Review: Ace of Shades

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another ARC I've managed to acquire in the course of my duties as a bookseller, so here's my honest review.

I...wasn't terribly impressed with this one, not unlike Foody's debut, Daughter of the Burning City. Here we have a similarly middling book, not at all outright bad, but certainly a bit overhyped. I think part of the problem with this one was its slow start (though the pace does pick up a hell of a lot around the 100-150 page mark or so), generally muddled storyline, and, for the most part, flat and forgettable characters. Not so forgettable, of course, is Levi, who brings some pretty well-needed black and bi rep both - and while we're at it, I'm going to want to look for someone who can review this book #ownvoices for Levi so I can trade this ARC to them. The funny thing is, though, Levi's memorable nature also owes to him being the one with the strongest similarity to a Six of Crows character - Jesper, to be precise - which is what really makes this book's overall similarity to Six of Crows really clear.

I can't say for certain whether or not I'll be looking forward to the sequels, but for sure I'll be reading them whenever I can. (Though whether or not I'm still working in the bookstore by then, I can't say. Circumstances may change, y'know?)

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