I liked the first one a little better than this one until the last like 20% (sorry dont know page numbers)
I cant wait for Enne to become the queen she is supposed to be with Levi at her side. I just hope they can work through their differences early on because they are defiantly going to need each others brains to work through what will happen
Would really like the next book which stinks because this book isnt even out!!

I read the first book of this series, Ace of Shades, last year and while I wasn’t blown away I still enjoyed it. So, of course, when I was able to snag myself an early copy of King of Fools I jumped right on that. The early buzz was that this book far exceeded its predecessor and, for once, I actually agree.

We find ourselves back in the City of Sin with Enne and Levi. Now, in Ace of Shades I had hated Enne for the majority of the book and she had only started to redeem her dull and predictable behavior toward the end of the story. I was hoping that we would be treated to that Enne in this book but, alas, the whiny, moping, crying, love sick child was back.

I know, I know. This is being hailed as a book with amazing females characters and girl gangs. I agree, there are some absolutely amazing female characters in this book. Enne simply is not one of them. I groaned every time I came to chapter from her POV. She is about as interesting as a dead fish which is frustrating since she is such a major player in this book.

Before I continue, I should point out that this book is split into two parts. Part I and Part II. While they are both part of the same story they have very different vibes. However, I will tell you right now that they felt like completely different stories written by completely different authors in regards to pacing and characters.

Lets start with Part I Levi. Part I Levi had stolen a chunk of my heart which is really saying something because I very much disliked him in the first book. He is a man whose life has fallen into a state of perilous chaos and he does not handle it well. I LOVE that. His life has gone ass over teakettle and while he is trying to make plans to solve things and, right now, there isn’t a lot he can do. I liked this Levi. Sadly, Part II Levi goes back to the same dull as dust predictable scab he was in Ace of Shades.

Another thing I want to point out about Part I has a magnificent m/m romance that had me all a dither. For those of you who did not grow up with a country grandma I will translate, that romance had me all churned up, and in the best of ways. Those scenes are some of the sexiest I have ever read in any book ever.

We also are given several magnificent secondary characters in this book that I want to shout about. I would have loved the the entire story to have been centered around them instead of Enne and Levi. The secondary characters were complex, fascinating, and varied. Namely, Jac and Lola. We got to know these two a little bit in the first book but they really bloom in King of Fools and I want so much more from them.

Now, I’m sure you’ve seen just as well as I that Foody calls this her “Girl Gang” book. I, for one, was highly unimpressed with this so called girl gang that progressed in Part II. They were stereotyped and, for the most part, childish and it just ground my gears. Looking at magazines and mooning over potential sexual partners while maybe one or two of them actually got some work done. Give me a break. That gang could have been magnificent and instead it was more of a high school clique. Disappointed does not begin to cover my feelings on this.

If I could rate this book by each part I would give Part I a full 5 stars and Part II 3 stars. Yes, they are really that different. I would still recommend this book, especially if you’ve already read Ace of Shades, and I know I’ll pick up the last book of the trilogy once it comes out because I need to know how this story ends.

For me, I liked book one a lot more. I still liked the characters here but the book felt so incredibly long. There was great diversity and dialogue but I wanted a bit more. It could just be me and maybe I wasn’t in the right mood. But Amanda Foody seriously does have such immaculate writing and a way to word things!

this book definitely had the sophomore slump in my opinion, so much so that I didnt even finish the book. I do like her other books however.

I was incredibly excited for this book, and I absolutely loved the ending. I highly recommend, especially if you loved Book 1 of The Shadow Game (aka Ace of Shades).

That being said, I felt that this book unfortunately fell victim to middle-book-syndrome right away. The beginning (and middle) was slow, and I found myself growing bored at times. For a book that has been regularly described as a "girl gang" books, I did not see anywhere near enough of the Girl Gang as I would have liked. I wanted a lot MORE of Enne and her story. I absolutely adored the primary characters in Enne's gang (Lola and Grace), especially Grace. She's all teeth hiding a soft gooey center and I loved that.

I also absolutely adored Jac's story as well. A new character was introduced (Sophia) who I absolutely adored, and I realy enjoyed getting to see Jac become more of a main character and getting his own story line.

So, obviously, I loved several aspects of this book.

