The Foxhole Court: Volume 1 (All for the Game)

THE FOXHOLE COURT by Nora Sakavic is the first book in the All For The Game trilogy. It tells the story of Neil Josten the latest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. But Neil has secrets, chief of which is that he is the son of a crime lord known as The Butcher. Signing with the PSU Foxes puts his life in danger especially when playing with them means meeting a face from his past. I ended up reading this book in a matter of hours. It was that good! I started reading it before family came over, and I struggled to put it down. When I got back to it, I read it straight through to the end and it just blew me away. The story sucked me in. The characters were interesting, and believable. The plot was interesting and kept my attention. THE FOXHOLE COURT was everything I wanted from the first book in a series. Sakavic did a good job setting up the world and the characters; the premise of the book felt believable, and I think Sakavic did a brilliant job with Neil. I am planning on devouring the second and third books in this trilogy as quickly as I can get my hands on them! The main plot of the book focuses on the question of whether Neil will follow his dreams and play for the PSU Foxes, and if he does will his secrets be uncovered? Sakavic does a fantastic job at keeping the tension about possible discovery through the whole book; it’s what kept me turning the pages. I also really enjoyed the fact that Sakavic crossed the worlds of competitive sport and the mob, and all both worlds entail. I found the meshing of the worlds worked really well, and I thought the sport of Exy sounded interesting – it’s sort of a cross between ice hockey and lacrosse on a football pitch (though I’m don’t know if that’s American Football or football/soccer, and even if there’s a difference in pitch size). It’s super competitive both on and off the pitch. Neil Josten is the main character, and I thought he was an interesting choice. Going into THE FOXHOLE COURT you know he has secrets, and I think Sakavic plays with that aspect of his character well. I found it easy to trust him, and I thought his point of view was interesting. Sakavic does a brilliant job with his teammates, and they all feel real and believable. There’s also an interesting team dynamic, which makes for some pretty entertaining reading at times. Overall I think THE FOXHOLE COURT serves as a brilliant introduction to the All For The Game trilogy. Sakavic does a brilliant job of setting up the world and the characters, which I’m looking forward to seeing more of in future books. If you’re looking for a contemporary novel that doesn’t have a lot of romance in it, and you’re okay reading books that are sport based then you may want to consider picking this book up. I’m not sure if the little romance will hold up for future books in the trilogy, but for this book in particular there is very little of it at all. But having said that, as there’s a mob aspect to the book there’s also some references to pretty nasty violence – I cannot remember seeing any of it actually happen on page – and there’s also some substance abuse – some of which takes place without characters consent – so if that is not your thing then this may not be the book for you. Having said that, I don’t think any of the things I warned about are used gratuitously and I thought they added to the tension of the book. Review originally published on TheFlutterbyRoom.com

The Foxhole Court begins with Neil being given the opportunity to play the (fictional) sport of Exy for the Palmetto Foxes at Palmetto University. Think a cross of lacrosse and very violent hockey. The Foxes are a team of talented misfits on the verge of dropping out of their league. I use the word team loosely, as the Foxes are hardly what you would call a united group at the beginning. They all have a past, however, Neil has secrets of his own. He has been on the run from his crime boss father for years and has recently lost his mother. Where it gets interesting is that Neil recognizes one of the Foxes, former champion Kevin, from a time in his past, but does Kevin realise who Neil really is? For someone who's always been looking over his shoulder, the story sees Neil struggling with the choice of fight or flight, finding somewhere he could belong for the first time and something worth caring about. His arrival has an effect on all of the Foxes and the team. By the end of the book you'll be going straight on to book two, you only have to read reviews on Amazon to see I wasn't the only one that stayed up all night binge reading! At first, I wondered where all of these characters were going to fit, and who was who, but their personalities come through and make it easy to distinguish. Each one is important to the development in one way or another. By the second book I cared about each one to some degree. Whilst the writing in this isn't completely polished, what the author has achieved in making me feel made up for it. I will say it right here, I'm not a sports fan. You do not need to be to enjoy this story. If you are into sports however, you are going to be interested in the team dynamic and the match scenes. The Exy match scenes held my interest, and I liked how not every match was written about in great detail, just the important ones. These action scenes were done in a way that made me feel like I was watching from the side, and as it's a fictional sport, it didn't matter that I don't understand every sports term. Team spirit is catching. What I liked most was how the reader was drip-fed information about the different characters pasts throughout the book. It keeps you reading as you are intrigued to find out what's going on and why they are behaving the way they do, in particular with Neil. It's written in a way where you're not confused with what's going on, but you are still sort of in the dark about some motives and needing to know more. I also loved the characters, and what kept me reading was trying to find out if any of them had any redeemable qualities. Stick with me here; the Foxes are a messed up bunch, and from the start do not seem the nicest of folks, but as the book goes on, they seem more human. As they grow on Neil, they grow on the reader. I would recommend this book to those who like character driven novels, who enjoy a cat-and-mouse mystery and secrets, and to those who like finding out what makes people tick. This book is raw. It's not sunshine and rainbows. This is not for those that can't handle troubled and at times unlikeable characters. This story isn't for those that are overly critical of plot points, the plot with Neil's family back story can seem far-fetched at first, but if you were to continue with the series you would see how it falls into place. The first in the series is currently free on Amazon, and the others are low priced. They are not particularly long books either, so with that I think you should all take a chance on the Foxes.

