★★★★★/★★★★★ Book Review: Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Positives
🃏 Engaging and interesting storyline
🃏 Likeable characters and setting
🃏 Wasn't predictable
🃏 Grey characters, I love a grey character

This wild romp through the so called City of Sin was fantastic and I really enjoyed it. We get two third person points of view through Enne, a seventeen year old who has spent years learning to be a lady at finishing school but who is often overlooked due to her low level status, who is looking for her mother who has vanished in the City of Sin; and Levi, the dashing bisexual Iron Lord and con man who is in well over his head in a con not entirely of his making.

The talent system is one that I really liked and it was well explained at various points through the book. I really loved how Enne grew as a person and really came out of her shell both with Levi's help and in finding herself as she discovered all was not as it seemed in regards to her mother. The side characters of Jac and Lola were welcome additions and I really felt that they brought to the story; the villains were also well executed, I really hated a few of them, that's for sure. I really liked the gang war aspect of the story too.

This YA fantasy novel is well written, I found the characters very likeable and the story engaging. I've heard a few people liken it to Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows duology and I can see why, but it is definitely different enough that it makes it own space in the market and rightly so and I can't wait to read the sequel.