DNF Review – Ace of Shades (The Shadow Game, Book 1) by Amanda Foody (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1335692290
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Shadow Game series
Source: Owlcrate
Rating: 3/5 stars
“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 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.”
This is the first book in The Shadow Game series by Foody. I got about 70 pages into this book before stopping it. This is another one of those gambling based fantasy YA books with magic in it. I just wasn’t into the story, so I decided to stop reading it. The beginning reminded me a lot of “Six of Crows” but not nearly as interesting or good.
The story jumps between two characters; Enne and Levi. Enne is an educated young woman who is coming to New Reynes to search for her mother. Levi is the young leader of a gang that Enne’s mother was involved in.
Everything about this was just not quite as good as I expected. The characters seemed a bit shallow, the city not describe quite well enough. The book reminded me of a cross between “Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo and “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber. In the end I couldn’t help feeling like this was a poor ripoff of both series and decided to set it aside.
Overall I wasn’t a fan of this book, but I only read the first 70 pages or so. If you are interested in these sort of historical fantasy novels with a gambling/Las Vegasish theme to them I would recommend the “Six of Crows” series by Leigh Bardugo or the “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber instead.