When I first started this book, I got a little confused and was worried I'd missed a prequel or earlier series, because there are quite a few allusions to things that happened before now. However, that was just world-building and setting up what was coming later on. The book is extremely well-written, the characters and story keep you wanting to know more, and I just couldn't put it down, to the extent of losing sleep. I've since also bought the next 3 books in the series and devoured them all. It doesn't matter or spoil any of the excitement if you're like me and have absolutely no knowledge of or interest in the sport that takes part on some of the pages, the book is about people, not a game, which I always think is a good thing. Be warned, though, that this story is dark. There are darker out there, but check the warnings before diving in. The first 3 books in the series are Neil's story. If you like it half as much as I do, I would strongly advise buying and reading all 3 in quick succession as you will want to know where things go. There is a lot that happens and it would be also easy to get confused if you leave too long between each one. The 4th book concentrates on another character, briefly introduced in the first trilogy, and I am desperate for the rest of his story to be published so I can find out what happens to him. I really recommend this whole series to anyone, and will be following this new-to-me author with great interest.

If you enjoy character-driven stories with grit, emotional depth and morally complex characters, then this book is a must-read! The tension, suspense, and occasional quiet moments of camaraderie make the book more than just a regular story in my opinion. It's about survival, loyalty and finding a place to belong. What stands out the most to me is Neil's character development (as well as the character development of other characters), Neil goes from this guarded, wary outsider to someone slowly learning to trust throughout the series and I love it. 10/10, will definitely re-read it in the future.

Lo leí digital. No tenía muchas expectativas ya que los libros de deportes no me llaman la atención, y fue una sorpresa porque me gustó mucho! Es un libro que te engancha por completo. Y a pesar de que el deporte juega un papel muy importante aquí, ciertamente los personajes son los que te hacen no despegarte del libro. No se trata solo de jugar, se trata de toda la mafia que hay detrás. Quiero leer los otros dos libro y esta vez los quiero físicos, lástima que Amazon no los tiene disponible en Amazon México

Wow this book is so absorbing!!! It's so good that I wanted to ignore everything else to keep reading. XD Damn, Andrew is such a fascinating character. I grew to like him near the end. Kevin is...I still dislike him, but I sympathize with him. Neil is a sympathetic character too, but like with Andrew, I took quite a while to warm up to him. I felt fine towards Matt, but didn't feel very strongly about him. As for Allison, Seth, Renee, Abby, David, Aaron, Nicky, I have conflicted feelings towards them. The only person I can say that I like with no reservations, is their team captain, Dan (Danielle). She's so tough but also kind at the same time. 😁 The slow-burn romance is really getting me, in a good way. The suspense, tension, and uncertainty are wonderful! I like that the romance is not that obvious, either, especially as I found the blurb a bit misleading. But since most of the popular highlights on my Kindle were about a certain character, there's no doubt about who the love interest is anymore, haha. The popular highlights function was a fun extra dimension of experience to the book.

Neil has just been recruited to a university Exy team... a life-long dream. Except that he's also been on the run from murderous criminal, so his dream has been an impossible one. If he stays in one place too long, he's dead, and playing on a top Exy team will mean he'd be dead sooner than later. But he's tired of running, and the Coach and top player who want him won't take no for an answer. This is a non-magical, but alternate world, as Exy is a highly popular game that doesn't exist in our world. But it's an exciting mix of lacrosse and hockey and hold attention even for a non-sports type like me. There is a lot of implied abuse, murder and violence. The Coach is known to recruit team-members who have had difficult lives, and Neil is a prime example... he's scarred and has witnessed murder and violence and his mother's death. Plus, hey, it's not like team sports aren't contact-free, no matter if there are penalties!-- but beyond that, the top team is positively psychotic and they are out to get Neil's team, as if he doesn't have enough problems. And the criminal organizations are about as ultra-violent as possible. Even Neil's own team members are known as psychotic and violent. A lot of the violence is implied and off-stage. That which is on-stage is enough, however. So this is a pretty dark story... BUT, beyond that, there are fascinating characters and situations and it's hard to not want to read along, even when darkness and violence isn't really what I want in a story. There is an almost fairy-tale feel to the evil. I mean, it's as bad as it can get... but then so are witches who eat children who get thrown into their own ovens, if you can see what I mean. It's nearly over-the-top, but the author manages to make it work. There are, of course, good parts, and those are fairy-tale in a way, too. I mean, Neil is living his dream even while he's living his nightmare... There are such highs and lows that it's all given a sense of wonder. It's hard to explain... but there's really something here. You root for Neil and his team (dysfunctional as they all are), and want those wins as long as the near hopelessly impossible happy ending. There are three books in this story and they end at good places but are definitely a continuous story. I nearly wanted to quit a time or two, but it was worth it to carry on. Definitely not for the faint of heart, however. There are some same-sex relations, but pretty much no romance/sex until the last book. The story is mainly a very dark YA sports fairy-tale that is probably more for mature adults, although the YAs tend to go for dark... and as I said, it's not like fairy tales aren't free from very dark themes, and those are told to kids! If you are curious, definitely try it! As I said, I'm not a YA or into sports or into dark tales or violence or extreme situations... These are very unique books... the author is definitely following a passion and that comes through. Very quirky and different, but basically compelling story-telling that is worth reading.

A rollercoaster ride to read this story!