A review by literalottie
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was an incredible thriller - after having a fairly slow reading month where even books that I'm enjoying are struggling to hold my attention, I absolutely flew through this. I just couldn't put it down. The "Gossip Girl meets Get Out" description that this book is marketed with set my expectations very high, and it turned out to be perfectly apt, with the combination working extremely well to tell a truly chilling story.

As expected of a YA contemporary, the writing of this book is very "current", with modern teen references and slang sprinkled in, however unlike many of the YA books I read this one manages to be believable and avoids coming across as cringeworthy or "how do you do fellow kids". I think this is a book that will age very well compared to some of its peers.

Also, I really felt like this was a well-plotted thriller, with an adequate trail being laid for the reader to work things out, while also creating plenty of ambiguity and confusion to keep us guessing. Some of the twists I felt became clear to me a bit too early on due to the hints that I picked up on, however that's better than the alternative where authors just pull revelations out of their ass.

I did feel a few of the "breadcrumbs", so to speak, were not adequately revisited - I think this might have been a deliberate choice by the author to not treat the reader like an idiot and allow them to make connections by themselves, but a couple of things I feel could've at least been mentioned in the text for the sake of tying them up in a satisfying way For example, I felt that
Belle mentioning she's good at picking locks was an obvious hint that she was involved and was likely the one who stole the science supplies, but unless it was a blink-and-I-missed-it moment this never actually gets brought up again once her true nature is revealed
. Of course, as a reader having finished the book I am aware of this detail, and in the grand scheme of things its only a minor one, but it would've been nice to have the characters themselves acknowledge and come to realise it too.

Overall, I believe this is a debut worthy of the hype its receiving, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future works from Àbíké-Íyímídé.

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