Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

27 reviews

moonlightamelia's review

dark medium-paced

5.0

Nora sakavic had a word document and a dream and holy fuck. the tension in this was probably the best i’ve ever read. not always the biggest fan of found family tropes but i think i’m gonna enjoy this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Drug use

Moderate: Violence, Bullying, Alcohol, Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Homophobia

foxfirepages's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Vomit, Child abuse, Alcohol, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Murder, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

noxiousbook's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

canadia_valentine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The best series I’ve read in a long time. I can’t get the characters out of my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Rape, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

vpiuke's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i think this is a solid 4 stars for me. while the plot is constantly all over the place (sports, mafia, drugs, violence, found family, gay guys???) and all the characters are messy as fuck, it is a captivating read all the same and i couldn't put it down until the very end. 
even if the plot themes might be controversial, something that can't be denied is how well-written the story is. the writing style is very similar to maggie stiefvater's in 'the raven cycle' books, so if you're a fan of those, i'd give this one a shot :)
i did enjoy the story itself. it is well structured and it evolves at a good pace, never too obvious but hinting at what's coming next. the characters are original and come in nicely together, as a group they're very well balanced and developed. the sport side of the story is a clever counterpoint to the other sub plots, and i personally really enjoy how it compliments all the drama that the characters inherently carry with them. it lets the story breathe while also keeping a steady pace. 
this is a very violent story though. maybe not that much in this first book, but it gets heavier as the plot progresses in the next ones. there's trauma, there's physical, sexual and emotional abuse, there's guns and knives and torture and self harm. if you're ok with these and are up for a dense, emotional tale, then you found the one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Mental illness, Torture, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Self harm

piperclover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

God this had my insides in a knot the entire time. Im really out of my comfort zone here and in way over my head. Its so much and so dark but so good at the same time 




Update: so its aug 10th 2022 rn and I'm relistening to this series for the 4 times and have listened to each book a combined 11 times. So my star rating is no longer accurate but for the sake of recording my immediate honest reaction, Ill leave everything the same. Just know that I have never loved a series so much despite the numerous blatant issues in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Drug use, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Think of a trigger warning and this book probably has it

li_reading's review against another edition

0.25

To everyone who told me I needed to finish a series before calling it problematic. I finished it. It got worse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Alcohol, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Suicide, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape and Self harm

jenny_librarian's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I didn’t know what to expect out of this book, but I definitely didn’t think I’d be as obsessed with it as I was. It’s one of those books I just *had* to keep reading.

It’s much darker than I anticipated. Not gruesome, just dark. There’s a lot of abuse – on and off page – but it didn’t feel as bad as other, less dark books I tried to read.

I don’t think I’d like to see Exy as a sport (I hate the NHL because I find it too violent), but on the context of the book it’s quite interesting.

I’m looking forward to book 2, and trying to figure out how that ship everyone talks about will get to happen (if it’s even canon, cause right now it makes no sense to me that those two could have a romantic relationship).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Mental illness, Addiction, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Vomit

janeesjournal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Also vorab: das Buch würde serious Trigger-Warnungen benötigen.

Ich hätte tatsächlich nicht gedacht, dass es so ernst und düster werden würde, aber es war auch unfassbar spannend. Die Geschichte kam einem gar nicht zu weit hergezogen vor, auch wenn es erstmal so klingt, wenn man versuchen würde zu erklären worum es geht. Es passt aber wirklich sehr gut und wirkt vor allem sehr real und echt.

Von Minute 1 an ist die Geschichte spannend und ich konnte das Buch kaum aus der Hand legen. Es gibt so viele Sachen, die man im Hinterkopf hat, auf deren Eskalation man wartet und vor denen man sich fürchtet. Der Protagonist Neil zieht einen komplett in seine Geschichte und ich war total invested in alles, was in seinem Leben vorgeht. 

Die Charaktere sind sehr verschieden, sehr divers und haben alle wirklich schwere Leben hinter sich und mit einer Menge Problemen zu kämpfen. 
Auch wenn ich mir bei keinem (außer Matt und Dan) wirklich 100% sicher bin, was ich von ihm halten soll, finde ich alle super interessant und die ganzen Dynamiken sind sehr gut ausgearbeitet und lassen einen oft vor Angst was als Nächstes passiert die Luft anhalten.

So gut wie alle Charaktere handeln sehr moralisch fragwürdig, haben eine Hass-Liebe zueinander, die auch der Leser entwickelt und verhalten sich teils unter aller Sau. Auch tragen sie alle sehr schwere Lasten und die Schatten ihrer Vergangenheiten mit sich.

Das Buch ist auf jeden Fall sehr character-driven, aber auch der Plot, der sich langsam entwickelt, ist spannend und komplex und hält viele Vermutungen und Eskalationen für die Zukunft parat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, and Suicide

illgiveyouahint's review

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The reread has been so much fun. I think I'm enjoying it more because I don't have think about the plot too much, and I already understand everyone's position and backstory.
 I really love Neil as a character. I like that despite being so careful and running on survival for so long, there's this thread of oh he wants people to care for him and wants to have somewhere to call home and wants to have friends and just wants to stop running and have a life. And it's not too pronounced since his issues are too big (especially at the start of it) to allow too much of it, but it's there. 
I really enjoy Wymack and Neil's relationship. I mean Wymack is fun with all the Foxes 'cause he's just the tired older fatherly figure to them, but he's just so goddamn tired of Neil's whole thing. Like you can tell that at any given moment he just wants to scream at the kid "Let me love you and care for you and give you home and safety, you goddamn idiot!" 
Also the slowburn of Andrew and Neil is also fun of course. Like you don't realise it on the first read but it's so clear on the second read how much Neil is focused on Andrew. And not just because Andrew causes him most trouble in the first part of the book, but he's already so attuned to Andrew.
The Neil and Kevin relationship is an interesting one. Kevin being so determined to make Neil into a champion but having only the Raven's way of leadership to go on, Neil on one hand wanting it so bad but on the other hand knowing it can never be.

also there's a part where Neil is listing all the things he's jealous of Kevin to have - fame, family, freedom, safety and of course a) that's not entirely true but more importantly b)it's interesting because in the end (im taking end of the third book) Neil gets to have all of that too.

Oh, and I'm also taking note of the Kevin & Andrew relationship that is fascinating in a different way. Kevin knows where to push Neil but he knows he can't move Andrew unless he gives him good enough incentive. 
Point is there's a lot of good dynamics to look at.

With all of that being said, there's some issues I am gonna continue being uncomfortable with. The villains of the books being Japanese is just :// Nicky's 'I'm gonna flirt with any boy within vicinity" also bothers me a lot 'cause it's such a stereotype. I'm not sure about how the portrayal of Andrew's psychological problems and the effect of his medication is making me feel.

and honestly I think that Seth was just such a killable character and you basically instantly recognized he's the one who's gonna go and since he was the one throwing slurs around and just being the biggest asshole with no redeeming qualities his death was just inevitable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Suicide

Minor: Car accident, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Rape, and Toxic relationship