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Book Review: Ace of Shades

ACE OF SHADES by Amanda Foody
4 Stars
Verdict: A mixed hand.

Prim and proper dancer, Enne Salta, braves the so-called City of Sin in search of her mother. She seeks out Levi Glaisyer, a young gang leader struggling to pull off the last leg in a financial scam. Gangster magic ensues!

I had mixed feeling about this story from start to finish, but did I enjoy it? Yes. Mostly. I felt critical while reading it, but I still enjoyed the ride.

It starts off fast, almost too fast, so that it has to slow down immediately after in order to build up the world and characters. The pace might plummet, but the world and characters are very well done.

I enjoyed Enne's growth from a stuffy prim and proper lady into a survivor, and I liked how she he clashed with Levi's laid back persona - textbook chemistry! Levi, on the other hand, is in over his head, and things only gets worse for him. I've heard lots of comparisons to Six of Crow's Kaz Brekker, and I'd say Levi isn't as strong, confident, or broken. If anything, he's more naive and...too soft to be a gang leader, really. I expected to learn more about his past throughout the book, but it stopped short of a real backstory. There are still unanswered questions about who Levi is.

The main problem for me with this one is the over-explanatory nature of the storytelling. Quick moments of dialogue were often dragged out for several pages by side explanations and general exposition. The same ideas were repeated over and over: Lourdes is probably dead, Levi needs more volts, New Reynes is bad. At times, it felt like we were reminded of these things every chapter, as if we might forget what we're reading.

That said, the world building is imaginative.  Those little ideas that make you smile, think, imagine, and escape - this book is full of them.

So the world is creative, the characters are diverse and bounce off each other well, and the writing flows. The downside? Repetition, exposition, and pace. Those are pretty big things, unfortunately. It makes it hard to recommend, but as I said at the start, I enjoyed it.

Source: Bought it.

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