Ace of Shades

"Ace of Shades" is the first installment of a rather dark and twisted fantasy series for young adults. Enne Salta was raised to be a lady - Finishing School, ballet classes and etiquette training dominate her life. But when her adoptive mother goes missing, she is determined to find her - even if that means going to New Reynes, the City of Sin. Before she knows it, Enne is dragged into the corrupt and brutal workings of the city and soon doesn't even recognize herself anymore... I am quite torn about this book. I rather enjoyed the plot of this story and found the magic system to be quite interesting. The world-building, on the other hand, was quite confusing to me, at times. I just had the feeling that the author was all over the place. Even though I wasn't overly fond of the protagonists, Enne and Levi, I really appreciated Enne's character development throughout the book. The love story didn't feel quite right to me, though. In my opinion, there was a serious lack of chemistry. I liked the fact that the antagonists in this story are the kind you love to hate, but I would have welcomed a little bit more background information. You see, there are quite some things I enjoyed, but equally as many that frustrated me. All in all, "Ace of Shades" is a YA novel I'd recommend to teenagers 14 and up, who enjoy darker fantasy.

I had high hopes for this book since it's a story about intrigues and mysteries. As a friend of mine who mostly shares my taste in books, and who was also the one who recommended me Six of Crows, loved it I was quite sure that I'd enjoy this as well. Sadly, where Six of Crows could pull me in, make me care for the characters and wonder how they could pull off their little stunts and big heists, Ace of Shades was very bland in comparison.I didn't care for the characters - which was largely helped by the writing style. Enne (the MC) is introduced as a young woman who traveled to a foreign city - the city of sin - in search of her mother. She seems very intimidated and scared and thin skinned, at least for the city she's arrived at. I do agree that she has to adapt quickly in order for her not to get scammed and taken advantage of, but the way it was written just didn't feel authentic to me. As we are in her head (POV) many of her thoughts didn't match her actions or the things that happened around her. More so, she seemed very naive and stupid with some of her decisions. Also, Levi seemed like a more shallow, lesser version of Kaz Brekker mixed with a bit of Jesper, and the fact that I kept comparing him to them made it so much more obvious to me (in so many other situations too) that Ace of Shades tried to do what Six of Crows actually delivered.The premise of the story sounded very intriguing but it felt like the focus was placed on the wrong things. Many of the things we find out that should be significant were told in a way that was very anticlimactic. In addition, I didn't understand anything about the "talents" and the supernatural parts of this story as it's never been explained properly. I get that this is a series and that information will be distributed with following books but I wished I'd known more about this part of the characters. Also, the fact that we have to read "muck" and "mucking" almost every time a character from the city of sin talks or thinks was surprisingly annoying. I'm generally not a fan of overused profanity but if you use it use the normal words. Everyone knows what you actually wanted them to think and say but made up swear words just make it ridiculous - "muckedy muck muck". Ultimately, the story felt like nothing new, like it tried to tell similar stories to Six of Crows or The Lies of Locke Lamora and even though those books too tell stories of teenagers that are forced into a life of cunning and dubious dealings they do a better job at making it authentic and believable. I'm certain that I would have liked this story and the writing style a lot more as a teenager, so if your a teenager who loves mysteries and intrigues or you tend to like books for the target audience "teens" then this book might be for you :)