Labeled as “Gossip Girl meets Get Out,” I was pretty excited to read Ace of Spades…and everyone has definitely hyped it up. I won’t give too much away, but Ace of Spades is about two Black students at a private high school who are the victims of a series of text messages that threaten to reveal all of their deepest and darkest secrets. The book is a fast-paced read in which I ended up reading three-fourths of the book in one day 😮 but I have a few thoughts about the mechanics of the novel.
Reviewing a young adult book as an adult reader is tricky. As adult readers who read adult novels, we often expect more sophisticated writing, deeper plot points, and more in-depth character development. Young adult novels can definitely have these elements too, and that relationship between writing and character development should ideally be amongst the same caliber. I think teenage readers of Ace of Spades would have benefited from a story with more sophisticated writing, but that isn’t to say that the content of the book is also lacking. Àbíké-Íyímídé provides readers with a strong, thrilling story that sparks an important conversation about racism in an academic setting.
Content warnings: racism, homophobia, racial slurs, car accident, suicide attempt
Reviewing a young adult book as an adult reader is tricky. As adult readers who read adult novels, we often expect more sophisticated writing, deeper plot points, and more in-depth character development. Young adult novels can definitely have these elements too, and that relationship between writing and character development should ideally be amongst the same caliber. I think teenage readers of Ace of Spades would have benefited from a story with more sophisticated writing, but that isn’t to say that the content of the book is also lacking. Àbíké-Íyímídé provides readers with a strong, thrilling story that sparks an important conversation about racism in an academic setting.
Content warnings: racism, homophobia, racial slurs, car accident, suicide attempt