Book: Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide
Read On: 21st July 2021
Rating: 4//5 stars
Summary: Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students' dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can't escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn't afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...
Okay, this book was amazing! I definitely have a soft spot for YA mystery/thriller books and Ace of Spades only solidified that. It’s marketed as Gossip Girl meets Get Out and it definitely delivered on that premise… not only that, make it black and queer. You’re in for such a treat with this book! If that’s already not enough to convince you, I’ll let my glowing review do the rest.
Devon and Chiamaka are great leads. It did take me a while to fully warm up to Chiamaka (very much Mean Girls vibes at the beginning of the book) but she soon redeemed herself and became an extremely likeable and very driven character. Devon is the purest soul, I absolutely loved him throughout. An unlikely friendship, but the two characters worked so well together and were so fun to read about.
The social commentary in this book is incredible but is extremely heavy too so please check the trigger warnings before going in, as there are plenty. There is a heavy focus on classism, racism and white privilege which is incredibly eye-opening and it's so important that these discussions are made accessible for younger readers which is exactly what Abike-Iyimide does. The big reveal is extremely shocking, and the events leading up to it are frightening, chilling and creepy. It's incredibly sad and uncomfortable to know that despite being exaggerated for the sake of the story, this book is STILL real life for a lot of young Black people. It is so haunting to recognise that the novel is not so far removed from what has happened, and what could happen.
I don't normally have any negative things to say about books I rate 4 stars but there are a few niggly bits with Ace of Spades I haven't been able to shake thinking about since finishing. Firstly, the beginning of this book felt very cringe and at first, I couldn't understand the hype. It read like a very stereotypical YA novel and at times I did feel like it was trying way too hard to be Gossip Girl. However, I can safely say that this feeling soon went, the writing style did a complete 180 and is now definitely one of my favourite YA thrillers - it's just a shame this incredible writing wasn't there from the very start and instead took a while to get to. I also found the VERY ending to be slightly unrealistic - without spoiling anything, those of you who have read the book should know which drastic event I am referring to. It just seemed as though everything wrapped up a little too perfectly and even then, I still have some unanswered questions about some of the characters.
However, you can see those are extremely minor issues. As I said, this book is up there with my favourite young adult mysteries and it's undoubtedly a very clever and very well thought out novel. It's also extremely addictive and the fact I read this 400+ page book in less than 24 hours is only testament to that. Obviously I would recommend this, and I would even go so far as to say that this should be recommended reading for all young people. Definitely give this one a read if you haven't already!