Reviews tagging 'Death'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

303 reviews

beccabou's review against another edition

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

4.5

Parts of this book made my heart swell, and others made me feel physically nauseous. This was intense, well-woven, and intense!
So close to a five star, but I felt some story lines stretched out a bit and the pacing became tedious.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexual assault

matmatmatty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

Would recommend this one for sure. It's very Gossip Girl-esque - secrets at a private school, lots of rich kids doing bad things, but with an anti-racism message underneath.

I think at times the villain was a bit cartoonish but for this genre, it makes sense.

The point is that so many people and so many people with power are in on it, with this level  of "who can you trust" going on. It makes sense that the teachers did nothing (even though, I know for a fact if a school found out that their Head Prefect was accused of stealing and murder and had inappropriate pictures shared everywhere, they would SHUT THAT DOWN - my source : I went to a posh private school)

Questions I still have that weren't completely answered:

1. Who stopped Devon's suicide attempt? Like I don't think they actually said
2. What happened with the original headmaster? Like was he in on it, or was he against it so they got rid of him?
3. Chi should have just gone to the police straight after the accident. Like I get that it would have been implicating her friend and everything but I feel like the smart thing is to tell the police and if it was real, get leniency for age. Kids, if this happens to you, tell the police straight away because hiding a crime is way worse than the actual crime.
4. It was implied that Chi was assaulted but then it feels like it was kind of dropped? Like what happened with that?
5. Not a question but I think it would have been good if the revelation of previous victims had been teased a bit more. Like when Terrell first mentioned that they the only black kids, he could start looking into if they're the first and maybe find some names but they lose the trail and then they can find the yearbooks and know they disappeared. Feel like that would have felt more like a conspiracy that way.

But honestly, really loved it. Not perfect but did what it was doing really well. Snaps all round.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Classism

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

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

---

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

3arth2kaye's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Stalking, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pregnancy

lostgwennel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

and everyone clapped

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Car accident

Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Panic attacks/disorders

rachaelleibowitz's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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

3.5

i really thought the concept of this book was interesting, and honestly felt so sick to my stomach once the secret was revealed. however i thought that some parts seemed rushed and random, and didn’t love how the end was left ambiguous and many questions. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Alcohol

dhutton1997's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

HOLY CRAP THIS IS SO GOOD. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

mafelrs's review against another edition

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Classism

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

WHAT A HELLA RIDE.... 5⭐

First, I wanna say thank you to Miss Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé for creating the world about Niveus Private Academy. This book is beyond perfect! Well, at the start... it feels usual, but after you read about 40 pages of the story, the chills started. I can imagine myself; there... being Chiamaka Adebayo. I positioned myself as her as I read the whole story.

Ace of Spades simply stole my heart! This book is a brilliant book. Disturbing, giving so many chills, brutally-emotional, scary at some points.. but this book is brilliant. Even scarier even there's no ghosts in this story. 

This book is the one to read and I hella can't put the book down even for only five minutes. The story, the characters, the settings, the plots... are perfect and sickeningly good! 

I never find the thriller-mystery book that left chills so much; even now.. when I write this review and finished reading this already. This book leaves a gasp for me and makes me smirk at the end; the epilogue.

What a perfect of twisted 'oh' ending. All hail, Ace of Spades! ♠️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization

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

---

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