I read Ace of Shades awhile ago and remember liking it. I’m not sure if it’s just been too long or my tastes have changed, but I found it difficult to get into King of Fools. It was very slow. Foody has a lot of world building and elaborates on so many elements that it’s easy to get caught up into all of that, but there’s just nothing going on. I feel maybe middle book syndrome hit hard, too. I had to Mark this as DNF around 10%, unfortunately.

This was a DNF for me. I didn't end up liking the first novel in the series, so when I got around to this installment, I just didn't have the energy for it.

King of Fools was one of my most-anticipated releases of this year! I read Ace of Shades last year and it was one of my favourite reads of the year. It was seriously so good. So, all I really knew about King of Fools was that it would likely be almost as epic (I have low expectations for books that are in the middle of a series now, just in case).

I wasn’t wrong! It was definitely quite intense and quite the twisty adventure (and have I mentioned how much I love the fictional city that Foody created for this series?) I was also reading King of Fools while also bingeing Peaky Blinders and definitely got similar old-time gangster vibes from the book! I still love Ace of Shades just a bit more though. I’m also very much looking forward to the third and final book because I want to see how things will wrap up. I love both Levi and Enne and have rooted for them from just a few pages into book one.

So, the final book could make me very very happy, or it could destroy me! I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I highly recommend this one if you like heists and gangsters and guns and couples with crazy chemistry!

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

This book was amazing! I loved it even more than Ace of Shades. The world got more complex, and I loved getting to know the characters even more. I enjoyed the morally grey characters and the unique world.

4.5/5 stars

What words do I have for this book? I adored it. I adore this whole series. It stresses me out and makes me want to chew my fingernails off but the endings leave me breathless, craving the next installment.

Levi is — Levi is precious to me and I adore him and wish nothing but the best for my small son. And also, maybe, for him to make better choices.

Enne, meanwhile, is just...I admire her greatly. Her evolution over the course of the two books so far is a work of art, honestly. Foody is not afraid to make her protagonist angry, to make her vengeful, to show us all the ways she's not a pretty finishing school doll, and that was awesome to see.

My only complaint is that the book is SO ambitious I sometimes can't remember what's happening in what plotline. But that's partly on me for taking my sweet time reading it.

I highly recommend this book (although after its precedent, ACE OF SHADES, of course) to anyone who likes large casts of magical characters just trying to survive and maybe (dare they hope?) to thrive.

I adored ace of shades and was so excited to receive a copy of this from netgalley to review! Please get ace of shades then read this awesome sequel!

I love this book and this series. It is so fast paced and exciting, and the author pulls so many surprises that it's nearly impossible to guess what is going to happen. Had I not had to set the book down every now and then to just PROCESS the things that were happening, I probably could have finished this in a day. The underlying feminist themes in this book were spot on, and executed in a way that flowed perfectly with the rest of the story. Then, there's the sheer strength of the cast - emotional, physical, etc. King of Fools is perfectly well rounded, and is exhausting to read in the best possible way.

I liked this one better than the first! I loved the new powerful Enne and the story was thrilling, fun, and left me wanting more!

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

King of Fools was...not what I'd hoped it would be. I think it suffered from middle book syndrome -- there was a lot of meandering around, and many of the plot threads that were introduced in book one were left hanging. The (very large) size of this book could have been reduced if some of the politics were cut out. For a lot of the time, I felt like it was going nowhere, and if I'm being honest, I had to force myself to keep reading much of the time.

However, there are a lot of things that I did enjoy about this book, which is why I decided to give it four stars. The characters were the biggest saving grace -- I loved them during book one, and I love them even more now (Enne, Levi, Lola, Jac, Narinder, and Tock were all faves for me). (Because of the characters, I'll be continuing with the series, and if the characters are something you enjoy, I recommend you do the same.) Besides the characters,, what redeemed King of Fools was the ending. The pace picked up, there was emotion (so much angst!!!), and some plot threads were finally explained/touched upon. I slugged through the first bit, but the ending was worth the wait!

Long story short, King of Fools is definitely worth reading if the characters are what you care about. And either way, you don't want to miss that ending!

As much as I liked this book, I think I still like book one a bit more? Though, the characters (specifically Enne and Jac) BLEW MY MIND here. I loved their journeys and them fumbling through decisions and them dealing with consequences (even if it broke my heart_). How they weren't perfect and this world didn't afford them mistakes. There were a lot of politics in this book, betrayals, and secrets... and I am REALLY excited for the finale.

After several attempts at reading this book, I found that I can't get through it at this time and have considered it DNF-ed at 53%. Unfortunately I was bored for the bulk of the first half and when things finally started shifting, I found it confusing and all over the place.

As I DID enjoy the first book, I will be placing this book on my list of titles to return to and should my review change, I will update here. At this point, I will not be sharing a public review but will do so if I finish.

