{"id":7514,"date":"2024-01-17T17:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T01:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/?p=7514"},"modified":"2024-01-25T16:27:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T00:27:57","slug":"ace-of-the-spades-teen-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2024\/ace-of-the-spades-teen-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ace of Spades – Teen Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Samuel Redfearn<\/span>, age\u00a016<\/span><\/p>\n

Ace of Spades<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>by Faridah \u00c0b\u00edk\u00e9-\u00cdy\u00edm\u00edd\u00e9<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Chiamaka Adebayo: Niveus Private Academy\u2019s Head Prefect for three years running, a valedictorian candidate, the most popular and powerful student. That\u2019s who she is at the beginning of her senior year at Niveus, having worked harder than anyone else ever since she came to the academy as a freshman. A similarly hardworking student, Devon Richards\u2019 dream is to go to Julliard and drown in his love of music. Unlike Chiamaka, he\u2019s never taken a particular interest in climbing the social ladder, instead choosing to remain quietly unknown and make his mother proud by doing well at the expensive private school. That is, until an anonymous mass texter begins spreading rumors about their pasts, digging up evidence to bring Chiamaka from queen of the school to social pariah and Devon from practically invisible to a victim of daily mocking and harassment. Devon and Chiamaka team up to figure out who is behind the jeopardization of their hard-earned futures.<\/p>\n

Ace of Spades is full of tension, danger, and betrayals, many of which the reader won\u2019t see coming. Much of the book is grand, eerie, and insightful. The journeys the characters go on are deeply powerful. Chiamaka especially had transformed by the conclusion in the book in ways that were unpredictable at the start. The premise of the story is bone-chilling and feels as though it could really happen. My main issue comes with the way in which the climax and falling action are handled. It feels altogether quite rushed and falls short of what the book had been hinting at occurring. The standoff between Aces, Devon, and Chiamaka feels trite, and unemotional, and is resolved in a way that does not inspire the same chilling effect as other parts of the book. However, as the deception continuously unfolds, revealing greater and greater layers of duplicity, as a reader, I was blown away by how hints were placed throughout the story of the eventual conclusion. The reveals are shocking and terrifying, but altogether satisfying because of how much they explain previous events. In spite of its rather underwhelming conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery and tantalizing thrills.<\/p>\n

4.5 stars of 5 stars<\/p>\n

Find this book in our catalog: Ace of the Spades<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Catalog Number: YA FIC ABIKE-IYIMIDE,F<\/span><\/p>\n

422<\/span> pages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Samuel Redfearn, age\u00a016 Ace of Spades\u00a0by Faridah \u00c0b\u00edk\u00e9-\u00cdy\u00edm\u00edd\u00e9 Chiamaka Adebayo: Niveus Private Academy\u2019s Head Prefect for three years running, a valedictorian candidate, the most popular and powerful student. That\u2019s who she is at the beginning of her senior year at Niveus, having worked harder than anyone else ever since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":7515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[168,169,170,167],"class_list":["post-7514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews","tag-danger","tag-emotion","tag-plot-twist","tag-tension"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/01\/42603984.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-1Xc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1573,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2015\/red-queen-teen-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":0},"title":"Red Queen — teen reviews","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"March 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviews by Kara and Hadley, teen reviewers Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard was fascinating. In it, Mare Barrow, a Red, endures. Reds make up the majority of this dystopian society, but are dominated by Silvers, whose blood gives them great powers. After an incident\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Teen Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Teen Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.syndetics.com\/index.aspx?type=xw12&isbn=0062310631\/LC.GIF&client=pasap&upc=&oclc=","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4593,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/boy-meets-depression-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":1},"title":"Boy Meets Depression — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"March 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"review by John Chon, age 15 Boy Meets Depression by\u00a0Kevin Breel Summary:\u00a0Kevin Breel burst into the public's awareness when at 19 his TED talk became a worldwide phenomenon. Star athlete, ace student, and life of the party: in short, he was every parent\u2019s dream. From the outside his life looked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/03\/boy-meets-depression.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1209,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2014\/paws-to-read-teen-book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":2},"title":"Paws to Read — teen book reviews","author":"Jane Gov","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the spirit of our Summer Reading \"Paws to Read\" theme, below is a selection of animal stories reviewed by teens. \u00a0 Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi If you are looking for a book that is entertaining and fun, \"Amulet: The Stonekeeper\", is the book. This book is fit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Teen Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Teen Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4139,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/a-dogs-purpose-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":3},"title":"A Dog’s Purpose — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"October 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"review by\u00a0John Chon, age 14 A Dog's Purpose\u00a0by\u00a0W. Bruce Cameron \u00a0\u00a0A Dog's Purpose was a step outside of my normal genre, and it felt like a breath of fresh air. The book is about a dog who is reborn again and again, remembering their past experiences and using them again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/10\/A-Dogss-Purpose.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4664,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/that-thing-we-call-a-heart-teen-review-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":4},"title":"That Thing We Call a Heart — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"June 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"review by\u00a0John Chon, age 15 That Thing We Call a Heart\u00a0by\u00a0Sheba Karim \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim is an interesting novel about the modern Muslim family. Not most teen books are about this topic. This book does a fair job with it, balancing it out with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/06\/that-thing-we-call-a-heart.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3277,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/the-roar-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":5},"title":"The Roar — teen review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"November 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Review By John Chon, grade 9 The Roar by Emma Clayton Summary: In the book, The Roar, people live in a dystopian world, where they live inside of walls to stay away from radioactive dust. The entire planet was destroyed because people were trying to kill savage animals. The story\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2016\/09\/roar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7514"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7523,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7514\/revisions\/7523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}