The Foxhole Court

Full disclosure: I only read this book to fulfill a prompt of reading your best friend's favorite book. We have very different tastes when it comes to the books we enjoy and I had low expectations. Those were even too high. This book was a dumpster fire. I found it completely unrealistic and nothing happened. There were way too many characters who I couldn't keep track of and I all were described exactly the same. And for a group of misfits, the team was a bunch of jerks to everyone for no apparent reason. This book suffered a lot from lack of explanation and just telling me what was happening rather than giving any backstory to the characters. I will no be continuing with this series.

CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 1
Atmosphere: 4
Writing: 4
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 2
Logic: 1
Enjoyment: 1

this is part one of my review. I have a lot to say, and Goodreads doesn't like that, so part two, aka all the things that confuse me about this series, can be found here

“Did you know I've never been skiing? I'd like to try it one day, though.”

0/5 stars HIGHLY RECOMMEND

the

Anyways tl;dr: an idiotic boy who's on the run from a crime lord murderous father joins a college sports team who's enemy has ties to the mafia and also it's gay and also Kevin Day

let's talk about the characters, shall we?

Neil Josten.

Andrew Minyard.

Kevin Day.

Coach Wymack.

Nicky Hemmick.

Dan Wilds.

Matt Boyd.

Allison Reynolds.

Aaron Minyard.

Renee Walker.

Seth.

Riko Minyard.

things emi loves about the foxhole court

swoon

things emi hates about the foxhole court

but like I also feel bad for him? He spent his entire life trying to impress his dad and brother and someone they can be proud of all for his brother too shoot him in the head at the end of the series. Riko deserved it but he also didn't deserve that,

this is part one of my review. I have a lot to say, and Goodreads doesn't like that, so part two, aka all the things that confuse me about this series, can be found here

hmm yeah reading this required me to suspend my disbelief through and through, but for some reason it didn't bother me at all?

right now I'm definitely entertained and intrigued enough to continue the series, but I do wish I became more invested in the characters by the time I reached the end. hopefully the later instalments remedy this but regardless, I still had a fun time going through this story

2nd read
This reread took forever! It was just as good the second time around, and this time I was really able to soak up so much more of the story, instead of rushing through it like I did the first time. I can't believe I had any doubts on who Neil was going to end up with. By the halfway point of this book Neil and Andrew do nothing but keep an eye on each other, though none of them will admit that they do it. They're so attentive to each other as well as pretending they can't stand the other person, and at the same time can't stop thinking about how interesting the other is. Andrew is always touching Neil and Neil is just like “Okay we're doing that” and he doesn't realize the importance! Gah, all the feels. My precious broken children. Y'all are so messed up, I fucking love you.

1st read 4 stars
This was... this was like... like sports anime on stereoids, that's what it was. 
The mostly male cast checks out (although it's not even close to how sports anime usually does it), the sport checks out(obviously), the training part, the first game, the main character who's good enough to be on the team but not actually good enough (yet), the hardcore upperclassmen who hate the MC, the upperclassmen who take care of the MC, the player who initally hated but eventually respects the MC, I feel like I could go on, honestly. 
HOWEVER,
Y'all, the criminality in this shit literally scares me. Like, I got way in over my head with this one, was not expecting the kind of murderous past everyone had, and the characters are so horribly mentally unstable that every little thing gets me nervous, the drugs (medical and otherwise) are almost part of some characters' identity. I mean, this is literally insane and an absolute fucking shitshow. It was also VERY entertaining, though. This book was such a starter, I can't wait to get onto the next one. At the end, we're finally getting enough of Andrew to see him as a real person. Neil is constantly in anxiety-mode (bc he's running from death, can't really blame him), but it really carries a paranoia over the entire novel, which sets the tone well. Most of the characters we've only just scratched the surface of who they are, so I can't really say how I feel about them yet, but overall I was simply addicted to this and really enjoyed it.

Let me please make myself clear: this book is not particularly well-written and it is all kinds of edgy. If you can just forego literary standards, though, and read this as if it were the novelisation of a trashy, fun shonen sports anime, it kind of eats. 
I don't think it will be for everyone, since some plotpoints and character beats definitely had me raising my eyebrows, but I dunno, maybe try to find some content warnings online and see if this will work for you :P
 Don't let the relatively low rating fool you into thinking I'm not gonna read the rest of the series, because I absolutely will. A guilty pleasure read in the truest sense of the word.

This is the story about a scared boy on the run from his fearsome and terrible past. This is a story about doing everything you can to be able to hold onto your dream. Of stopping to run and starting to fight. Of devotion and endurance. This is a story about broken things that aren't broken. This is a story about slowly building, fragile friendships in places where you least expected to find them. About raising above your circumstances and risking everything for a little bit of happiness.

