Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - As de picas

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As de picas by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

42 reviews

deepcurvesahead's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

quillreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Review:

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé has been widely praised ever since it came out, so I had high expectations going into it. Although it looks like a rather thick book, the text is not very dense, and it is immensely readable; I read the entire thing in an afternoon. Àbíké-Íyímídé has a talent for sweeping the reader into her story and keeping them hooked.

According to the author’s note, Àbíké-Íyímídé wrote Ace of Spades as a way to capture the alienating, terrifying, and disempowering feelings brought about by living in a society constructed around institutional racism, and in that respect the book succeeds spectacularly. The targeted attacks by Aces are creepy enough on their own, and even more horrifying when their motivation is racism rather than the typical motivations for thriller villains. I appreciate how the story showcases how the feeling that “you can’t trust anyone” takes on another dimension when it comes to living in a white supremacist society as a Black person.

As much as I found to like about Ace of Spades, the book failed to avoid some of the trappings I associate with young adult literature. The two main characters are interesting (I found Devon to be more well-developed in his backstory than Chiamaka) but lack a certain amount of depth. The plot is predictable if you’ve been exposed to a good amount of books and movies, and the logistical requirements of the twist require a hefty amount of suspended disbelief. Additionally, I found the conclusion to be rather rushed and underwhelming; it fails to give the main characters agency in their ending, and then tries to make up for this with an epilogue.

I think that Ace of Spades is terrific for a YA novel (and a debut, which the author started when she was eighteen!). It has undeniable storytelling and thematic strengths but can never quite transcend the limits of the YA genre.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Ace of Spades if . . .

· You like YA thrillers

· You like Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, but wish they had more diverse representation

You might not like Ace of Spades if . . .

· You dislike YA books

· You want to read an original plot

Content Warnings

clockworkstars's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

“Growing up, I realized quite quickly that people hate being called racist more than they hate racism itself.”
4.5☆|5

Embarquons ensemble vers la Niveus private academy, école élitiste et quasiment entièrement blanche à l'exception de deux étudiants noirs, faisant ici leur rentrée en dernière année. On suit Devon et Chiamaka et tout cela se passe bien jusqu'à que quelqu'un, un mystérieux "aces" ne se mettent à révéler leurs secrets les plus enfouis. À les révéler à l'entièreté de l'établissement via des messages anonymes...

Sachez que si vous n'avez pas encore lu ce livre, vous devez aller le lire maintenant. Et je ne plaisante même pas. Vous avez besoin de lire ce livre. Préparez vous à vous sentir mal, plein de rage, à pleurer mais ce seront des réactions justes et légitimes. Mais lisez ce livre.

Je n'ai pas pu le poser. C'est un livre que l'on ne peut pas déposer et que l'on ne veut pas lâcher non plus. On ne veut pas arrêter de le lire, en sortir ne serait ce que quelques instants. C'est un véritable page turner et cela en est un très bon. Ce livre est absolument exceptionnel. Et cela pour tant de raisons. Tout d'abord grâce à la plume qui vous attrape pour ne pas vous lâcher, qui vous plonge entièrement dans l'histoire. Je l'ai adorée, elle donne une puissance incroyable au livre. Et la puissance est renforcée par l'histoire créée par l'autrice.

Un plot qui va vous mettre en colère, qui va vous retourner. Des retournements de situation qui vous donne envie de crier, une histoire de fiction qui vous glace le sang car vous savez au fond de vous que ce n'est pas si poussé que cela, que cela peut arriver, que cela arrive sans doute quelque part. Car cela semble tellement réel.

Ce livre parle par conséquent de bien des choses, il met en évidence et dénonce le racisme et l'homophobie, l'élitisme et la "suprématie blanche". C'est un thriller exceptionnel car il traite de thèmes extrêmement réels.

Et il le fait accompagné de personnages qui semblent tout aussi réels et vivants. On suit Devon, adolescent noir et gay issu de quartier populaire, l'un des seuls de son école à venir de ces quartiers de la ville. Et on suit Chiamaka, jeune fille biraciale (italienne et nigérienne), saphique, plus riche et bien plus populaire. Et ils sont tellement différents, lire leurs pdv en alternance en était exceptionnelle. Je suis absolument fan de Chiamaka, donnez plus de personnages féminins bien écrit qui sont badass au possible (je vais peut être juste arrêter de lire des personnages féminins écrits par des hommes).

Et le fait qu'ils ne viennent pas du même milieu se voit au niveau du traitement de leur personnage et cela se voit dans le comment ils réagissent différemment à ce qui leur tombe dessus. Les personnages sont extrêmement bien gérés par l'autrice qui a réussi à écrire ici un roman incroyable.

C'est queer, c'est noir, cela a un coté dark academia, une plume et un plot relevant du génie, cela traite de racisme systématique, qu'est ce que vous attendez de plus ? Lisez le, maintenant.

Rep : MC noire biraciale (italienne et nigérienne) et sapphique ; MC noir et gay ; SC noir et achiléen

TW : racisme ; n-word ; homophobie ; outing ; harcèlement ; sang ; consommation d'alcool ; accident de voiture ; stalking ; abus émotionnel ; crise de panique ; idée suicidaire ; mention de tentative de suicide passée ; mort d'un parent ; violence par armes à feu ; meurtre ; sexisme ; usage de drogue ; incendie ; relation toxique

Content Warnings

bookishchef's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

4.25

Damn, this kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Spoiler

I read the Get Out comparison and somehow I still didn't expect ALL of the white people to be in on it.
I kept assuming it was either Jamie, Jack or Belle (in that order from most likely to least). So when the answer turned out to be "yes, and also all of the other characters", I was shook.

