Ace of Spades

by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

[lessthelonely]

Well, this is awkward, ain't it?

I guess I was bound to come face-to-face with a BookTok praised book that didn't Wow me, and so, to whoever reads this review, I'd like to give a little warning that I might spoil some things in this book. I'll try to keep it minor - if you've heard of this book from BookTok, chances are you already know what I'm going to be talking about in terms of spoiling it.

I think this book has been mismarketed. It has been marketed as a Thriller... sorry to say it isn't one. It really isn't one. This isn't to say it's uneventful: quite a few things happen, but this book doesn't really offer any real thrills, in my opinion, let alone twists. I don't want to take away from some of the reveals, as some were really good. The problem I found with this book is that because of how this book has been praised online, I fully expected most of the twists.

Some things seemingly came out of nowhere, namely, the Martha thing (not her identity reveal, but a part of Chiamaka's character that's suddenly a big part of her- I liked it! It just... appeared) and Devon's dad reveal - it didn't feel like they came naturally or even in a shocking way. It felt a little like filler, though I'd say that the second one was very much more believable. 

OK, time for the minor spoilers: I was expecting this book to be something like a whodunnit, which it was - the problem comes from the fact that the twist didn't feel like a twist - this book has been marketed as dealing with racism and how it's deeply embedded everywhere! How was I supposed to believe any single white person in this book? There were 2 characters I did believe, but one them, which I'd say is a heavy-hitter in the twists department was definitely underwhelming. I LOVED THE FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH THAT CHARACTER THOUGH - you'll know what I'm referring to once you read it.

The way the author went about setting up this twist is making the main characters believe what was happening to them wasn't racially motivated... and I don't know if it's because it was poor writing, my own privilege, or the fact that I easily saw through most of the characters: friends? Teachers? I truly trusted no one. I felt annoyed that the characters basically had to convince themselves that Oh, no, this isn't about me being black, I've had a good run here at school! I 100% understand coming from a place of assuming the best, but it felt quite unbelievable because most of the characters did bad things and it either was forgotten immediately or forgiven in the next chapter - and by bad things, I mean HUGE red flags.

This, however, isn't to say the main characters were dumb - I'm saying they felt a little too stiff in this regard. The cards were stacked against them.

Other than that, this book really doesn't feature fast-pacing. I'm really sorry, but this book is just Gossip Girl, except it isn't trashy - each new reveal done by Aces never took my breath away, it just got progressively worse and worse. None of them really wowed or shocked me outside of one of the later ones, regarding some posters, probably because of the very vivid description. I felt very tense reading this book, which is something I definitely think is in its favor: this is a mystery/drama, just like Gossip Girl. As new offenses took place, it felt like it was definitely getting worse and worse, but it all felt very, very linear. A crescendo, yes, but still linear. And the weight of some of the things that happened felt a bit downplayed.

There were some moments that I thought the book was going to go other places, like a traditional thriller with some stalking scenes, but nope. And this isn't to say it wasn't tense and suspenseful to read those or that I wanted the characters to suffer... I just wanted to feel scared for them, because I was 100% sure from the reviews this book has and its marketing that this wasn't going to end on a somber note - can't say if I would like it less or more in that case.

Another thing I really need to express: this book's romance is... extremely bland. To be fair, this book isn't marketed as a romance, nor do I see any mention of romance in the synopsis. I got a bit excited when Devon started having a romantic arc, but most if not all romance in this book is either established or gets set up really quickly: Devon has an "ex" for whom I felt nothing. I felt for him, not for them, you feel? Chiamaka has a crush and then a romantic interest: the first one is established and it feels like everything is going to go well, thus you know it isn't actually going to all go well. The second one is like Devon's new romantic interest: they meet, they have banter, they get together - which is signaled by kissing. I didn't have time to want these characters to get together, let alone feel for the endings all these had. It was way too quick.

I will give Miss Faridah this: she is great at creating a visualization of emotion. You could feel for these characters because their emotions were described in a grandiose way, which makes you feel for them deeply. The main characters and some side characters are either really likable (Devon, Chiamaka, Devon's Mom, Terrell, Andre) or simply highly realistic (Jamie, Scotty, Belle, Headmaster Ward, Devon's Teacher). There are some great moments in this book ("smell of bitch-ass liar" lives in my head rent-free), some amazing interactions. I kind of wish Chiamaka and Devon started interacting a bit sooner, too.

However, these complaints and compliments are on writing, because outside of that, this book deals with racism in a way that I found very serious but also very enticing to read: I felt called out at times and this book originated some reflection on some thoughts I had while reading it. It takes the idea that racism is a part of everyone who has been neutered into it and manifests it in a very realistic and rage-inducing manner: sexual harassment, rumor-spreading, all these very bad things that range from absolutely awful to what one could consider minor. Minor in a way that you realize that small things can be signs of terrifying bigotry, sometimes even in an unconscious manner.

For that alone, I commend the author and I really like this book for it; I will check out future releases by this author without even blinking. I'd say to give it a try.