off as an “electrical fault”. It just felt very abrupt and too coincidental that it happened at just the right time. It would’ve been good if everyone else thought it was an electrical fault but someone had lit the fire and we knew who.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and it was a fantastic, strong, intense, thrilling debut by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and I look forward to reading more of their novels in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Violence, Car accident, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Drug use