This is the story about Neil Josten and at the same time it's not.

We never learn his real name in the first book of an amazin trilogy. Neil is a very private person, guarding every little detail that could give away his true identity. Coloured hair, contact lenses. He is doing everything he can to let his past life remain as far away as possible.

Until one night.

The one thing he couldn't keep away from is the stone that sets everything in motion. Exy - a cross between Hockey and Lacrosse - is the one love Neil can't leave and the only reason why he goes against his better judgement. The coach of the Palmetto State University Foxe, a team of teenagers with more than enough problems to lasst two lifetimes, shows up one evening and asks Neil to join his Exy team. The coach didn't come alone though and the person he brought with him almost stopps Neil's heart and ends the story before it really started, because it's someone Neil didn't ever want to see again. But, as luck goes combined with many past years and a changed appearance Neil's faked persona isn't exposed. Torn between all consuming fear and a small shimmer of hope and the wish the play more Exy Neil makes a decision that'll turn his life upside down.

This book was breathtakingly amazing and I devoured it in one go. I have to add that I'm not a person for storys that have a strong focus on sports, but even so I enjoyed it in this one and I always love it when an author manages to make me like something I normally don't.

The Foxhole Court was available as a free read on Amazon and I'm eternally grateful for that because I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise and missed out on one of the best books I've ever read. I'd pretty much give anything to be able to have a hard copy of this awesomeness. Alas, as it often goes with things you want badly this story only exists as an ebook.

The characters all have their fair share of scares and only add to the dark theme of the story. That shouldn't keep you from reading this story though. The character development you can witness throughout the three books as well as the slowly blossoming and growing friendships between the characters, their strive and struggles for getting and keeping what they desire is worth every minute where you're not sure if there is a light waiting at the end of the tunnel.

3.5 stars

This book a bit odd and...confusing. And by confusing, I mean I had to go back and reread so many parts because it was just so unclear sometimes what the characters were referring to and what exactly was happening. This is mainly what brought it down from 4 stars to 3.5.

However, The Foxhole Court left me very eager to start book two of the trilogy! The entire first book felt more like the first half of one book rather than the entire first book of a trilogy. This is because the

this book had characters in it ive never seen before. each one was so original and raw, especially neil and andrew. ANDREW IS SO INTRIGUING like i just need to know everything about him. also his and kevin's friendship better be explained more because i want to know more about them!!!! fuck nicky and aaron i don't like them! dan and matt are my favs!!!!

tw: mentions of drugging, rape

k. so. what the fuck was that.

idk what y'all know about this book, and i honestly don't care, but i was expecting a story about a kid who survives an abusive home life getting a second chance and ending up on a sports team and a m/m romance. basically a somewhat angsty sports-romance heartstopper. this is what i wanted okay the pastels

and this is what i gotttt: emo shit that would not fly or make sense irl, the most unlikable characters ever, some batshit mafia plot, bully romance gag, and just straight-up glorified abuse?? whyyyy

big sigh let me just summarize this for y'all.

this book follows a boy named neil but neil has a ✨ dark past ✨ because his family was abusive and involved in the fucking mafia, so neil is basically hiding his true identity all the time. neil gets recruited to this college sports team for a fictional sport called “exy” and i don't really understand what it is because i hate sports so please don't ask me. there are these three (sometimes four?) guys on the team who are essentially bullies to neil but neil can handle himself because of his ✨ dark past ✨ so whatever. but then the boys drag neil out to a club and drug him and get borderline rape-y all because they believe he's a spy for the other team. then neil decides to stay on the team even after that because why the fuck not. (by this point in the book the author has used every slur and derogatory name for gay people btw.) then there's a bunch of sports scenes that i skimmed because i don't give a shit. i think i was so mad that i blacked out because i cannot remember how this ended at all. ain't no way this wasn't a fanfiction turned into an original story for publication. also one of the shit ass bullies is neil's love interest so there's that.

anyways. this was a miserable experience. fuck this, fuck haikyuu because y'all told me this would be like that for some reason, i'm out!

gonna go play the newly-ported gay lawyer investigations game because i'm tired. i'm so tired.

Когда мое фырчание на хайп вокруг этого цикла сошло на нет, я наконец-то смогла открыть первую часть. Что же, я была удивлена! Удивлена, насколько быстро книга смогла перенести меня в юность... когда я зачитывалась фанфиками. У героев “все плохо”, они никому не нужны, кроме друг друга, но у них есть цель, до которой они хотят дойти... кажется?

