Ace of Spades

Leider konnte mich das Buch nicht ganz überzeugen. Für den größten Teil des Buches wirkte es als wäre Devons einziges Persönlichkeitsmerkmal seine Sexualität, was mich selbst als bisexuelle Person, immer wieder stört. Menschen sind mehr als ihre Sexualität und leider hört man immer wieder "Ich hab ja nichts gegen queere Menschen, aber sie können nicht aufhören darüber zu reden" und liest es unter Social Media Kommentaren. Bücher, in denen Charaktere darauf beschränkt werden, befeuern das meiner Meinung nach nur. Vor allem wenn das Buch keine Romance, sondern ein Mystery ist. Wo sind die Bücher, in denen die Sexualität einfach Teil des Charakters ist und eine von vielen verschiedenen Dingen, die sie ausmacht? So wie es in der Realität eben ist. Die zweite Hauptfigur, Chiamaka, ist ebenfalls mit einer Person des gleichen Geschlechts zusammen, hat aber weitaus mehr Facetten und andere Themen, um die es in ihren Kapiteln geht, während ich das Gefühl hatte, dass es bei Devon immer nur um die gleiche Sache ging. Chiamaka hat das Mystery definitiv gelenkt und vor allem in ihren Kapiteln ist etwas passiert. In Devons Kapiteln wurde die Geschichte deutlich verlangsamt, obwohl sie dank der kurzen Kapitel eigentlich ein gutes Tempo hatte. Leider waren auch alle Plottwists für mich vorhersehbar, sodass sie mich kaum überrascht haben, als die Twists dann aufgedeckt wurden. So war fast ein großer Teil des Plots leider uninteressant.

I really wanted to like this more cause it was an interesting concept, but the execution fell a bit flat for me. It had some important messages, but overall, there was too much I didn't like. The plot is about two black students at a prestigious school who get targeted by an anonymous bully called "Aces". They send messages revealing their biggest secrets or sharing lies about them. As one can guess, since only those two get targeted, and the only thing they have in common is their skin color, this is about racism. I thought the mystery aspect, finding out who Aces is, would play a bigger role, but it took almost half of the book until they really started doing something. This was supposed to be a thriller, but I didn't feel much thrill at all. There was this slow dread that was well done but a bit too late. I think this kind of story needed a quicker pacing in the beginning and to be shorter in general. The information about the characters could have been mixed in with the rest a bit more, because in the beginning, I was just always waiting for Aces to do something again cause not much else was going on. In terms of the characters, I liked Devon way more than Chiamaka. She did grow on me, but I didn't like how, in the beginning, she was all about using people and doing everything she can to get what she want. The side characters were a bit weird, like I felt we didn't even know much about them. Maybe that was on purpose, to raise suspicion (I didn't trust anyone), but it was also too little about more important/likeable characters, especially after the ending! Can't say who exactly because of spoiler, but there were just some storylines that felt kinda open, or where I'd wonder why that was put in, if it didn't lead anywhere. Generally, the ending was kinda weird to me. After a specific plottwist, I was confused at what even was supposed to happen now since there were still many pages left. How everything was "solved" felt kinda random, idk how else to describe it without spoiler. Oh, and one big issue I have with many YA books - why does nobody talk to their parents! I get not everybody has a good relationship with them, but each of these characters had at least one parent where it would have made sense to talk to them about these horrific things. Like, I don't understand how they were just like, "Let's handle this on our own." So, yeah, maybe this was also just not my genre (I read mostly (queer) romance and fantasy), but I was in the mood for a good mystery (which it sadly wasn't), and I wanted to read something queer that wasn't a love story (though it had elements of it, and that was really nice). I've seen many people love this book, and I can still see why, but it just wasn't that enjoyable to me. Like, it wasn't bad. It was an interesting read, with many topics that I liked, but it wasn't that exciting.

The heck?? This was perfection, loved everything about it. The description of Get Out meets Gossip Girl is SPOT ON!!

I feel uncomfortable rating this one 2 stars. I see where the author was coming from with the plot (it truly is Gossip Girl meets Get Out) and I realize that she made it that over the top on purpose. But at some point, a book just becomes unrealistic. And that is what happened here! Every white person was in on this weird ass plan to get rid of the two Black students? Over the span of four years? Nah dude, that is just whack.

This book got so dark so fast. I didn’t expect to get this shaken up by it. It starts out all typical highschool-ly but diverts into an evil gossip school in no time.It was fascinating watching the two main characters trying to cope with all the secrets that come out. They come from very different backgrounds and handle the whole Situation very differently.I had to shut my copy of the book multiple times because I couldn’t handle some characters actions anymore. It stressed me out so much. All the twists and secrets that are uncovered are mind blowing.This book is amazing. I can’t recommend it enough. But please beware of the trigger and content warnings!

This book got so dark so fast. I didn’t expect to get this shaken up by it. It starts out all typical highschool-ly but diverts into an evil gossip school in no time.It was fascinating watching the two main characters trying to cope with all the secrets that come out. They come from very different backgrounds and handle the whole Situation very differently.I had to shut my copy of the book multiple times because I couldn’t handle some characters actions anymore. It stressed me out so much. All the twists and secrets that are uncovered are mind blowing.This book is amazing. I can’t recommend it enough. But please beware of the trigger and content warnings!

Sehr spannend. Und entlarvend.

Ok so, 2 stars because I guess I did finish the book and it kept my attention (tho only because I wanted to know what strange and outlandish twist will come up next), but, genuinely, what was that? That's not... yeah idk the writing wasn't my thing at all, and while at the start I could appreciate the gossip girl vibes, this was way too ridiculous. You're telling me that grown men and women are beefing with two high schoolers? I have to laugh, I'm sorry. I can understand that this story comes from a place of hurt and is probably very personal, but it truly read like one of those 'and everyone clapped' tumblr posts from 2014. Really wanted to like it (because it seems like everything I read for the bookclub does decidedly not slay unfortunately and I need to break that curse) but. Man. This was not it. At all.