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A review by sadaudio
The King's Men by Nora Sakavic
5.0
Okay, wow, where do I start on this one?
I read this series in what I think was four days. Maybe I lost track of time a bit, but it's hard not to with a story as compelling as this. That's one of the key details that stands out to me when I look back on my reading. The story is just that: compelling. There was never a point where I felt bored or like nothing was happening. The plot is well developed and had me desperate to keep reading so all my questions could be answered. The characters were so detailed that I couldn't get enough of them and was constantly eager to see what they would do next. Most of all, though, I loved the theme.
We start out the series with the monsters, who have serious issues but refuse to deal with them, and the upperclassmen, who are more put together but don't know how to put those last pieces together. Enter Neil, the missing puzzle piece who brings the picture together. They start to understand each other and, importantly, work together. For me, personally, the character development that hit me hardest were Kevin and Andrew. It's a combination of both hearing about their lives and seeing them grow to become better people that really got to me. It's a motif that I can never get enough of - people become better when they have the chance, and everybody deserves that opportunity.
Factoring into this is the theme of found family. You've got a bunch of unsteady people with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and they're not ready to trust each other, but they do it nonetheless. It's not in spite of all their differences - it is, in part, because of it. Though at times it's easy to miss to an outsider, the Foxes love each other relentlessly. The relationships between all of them had me a bit emotional, not gonna lie. It's just so nice.
On the darker side of things is the conflict of the book. I don't even know where to start on this - it was agonizing watching the characters go through so much pain over the course of the series. The way every little detail tied together was so clever. I genuinely gasped in the most cliché way while reading, and I had to put my book down to get myself together. It's such a perfect combination of foreshadowing and surprise that I was both caught off guard and shocked that I hadn't realized sooner.
I read this series in what I think was four days. Maybe I lost track of time a bit, but it's hard not to with a story as compelling as this. That's one of the key details that stands out to me when I look back on my reading. The story is just that: compelling. There was never a point where I felt bored or like nothing was happening. The plot is well developed and had me desperate to keep reading so all my questions could be answered. The characters were so detailed that I couldn't get enough of them and was constantly eager to see what they would do next. Most of all, though, I loved the theme.
We start out the series with the monsters, who have serious issues but refuse to deal with them, and the upperclassmen, who are more put together but don't know how to put those last pieces together. Enter Neil, the missing puzzle piece who brings the picture together. They start to understand each other and, importantly, work together. For me, personally, the character development that hit me hardest were Kevin and Andrew. It's a combination of both hearing about their lives and seeing them grow to become better people that really got to me. It's a motif that I can never get enough of - people become better when they have the chance, and everybody deserves that opportunity.
Factoring into this is the theme of found family. You've got a bunch of unsteady people with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and they're not ready to trust each other, but they do it nonetheless. It's not in spite of all their differences - it is, in part, because of it. Though at times it's easy to miss to an outsider, the Foxes love each other relentlessly. The relationships between all of them had me a bit emotional, not gonna lie. It's just so nice.
On the darker side of things is the conflict of the book. I don't even know where to start on this - it was agonizing watching the characters go through so much pain over the course of the series. The way every little detail tied together was so clever. I genuinely gasped in the most cliché way while reading, and I had to put my book down to get myself together. It's such a perfect combination of foreshadowing and surprise that I was both caught off guard and shocked that I hadn't realized sooner.