However, I have to reiterate that I wanted MORE of these aspects. I felt like a lot of time the book was a bit slow, and I kept reading through parts I wasn't too interested in, just to get back to Enne and her girls or to see what was going on with Jac and Sophia. And if this implies that I wasn't too interested in Levi and what he was up to... I mean, maybe? His story did seem to drag on a bit and I found myself a little bored.

Another issue I had is that the net galley arc I read had a lot of mistakes and formatting errors in it. I wonder if this contributed to my frustration while reading the book? It's quite possible.

In any case, I do wish there were half star options, because I would certainly give this book a 3.5 as it is. 3 is too low but it also wasn't a 4 star read for me.

It was mostly a 3-star rating for about 80% of the book. But that ending... Well, the ending left me heartbroken and needing more, which automatically bumped it up a half star. I absolutely cannot wait for Book 3, and I'm very excited to read it once it comes out.

Also, I think the cover for this book is gorgeous and will look amazing next to my copy of Ace of Shades!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of King of Fools in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't love Ace of Shades. It was a good enough book with some interesting elements in terms of the magic system and the characters were unique but there was something that felt a little lacking when I finished. I still found it enjoyable though and I was looking forward to King of Fools.

King of Fools completely blew me away! I loved this book. Every time I picked it up on a lunch break I dreaded having to put it down when my break was ultimately over. I'd sneak in a few chapters before I had to go to bed, just desperately trying to steal more moments with this book. By far my favorite aspect of this book was the girl gang. I will be shoving this book into people's hands screaming, "GIRL GANG" and running away. I'm 110% here for an all girl gang kicking ass and beating all the boys at their own game. Enne's character arc in this was amazing. "It didn't matter whether she decked herself in knives or pearls. The world would always demand that a girl apologize for herself, but she would apologize for nothing." We got some big revelations about Enne in Ace of Shades and she's trying to figure herself out, who she wants to be and what she wants out of life. I loved her finding this strong unapologetic version of herself. I don't want to spoil any of the new characters but every new member of Enne's gang was amazing! Lola, Enne's second, gets some great development in this installment, though a certain someone beats her out for my favorite member of the Spirits. Levi had a really great arc in this as well though I definitely preferred Enne's storyline above everyone else's. I really love Levi's attitude about his goal of becoming a famous lord. His desperation to become famous and leave a lasting impression is just so interesting to read. He makes some poor decisions in this book that have some really big consequences for other characters. I didn't love Jac's POV at first. He just wasn't as interesting to me as Enne and Levi. However, as I got further into the book his storyline just got more and more interesting until there were times I preferred reading his chapters over Levi's. Jac also runs across a new character who I am extremely interested in, especially after that big ending! Beyond the characters, I loved how much history of New Reynes and North Side we got in this book. They were just small legends sprinkled throughout the book's chapters but I loved seeing the myths of the famous lords and gangsters of North Side.

This sequel was an incredible follow-up to Ace of Shades and I have no idea how I'm supposed to survive the wait for the next book after that ending. So much happens and my poor heart was not prepared for any of it.

Amanda Foody is one of my favorite authors and this sequel proves it!

Seriously, I can't think of a more unique book in the Young Adult sphere that has felt so relevant in quite some time. How can a fantasy be relevant you ask? Well, this particular story, while clearly a fantasy set in another time and place was completely allegorical to our world today. I was blown away by so many aspects Ace of Shades had within its plot and this sequel sets Foody's writing apart from any other author.

The world of City of Sin is cruel, challenging and quite freaky AND I LOVED THAT. The continuation of the mystery held my attention all the way through and I wish I could have more! It really did keep you on your toes throughout and the descriptions Amanda gave us throughout made me feel I was really in this world. The world building truly was incredible,

Ms. Foody blowing me away as always and I can't wait to keep reading every book she publishes. Now excuse me as I shove this book in my YouTube subscribers faces.

I genuinely have no idea how the third book is going to wrap everything up but after this ending I am devastated.

“King of Fools” sets up a chess game where everyone is a pawn and the potential for bloodshed is at an all time high as both Levi and Enne set off to carve a name for themselves becoming the crime lords of legend.

So much happened and I don’t know where to start!

I have to give it up for Enne who has had to undergo such a large transformation since we first met her and is continuing to change with each new obstacle thrown her way and it was fun to see her embrace the grit and allure that belongs to the seedy underground as she embraced this new role and I have to say she wears it well.

