If they say “muck” one more time in gonna flip why does that exist

Adored the way tarot cards are used within the story, true to the real life card interpretations with additional symbolism and meaning from the world and its magic woven in. The plot and games are slightly reminiscent of Caraval or The Night Circus but without as much whimsical charm, mostly as the setting and tone of the book, plus its unique magic system, is rooted in a much more realistic, gritty cityscape. This draws a lot of strong similarities with Six of Crows, in particular the long cons and politics of old fashioned street gangs, including all the (mostly) lovably rogue characters. As it's available in the Audible plus catalogue, I didn’t have the highest expectations but I’m very pleasantly surprised and definitely want to continue to listen to the rest of the series. I would say its use of words like “muck” instead of expletives was kind of jarring though and I would like to see some growth or character arc on Levi’s part as he seems an unlikely fit for the leadership role that is supposed to belong to him. 

I usually don't enjoy mysterys but this book did it for me! The pace was slower than I prefer, but it kicked up enough that it kept me on its hook. 

The characters were fun, their motivations unique. The world building of the City of Sin is unlike anything I've seen before. The world felt so alive it was as if it was breathing off the page.

Ahhh, this was so so good! What a wonderful book, honestly. It was a friend rec for that 12 friend recs in 12 months meme thing that was going around booktwt in the beginning of the year, and I’m so glad Kaz recc’d it to me!

Ace of Shades is the first book in a YA fantasy series that follows good-girl Enne trying to find her adoptive mother Lourdes and gang lord Levi who’s trying to get out from underneath an immense debt. I know one of the comps is Six of Crows and while I don’t really agree wholeheartedly, I do think that there’s a similar vibe, especially in the later half of the book.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the book — the characters were engaging, and I thought the plot was interesting. While I was a bit lost re: the worldbuilding and the different families and such, it wasn’t enough that I was completely confused on what was going on. I think it’s one of those things you pick up more as you go throughout the series. The beginning was a tad slow, but I think the story starts to really take hold and shine once you get past the first hundred pages. And even the first part of the book isn’t necessarily bad — I was enjoying the deep dive as Enne explored New Reynes trying to look for Lourdes. It just took a while to fully grip me is all.

But yeah, I really can’t wait to see what’s next for this crew of characters; I can tell it’s gonna be something big.

So we pretend that I haven’t owned this book for literally years and never read it because reading it now, I wish I had been motivated to read it sooner. It was really incredible, enthralling and interesting!! I absolutely adored the world building and the magic system.; it was so unique and I loved learning about every aspect of it. The City of Sin is no beautiful place, truly living up to it’s name, with gangs and danger around every corner, esp for our protagonists, but I loved every part of it. 

The magic system was absolutely my favourite part!!! I loved the concept of having blood talents that come from your parents and that they can be split, either equally or not so much, and how they can range from the mundane to truly horrifying talents that can bind and force others to do your bidding. I’m intrigued to learn more about the misers and what particularly made them so dangerous that the Phoenix Club felt the need to wipe them all out and everyone else was glad of it, considering the extent of what we know right now is that they have purple eyes and can make volts. 
I am also fascinated by the Shadow Game and cannot wait to learn more about it !!! The concept of betting with your life energy and what you have to do to win/how no one has ever won is so interesting !!!

Character-wise, I rlly truly loved Lola, she was my absolute favourite !!! I love that she armed herself with knives, and I was saddened to learn of her backstory with her family/brother, and I liked watching her reluctant friendship with Enne blossom as she realised the person Enne actually was. I also think her talent of being able to read other people’s talents through their blood and reading their history was so damn interesting!!! 

Levi was my second favourite and it pained me to see all the shit he lost through Vianca’s schemes, including being the Lord of the gang he’d built himself, in his desperate attempts to stay alive after she’d put him at risk and continued to take advantage of him. I loved his sarcasm and wit; he’d often make me laugh with the off handed things he’d say and I loved his friendship with Jac b/c they were both just so funny. I think it was sweet that after considering robbing her and sending her away from the get-go, and then only helping her to pay off his own debts, he became quickly protective of Enne and willing to go to any length to help her. Also the fact that he’d built up his gang by rescuing kids and saving their lives, after Raymond had done the same for him!!! It pained me as much as it pained him when Raymond was killed and he lost someone so important to him, and almost lost the same with Jac too. 

I’m not currently sure where I stand with Enne; I hated her to begin with and she rlly grinded my gears, but as she built up her confidence and adjusted to the city of sin and relaxed into being ruthless, I enjoyed that side of her a lot more, like when she poisoned and later killed Sedric, and when she fought Lola for her life. She still winds me up fairly often and there’s certain aspects of the way she thinks/speaks that I just don’t get along with, but I’m excited to see her grow more in the following books and see who she becomes. I also don’t rlly understand why she was so surprised when she learned that Lourdes was dead after she’d literally told her if I don’t come back by this many days, I’m probably dead like ??? She legit told you she’d be dead, why are you shocked???? *doesn’t understand* I am intrigued to learn more about Enne and her backstory tho.\

I also loved Jac so much!!! He made me laugh so often and I adored his friendship with Levi and how they cared for one another. 

All in all, a great book and I’m very excited to read the rest of the series and see where it goes and learn more about these characters that I’m already so fond of and learn more about such an interesting world and magic system !!!!

This book was great! I throughly enjoyed both the characters and the plot, and I will most definitely be purchasing and reading the sequel. 

The intense focus on the talents and their hereditary nature is frustrating, and I'm having trouble getting into the story. I don't like either of the main characters.