Also Posted on For The Love of Fictional Worlds

Disclaimer: An eARC was provided via Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.

This was my first Dark Academia book and HOLY MOLY SMOKES!!

I can’t even begin to articulate exactly what EXACTLY happened in this brilliant dark academia book!

Chiamaka is a planner - she is; on the top of the school and she is finally on the verge of getting her best friend to understand that they are meant to be together. Devon, on the other hand, comes from the wrong part of the town, is a talented musician and while he is out in the school, he is not out to his own mother.

Both Chiamaka and Devon have one thing in common - they are both the only black students in the Niveus Private Academy, an all white privileged private school.

It’s their senior year - Chi’s need to shine, to be the best while Devon just wants to put his head down, get into Julliard and make the sacrifices his mother makes, all worth it.

Everything is going relatively smoothly until an anonymous person slowly starts unravelling each secret that Chi and Devon have to the entire school; one by one.


I would tell you more, but trust me, you have got to go in blind - the anxiety, the nail biting tension that starts off from the first page and doesn’t let you go, not for a second while you are reading it.

The Dark Academia is a recently popularised genre - and it’s certainly a new one for me - however this debut, the way it handles the topics of social eugenics and institutionalised white supremacy had me in awe. It questions everything from privilege to racism to ingrained white supremacy in established institutions through the eyes of not just marginalised community of Color but also from the Queer lens!

If you are a fan of this genre, then you should know Ace of Spades is a *MUST* read book. And if you are a newbie like yours truly; pick this one up, I would bet half my library that you wouldn’t be disappointed!



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