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A review by miavlb
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
dark
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
3.0
I went into this book knowing nothing, which was probably not the best idea lol. This is my first sports book and I honestly don’t really know how to feel about it. I think the fictional sport, Exy, is very interesting and I wish I had a better understanding of how Exy worked, but that might just be because I don’t understand most sports. The plot revolving around the sport did keep me interested since there was a lot at stake. However, the first half of the book did start out slow. It got more exciting once we got to the first game of the season.
Now the characters…I have very mixed feelings about them. I do feel bad for the main character Neil for going through so much abuse and other traumatic things throughout his life, but he does give me edge lord vibes. The other characters, such as Kevin and Andrew, have also experienced traumatic things in their lives and also give me edgey vibes. I know if I read this as a teenager, during the peak of the tumblr era, I would have ate this up. I know this series is a trilogy, so I believe more character development will happen in the later books if I decide to read them. I do have a slight problem with Nicky’s character. So far he’s the only confirmed gay character, he’s written as sort of predatory toward any good looking man, especially Neil. He even forces Neil to kiss him while Neil is drugged up, which rubbed me the wrong way. I understand the not every character has to be morally good, but having the only confirmed gay character act like that was very concerning. There was also other things that could be very triggering to readers, such as the use of slurs and mentions of suicide, so I advise people to look up trigger warnings before reading this book.
Now the characters…I have very mixed feelings about them. I do feel bad for the main character Neil for going through so much abuse and other traumatic things throughout his life, but he does give me edge lord vibes. The other characters, such as Kevin and Andrew, have also experienced traumatic things in their lives and also give me edgey vibes. I know if I read this as a teenager, during the peak of the tumblr era, I would have ate this up. I know this series is a trilogy, so I believe more character development will happen in the later books if I decide to read them. I do have a slight problem with Nicky’s character. So far he’s the only confirmed gay character, he’s written as sort of predatory toward any good looking man, especially Neil. He even forces Neil to kiss him while Neil is drugged up, which rubbed me the wrong way. I understand the not every character has to be morally good, but having the only confirmed gay character act like that was very concerning. There was also other things that could be very triggering to readers, such as the use of slurs and mentions of suicide, so I advise people to look up trigger warnings before reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Suicide and Vomit