I really enjoyed this book! I will say that I am very glad I reread Ace of Shades first, as I think I would have spent too long being lost in the intricacies of the plot otherwise. Enne is a great character and I love seeing her really come into her own in this book. Levi remains my favorite despite his many flaws. I also loved the addition of the Jac POV!! Soooo much happened in these 600 pages and I can’t wait for the next book. I can already tell that s*** is about to get real!!

First of all, let me thank Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for the chance to read and review this book: King of Fools, pre-release. As always, these thoughts are my own. This review is spoiler-free and no main plot points are revealed.

I give this story 3 stars.

Synopsis: Indulge your vices in the City of Sin, where a sinister street war is brewing and fame is the deadliest killer of them all...

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.


This opening statement may seem a little harsh but here goes. *deep breath* I don't know why I thought I'd like KoF better than AoS. I thought Ace of Shades was middling at best (you can go read my review, it's up) but I wanted to give book two a try. Am I disappointed? Yes. I was hoping, like my disregard for Caraval but my enjoyment of Legendary, I would like the second book in a series better, that maybe King of Fools would redeem Ace of Shades for me.
It did not.

First of all, this book is 600 pages. SIX HUNDRED PAGES. It would have worked better about a third shorter. I thought maybe in 600 pages, I would have at least started to care about these characters, but I did not. They are still not realistic to me in their current ages. I get that this is the city of Vices but honest to goodness, they're all 18 and downing drinks like there's no tomorrow and that will never stop making me uncomfortable.

I did enjoy the #girlgang that Enne starts, and the Ending was interesting, but the 600 pages was too excessive and I thought I might care at the end.

Three stars because I really really wanted to care. It's just too long, the characters are too unbelieveable, and the twist is too strange and heartbreaking to comprehend. I hope you love this book, but it was not for me.

The character growth and development in this series has just been amazing. Enne Salta started out as a naive and inexperienced young woman, thrust into a world full of sinners that she had absolutely no clue what to do with. Throw in a couple life altering revelations and in King of Fools, Enne grew into a young woman full of bitterness and the want for revenge. Being under the power of Vianca through the omertà, had had doing some truly horrible things that would leave anyone scarred.

I most definitely still wanted to shake Levi and make him understand that Enne was so NEW to this life she hasn’t asked for but.. at the same time, these were children playing high stakes games that they were bound to lose. The end of this book had me gasping for breath and longing for the next book because if the epilogue is anything to go by, our favorite female lead will grow into the woman she was forced to be out of both circumstance and plain cruelty.



*E-galley provided in exchange for honest review*

DNF at 65%

I really enjoyed Ace of Shades, the first book in this series, so I was excited to read King of Fools. It started off well enough and I enjoyed the addition of Jac's perspective. But I've been reading this book on and off for several weeks and it is just dragging. I feel like the story keeps hinting at going somewhere but I'm still waiting for it to get there. This is a long book, which is not alway a bad thing (some of my favourite books are epic thousand pages novels) but at over halfway through this one I feel like I should be more engaged in the story and more invested in the characters and honestly....I'm just not. Maybe I'll finish this one day but that day is not today.

I'm currently reading this book and LOVE IT. I love Amanda Foody's writing style, I love Enne and Levi and the whole setting of the City of Sin.

While I didn't get around to reading this book before publication, I wish I did! It was just senior year absolutely killing my reading time, ugh. But this story is ABSOLUTELY SO FUN and the politics are incredibly gripping and the characters are some of my top favorites.

If you haven't started the Shadow Game series, go start it!!!!!

FTC DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED AN E-ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER THROUGH NETGALLEY I VOLUNTARILY OFFER MY HONEST REVIEW OF THE BOOK! RECEIPT OF THIS BOOK IN THIS MANNER DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION OF THE BOOK OR THE CONTENT OF MY REVIEW!

I did also end up buying the audio version from Audible as well as the hardcover version.

4 stars

Enne and Levi are on the run from the White Boots and the corrupt overlords of the City of Sin. They may love each other, but between promises to friends and running their own separate gangs, there’s little time for romance.
This book moved a bit slow for me until about 60% of the way through. It was still a good book, just a slow start.
I did know that the character who was doomed to death was going to die from about a third of the way through the book because of course, the author kills your most beloved character. The death of this character ripped out my heart and smashed it to pieces. Especially because of who the murder was.
I can not wait to read the conclusion of this series and see who makes it out alive, and if Enne and Levi get a happy ever after. Next year can’t come fast enough!
1 like

I received the first book to this series in a book box last year, but had not had the opportunity to read it right away. I had heard great things about it however and was eager to see what all the talk was about. I was excited to finally read the book and get the opportunity to read King of Fools for an early review. I love the feel of this world and how the characters each have their own story. I feel King of Fools was a little slow to start, but really loved once the action picked up! If you like conspiracy and heist and a good cast of characters, give this series a try.

Wow! This book is AMAZING!!! After the end of the first book, I knew I was hooked and I could not put it down! It was intense and I always love books that have the crime underworld vibes! It kept my attention all throughout!