#nora was so wrong for saying she hated allison literally what did she do

[thearoacewriter]

plotting a chappell roan renison fic and i made myself sad 😔

[septemaria]

my thoughts on the all for the game series [spoilers ahead!]

so i actually finished the first book a while ago and then decided i was never going to go near the series again (i lied) but then i saw how cheap the books were on kindles so i picked up the series again! this post is going to be extremely text heavy and divided into three sections (one for each book)

i. the foxhole court

i’m not gonna lie, this book was my most disliked out of the whole series but i do have to say that it did capture my attention right away

there were so many unanswered mysteries at first (how did neil know kevin from childhood? who was neil’s father? why are aaron and andrew so loathing of each other?)

so honestly when matt, allison, renee, and dan were introduced i was literally ‘wow i love them so much if anything happened to any of them i’d kill everyone in this room and then myself’ but tbh that’s me with all of them at this point

i really hated the first time they went to columbia, i think it was my first real impression of andrew and honestly i wanted to push the monsters down a manhole

the whole televised interview part with kevin, neil, and riko was really intense and i wanted to backhand riko so hard gosh

seth just? died? i was really confused at first but he wasn’t really introduced and i guess his death came right after he was introduced but damn that got dark quickly

when andrew started to protect neil i liked him a bit more but we all know that he protected neil bc he likes him not because of kevin

ii. the raven king

the foxes are finally! freaking! cooperating! this took way too long ngl

every time neil trashtalks the ravens/moriyamas two years get added onto my lifespan

neil just kinda knocked kevin and aaron down from their personal ranks inside of the monsters and honestly? iconiqué

the whole drake scene during thanksgiving was kind of disgusting and uncomfortable for me so i just kinda skimmed through it and kept going so we’re not gonna talk a lot about that here

neil legitimately told riko to shut the fuck up and then later proceeded to hit riko i love my disaster son

and the foxes began climbing their way to championships and i actually hate sports but if exy was a real sport i would 12/10 watch it

iii. the king’s men

okay i just actually finished reading this book so you’re gonna get an actual review because i actually remember it lol

so the team is seeing through neil’s bullshit now and i just wanted neil to tell them the truth so bad

that whole christmas break section (did this happen in the second or third book? who knows) was so infuriating for me because i actually wanted to kick riko in the nose

so andrew and neil 👀 the sexual tension was getting way too much for me i just needed them to kiss

btw i like andrew now his character arc is the kind of arc i aspire my grades to have

the whole counting down texts neil kept getting were giving me anxiety because we KNEW that it had something to do with his father ugh

yeah anyways i literally screamed when lola started burning and cutting neil up okay i’m so upset

nathan sr. is actually such an asshole i can’t believe he only got two years in jail

i don’t even know how stuart hatford knew neil was in trouble but thank god he saved neil

neil! finally! told! the! team! i was so happy and they were so supportive i love my fox family

i don’t know when the team caught on to andrew/neil but that one remark aaron made to neil was not okay (you know the one i’m talking about)

okay neil striking a deal with ichirou was really unexpected but oh well i guess

we only got a glimpse towards jeremy but i would die for him he’s so sweet

kevin got his two tattoo coverup that’s my boy right there i’m so proud

the foxes! beat! the ravens! that will be the only time i will ever get excited about sports

andrew was not afraid to come at riko for even thinking of hurting his boyfriend and i gasped so hard at that scene like goddamn

coach tetsuji being fired and then ichirou murdering riko was. something. i was literally s h o o k and i was like? oh my god?

now for my thoughts on the series as a whole

so this series had a lot of triggering content and it was way darker than i expected and that was kind of a turn off but the way nora writes is really smooth and fun to read, the content was super interesting and capturing

the book is extremely plot heavy and even now i still have a difficult time remembering key events or even just significant internal drama that happened

it did bother me that the canonically asian characters were all villains or gangsters/mafia members, it put a negative light on the canon asians in the series as a whole

i did really like the way nora portrayed neil’s relationship with his mother, with her being abusive but neil still loving her, i think she did a really realistic portrayal of what that’s like

consent was a big part of this series and it makes me so happy that this is actually being shown in books nowadays

i kind of wanted more of kevin? we were shown his backstory and we had a vague idea of underneath kevin’s hard exterior there was something more and i feel like he had so much potential than being a character that was off to the side 

and while we’re at that, we know most of the team’s backstories but i think it’d be really cool to get shortstories on them growing up or being recruited to the team (matt, allison, renee, dan, nicky)

are we going to get more of the characters? i didn’t think i would fall in love with the characters and the series this much but boy was i wrong

[nickireadstfc]

The Foxhole Court: A Summary - The Exposition Court

Exposition! Legit so many fucking character introductions! ‘!!!!!!!!’ moments! Foreshadowing! Show, Don’t Tell! Opinions! Predictions that will no doubt end up being Absolutely Fucking Ridiculous! Yay!

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to sum up the Foxhole Court.

In 2013, now-renowned author Nora Sakavic blessed us with The Foxhole Court, book one of the All For The Game trilogy. In this first installment of orange gay sporty murder shit, protagonist, runaway and professional sassmaster Neil Josten signs with the Palmetto State Foxes, a ragtag sports team of outcasts and lunatics, in order to escape his Fucked Up Past™.

On his team he finds Kevin, a childhood friend of his with an equally Fucked Up Past™, and Andrew, a messed-up murder maniac on meds. They play Exy, which is the three-way lovechild sport of lacrosse, ice hockey and bad decisions, and Kevin takes it upon himself to train Neil into the prodigy he sees in him.

But The Plot is coming for them: Kevin’s childhood abusers, Riko and Tetsuji Moriyama, and their team, the Edgar Allan Ravens, have come into their district, and they are set on taking Kevin back to their magical land of abuse and kind-of slavery, destroying the Foxes’ athletic reputation and generally fucking up everyone’s lives.

But the Foxes are not going down without a fight, and after an epic smackdown between Riko and Neil on national television, Neil is accepted into their dysfunctional family of fiercely protective psychopaths, and together they stare down into the abyss of whatever fucked-up shit is yet to come.

And that’s the Foxhole Court for you.

Did I like it? Hell fucking yes.

Do I think it’s probably going to be the weakest out of the three? Also hell fucking yes.

Let me explain.

The Foxhole Court mainly consists of one thing: Exposition. Nora Sakavic takes her sweet time introducing Neil as a character, unfolding both his backstory and his personality bit by bit, and introducing everyone else the same (although we are clearly not done with the backstories by any stretch of the imagination) as well as giving us a good feel of what Exy is and why we should care about this orange sportsball.

However, one tiny unimportant thing is kind of suffering under all that, and that is the plot.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE exposition. I love getting to know characters, I love them having plot-unrelated banter, give me all that good shit. There hasn’t been one bit in TFC where I was bored or wanted to skip ahead (which, if you know my attention span, is a big thing). But we can’t deny that not much has happened so far.

In fact, there have only been five parts in this entire book where I was truly off my socks, either in excitement or shock or just general WHAT THE FUCK-ness:

When we find out Kevin’s (and Neil’s) backstory, fucking wHAT, I was blown away. I had not expected the book to be this serious. A+

The entire club scene with the monsters drugging Neil and Nicky kiss-raping him. I had stuff to say about that.

Neil telling Andrew like 80% of his Troubled Past™, I am deceased

THE MASTERPIECE THAT IS NEIL SASSING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF RIKO CAN I GET A HELL YEAH

Seth overdosing being murdered by Riko, aka the latest installment in our popular series WHAT.

And while everything else has been lovely as well, this speaks volumes for the plot which has, up until this point, been kind of on the down low, save for the moments mentioned above.

The good news is: In all likelihood, Seth’s death at the end of the book marks the point where exposition is now the fuck over. Dramatically, it would make sense to now stop fucking about and get down to business, to defeat the huns Ravens and really get to grips with the plot now in the second and third book.

(( Also, side note on the Seth situation: Let’s take a lil look back at chapter 6:

          “The death threats were creative, though,” Nicky said. “Maybe this time they’ll follow through and actually kill one of us. Let’s vote. I nominate Seth.”

Like wHAT KIND OF SWEET ASS FORESHADOWING.

Huge thanks to spookymiscreant for pointing that out. <3 ))

As for writing style, I’m pleasantly surprised. Self-published authors sadly often tend to tell too much and show too little, they describe lots and lots of things the reader could have figured out on their own and it takes a lot of immersion out of the reading experience.

Not so our dearest Nora, oh no. I’m immensely enjoying how she often just hints at feelings or thoughts of characters with just little details she drops every now and again. This works so well because those details often aren’t consciously recognized by a quick reader, yet they are vital in shaping our views of characters and scenes, providing true immersion and a full reading experience. Top notch, A+, 10/10 would author again.

(I’m too lazy to look up examples for that right now, but you all know what I mean anyways, and I’ve pointed a lot of things like this out in my recaps as well because I LOVE IT.)

Now, characters! Where do I fucking start. I’m thinking I’m just gonna throw my opinions on each of them in here and see whether they’ll change throughout the next two books.

Neil, my son. I’ve really, really grown to like him. Homeboy is still majoring in Extra and Dramatic, and I will still drag him mercilessly for it, but I like it. I like his style of narration, I care for his emotional well-being, but most of all, I like his sass. Seemingly every time he has to speak to someone for more than three sentences, he just cannot help but be the savage comeback prince he was destined to be, and I’m living for it. I hope he has lots and lots of dialogue in the next two books. I’m still not over that Riko scene. Love him.

Kevin is... I don’t actually have a clear opinion on him yet. I find him interesting as a part of Neil’s history – still not sure whether I’m buying that he doesn’t remember Neil at all –, I was stunned by his backstory and I absolutely want to fucking gut Riko for everything he’s done to Kevin, but that’s about it so far. He just….. didn’t click with me yet. Let’s see what comes around in the future.