Levi on the other hand was a gigantic mess who’s love for a good gamble continuous to get him in trouble only this time it’s more than just his life on the line if things go south.

And Jac! He goes through so much in this book and I’ve never been so proud of a character and it’s hard to not go into all of the details because I don’t want to spoil but he became one of my favorites and I have a lot of emotions right now.

The series itself seems to be shifting into something less grounded in that of the gang lifestyle and the conflicts between both sides as they fight for power and more into that of the monster that manages to free itself to set up the final shadow game where I’m sure we’re going to have a lot more heartbreaks and plenty of casualties before it’s over, but one things for sure I can’t wait to see how it all ends.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

Unfortunately I was very disappointed with this one. I had such high expectations after reading Ace of Shades which was a 100 times better. King of Fools was very slow moving and really hard to get into. After so many tries of trying to read this with basically the entire Ace of Shades book being re written into this "new" book. I just couldn't Do it.

Absolutely spectacular I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end! It was exciting from the first page and went straight into intense! I loved every minute of it!

If you haven't read Ace of Shades, you probably don't want to read this review.  There are spoilers from book one.



I've had a lot going on in my personal life lately, and it has made it hard to focus on books.  But I still ended up loving this.



King of Fools starts off right where Ace of Shades ends.  Enne and Levi are wanted for murder and Vianca's son, Harrison, has come back home.  Harrison approaches Levi with a deal that ends with Vianca dead.  Harrison is running for office against Vianca's choice.  This is tough for Levi because of the omerta, but he agrees.  Enne is working for Vianca and attending political parties.



Enne created her own street gang.  It starts off with just two others.  Lola and Grace.  I loved these characters so much.  Lola was always grumpy, but so loyal.  And Grace was lethal and smart.  As the gang grows, it becomes all girls.  I think this was my favorite part of the book.  I loved their interactions.



Levi and Enne are keeping secrets from each other.  Jac goes undercover into Torren territory to get information.  What he finds is a girl, Sophia, that he feels a connection to. She tells him one of her secrets and he stays with her to help.



Tock is another favorite character.  I loved the relationship she ended up in.  And her banter with Levi was always enjoyable.



We went back and forth with Enne and Levi's relationship.  Enne's group ends up coming up with a way for all the gangs to unite and make volts.  They want to take on the whiteboots who recently killed a lot of people.  But things never go as planned.  There were a lot of politics in this book, betrayals, and secrets.  Enne and Levi are left playing a new game that might be more dangerous than the first one.  We're left with another ending that will make you so impatient for book three.  



Please note that there is a lot of violence and death in this book.  There is also Jac's issues with his past addiction and how he's always fighting the urge.  Drugs do play a part in the book. 



I gave this book 5 stars.  Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my review copy.

Unfortunately, Amanda Foody's richly described gambling underworld was not able to hold my interest. There are may wonderful reviews of both the first book in the series, 'Ace of Shades' and this sequel, 'King of Fools.' The plot seems to have picked up the pace, and new characters were introduced in this book. Fans of author Foody's work will enjoy this continuation.

*needs paper bag to breathe into*
Man alive that was stressful.

With ACE OF SHADES being in my top 10 favourite reads in 2018, I was pumped for KING OF FOOLS.

Did I enjoy FOOLS as much as SHADES? ...it’s pretty darned close. I think I liked SHADES just a touch more because it was more (for lack of a better term) fun. FOOLS is basically stress from page one onwards. I was just white knuckles and wide-eyes throughout around 600 pages. Whew it really was intense.

Whereas book one focused a lot on world-building and character development, book two has a lot to do with politics. I actually really enjoyed this aspect of Foody’s world. Learning so much about the powers and the families in SHADES, I was curious to know how she could hook us in FOOLS. Turns out she’s fantastic at writing about the political intrigue of New Reynes. There’s backstabbing, bribery, plotting, and all sorts of other deliciously devious deeds going on.

I also really liked how Foody handled the different timeline in this one. SHADES takes place during a 10 day period, but FOOLS takes place over several months. She did a really good job with the pacing. I never felt lost or confused.