I really enjoyed the ride though, even though I thought the final plottwist

Spoiler

(with the news outlet being evil and the school going up in flames)

was a tad predictable.

Spoiler

The entire time while Terell and Chiamaka were chatting about breaking the story to the news, I was very sceptical. It felt so dumb? Especially after all they'd been through and the Belle revealing there were way more people in on it.

There are also still some things that puzzle me:

Spoiler

1. Was Scotty in on it too? If so, he's a damn good actor if he convinced both Devon and Chiamaka that he didn't do it. His storyline got dropped halfway through the book so we never really got a resolution there.

2. What happened to Belle? She told Chiamaka what was happening and I don't assume that her family took kindly to that.

3. How did Devon end up the way he did? We get a little bit of an answer to that in the prologue, which shows that he's living with Terell and his mother but... How? He obviously wasn't getting into Juilliard and he dropped out. Yet the epilogue letter calls him "professor". So what did he do? How did he manage?

4. What happened to Andre? Is he still serving time? Am I not supposed to care?

5. Why did Devon's mom hide his father's death from him? It is said in the epilogue that Devon and his mother weren't on speaking terms for a while after he confronted her... And then what? How did that conversation go? This subplot feels unfinished now.

6. Was Peter the Hacker in on it too? If so, why did he help Chiamaka by revealing what pc the messages were send from? Why did he ask her to put in a good word for him with Belle if he knew Belle's family was in on it too?
And if he wasn't in on it, how did Aces expect the black students to not (accidentally) ask one of the students that wasn't in Aces for help?

I also have a minor headcanon/conspiracy:

Spoiler

We're told by a news anchor that the fire that burns down Niveus was caused by electrical issues. Which seems fair because those issues were mentioned many times before.
Only I thought those issues were just Aces manipulating the cameras, etc. With how it was set up, I assumed Jamie burned down the library. He was set up as a pyromaniac early on, and then threatened Chiamaka with his lighter. So, when she left him, angry and alone, in the library with his lighter, I assumed he was the cause of the fire.

Which he may still have been. After all, the book tells the reader many times that the media covers up white crimes all the time. But Jamie, according to the news broadcast, died in the fire. So that would mean he burned down the school without giving himself an escape? Or was he really that upset about being attracted to/friends with a black girl? I guess we'll never know. So, headcanon land it is.

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

paulabekkerus's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

maverique's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

m0rdred_the_fallen's review

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challenging emotional funny reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Una novela debut estelar, me quito el sombrero ante la autora.

Como alguien que pasó toda su vida escolar siendo un alumno becado me identifoque con Devon en varios aspectos, incluyendo la relación con su mamá. Soy hijo único, pero igual tuve claro desde un inicio que debía hacer todo lo posible por mantner un buen promedio y sobresalir por cosas buenas; como siempre me dijo mi propia madre

Mi niño, tú no estás en esta escuela porque tu padre y yo tengamos dinero, sino porqué te tallas el lomo todos los días. El día que dejes de hacerlo, todo esto se va

Es una cruda verdad que los problemas que enfrentan los protagonistas sigan tan presentes y que, parafraseando a Chiamaka, les molesta más que les digas que son racistas al racismo en sí mismo; y se puede decir lo mismo de la homophobia, del clasismo, de los juegos de poder enfermos de estos grupos de odio. Aún cuando se nota que muy en el fondo saben que lo que hacen está mal, es un pobre consuelo para cuando usan su poder y sus recursos para atacar a inocentes. Tristemente, cuando el virus del fanatismo llega a la cabeza no hay nada que pueda hacerse por esa persona sino huir, pues el fanatismo y la estupidez nunca afectan a los que lo tienen, sino a aquellos que les rodean. Y lo peor del caso es lo compenetrado que está el sistema de ello, este sistema que no sólo promueve y protege actos de odio irracional; los demanda para seguir funcionando. El mundo moderno está construido sobre la sangre de generación tras generación de inocentes para el beneficio de unos pocos que se creen con derecho a todo.

En esta lectura sólo hubo una cosa que me dejó con ganas de más:

Spoiler

El arrepentimiento Belle se me hizo que llevaría a un arco de autorreflexión y luego de redención en el cual los Chiamaka y Devon le dicen, tal cual, que no pueden perdonarla y ya no después de 4 años planeando destruirlos, y Belle aceptándolo.

Que haya sido un grupo de manifestantes quienes los salven al último tiene mayor peso porque es una comunidad que los acoge y protege, en lugar un individuo de una clase opresora que tuvo una crisis de conciencia. Eso, estuvo genial.

Lo que a mí gustaría haber visto es Belle recolectando información de Ases, delatando a la periodista y exponiendo a todos los integrantes en Niveus, y quizá algunos de otras escuelas como es que haya conocido por cualquier cosa. Pero que aún así Chiamaka le diga que no, no es suficiente por todo lo que le ha hecho. Incluso cuestionarla sobre su cambio de corazón, ¿Y si no se enamoraba de Chiamaka? ¿Se le opone a Ases porqué es lo correcto o porqué están agrediendo a alguien que quiere como pareja?

Lo recomendaria 10/10

Content Warnings

aklovekorn's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

lilifane's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

Yeah, it's as good as everyone says, should have read it sooner. Had me at the edge of my seat the whole time, couldn't put it down. Loved the characters, loved the pacing, loved how queer it was.
It was a bit predictable but shockingly surprising at the same time. I got so paranoid, I suspected everyone at some point and was constantly afraid for the characters. Especially Devon. I love him with all my heart. I was devastated DEVASTATED by some of the scenes and cried multiple times. But it also had heart-warming and empowering moments.
Would love to see an adaptation of this.

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