King of Fools Book Review

King of Fools by Amanda Foody

From Goodreads: 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.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I had hoped to post it prior to release, but I have majorly fallen behind in posting recently and so I’m trying to get back into it with all my stored-up reviews.

Oh. My. God.

This series has slain me. In case you somehow missed it, I was a huuuuge fan of Ace of Shades when it came out last year. In fact, it might have been my favourite book of 2018. So I was totally thrilled to be sent an ARC of the second instalment, King of Fools. We’re back with some of my favourite characters, and everything is gloriously going to shit. Seriously, I have never been so stressed reading a book. It felt like every page I was tightening my knuckles screaming DO NOT HARM MY BABIES at the page. So yes, I think I got a bit carried away, but it was a brilliant book and I was super invested.

My favourite character is, without a doubt, Enne. She’s so smart and clever, and she has a dozen and one tricks up her sleeve. It was wonderful to see her owning her devious side in this book, and to do it so fashionably too. The girl-gang was just perfection, and they are definitely criminal friendship goals. It was great to get more of a sense of Enne through the gang, and her own ambitions and desires. I thought Ace of Shades already did a good deal of that, but King of Fools delivers the cherry on top for me. Her voice is so strong, and there are so many new sides to the character that we’re just discovering along the way.

I will be honest and say, as much as I loved Levi in book one, he kind of lost a bit of his shine for me here. He’s still one of my faves, but he sort of drifted into the background a bit for me in this book, possibly because Enne’s story was so strong. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of him, but his chapters were still very entertaining and I am so excited to see what he does in the next book. I won’t be giving any spoilers since the book has only just been released but THAT ENDING SHATTERED ME. I sat there for several minutes staring at the page like wtaf, and now I am still in recovery. And yes, I need book three right now so I can see how Levi handles the latest developments because honestly I am not okay right now. Someone send help.

The twists and turns of this book definitely kept me hooked. Although I was a little confused by the ending. I think maybe it is more of a personal problem than an actual issue in the book- I just have a bad memory for side characters, and I felt like you had to remember a lot to keep up with the final few chapters. I got the sense that it was very smart and twisty, but I missed all the smaller brushstrokes. Oh well, I won’t commit to a re-read anytime soon, but I think I might add it to the pile before book three comes out.

All of the new additional characters really added a new level to the series, and I am going to be so excited to see how they develop along the way. I am already in love with Enne’s girl gang, and some of the other shady political figures will definitely add a lot to the plot along the way. I’m pleased this is a series that continues to surprise me. I’m rather amazed to say I haven’t figured out many of the plot twists so far 😀

Overall, I’m giving King of Fools a 9.5/10 stars. I absolutely loved it, but I am docking half a star simply because I wasn’t entirely sure I understood all the nuances of the ending, which frustrates me a bit since I imagine it was very clever. And even though that’s probably just me and my bad memory of side characters and their roles, I still think it detracted just a smidge for me. But yes, awesome protagonists, a delightfully agonising romance and a lot of chaos and pithy one-liners. What more could a girl need?

Has anyone else read this book already or plans to? What do you all think of it? Let me know in the comment section down below ❤