The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic Review
We get introduced to a cast of characters, all of who have their own distinct personalities and arcs, and the fictional sport Exy, which the entire series basically revolves around. The last time I finished a book series was probably years ago. Not only that, but it had taken me years to get through all the installments. Getting to even the second book is a rare occurrence for me. Finishing an entire trilogy is practically impossible, especially with my attention span nowadays. I absolutely loved the characters and all their character developments AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.
He has to decide if saving himself for a few more years is worth more than the chance to play Exy. By the end of this book, Neil sacrifices himself to save Kevin and Andrew. If there is anything you can take away from this review, it’s that I loved reading these books. But, I’m not saying you should read them, because it’s definitely not for everyone and there are some flaws about some of the content and representation too. But I’m glad I took the risk and at least tried this series out (even during AP season), because I fell head over heels with it. The backstories of a few characters are shown in a brutally raw light, which can get emotional, especially when you’ve already gotten emotionally and spiritually attached to every single one of them.
Fund J.L.’s reading habit
It makes sense, it includes thousands of little details that make it come alive, and she even explains the rules and details to you that you think you wouldn’t care about but you somehow do. I can’t really get into too much without spoiling a bunch, but let’s just say I was bouncing off the walls at this slowburn that was cooking up like a five-star well-done filet mignon. I knew a certain two characters were going to get together, and they were rapidly growing on me. I loved them, but I needed them to start loving each other before I went insane. And, I know I rated it five stars on Goodreads and all, but I understand why it might be off-putting for some people, especially if they choose not to go through with the other two books.
I love the author’s use of metaphors; there’s something about them that’s both melancholic and harsh. There are minor grammatical errors that irked me a little bit (just a couple of missed commas), but otherwise, it’s all good. I read this trilogy because of how well-regarded it is by one of my favorite authors. I’m very glad I took a chance on it, even if its re-read value doesn’t have the same appeal to me as it does to her.
It’s simple, all for the game embraces every factor of fandom culture, especially fanfiction. The final book in this fascinating trilogy escalates, well, everything. The dynamics between the characters, the sportsball drama, and the external drama that I occasionally forgot existed outside of the highs and lows of the intensity of collegiate sports. Excellent storytelling means that you’re not sure about the characters, you’re not sure about the story concept, and you’re not really sure where anything is going, but you MUST find out what happens next. I wasn’t able to write up my review of The Foxhole Court right after I read it, so I was excited to finally dive into The Raven King once I got home from vacation.
Things take a wild turn here, and some scenes had me full-on gaping at the page (or well, the Kindle screen). As of 16 January 2023, there are 13,034 works in the All for the Game fandom tag on AO3, 9,707 of which use the relationship tag Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.
The first game of the season acts as the climactic set piece, but it is what happens after the game that is the true moment when all the conflicts come together. This story doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, but it forces a sensation that all it will take is a single nudge for the ground to vanish beneath their feet. By the end of the book, I was completely invested and still wasn’t quite sure why. I do know that I have no idea what will happen next, whether I want or don’t want any sort of romance between any of the characters to appear, and that I can’t wait to read the next installment of this trilogy.
The forerunner of the the Exy team, Coach Wymack, only recruits kids from troubled pasts for his university team-some think for publicity and some think for penitent reasons, but you’ll have to read to really find out why. I knew it was violent and that it centered around a specific fictional sport, however the obsession of the fandom piqued my interest. One of my favorite shows of all time is Riverdale (RIP) and, like the show, the drama and ridiculousness of this trilogy sucked me in and hung on.
But every twist and turn just made it so much more captivating to read. And the violence gets turned up to a volume I didn’t think it could reach, honestly. It gets incredibly emotional, again, which was expected but still made me sob uncontrollably nonetheless. Instead it was dark and straightforward, and it really lets the characters stand out.
Fandom
They were all so intriguing, mysterious, and unpredictable, and with the way the story is being told, I got invested in them and their own stories game guide and journeys. He went through a lot, he has a lot psychological trauma, and we see him trying to relearn how to live in such a normal setting instead of running from city to city. Andrew Minyard shocked me with his entrance (SERIOUSLY!!!!), annoyed me, then started rubbing off on me. Kevin Day, on the other hand…you can’t help but admire him and feel for him once you get to know him and and his story.
And then there’s another twist—all of this is intricately connected to the sport of Exy, some sort of lacrosse/racquetball/rugby mashup created by the author. As someone who is not particularly sporty, I bounced between having no idea what was going on while the characters are playing this sport to acknowledging that it’s okay that I have no idea what’s going on. Honestly, I applaud the author for writing a book about “sportsball” that includes all the drama and excitement of a sports story while sidestepping any potential criticism about not getting the sport right. Multiple writers that I admire and whose work I love highly recommend this trilogy, so I figured I should give it a shot. College-aged characters plus sports is not usually my go-to, and I’m honestly not one hundred percent sure what this story is, beyond the standard coming-of-age narrative that college-aged protagonists usually undergo. Overall, the initial premise stretched my suspension of disbelief pretty significantly, since this particular college student is a son on the run from his bloodthirsty mafia father.
The Foxhole Court (All for the Game #
I’m a night owl by nature but I still stayed up far past my already late bedtime devouring these three books within the span of a week. A couple of people told me that the sequel is better than the first book, and I’m gonna have to agree! I feel like the writing style is better here (or maybe I just got used to the author’s story-telling?). The author definitely does not shy away from the horrors of traumatic past lives and I love that. In a way, it’s also very profound and yes, a little bit depressing. With this, I realized that the story is now taking on an emotional turn, and I really love it.