Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Foxhole Court

This is a terrible book. It has major ableism issues and is littered with homophobia and a sprinkle of racism. The mental health talk and rep are genuinely awful, theres an entire plot point about one of the characters being on court mandated medication, the whole medication thing genuinely makes no sense to me, and he is completely demonised the entirety of this book; and from what I can remember the rest of the series as well. There's a line question whether his violent reaction to something someone's says is his "psychosis or medication?", for the record he literally does not experience psychosis at all. There's another line where the MC tells the psychiatrist that she's "obsessive-compulsive" because her office if clean and very organised, and responds "guilty as charged" she's literally a psychiatrist, as a character she should not be perputrating these stereotypes of OCD. Another where the MC is wondering what could be "wrong" with one of his team members from "split personalities to clinical insanity." just gross.

One of the characters, a Mexican man who is the only openly guy character and as far as I can remember the only POC, is shown to sexually harass other characters, at one point he kisses a character, who has been drugged, without their consent, and there's a sort of joke between other characters about how he's "scheming to rape" the MC, and it's just brushed off.

Literally the only reason I gave it 1.5 instead of 1 is because for some reason, that I truley can't pinpoint, I've come back to this series 3 times, even though it gets worse every time I read it.

Content Warnings

deebauched's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

quite possibly my 6th re-read of this series, which for all means has become part of my short list of eternal favorites that i will most probably never let go of in my heart. every 2-3 years or so i circle through my re-reads of these series and i find in my hear that - yes, i am still unshakably in love with them just as much as i was as a teenager. and i hope i'll never lose that spark for these books, i truly do.

the all for the game series overall is one that i'll never be able to summarize or pitch to any of my friends easily. for one, there are a a lot of trigger warnings surrounding the books. for two, when i think about summing it up i have to realize that it's like a patchwork of different parts that should not exist in the same book. it's rather hard to explain to anyone how a runayway mc, gangs and mafia and a completely fictional hybrid sport league would work together on page, and at that point i haven't even mentioned the ragtag team of the foxes full of dysfunctional characters who somehow will weave their way into your brain to eat at your attention. it's just a crazy mix of themes for a setting and even after all these years i don't think i've ever read anything that resembled this series. by all means it should not work, and by all means it has its flaws - but this series is still. so. goddamn. gripping.

the foxhole court is the first book in the series, for me admittedly it's the weakest installation of the trilogy but only in comparison, not on its own. i'm personally among those people who instantly clicked with neil josten's character and pov narration. someone who also instantly clicked with the fictional sport that is exy and the pro league surrounding it. someone who was instantly hooked on the foxes' dysfunction and found each player intriguing. so it is a no brainer that to me the foxhole court, which is considered to be an introductory "putting the groundwork down for the rest to come" book in the trilogy, still worked wonderfully. i've been always hooked on it from first page and even after all these years that doesn't seem to be changing.

i always found neil interesting as a narrator, i just like how he thinks so even the mundane parts of the story don't feel like a bore to get through. his thoughts around survival and all the smarts he had to pick up on the run are interesting. then couple it with his "attitude problem" and the way where he just can't keep his mouth shut in some situations and you get a ridiculously engaging character to follow. once i saw a post where someone said neil's talks in comebacks one usually comes up in the shower only and YES. so much yes. this kid is so mouthy, i love him!

then you meet the foxes with all their problem children, most notorious among them being andrew's lot, and suddenly the story takes another interesting turn. to be honest in this first book they are insanely off-putting and most of the problematic content and divisive stuff that could put people off happen in here. you get explanations for it but i imagine some can't move past this first book to see what happens next and how the relationships progress from here, mostly because andrew's lot is by far the most antagonistic in this one. (a few lines and scenes mostly surrounding nicky's character still ring jarring and nope-y to this day.) you don't understand them, you don't see how this could work in the context of a team and around adults, etc. but all that being said it doesn't make it any less gripping to read. once you're hooked, you are on a ride for real.

being someone who read this book more than 5 times now and this is the first time i ever attempted to write a review for it, it's quite possible i could talk about it till my fingers fall asleep. but i'd rather not and spend my time on moving onto my binge with the 2nd book instead. i think what's most important to me is that i know this book is flawed, some lines aged, some parts need a certain level of suspension of disbelief, etc. but i still can't deny just how much fun and joy i get out of reading it. it still works somehow and that's admirable to me. that someone came up with a concept like this and made it work even if it's not perfect, but still to a point where even a decade after it has a strong following. i just love it as it is, and probably will forever. 4 stars.

ps.: the scene where neil

slays riko on kathy fernandez's talk show to defend kevin from him

will forever remain one of the most satisfying, ridiculously entertaining and simply giggle-worthy reads. for-ever! it never dulls even after all these years and re-reads.

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melani_e4's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i fucking love this trilogy

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rizbee's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

this book is not written well and needs like every trigger warning known to man. the fictional sport makes no sense and i have no idea what’s going on but i’m lowkey obsessed.

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princescirclet's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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viacrow's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

no plot just me yelling “i know what you are” at neil and andrew for 250 pages

Content Warnings

adrienanthony's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t think I have ever read a book with such an intense “it’s complicated” when asked if the characters are loveable

Content Warnings

ephemeral_remi's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This is objectively a bad book. It’s chock full of misinformation about mental health, trauma p0rn and edgy shit BUT, you truly cannot help bonding with these characters. I hate how much I loved these people. I can’t in good conscience though give it a higher rating.

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