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A review by amelierawr
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
This will be a rant
(in the following I will mention drug abuse and sexual assault)
This was garbage, yet I still enjoyed the read. It has so many problems that I don't know were to start. The plot is alright overall, your typical dark fanfiction shit, but it was intriguing enough to keep me reading.
It's fast paced and has a lot of issues plot wise, but I can look past that. What bothered me the most and caused actual problems were the damn characters. I think i never felt so much hatred towards a whole cast.
I went into the book knowing the trigger warnings so it luckily didn't catch me off guard, yet I think Im allowed to take issue on how such triggering topics got handled. It was bad- like really really bad.
The main cast is a sports team put together by the coach, who gives people that went through a lot in their life another chance. They all have some issues, but that doesn't excuse their behaviour in any way.
My main problem lies with the 3 cousins. In one scene they force feed the mc drugs and held him down when he tried to flee, one even sexually assaulted him later on, yet they never really face any consequences. The coach does scream at them, as they've done something similar to another player too. But they don't face any risk of being thrown out the team at all.
I get that coach tries to give everyone second, third or even fourth chances, knowing they wouldn't get them elsewhere, but that's just ignorant and hurts to see. It never get's really addressed in the book of how disturbing that was, even the mc "brushes it off" a few days later.
Im just disappointed. The only bearable characters were Matt and Dan, kudos to them for having mental heath issues but still knowing how to treat others like human beings. /s
Putting your characters through the most traumatic shit imaginable doesn't equal good writing/dark fiction.
The "romance" was a complete disaster, because it's based on exactly those unresolved issues. If the author had more interest in actually establishing the characters and not focus on how corny and dark they can go, I think this would have been much much better.
I don't have a problem with reading about toxic relationships in general, but at least make it understandable why it is the way it is, like how they cannot break up even when the relationships hurts one of them/ both in the end.
++positive thing was the great dynamics the characters had, even when most of the dialogue was insulting I genuinely laughed at some of those interactions.
torn between either giving a 1/5 or 4/5, which is why I will let it stay unrated
(in the following I will mention drug abuse and sexual assault)
This was garbage, yet I still enjoyed the read. It has so many problems that I don't know were to start. The plot is alright overall, your typical dark fanfiction shit, but it was intriguing enough to keep me reading.
It's fast paced and has a lot of issues plot wise, but I can look past that. What bothered me the most and caused actual problems were the damn characters. I think i never felt so much hatred towards a whole cast.
I went into the book knowing the trigger warnings so it luckily didn't catch me off guard, yet I think Im allowed to take issue on how such triggering topics got handled. It was bad- like really really bad.
The main cast is a sports team put together by the coach, who gives people that went through a lot in their life another chance. They all have some issues, but that doesn't excuse their behaviour in any way.
My main problem lies with the 3 cousins. In one scene they force feed the mc drugs and held him down when he tried to flee, one even sexually assaulted him later on, yet they never really face any consequences. The coach does scream at them, as they've done something similar to another player too. But they don't face any risk of being thrown out the team at all.
I get that coach tries to give everyone second, third or even fourth chances, knowing they wouldn't get them elsewhere, but that's just ignorant and hurts to see. It never get's really addressed in the book of how disturbing that was, even the mc "brushes it off" a few days later.
Im just disappointed. The only bearable characters were Matt and Dan, kudos to them for having mental heath issues but still knowing how to treat others like human beings. /s
Putting your characters through the most traumatic shit imaginable doesn't equal good writing/dark fiction.
The "romance" was a complete disaster, because it's based on exactly those unresolved issues. If the author had more interest in actually establishing the characters and not focus on how corny and dark they can go, I think this would have been much much better.
I don't have a problem with reading about toxic relationships in general, but at least make it understandable why it is the way it is, like how they cannot break up even when the relationships hurts one of them/ both in the end.
++positive thing was the great dynamics the characters had, even when most of the dialogue was insulting I genuinely laughed at some of those interactions.
torn between either giving a 1/5 or 4/5, which is why I will let it stay unrated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, and Drug use
Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia
Minor: Misogyny