Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

As de picas by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

92 reviews

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book had me hooked from the beginning and did not let me go.
I loved how we have dual POVs of Devon and Chiamaka as they both bring their own troubles and perspectives to the book and work to figure out who Aces is and why they are targeting them.

The whole book has a lot of confronting matieral (warnings can be found on Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's site.) which sets up this uncomfortable feeling when reading. There doesn't feel like a moment of rest wen reading which heightens your senses and paranoia that works so well in conjunction with the story. This atmosphere makes for each twist to hit that much more along with the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail

traceyanderson's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

eihdlidhd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content and Police brutality

zoea08's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

soniaiscool's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt

k8lynn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

i love this book!!! could not stop reading it & when i wasn't reading it i was thinking about it. the audiobook only enhanced this experience!!

*also trigger warning for gay people being forcibly outed to the public

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I don’t want to write too much about this read, because I fear I would spoil something by accident, and I truly think the best way to experience this book is to go in not knowing much about the plot, so that you’re as confused as the MCs and disocvering the trurth right alongside them. The only reason I’m giving this less than five stars is because of some pacing issues. The first half could have been tightened up more, and more time needed to be spent on the climax. There was also an aspect of one MC that felt a bit shoehorned in and underdeveloped. But other than that, this was a truly phenomenal read, both insightful and harrowing. There were so many layers to the plot and characters that Àbíké-Íyímídé artfully constructed and peeled back for the reader. I can see why everyone raves about this work, and I’m really looking forward to reading Àbíké-Íyímídé’s 2024 release.

Rep: gay Black MC, sapphic biracial Black/white Italian/Nigerian-American MC, bi SC, Black Achillean SC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Outing, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Major: three uses of the n-slur, eugenics Moderate: imprisoned loved one, capital punishment Minor: disownment, toxic masculinity, texturism, sick loved one, suicidal ideation, disordered eating

sinceraly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I wanted so badly to like this book, and I always feel weird trying to rate a book about a Black experience of racism, or at least a representation of that, when I am not Black myself, but critiquing this as fairly and honestly as I can, I don't think it's entirely well written. I understand the fact that racism can come from anywhere and anyone, and that no white person is not at least complicit in systemic racism, but some of the complete and sudden heel turns made by characters in this book for the sake of making them racist was sloppy, the plot didn't really make sense when you consider that the main idea of an evil school set out to ruin Black lives and practice social eugenics relies on said evil school bringing in Black students it otherwise did not need to, and plot points were regularly brought up and then completely left unanswered, like Devon finding out his father died as a death row I made and Dre being arrested on drug dealing charges.

The writer is very talented at prose, but unfortunately, this book did not have the consistency and skill to tell the story in a way that felt realistic enough. Racism does exist in both violent and sneaky ways, and both threaten lives, but Ace of Spades, to me, does not do a great job of selling the message. The evil you know is always scarier than the evil you do, and the book really would have been more successful if it had made and kept the villains as more of an intimate set of people - like Get Out did by having the villains be the main character's girlfriend's family - rather than a handful of them and also the whole school.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Outing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Classism

luckyonesoph's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Complicated, conflicting feelings about this one. On one hand, critically important message and a fascinating premise that was mostly really well-written. On the other hand, some of the characters felt really under-developed, and some of the twists were so extreme, they were just unbelievable. Loved Devon, could never get myself to root for Chiamaka.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

se_wigget's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Highlight, copy, paste--you know, like a phone that isn't a piece of shit. Stop proving that you're garbage, stupidphone.

Paste, paste, paste, paste, paste, paste 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail