#aftg is also about the use of ableist slurs which. comes with the books! maybe it’s controversial of me but I don’t give a shit about the

[whatareyoudoingwithamaserati]

aftg is a series about running and trauma and regressing and healing and becoming the person you never thought you could be and learning how to live comfortably in your own skin again. it’s about committing to the bit and about being a major asshole who has found other assholes and formed a family with them and about several paragraph long iconic roasts and it is about HEALING. AND JEAN IS GETTING HIS TURN. GOD.

[queerbra-rian]

REVIEW ; ALL FOR THE GAME SERIE - By. NORA SAKAVIC

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⚠ Trigger Warning : The book talk about lot of drug use, of overdosing, underage drinking, loss of a loved one, suicide, there's also mention of cutting, drugging someone, jokes about rape, physical abuse, talk of past parental abuse, ableist insults, homophobic slurs (the f word), and use of the r word. Be aware of this before reading. It’s also as spoiler free as it can be.

Genre: YA, Contemporary, sports, fiction, gangster, romance, mlm,

Pages:

1) 237 (book 1)

2) 423 (book 2)

3) 556 (book 3)

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

All for the Game is a 2013 book series by Nora Sakavic. The story revolves around the Palmetto State Foxes, an NCAA Exy team with the main plot being centered around Neil Josten, a kid on the run from his mob boss father. It is primarily a sports story and follows a storyline typical of the genre—with added drugs, violence, and gangsters.

Main character Neil Josten is in hiding, on the run from his mob boss father. He's a Consummate Liar who's just trying to lie low, but when he plays Exy for his latest high school, he somehow catches the attention of David Wymack, head coach of a Class I college team. He shouldn't say yes to the offer, but he does—and is instantly plunged into a world of tangled relationships, shady deals, lots of violence, and The Power of Friendship.

The series consists of three books:

The Foxhole Court

The Raven King

The King's Men

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REVIEW:

Oh man. Where do I start with this. Probably with the beggining as to why do I read the all for the game serie, since its a 2013 novel ? Because well, I saw it plastered everywhere since day one on instagram. And the curious side of me wanted to dive deeper into it. At first, I wasn't sure about it and would gladly skip it, because gangster story and sports wasn't at all my thing (mind y'all that I now have 3 sports + lgbt YA book yet to read in my tbr since I've started TFC) but what a mistake ! I now consider myself a fox, even bought the paperback copies (lol I know) and I ship a lot of thing in that book. For this review though, i'll try and go as spoiler free as I can.

First of all, I love Exy. Even tho it doesn't make any sense at all, as a sport itself, I found myself imagining everything perfectly. Like imagine LaCrosse, but with hockey's violent part and that is amazing. That's how I pictured Exy and that's how I would play it. But let's put that aside in favor of talking about the cast. What I have to say first is that I didn't know you could put so much side story in a book without it being too much ! Every or so key character got their own moment of glory through the serie and that's amazing. You could believe the whole plot would be centered around Neil Josten, as the synopsis is implying, but no! it became from time to time more a snippet of the other of the team and man that is story telling and character developpement at its finest.

I won't lie, my first impression of the book would have been, as I saw a lot of fantastic fanart that would imply it, that Neil and Andrew would fall in love together in the cheekiest way possible and then they would be okay together and live happily ever after, but how I was wrong and how I ship it ! I want more story with a clingy but not so much relationship ! (But maybe not centered around abuse, because that suck).

Anyway, I will try to summarize everything in less than an actual book and start with the main plot. It's actually an awful start of a plot, since we talk about a runaway child being signed in the worst team of the Class I exy team. (And the fuck how they magically start to win everything after Neil arrival and despite everything that happen to them between the three books. How do they do that ?! ) then come into the equation the Edgar Allan's Raven. A whole team of archnemesis to the Foxes. Dun dun Duuunn !

For most part, Exy is useless for the main plot and just an unpleasant distraction from the important part, which is Riko Moriyama being an assbutt and Kevin Day a crybaby. Okay no. They are, but it's far more complicated than that. The more I wrote down that review, the more I realise that the plot is sh*t, but what makes this story interesting is the craving to know what the fuck is happening, from this constant need to believe that the love affair between Neil and Andrew is going to end in something completly different that the unholy thing it is in the first few half of the two first book. (We are far from this bullcrap of hater to lover rag, since it's more about Andrew and Neil’s relationship is based around physical expressions of affection and respect, as opposed to verbally lovey dovey stuff) to the need to know if one of them is going to get killed (hint; there is definitly some killing involved, this is a damn gangster story after all)

I gave it 5 stars because it got me hooked, not because that's the best story ever. Mind y'all, because AFTG serie is just like reading an AU fanfic, well kinda. But probably because of the character developement. As I said earlier in this exact review, I love how everyone has their part of the story, even Riko and Jean at some point, that are in the opposite team (the baddies). I also love how you unravel certain mystery through the books. It's not about a reckless teenager afraid of living, but about a whole group (team) being challenged by life and the weight that carry each of them.

Is it worth reading? I'd say yes, because it get better. Surprisingly, I want another book too. Just for the sake of knowing what would happen at court.

Notable quote:

“It's about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you.”