King Of Fools by Amanda Foody

*Spoiler free*

On the quest to find her missing mother, prim and proper Enne Salta became reluctant allies with Levi Glaisyer, the city’s most famous con man. Saving his life in the Shadow Game forced Enne to assume the identity of Seance, a mysterious underworld figure. Now, with the Chancellor of the Republic dead and bounties on both their heads, she and Levi must play a dangerous game of crime and politics…with the very fate of New Reynes at stake. Thirsting for his freedom and the chance to build an empire, Levi enters an unlikely partnership with Vianca Augustine’s estranged son. Meanwhile, Enne remains trapped by the mafia donna’s binding oath, playing the roles of both darling lady and cunning street lord, unsure which side of herself reflects the truth. As Enne and Levi walk a path of unimaginable wealth and opportunity, new relationships and deadly secrets could quickly lead them into ruin. And when unforeseen players enter the game, they must each make an impossible choice: To sacrifice everything they’ve earned in order to survive… Or die as legends.

I adored Ace Of Shades. It was the gangster book I didn’t know I needed. I was a little wary going into this book, since it sounded like the world was going to be expanding and I was worried about everything getting convoluted and confusing. Though, this book turned out to be something I love very deeply. Trigger warnings: addiction, mentions of self-harm, violence

King Of Fools is absolutely spectacular. The world is expanded into something incredible, new, amazing characters are introduced, and the story becomes something darker, deeper, and fantastic.

In Ace Of Shades, there are so many characters. I knew there would be new ones introduced and I was worried about keeping track of them and just liking them in general. Boy, have I fallen in love them. The new characters are all kinds of amazing. They add so much to the story. The add to the plot. They added to my overall enjoyment of the book. They are all so, so lovable and I adore them.

This book is complicated. Really, really complicated. The plot relies heavily on the politic climate of New Reynes and you have to understand those to understand what’s happening in the book. Honestly, I don’t understand how I got a grip on them. Foody makes sure to explain everything so thoroughly every time politics are discussed, so the main, important, points are really driven home. Levi and Enne are also  “huh?” when it comes to politics, which I think helped ease my confusion haha. Economics are also introduced, but don’t worry! It’s actually fascinating and it is presented in the same way as politics. Foody somehow managed to get me to understand everything that was happening. And it didn’t require major information dumps or stretches where I was helplessly lost, which I think is an amazing feat. It was also really interesting and didn’t take away from the rest of the book. All this to say, the author did this part of the story amazingly haha.

I wasn’t expecting the plot to take the turns that it did. The world got a lot darker than I was expecting, but I like where it went. It’s twisty and I honestly could not guess what was going to happen. This book takes a better look at New Reynes, the history behind it, and what every character wants their place in it to be.

While every single character had their own character arc and development, I loved Enne’s a whole lot. She accepts who she is. She’s a lady and she’s a gangster. And she will not apologize for being either. I loved watching her throughout this book and how she handled everything. I love her gang. And her gang has cats! And it’s awesome! Her gang is also filled with girls who like to eat sweets, wear pink, and paint their nails while they run everything, which was absolutely awesome.

The writing was also something I really, really enjoyed. It’s incredibly strong and I just really enjoyed it.

Alright, there was one plot point that I’m having a hard time untangling my emotions about. It’s heartbreaking. The kind of heartbreaking that I know which book I can have an answer for the question “What was the most heartbreaking book you’ve read?” when I do tags now. I don’t know if I like it. I don’t know exactly how I feel. I think the thing that’s hard for me to wrap my head around is that it wasn’t presented well. I think this plot point fits and I can make sense of it. It fits into the story and makes sense with everything that has happened. I just don’t like how the other character’s reacted to it. It doesn’t fit with who and how they are. It was too fast. So, I think the confusing thing for me was sorting out that this was decision that works, but it wasn’t written to the best of it’s ability. And there are also lingering questions about it that weren’t answered at the end of this book, but might come up in the third, which made this even more confusing haha. And yes, I am being incredibly vague cause I want to avoid spoilers!

I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance aspects of this book, but that is really just personal preference!

All in all, this book was incredible. It elevated everything that Ace Of Shades had and made it something incredible. I know the twists aren’t over and I’m ready to see this world turned upside down once again in the third book.

King Of Fools comes out April 30th, 2019! You can add it on Goodreads and pre-order a copy in the meantime!

Thank you for reading!