Review: Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Hey all, Dani here.

Another day, another review. I’m doing pretty good with keeping up with reviews for some of my most recent reads, but I still have a backlog I need to get to. It really comes down to time management and scheduling, so I might have to give in and just do a couple sets of mini reviews. We’ll see.

Anyway, today’s review is for a book I was highly anticipating, and I was so happy to get a copy of it in one of my OwlCrate boxes. So let’s just jump into the review.

Summary

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.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

I very much enjoyed Amanda Foody’s debut novel, and am pleased to say that I loved this one as well. Some of the blurbs for this book compare it to Six of Crows, and while it has similarities, and gave me enough con and gang action, I don’t think it quite lives up to that comparison. Then again, perhaps this one is more like what SoC would have been at a slightly slower pace, because it takes time for the group to really come together.

But I also think I pretty much flew through this book and really enjoyed the characters and the magic and the story. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one. The atmospheric descriptions of the city and the gambling just sucked me away from where I was and transported me into the story, which I absolutely loved.

Oh, and I should talk about the magic a bit more. Everyone has two talents, one more dominant than the other, and those talents go along family lines too, so what talents you have also helps to determine your names. It was just a really interesting premise. And it was pretty obvious from the beginning that though Enne said her lesser talent came from her father and it had to do with counting, she also clearly is horrible at math, which makes everything about her a bit more curious. And you do learn more about who she is and what talents she possesses throughout the story, but I’m not going to say anything more about it here. You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Honestly, I’m going to have to read this book again, not just because I really enjoyed it, but also because I’m sure I missed some small details, and those may or may not end up being relevant in the next book. It’s going to be a long wait until next year, when we get the sequel, but it will be worth it.

Where to Buy

You can pick up Ace of Shades from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.