ABOUT
Title: Ace of Shades
Author: Amanda Foody
Series: The Shadow Game #1
Release Date: April 10th 2018
Synopsis:
Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…
and secrets hide in every shadow.
Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.
Frightened and alone, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn't have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne's offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems.
Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi's enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…
And she’ll need to play.
I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
There's definitely a slight Six of Crows vibe to this book with the city of sin kind of stuff and all the danger that the city is bathed in. However, with Six of Crows, as it's a spin-off book, we're aware of a larger world outside of the city and at least a general knowledge of the various powers and politics that the Grisha world is embroiled in. With Ace of Shades, I don't feel like I know adequately enough of the world outside of this city. Of course, that is clarified as I read more of the book, but I still don't' feel like I have enough of the world to truly get a grasp on it. The book focuses solely on this city and we hear whispers of what happens outside of it, but there's definitely an insular sort of feel to the book. Maybe it's just my visualization problems and I just need to stare at a map or something.
What we do learn about the world in Ace of Shades though is quite interesting. Everyone has two names beyond their first name. The two names come from the person's parents and they would also indicate the talents that the person has, one being more dominant. For example, our esteemed main character Enne's full name is Erienne Abacus Salta. Her dominant or "blood" trait comes from her Salta name indicating that she's from one of the dancer families. Abacus indicates her less dominant talent or "split talent" of arithmetic. Moreover, it's clear that the world that Foody has built has touches of the French Revolution built in to parallel the revolution that occurred in the world she's built. Also, as this book takes place in a "city of sin", money is involved and the money that runs the world is called "Volts" that is literal energy that is contained within orbs that are used as currency. I hope with the sequel, we get to see more of this world that Amanda Foody has built.
The story is split between two points of view -- Enne and Levi. Enne is almost done with finishing school and she wants to be done with finding her adoptive mother Lourdes before the semester starts. She's a Lady and she wants absolutely nothing to do with the City of Sin. Levi is the Iron Lord who is having many problems of his own and the last thing he needs is a snooty young woman demanding that he helps her. Enne has an amazing character arc throughout this book and it really made me cheer her on. She starts out as the snooty, delicate upper crust lady but as the book progresses and she is faced with more challenges, we learn that she's made of stern stuff and she really grows into her own. By the end of the book, I was really rooting for her. Levi is the bisexual, leader of one of the famous street gangs of the city and though he has obligations to provide for his gang, he needs to take care of his own money problem before he can focus on his gang. This puts him in a conflict as he finds himself more and more entwined in Enne's problems and mysteries, all the while trying to scrounge the money he needs.
The chemistry between Enne and Levi is palpable and it was so fun to really watch them dance around each other. I can't wait for the next book so that I can hope to see them progress even more and also to see what will happen to Enne and Levi! I really enjoy these characters and also the world that's been built around them. I hope that the second book manages to expand on the world that we see and also that we get to see Levi and Enne grow into being the badass power couple that they could be.
Happy Reading!
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