There were two major highlights in this book for me. The first being Enne and her Girl Gang. I loved that there was no cattiness within the gang. They’re all individual and support each other. Sure there’s sisterly teasing, but that’s all in good fun.

The second being Jac’s story. It’s hard to get into it without possibly giving away spoilers. So I’ll just leave it at that, and know that his was my favourite narrative in the book.

And one final note of warning in this review, because I was not at all prepared: This book will rip your heart out and stomp on it.
Amanda... HOW. DARE. YOU!
*curls into fetal position for 27 years*

I’m just going to go build my time machine so I can speed through to the future so I can get my mitts on the final book in this trilogy.

I enjoyed the writing and story of the book. I did stopped about a quarter of the way in because It did have some homosexual content which I wasn’t expecting since the character was heterosexual in the first book. If it is a young adult book, there may be need to be a label of some sort just for those that may be buying for a library, etc. Otherwise I think I would have really liked this book since I love Enne and her fight to be a good mob boss.

ACE OF SHADES ended up being a surprise read for me last year, one that I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did. It was full of crackling energy and a cast of characters I couldn't wait to read the further adventures of. However, KING OF FOOLS fails to spark the same level of exultation as its predecessor. Rather than devouring each page with anticipation, it was almost a chore to keep going at parts. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the world that the author has created. I am wholly invested in it and plan to stick it out until the end, but after such a strong start to the series, I can't help but feel a bit let down with this second installment.

This was everything I hoped it would be. Amanda Foody isn't afraid to make certain decisions, and I love that. I'm so excited to see how this series concludes. I love all these characters, and as an accounting major who loves cats, I want to join the girl gang

*Spoiler free, I'm not really sure how many stars*

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.

To answer an earlier question of mine will I regret reading this book as early as I did? Omfg!!! Yes I do!!!!

No spoiler review

This book is definitely without a doubt the climax of the series so much happens it’s insane... girl gangs are bad ass is all I have to say on that subject matter. Also Enne and Levi the chemistry between this two is just like how it was in the first book the slow burn that honestly makes you want to scream and push this two idiots towards one another but not only that the additional POV we got in this series is honestly phenomenal but my heart hurts after that ending..... I won’t say much but I wanted to toss my tablet across the room at a certain scene towards the end..... the epilogue was insane and I’m now on the edge of my seat waiting for book three... this book honestly captivated me so much more then the first book did I couldn’t put it down.

"The hero of one story is the villain of someone else's. It's all just a matter of who wins."

This book picks up right where ACE OF SHADES left off. And right from the get-go things are intense.

I just want to say that Amanda really stepped up her writing game in this book. The dialogue was excellent and there were so many lines that were beautiful constructed. If you like books like VICIOUS, then you'll enjoy KING OF FOOLS.

So in this book we are given three POVs:

Levi:
A bisexual disaster. My poor boy just needs a vacation and some painkillers. Always dapper. Can smirk the pants off anyone. Definitely would want to grab a drink and play Tropps with him (which he would promptly make of fun of me for ordering something sweet and then take all my money because I'm terrible at cards).

Enne:
A finishing school dropout. Newest street lord. Always dressed for success. Don't mess with a woman in pearls. I want to join her girl gang (seriously though, is she taking applications?).

Jac:
The sweetest friend. Looks like he could kill you, is actually a cinnamon roll. Chain smoker. All around stand up guy. Can he be my new best friend (and tell me who his tattoo artist is)?!

So what is this story about?
It's all about legends. How do they start? How do you become one? What goes into making a legend? Why would you want to be one? What drives these legends to stay around for years to come? Also it's about Levi and Enne and Jac and a ton of other side characters who I adore.

The neat thing about KING OF FOOLS is that it takes place over the course of months while ACE OF SHADES lasted only ten days. Which was really cool to see that Amanda can nail storytelling for a short or long time span.

Also this book has so many almost kiss scenes I feel like Amanda coined the term herself!

The character arcs were pretty stellar. And I absolutely adored the additions of new characters (like Grace and Tock). This truly is the girl gang book of my dreams.

Overall I really loved this book! The pacing. The characters. The writing style. The new threats. Especially THAT ENDING.

I couldn't put this book down! I have been highly anticipating this book since reading ace of shades and it did not disappoint.! I loved this world Amanda has created and the characters, I hate and love them at the same time. And that ending..... oh my god!