Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

As de picas by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

77 reviews

mrmarshall591's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

When I started the audio book, I did not expect it to go the way it did. Although as I went through, I knew what was coming but not to the degree that it came. Wow.

Definitely a psychological thriller, with similar vibes to ‘Get Out’ (although both are completely different stories focusing on different aspects of horrors related to racism). 

4 stars because there was a lot I wish was expanded upon, like a follow-up on characters such a Belle, Scotty, Andre and Jack.

Also, I absolutely love how on the author’s websites there is art depicting the major characters. I have a hard time visualizing things based on descriptions and that really helped! I only found it writing this review since I went searching for one of the character’s names. 

I really enjoyed the author’s note, which mentions how the book was written over the course of her college career which is very symbolic to the course of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Outing, Death of parent, Classism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Racism, and Stalking

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Blood, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Vomit

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

Wow. I really enjoyed this! It was fear and anxiety inducing, like a thriller should be! 

Ace of Spades is the story of Chiamaka and Devon, the only two Black students at an almost all white prestigious high school in America. Someone named Aces stars revealing the two student's secrets and more to the whole school. Aces is out to get Devon and Chiamaka, but who are they? and why?

My only complaint was that the "WHO DID IT?" was spoiled for me thanks to the marketing team and book listing on Amazon! I went to buy this book from Amazon (as it was on sale) and the synopsis on their website spoiled the big reveal for me.

Spoiler

I sometimes hate when the synopsis says, "this novel is X show and Y book/movie put together!", because there's either hardly a comparison or it's spot on and then the story is no longer a surprise. In this case, the examples were the film "Get Out" and the show "Gossip Girl". The comparisons were spot on and because of that, there were few surprises left to figure out on my own.

Overall, I really liked this novel, I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5, I'm knocking off .5 stars because I guessed some of the ending on my own. I'm also knocking a star off because Chiamaka was a jerk and unpleasant, and half the book was from her point of view so I couldn't avoid her annoying personality.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I listened to this for free on libbyapp.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

almirareads's review against another edition

dark funny 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I’m just gonna say…Ace of Spades is THAT BOOK! Following the mystery of who “Aces” is, there was NEVER a dull moment. Devon and Chiamaka are incredible narrators, filling in what the other left of, and who doesn’t love a platonic enemies to lovers trope?

This book is almost 400 pages and I’d have read it all in one day if I were able to beat sleep. My jaw was DROPPING every other page. Ace of Spades makes it a big point to talk about Black people assimilating to whiteness and why that cannot work out. 

You find yourself not trusting anybody in this book- now THAT’S a good mystery. Also points added for being a Black queer novel! Everybody say THANK YOU FARIDAH!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Blood, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Car accident

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault

marippe's review against another edition

3.5

I can "fix" the kinks in my hair, but not the kinks in this whole system that hates us.

The concept of the book is very interesting, with the combination of vibes of Gossip Girl and Get Out, but I'm kinda conflicted about it.
The queer rep was very good, but characters lacked depth. The way Jaime was written was a miss for me.

Spoiler

Ok so the reveal of Aces being all the white people in the school was ehhhh. They're choosing 2 black students to terrorise every 10 years? It doesn't really make much sense. I get they want to give these black kids a dream of success just to rip it away from them but I doubt this kind of energy would be happening from the 60s.
I can't see a White supremacy school being able to put up with being that kind to black people just to destroy their lives a few years later, it's kinda too smart if you get me.

For a debut novel though I do think it was good. I don't think it needed to be as long as it is (particularly the beginning, it was slow and then suddenly everything started happening.)
I think we got to the ending too easily.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death, Murder, Outing, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

brinasatt's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Hate crime, Outing, Homophobia, Racism, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Car accident, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

kdailyreads's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Classism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Homophobia, Outing, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Slavery, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

elizogs's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

read this book for the first time in 2021

but it never fails to shock me at alllll. this book was so good because it touched on the real world impacts as well as making it a tad relatable. as well as the story not being typical -

Spoiler

aces not being one person but EVERYONE. (social eugenics) and it was so interesting and i love love loved the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, Blood, Car accident, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Homophobia, and Suicide

if u read this book please be cautious, there are many triggers!!

moniipeters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Self harm

rinku's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

I was quite excited to read Ace of Spades and I was not disappointed. The story gets really disturbing and definitely has some Get Out vibes. Sadly, the setting and the characters couldn’t convince me fully. 

In this story, we follow Chiamaka and Devon, the two only Black students at their private school. They’re in their final year when suddenly someone named Aces starts to share their darkest secrets with the whole school. This general idea didn’t sound too innovative for me at the beginning and some aspects, especially the ones around

Spoiler

the girl Chiamaka and Jamie “murdered”

, were predictable. But soon, the story turns really dark and sinister. One of the reasons for this are the heavy topics that the novel deals with, like drug abuse or the death penalty, but especially the racism and the homophobia. Both of them are so brutal and uncomfortable that my heart dropped many times. The escalation of the situation is so terrifying as well, especially how the lives of the main characters slowly get destroyed. 

Learning the secret behind the Academy and Aces was so disturbing as well:

Spoiler

We learn that the whole Academy is part of a racist organization that practices something called social eugenics which was – I’ve mentioned it before – so shocking and disturbing as well

. There are also so many other shocking revelations that some people probably saw coming but I didn’t, like the fact that

Spoiler

Mr Taylor’s a liar, or that Martha is Belle’s sister. This made me really sad because I hoped that Belle would be a good person, but oh well

. My heart was just pounding so much while reading Ace of Spades, this novel made me so nervous lmao.  

What I didn’t like as much though was the ending which felt a bit anti-climactic to me:

Spoiler

It was quite obvious that the big reveal at the school ball would fail but these random protestors were honestly not an interesting solution. Suddenly, the school starts to burn without any explanation which wasn’t really satisfying as well. The only thing I really enjoyed about the ending was Chiamaka attacking Jamie and learning that they founded a new school after all. But did I understand it correctly that the Academy still exists? That’s quite depressing, honestly

. 

Another reason why I didn’t give Ace of Spades five stars are for me the characters. I have to admit that I’m not too fond of both main characters and I’m not sure if they’re even supposed to be likable. Both think that they’re something better and I sometimes struggled to understand their behaviour. This strong opportunistic orientation both of them had was a bit cringe, just like how Chiamaka sees everything as a competition. Still, they felt like real people right from the beginning and I felt so sorry for them, their situation is so unfair. Most of the side characters were unlikable as well, but I liked the development of the relationship between Chiamaka and Belle, and it was so great to see that

Spoiler

Devon’s mom accepted him

. Furthermore, it was amazing to see how Chiamaka emancipated herself from Jamie. 

Ace of Spades is all in all a great book that starts with a more basic premise but turns it into a disturbing story with a lot of social commentary which I always love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Outing, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Car accident, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gun violence, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual content, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Hate crime

Minor: Drug use

sierranorgan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

This one took me a little while to get into, but once I got into it I loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Outing, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Car accident, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Physical abuse