Ace of Shades book review

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
Series: The Shadow Game #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on April 10, 2018
Pages: 411
Goodreads

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, Enne has only one lead: the 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.

Ace of Shades got off to a rocky start if I’m honest. I was a little confused with the language and how everything starts off, I feel like it was kind of a baptism of fire. I also thought that the beginning of the book felt a little disjointed with the characters and the setting. I think I would have preferred for there to have been a slower integration into the story and the setting. I wanted to really get a feeling for the setting and the dirtiness of the setting but I found I was too busy to try and figure out what was happening and where Enne was to really immerse myself.

Levi makes Ace of Shades, I think I have a soft spot for characters that are gang lords. I had some serious Six of Crows vibes all the way through this book, Levi was definitely a Kaz Brekker type and I love revisiting a character just like him. I thought that Enne was a little annoying in her naivety, I kinda wanted to grab her and shake her a little if I’m honest. I do wish we would have had more of an insight into the other gang members so we could really understand what was going through their minds and what their motivations were. But I was pretty happy with the drama and action that this book provided with the characters.

I think the best bit of this book was the lead up to everything. I loved learning about the city and the different politics that made everything go around. I know that there is another book so I’m hoping that this will be delved into in way more because that was definitely my favourite part of the story. I loved the different levels and how everything works within the crazy city with the different gang lords and hierarchy within those. It was a really diverse world with a lot of different things happening, which was an immersive experience.

I think the worst bit of Ace of Shades is definitely the card games, I wish I had some more knowledge going into this book, I struggled to follow the different rules of each games and how you actually won at each one. I wish this wasn’t the case and I could tell what each of the games meant, because I think I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I had made those connections.

I would definitely recommend Ace of Shades, it’s an action filled book with some really great characters and settings. I’m looking forward to jumping into book two and finding out what is happening and how everything is going to move forward.

Have you read this series? Does it stay as good as the first book? Let me know in the comments!