Признаюсь, я люблю медиа, связанные со спортом. Это большое поле для развития отношений, драмы, командного духа, воодушевляющих и запоминающихся сцен, особенно в подростком возрасте, когда ты только на пороге к взрослой жизни.
Автор, во-первых, должен сделать главного героя привлекательным для читателей, наделить его необычными навыками, характером или предысторией, благодаря которой он сможет попасть в команду и засиять - сам и зажигая других. Ну и не забыть про мотивацию, которая чаще всего заменяется на “я до смерти люблю играть в название_спорта”.
Во-вторых, нужны интересные сокомандники и тренерский штаб, которые будут поддерживать и указывать на ошибки. Нужны индивидуальности, создающие конфликты, но не затмевающие своей историей главного героя.
Ну и в-третьих, соревнования и чемпионаты. Команда должна за что-то или кого-то бороться, тем самым прорывая себе путь на вершину через десятки команд, стиль и личности которых тоже нужно раскрыть.

Подытожив, вырисовывается большой объем работы, который нужно преподнести ненавязчиво, в то же время раскрывая основных персонажей и преподнося идею. И на удивление, все это здесь есть. При всем этом автор еще и придумывает свой собственный спорт - экси. Нельзя не похвалить такой огромный труд, хоть и бывали слабые части.

Так почему написанное выглядит как фанфик?
Ко всему коктейлю автор добавляет абьюз, наркотики и якудза. Понимаете проблему? Не забудьте передать привет сухому языку и проблемам с логикой.

Нил Джостен обожает экси, но он должен скрываться от мафии, меняя имя и внешность. Он так сильно сопротивляется вступлению в известную команду аутсайдеров и так сильно старается не выделяться, что в конце концов попадает на телевизор и раскрывает свою историю тем, кто непосредственно с ней связан. Занавес. И таких неприятных, нелогичных моментов много, особенно поначалу: команда-аутсайдер с собственным стадионом, заказными формами и клюшками, общежитием и автобусом; при этом их билеты дороже обычных, так как они отправляют часть денег на благотворительность; в их команде буквально человек на условно-досрочном, под таблетками и с оружием на поле. Не знаю, нужно ли мне хвалить или порицать, что в жестком спорте разрешены межполовые команды и борются они на равных.

Может все хорошее заложено в спорт? И да, и нет.
Честно, я расстроилась, увидев описание первых тренировок. Они до жути пресные и не давали нормального представления о новом для читателей спорте. Меня больше удивляло, что обычные упражнения (например, сбивание конусов) для Нила были новшеством, но ладно, спишем на отсутствие тренировок в его прошлой школе... ах да, наш герой же одарен физически и специально занижал свои результаты. И его (одного из сотни заявок!) выбрали в команду за... любовь к экси? Но единственным его достижением был быстрый бег и пару забитых мечей.
Однако, первый и единственный матч в книге описан бодро, хоть соперники, как один, шаблонны. Хотя по этой игре видно, как автор (или тренерский штаб) брезгует тактикой для командного спорта, совершенно нельзя понять его ключевые моменты. Потому что правила игры все еще до конца не понятны, и в книге, к сожалению, они не вынесены.

Из плюсов можно выделить разноплановых героев, ведь именно на них держится фанбаза. Они живые и отличаются друг от друга (хотя брат-акробат Аарон полностью обезличен), но, если честно, узнать ближе хочется “хорошую” сторону Лисов, а не торчать с братьями в который раз в клубе. При этом тот же Эндрю, на мой взгляд, вышел очень карикатурным, особенно во время угроз. А с пополняющимися всю книгу багажом тайн Нил теряет очки привлекательности как главный герой. Тем более автор слишком явно давит на тему “принятия”, что для меня стирает интерес к внутреннему конфликту Нила, с которым он борется в этой части.

Все это мог исправить авторский стиль, но он полностью примитивен (а перевод потерял некоторые интересные фразы), за ним не хочется возвращаться. Моменты вне общежития и поля кажутся лишними, будто не из этой книги. Хотя я понимаю, что через них автор сближает парней и ставит новые конфликты, но лично мне сложно их было переварить, а в некоторых местах и накрывало испанским стыдом. Наверное, именно из-за этих сцен и “напряжения” между персонажами, остается чувства фанфика. А текст, наполненный скучными глаголами и перечислением однотипных действий, не кажется продвигающимся вперед.

В общем, если вы любите или любили фанфики и аниме про спортивные команды и можете переваривать тонны нелогичностей и надвигающейся драмы, то “Лисья нора” не окажется для вас разочарованием.
Для всех остальных эта завязка может показаться затянутым и не перевариваемым нечто, которое даже сложно подвести под троп “изгои исправляются и становятся любимы”. Нет здесь этого. Автор хочет драмы и травмы каждому персонажу, но не на спортивном поле, а душевном, которое невообразимым образом никак не влияет на их игру. Я понимаю оба лагеря, но пока для меня это приятный ностальгический фанфик, который - что важно - вызывает эмоции.