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You fall in love once again with the characters, see another side of them we haven't met in book 2, they all fight really hard to win, they talk more about their struggles, how they overcame these and help/ed the others overcome theirs. They're a found family in a way we probably haven't seen until now. The book still follows its interesting writing style that definitely got better since the last book, but it's adding to the personality of the story nonetheless.
And if anyone is really reading these books for the plot and not the characters then I don't know what to say since it's clear from the first book on that this story is focused on the characters and their hardships, not the plot of winning championship (even though that takes a bigger part too!)
In conclusion: I fucking love this series, I forgot how awful book 1 was, however I can proudly say that books 2&3 make you forget about it and fall for these characters as well!
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping
Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape
Minor: Forced institutionalization
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Outing, Abandonment, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
this isn't what i'd call a good or well-written series. my overall rating for each book is pretty much about that, as is usually the case. the enjoyment rating, though, which can often be wildly different for me, is a fucking doozy of a 4.5-5 star. i consumed these books so fast i'm pretty sure i wormholed into another dimension for a while there. (there were aliens. they also enjoyed it.)
keeping it simple: the good, the reaaaaally good, in summary, is basically all of the character writing and eventual relationship development. nora sakavic could wrestle an interesting inner monologue and/or dialogue/banter out of every single ancient spartan citizen if pressed. that's the key, and why these books (aside from the first) have such high ratings, i'd say.
a few more goods or good-ishs:
- relationships. you may know this as a romance series, but it's actually mostly romance-less contemporary for about 2/3rds of the way through. despite that, or maybe because of it, i have enjoyed the relationships immensely, including but not limited to the romantic ones.
- half the main cast is at least bilingual, and while it's quite unbelievable or at least confusingly questionable for some characters
now......... the bad (and sometimes reaaaaally bad, and sometimes actually not entirely bad at all and more complex but potentially ok than anything else):
- exy makes no sense. the rules don't make sense. the equipment doesn't make sense. i'm not even sure whether i can say nora tried her best to make it make sense or wrote every exy scene letting out villain laughs one after the other for several hours while ingesting copious amount of wine. either way, it's a mess, but it kinda doesn't try to be anything else so it's very easy to forgive.
- this book was written in the early 2010s and it shows. it has that typical early YA try-hardness going on, but i'd say as far as the ya i've read goes, it doesn't take itself too seriously. the way it's written makes it look like it's being taken very seriously, but there's something about it (similar to the lack of exy pretentiousness) that keeps it humble and grounded. you can tell nora didn't think this would be the next raven cycle or anything like that (though as a cult favorite it came almost close in the end??), she just sort of had fun with it. i can vibe with that.
- going along with the 2010s YA predicament, there isn't much political correctness involved, and certain slurs are thrown around semi-freely (mostly the r-word) by people who should know better. not a dealbreaker for me personally, but be aware.
- plot is neither here nor there. it's really just there to prop the characters and their develoment up and i wouldn't say it has anything particularly interesting or unique about it in itself. it's not what you'll care about. the people and relationships are.
- the stakes are so ridiculously high it's not even funny. everything is life or death for no reason, and everyone's been abused within an inch of their lives for most of their lives, no exceptions. these books are the definition of the "epic highs and lows of high school
- everything about andrew's condition and his medicine is a grade-a disaster. that's not how medicine works, that's not how psychiatry works, and the message that only sobriety from psychiatric medication (which, by the way, is not supposed to make you "high" and "manic" - you are taking the wrong medicine and you need to stop! adults should know AND enforce this!) can bring forth someone's "real self" was frankly insane even back in 2014. andrew needs better medical care, not to be forced to
phew, so! i can definitely say nora sakavic seems like a madman and a genius trying to decide which side to give into any given day, much like some of her characters, and i'd read just about anything she decided to write. and i hope she keeps deciding!
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Alcohol
Graphic: Torture, Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping
This is definitely the best book of the OG trilogy, Kevin/Andrew/Neil are everything to me, the devotion they have for each other is insane.
The way Kevin finally extricated himself from the hold the Ravens, Riko, his trauma had on him, how he was so much better for it, how that is all Andrew and Neil wanted for him.
The found family bond of the foxes becoming more and more unbreakable, Neil being what holds them together and being truly part of something, having people that will be there for him no matter what, makes me very emotional.
Andrew finally having closeness, admitting to his feelings, caring so much more than he lets on, finally starting to care about the game.
“Fight because you don't know how to die quietly. Win because you don't know how to lose. This king's ruled long enough — it's time to tear his castle down.”
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Self harm, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail