⚡️ I was provided with an audio ARC by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This post also includes an affiliate link to purchase this book.
Ace of Spades
by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
🌟: 5 / 5
📚: At Niveus Private Academy, your position on the social food chain is everything. Queen bee and head girl, Chiamaka, has nothing in common with reserved, musical Devon, besides being the only two Black kids at school— until an anonymous texter, Aces, starts spreading dangerous rumors about both of them.
💭: Ace of Spades starts strong and does not quit. Just when you start to think that things cannot get any more out of hand, the plot escalates and you get a new rush of adrenaline that stops you from putting the book down. The blurbs are not kidding when they say this book is Gossip Girl meets Get Out: it’s a teen drama turned deadly thriller for the only two Black kids in their school.
For all of the accolades that I’ve heard from other people about this book, I promise that they are beyond well-deserved. This book is worthy of its instant bestseller status. The dimensionality of her main characters shines, they aren’t perfect, but they bring the story of two teenagers to life so realistically. The mystery of the book is never cheesy and keeps you guessing, even if you think you’ve figured it out. While this book is YA, the fact that it falls into that age group shouldn’t dissuade older readers from enjoying it (I never thought I would enjoy a book about high schoolers like this), it’s as mature and thrilling as (or maybe even more than) any adult mystery can be.
The story is very purposefully written to take place in an anonymous town, anywhere in the US, and speaks strongly about the anywhere-ness of the situation. While the plot of this book just keeps escalating, many of the aggressions that the characters face— from having their hair touched to having to work twice as hard for all of their accomplishments to keeping their sexuality a secret— are commonplace for many students of color in majority-white schools, as experienced by the author when she went to college. It’s a surreal, horror take on racism that many kids experience in the classroom, and it is unforgettable.
To read this book and then discover that it is Àbíké-Íyímídé’s first (that she wrote WHILE attending college) is truly shocking. It is so expertly crafted, and I’m absolutely positive that she will be unstoppable as her career grows.