Andrew is growing on me, I think. I’m not his biggest fan yet – he did do some fucked up shit (//eyes the club situation YET AGAIN//) and I absolutely hate him when he’s on his meds – but he’s v v interesting, both as a character and because of the med situation. And honestly, I think this is exactly what’s intended with him. Andrew was not made for immediate attachment, he was intentionally written to grow on you. And I kind of like that, it makes his character more round, more fully-formed, gives him more dimension. Also, I love him in combination with Kevin and Neil. Also just with Neil, obviously. He’s buying him clothes. Who is chill about this, not me.

Nicky……… My problematic sunshine idiot, I still have a very complicated relationship to him. I think Nicky is (as far as I've read) a wonderful example of a fuckboy who means well, meaning someone who does shitty things as a joke/bc he doesn’t think about them/bc it’s been socially engrained in him that they are okay to do (see: the kiss thing), but realises they are shitty afterwards and wants to better himself. Also, I’m just really, really grateful to have someone who brings a bit of laughter into this angsty shitshow. And gayness. Oh, how I am grateful for the gayness. Actually, who are we fucking kidding, I still love Nicky.

Aaron – who even is Aaron, seriously. I still know literally next to nothing about this dude. Apparently his mother was quite fucked up. Not close with his twin brother. Okay. Next!

RENEE, my daughter, my love, my darlingest little murder snowflake. We still don’t know much about her, but for some reason she just instantly clicked with me. She is so unbelievably kind and sweet and probably hiding like, three axe murders. GIVE ME ALL HER BACKSTORY AND GIVE IT TO ME NOW. She is probably my second-favourite character so far, together with Neil.

I’ve gathered that quite a lot of you like Matt?? I can see why, I guess. He’s a ray of sunshine as well, and an unproblematic one at that. He probably would have deserved to be captain as well. Tall Billie Joe is a good egg. <3

Pretty much all of that goes for Dan as well. Good human being, good team person. Takes no shit. Very Gryffindor. I’m wondering what her backstory is tbh, because so far, she seems like an actually stable, healthy person, which we all know cannot be true in Foxland.

I’m still sort of indifferent to Allison. She hasn’t given me reason to hate her yet, she also hasn’t given me reason to like her. I feel bad for her because of Seth’s death, though.

And Seth… Well. We kind of discussed that already.

As for the Parent Triumvirate: Idk if this ever came up, this may be news to you, but hAVE I MENTIONED I REALLY REALLY FUCKING LOVE WYMACK. Seriously. He is my favourite character, from chapter fucking one. He is the only person who can rival Neil in terms of unbound sass, which makes him great to begin with, but most importantly, he is caring, compassionate, and just the fucking kindest person in this book, yet takes no shit and doesn’t baby anyone.

           “Did you think I made the team the way it is because I thought it would be a good publicity stunt? 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.”

This is the best thing anyone has said in this entire book fucking fIGHT ME. HOW DOES ONE NOT LOVE DAVID WYMACK TO THE HEAVENS AND BACK. #dicksoutforwymack

Abby and Betsy are both shaping up to be Really Cool People as well. As well as with Wymack, I love their “I’m gonna be supportive kind and good to you, but I’m not going to take any shit from you” attitude, which is precisely the way to run a team as dysfunctional as the Foxes. A+ parenting, 10/10 would love again.

Lastly, some predictions about what will happen within the next book! We’ll see what came true. I cannot wait to cringe at myself and my idioticy/blissful unawareness eight weeks from now.

They’ll deal with Seth’s death – some better, some worse

The banquet thing will happen and it will be hella awkward and hilarious and something Super Dramatic And Important will happen

Neil will master the Raven drills Kevin is making him do and it will be EPIC

Andreil will continue having Important Gay Moments™

The “Kevin and Riko know Neil” situation will not be addressed (!) (I’m expecting that to be in the last book, near the final epic smackdown)

Neither will we meet Neil’s father (again, last book)

However, we will meet Tetsuji and shit will go down

Also, we’ll meet some Ravens I suppose, since it is the Raven King after all. There was this Jean guy?? I’m intrigued

We will find out Renee’s backstory

We will find out something – if maybe not everything – about the Minyard-Hemmick backstory

Some more kisses will happen. I don’t care who kisses whom. Probably not Andreil (yet). Let it be Abby and Wymack. Aaron and his irrelevant girlfriend. I don’t care. Give me kisses.

And now all that’s left for me to say is, again, thank you thank you thank you to all of you who read this blog. All of you who give me your thoughts and comments on everything, who keep this project going and who drag my motivation back in by its hind legs every time it wants to run screaming into the other direction – you are the sole reason this thing exists. You all rock and I love you infinitely.

We’ll meet again next Sunday with The Raven King. xx  

Side note: I’ve gone through the blog and organized all asks/replies dealing with frequently discussed topics, go check them out! All links are listed on the Read All Chapters page as well.

The demisexuality discourse

The mental health discourse

The Seth discourse

America vs Everywhere Else things

Side side note: Remember when I said I was going to rename all the chapters Percy Jackson style? So I may…… be doing that soon…….. keep ur eyeballs peeled friends!!!