Reviews with content warning for Blood - Ace of Spades

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

187 reviews

mxkanteven's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is perfection in a way I cannot put into words.

The way it lays out the horrors and intricacies of systemic racism and how deeply entrenched it is in all facets of society.

It’s uncomfortable, sickening, and bracing. I love it.

Content Warnings

shaniaaaa_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

syd991's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

Ace of Spades has been on my radar since it was published, and I’m so glad I’ve been able to read it.

The story is a difficult one, but one that needed to be told.

The fast-paced nature of the story made it quick to read, and the constant mystery made it impossible to put down. It’s an incredible novel for a debut author.

Highly recommend, but please check the trigger warnings. They’re in the front of the book, as well as online.

Content Warnings

claireredd's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

ross_emm's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

danielles_reads's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

2.5

I hate that these systems, all this institutional shit, can get to me. I hate how they have the power to kill my future, kill me. They treat my Black skin like a gun or a grenade or a knife that is dangerous and lethal, when really it’s them. The guys at the top powering everything.
If it isn’t Niveus that does it, any one of them could get us.
The guys at the top are bombs and explosives, killing millions, getting away with it.

WOW, that was intense! This book is definitely compulsively readable, and I was dying to know what happened next. However, it does have some plot holes and inconsistencies. It also felt like the author was piling every negative Black stereotype onto Devon’s character. It made me really sad at the end when Devon says “we deserve a happy ending” because why did it take until the very very end for him and Chiamaka to be happy?

Like:

Exciting, fast-paced. Alternating POVs with no repeated scenes and short chapters made this a breeze to get through. Definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.
A great allegory for systemic racism, and how insidious it all is.
Some extremely chilling and well done scenes that are so surprising you feel the need to reread multiple times for it to really sink in.
Like the scene with Mr. Taylor telling Devon he hasn’t been signing off on his absences this entire time and “his kind” don’t go to college. WHAT!
The gossip about Devon and Chiamaka was well-plotted and well-planned, and revealed at a steady pace with good foreshadowing.
Maintained a tense atmosphere throughout that had you second-guessing every single character.
Devon’s inner thoughts were really well done, and I enjoyed seeing his relationship with
Andre.

Dislike:

Bruh I almost DNFed this 7% in because Chiamaka’s introduction is so obnoxious (I mean her first line is “High school is like a kingdom”). She is obsessed with popularity and will do anything to get it. And reading this as someone in their late 20s who was definitely not popular in high school was so freaking grating. She had no real friends even before everything happened and it was frustrating to see her not realize that, especially with Jamie, who was disrespecting her from the very beginning. She also looked down on Devon the entire book, and it felt like she didn’t grow that much as a character. I just disliked her slightly less in the end.
Poor poor Devon. Did the author really have to make the poor Black character suffer so much? I’m not sure what his dad being in prison really added to the story other than showing another way racism affects Black people. And why were only the poor Black people shown as homophobic and the rich white kids didn’t seem to care?
Gonna disclaimer this bullet with: I am white. But like why is every single white person in this novel racist? Yes, every white person benefits from racism whether they are explicitly anti-racist or not, but not every white person is KKK levels of racist out to do whatever it takes to ruin Black people’s lives. Belle was really the only white person shown who wasn’t all in, and even that was debatable. I saw a YouTube commenter say that this book would have been more believable if
a small group of people were behind Aces instead of literally the entire school
and I’m inclined to agree because that’s how systemic racism works in real life. It would also have erased a lot of plot holes because how has this been maintained for so long with so many people involved? Also why was Chi’s father so indifferent to his family’s racism towards his wife and daughter and why did that go unchallenged?
Also like… people who are KKK levels of racist will take ANY CHANCE they get to remind others how racist they are. I find it sooo hard to believe that every single person
who interacted with Devon and Chiamaka over the past three years never once let slip any of their racist views. Not everyone is a good actor.
On that general theme… Terrell.
Why was him spying on Devon for Niveus even a thing? For one, by his own account, he didn’t even do much. And two, he was forgiven so easily. I feel like the story would’ve been the same with that plot line removed. Why was he given so much slack?
The ending was so rushed and didn’t make much sense.
How did the protestors get there? How did they know where to go? Devon’s tweet was so vague. What happened with Niveus afterwards? How did Devon and Chi finish their senior year and manage to get into college? What did their parents think? And like what is Chi going to do with Headmaster Ward? That seemed like an unnecessary addition to me.
The thing with blocked memories seemed overdone for the suspense. It also bordered on magical realism because it didn’t really make sense.
There were also some small moments that made me think these characters didn’t have access to the internet in their pockets (smart phones) lol. Why did they not google things more often?
Another small thing but virtually every single male character in this book cries freely and openly and tbh it threw me off. It’s nice to see men express a range of emotions but I find it hard to believe that every single one would do so.

The more I think about this book, the more I dislike it, so I’m decreasing my rating. It was compulsively readable, and I think it has good things to say—I just wish the story was more realistic and the characters weren’t just shat all over.

Content Warnings

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? No

4.5

This books was described as Get Out meets Gossip Girl and it most definitely is.

Content Warnings

gabi9's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

memorable's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark 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? No

5.0

Content Warnings

luananki's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

3.75

ace of spades made me feel angry, disgusted and sad. it took me a while to get into it and it could’ve been kept shorter in my opinion. it was especially frustrating how long it took the characters to talk to each other. other than that i enjoyed ace of spades a lot.

i loved chiamaka and devon and that we got to see the mystery unravel from both perspectives. they’re very different but that’s what i appreciated the most. i also loved how the lgbt+ topic was approached. it obviously played a huge role in everything but it didn’t feel forced in any way.

Content Warnings

More...