[Review] Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Series: The Shadow Game #1

Rating: 3.5 stars

Published: April 10th 2018

Goodreads Synopsis:

Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…and secrets hide in every shadow.
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 a 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.

Enne visits New Reynes with one purpose - to find her missing adoptive mother. She enlists the help of Levi, street lord of the Scarhands. Levi is also using Enne for his own purposes - to complete a master con before time is up in ten days.

Just like with Daughter of the Burning City, I was bombarded with a wave of information and it took me some time to process it. But unlike Foody's first book, I was able to piece together the information and understand the world much better in Ace of Shades. It was still a bit confusing, though.

I think that the story was running along two concurrent plotlines that were struggling to be the dominant story. The story of Enne's hunt for her mother and Levi's need to complete Vianca's con were one story. But underneath it were the politics of New Reynes, the second story. And this was where it got super messy with details. There are corrupt street lords, corrupt politicians, an overthrown monarchy, and everyone is out to get everyone. It wasn't fully explained and the importance of the former monarchy and their powers was loss on me. Why were they the supposed good guys? I wish I knew. 

Ace of Shades really did remind me of Fallout: New Vegas, with how it combined politics with a city of sin. But I couldn't bring myself to care about the political aspect of this. The magic system itself was okay, but still could have been fleshed out. Why did some blood talents clash with some split talents? I didn't get how Levi's money making was considered at odds with his fire skills. 

I did enjoy the characters more, but I don't think we were able to spend enough time with them. They would appear for one minute, and disappear the next. Reymond, Lola, Levi, Enne... etc. Which may or may not count as spoilers.

Speaking of spoilers, I think it was honestly a shame that at the end, we find out Lourdes died right before Enne came to New Reynes. Enne spoke about how Lourdes shaped her into the person she is today and took care of her - to find out she just died really cut meaningful interaction short. 

I would read the sequel for the sake of finding out what happens next.