Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Summary
Chiamaka Adebayo and Devon Richards may have been elected Senior Prefect, but their perfect year is about to get dangerous. Someone is using the pseudonym Aces to spread rumors and confidential information about the two teens. With their lives and futures at risk, can Chiamaka and Devon find out who Aces is before they play their final card?
Review
Ace of Spades is thrilling and suspenseful – I absolutely fell in love with it. I don’t read thrillers often, but this book was an absolutely fantastic change. The pacing was slow and the plot drawn out, but not to the point where I felt that the story was dragging. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. What I appreciated most about the pacing was that it made the book near impossible to put down while still having enough lulls to give the reader a little time to breathe. This book is thick with commentary on social and economic class, race, and white supremacy. For a book as suspenseful and heavy as this, I found that truly important.
I also fell in love with the dual perspective of the two main characters. They’re both very different people from drastically different backgrounds. Chiamaka is perfectly popular, entirely aware of the hierarchical struggle for the top and determined to do what it takes to stay there. Devon, on the other hand, is content with laying low while he strives for Juilliard with his music. Both have very different experiences when it comes to navigating their predominantly white school, and as the only two Black students there, the contrast is stark. The development both characters experienced as they moved through the story was both fascinating and heartbreaking. Ace of Spades is like nothing I’ve ever read in the best way possible. Even if you’re not a fan of thrillers, this is definitely a must-read.
Yours in love and literature,
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Content warning(s): violent racism and homophobia, institutionalized racism, non-explicit sexual content, bullying, underage drinking, slurs, drug use, murder, stalking, emotional abuse, guns, outing of LBGTQ+ characters, toxic relationships
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