Ace of Spades is a dark academia young adult novel that's reminiscent of Gossip Girl. Devon and Chiamaka are seniors at a prestigious private school and they start getting anonymous threats in the form of text messages, all of them signed Aces. The novel follows these two as they try to figure out who Aces is and who to allow into their circle, all while their secrets are being spilled to the entire school.

I ended up rating this book three stars, which means I liked it. Three stars is not a bad rating, even though many people think that it is. I really did enjoy my time with this book. It was suspenseful and kept my attention. I loved the LGBTQ rep and the allegories it made toward our society. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé references racism, classism, and other hot topics in our world today.

In terms of dark academia, it's not exactly what I was expecting. Maybe it's because this is a young adult novel and I'm an adult reader. It definitely had dark academia vibes in terms of the plot, but the atmosphere, in my opinion, was lacking. There were also parts at the end of the novel that I scoffed at, which is not a great sign. There were plot twists that were kind of ridiculous. I scoffed and rolled my eyes when the journalist was revealed to be part of team Aces. That entire scene, in my opinion, was a pretty weak climax.

However, the epilogue was so well written that it made me cry. I'm not a huge fan of time jumps (the epilogue jumps 16 years into the future), but when I read the letter that's being sent to all of these students who are interested in schools that participate in the same social eugenics, I cried. Also, seeing that these characters achieve their dreams and are still in contact with each other, just warms my heart.

Overall, it was a fun reading experience and I suggest it to young adult readers who enjoy Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.