Ace Of Shades

By Amanda Foody

From the author of Daughter of the Burning City comes a thrilling new series about the scandalous lives in the City of Sin.

‘Amanda Foody has a wicked imagination.’ Stephanie Garber, Sunday Times bestselling author of Caraval Take a card. The price is your soul.

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.

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 con man, but he might just be the only person who can help her.

As their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless society, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city to uncover the truth.

And she'll need to play the game.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Apr 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781474055529

Amanda Foody

Amanda Foody is a New York Times and indie bestselling author of YA and children’s fantasy novels, including the Wilderlore series, the All of Us Villains duology, the Shadow Game series, and more. She lives in Massachusetts with her partner and their feline Beastly companion, Jelly Bean. Visit her at AmandaFoody.com or on Instagram @AmandaFoody.

Reviews for Ace Of Shades

[brittaniethekid · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book took me a long time to read because I just couldn't connect to the characters (namely Enne) and I felt like it was such a slog to continue. Luckily, once things start to kick off and we find a little more about Lourdes and Enne's past and get some action sequences, it was a bit easier to get through. I still didn't feel anything for any of the characters and don't think I'll continue with the series. If they focused more on the gangs and Levi's world, it would have been more compelling. Every time a gang is mentioned or something happens with them, it felt like just a tease - the writer introduces too many characters and doesn't have the skill to develop them in the allotted text. Enne, the main character, was just so boring and basic with no real redeeming qualities that I would rush through her chapters just to get back to Levi's POV with a little more meat to it. And while I understand this is a YA book, the romance will-they-won't-they teasing was frustrating and added nothing to the story. If you're not going to have them actually follow through on any sort of intimacy, leave it out of the book entirely.

[mrnattania72 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this, for lack of a better word, steampunk story of lost family, unknown origins, mobsters and death dealing city rulers. The Ace of Shades combines the ruthless drive of mob bosses, magic and the unforeseen friendship and companionship needed to find the truth and do what is necessary. This book almost lost me until our heroine finally grew a set and decided enough was enough. My favorite character is the dove, she was fantabulous and her sarcasm helped.the story move forward with shrill-like laughter from my smiling mouth.

[shahnareads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this.
Enne starts off a bit irritating and wimpy but I like her growth into badass-ery. Gimmie all the violence!

pow-pow! shoot-bang! pew-pew!

[vavaviolet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I did enjoy the world Foody created, a world where crime lords rule, gambling is a favorite vice, and politics is not only dirty but lethal. I found New Reynes sinister yet fascinating. However, I felt the build-up is painfully slow, and there were times the story lost momentum. I also felt there were so many things going on in the story that made it confusing to follow. Gratefully, more than halfway through the story, it finally made sense and gained traction, thanks primarily to Enne who is quite an unpredictable character. We see her metamorphosis from a scared, timid, prim and proper lady who was hell-bent on finding her mom, to a ruthess, cunning and fierce protagonist worthy to be called a lord. Of course there's sexual tension between her and Levi, the latter being a likeable character as well. But I have to admit, I'm more curious to see what Enne would do next in the second book.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book in The Shadow Game series by Foody. I got about 70 pages into this book before stopping it. This is another one of those gambling based fantasy YA books with magic in it. I just wasn’t into the story, so I decided to stop reading it. The beginning reminded me a lot of “Six of Crows” but not nearly as interesting or good.The story jumps between two characters; Enne and Levi. Enne is an educated young woman who is coming to New Reynes to search for her mother. Levi is the young leader of a gang that Enne’s mother was involved in.Everything about this was just not quite as good as I expected. The characters seemed a bit shallow, the city not describe quite well enough. The book reminded me of a cross between “Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo and “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber. In the end I couldn’t help feeling like this was a poor ripoff of both series and decided to set it aside.Overall I wasn’t a fan of this book, but I only read the first 70 pages or so. If you are interested in these sort of historical fantasy novels with a gambling/Las Vegasish theme to them I would recommend the “Six of Crows” series by Leigh Bardugo or the “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber instead.

[empressreece · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Going on my 10* Favorites shelf! : )

I listened to the audiobook of this because I really like Saskia Maarleveld so I figured she'd put on a good performance- And she did not dissapoint! I thought her voice was perfect for Sin City. : )

The author did a fabulous job of developing the characters! I didn't have strong feelings for any of the cast really at the beginning but by the end I absolutely adored Enne, Levi, Jac and Lola.

Enne completely surprised me! I didn't think she had a snowball's chance in hell of surviving in New Reynes but she didn't just survive, she was playing for keeps. You go girl!

I'm dying to find out what happens in the next book. Now I'm wishing I would've waited and read this like months later so the wait for book two wouldn't be so agonizing long. : (

[kamoorephoto · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the most talked about and most anticipated YA novels of the year (and it is only April); maybe it’s the hot red cover, or the invitation to "Take a card and stake your soul."Even if you usually shy away from books because of the hype around them, don't miss this one. The book begins with"To be frank, reader, you'd be better off not visiting the city at all,"in reference to the city of New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin (move over, Las Vegas), the city that ‘Ace’ is set in, and naturally, like most things we are warned against doing, we are more drawn in. Allow yourself into the world that author Amanda Foody has created, one where our lead character, Enne Salta has gone on a desparate mission to find her mother Lourdes, who she hasn't seen or heard from in months. Her one lead is a street lord, Levi Glaisyer, who is indebted to a con man, and lives under the clutches of a ruthless and frightening Mafia Donna called Vianca.Enne quickly finds herself shedding her finishing school veneer, and becomes entrenched in the ways of New Reynes, which is filled with illicit casinos, three rival gangs, and more shady characters than a Godfather movie (almost). Now onto the guts of my review (and there really were a lot of guts spilled in this book; it’s pretty violent, though no sexual violence, in case you're wondering about triggers).I’d say Enne is an unlikely heroine for this book, and at the beginning I had some serious reservations as to whether I would find her believable and whether she would come into her own. She ends up very determined, and she grew on me. With so many books being written about strong female characters these days, I think it IS hard to make them stand out and to make their idiosyncrasies believable. Enne here though has a past that she basically finds out gradually was a lie, and she slowly sheds pieces of herself and gets stronger because she not only has to, but because she discovers a new self and it’s liberating. I loved this part of her story.The other main character is Levi, who basically gets roped into Enne’s search for her mother, with the promise of enough ‘volts’ to make a payment in a bad investment scheme with a rival, should he help her. I really enjoyed Levi’s bad boy character, perpetually doing the wrong thing, confused over his motives, falling for the girl (and guys), and trying to maintain a street lord persona, even though he seemed to be incredibly young to be thrown into that role (mind you, in ALL of these books, these teens seem to take on these TITAN roles, seemingly beyond their years).There were countless minor characters, and should this be a movie, colorful supporting roles, that fleshed out this vivid imaginary world. Also, if it were a movie, it would be a set decorator and costume designer’s dream!Foody writes so much detail and imagery into this book, that at times, it’s a little hard to keep up, but I was engaged and thoroughly enjoyed this all the way through. I would definitely say this is for the upper range of teen years and upwards, as far as teen readers; it’s not light fare. I can’t compare to the previous book but I read at the back of this one, that THIS is the one that Foody threw all her dreams into to write, and I believe it. I’m absolutely looking forward to the follow-up. I know there’s even more of this great story coming.