Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

103 reviews

danaslitlist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I see a lot of reviews saying this book was confusing or too complicated to follow, and I’m calling bullshit on that. If y’all can read your high fantasy romance, you’re gonna be okay with this series. Grow up.

I’m also seeing reviews trying to downplay the enjoyment of the book because it’s not something they’d thought they’d enjoy which I’m gonna say is a bullshit way to review a book. If you like it, own it! Enjoy the series!

I went into this with the assumption I’d either hate it or I’d think it was fine, but I wasn’t prepared to actively enjoy it as much as I did. I found the characters interesting and was honestly invested so much in their relationships and personal issues. The fact that half these characters are by design unlikable and flawed is incredibly brave on the author.

 While I’m not a huge sports fan, I found the fictional sport of Exy pretty straight forward and easy to visualize when it was occurring on page but this book is primarily character driven with Exy being the setting. The mafia element while surprising and seemingly “out of nowhere” in terms of trying to describe it to others actually made sense and worked fine. 

The writing is solid and had some genuinely beautiful lines and moments. 

This book does has some flaws, namely the use of the r-slur on occasion since it was published back when the use of that word wasn’t so frowned upon. There were a few repetitive moments as well, but not enough to throw me out of my immersion or enjoyment.

Basically; enjoy this for what it is! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, and Murder

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I am confused but also intrigued.  It is a bit hard to visualize the sport itself but the self-destructive characters have been really compelling and there is a lot of mystery in their backstories that seems messy and complicated.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cuppa_69's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

stardustandrockets's review against another edition

I don't know how to feel about this book. It was okay?? I don't really see why people are so obsessed with it. Will I continue? Probably. But it's eh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, and Murder

Use of the hard r-word

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I went into the foxhole court excited for the romance I had heard so much about. While the romance did not come much into play in the first installment, the character development and complexities of the foxes has me hooked.
That being said, there were a few things I had issues with. For one, slurs are used repeatedly for no reason, which makes reading this feel uncomfortable. Additionally,

Nicky’s assault on Neil was just brushed over?? And

the plot ebbs and flows, with some parts being a bit confusing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

bee_03's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this is my trash reality tv. i cannot call this good, but it's so entertaining - i was hooked when i first read it years ago, and i'm hooked now. i didn't devour it, it devoured me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Vomit, and Murder

caitlin_123a's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

fancypebble's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

It's so poorly written, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. That said, it's such a fun and stupid time and you should read it. Just watch out, they hurl slurs at each other like it's nothing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia

isabelfaith's review against another edition

3.0

It was really interesting to circle back to the first book in the original series immediately after finishing the author's latest novel. The weakest element of TFC is the reliance on coarse language to create the gritty tone the author was going for (I was particularly irritated by the relatively frequent use of the r-word). That being said, there is something that feels so authentic about these characters and I can see that the groundwork is being laid for the developing relationships that will be the focus of the next two books. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism

trintrin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Phewwww

Okay, let me get the things I didn't like out of the way first:

• There are a lot of unrealistic things like the yakuza, the government/judiciary system/or the lack of it?, Andrew's drugs and how they work, drugs in general tbh, the dialogue at times, that one live TV scene, all the violence, so many things about this made up sport, I could go on.  
• Being info dump-y while somehow not dumping any info at all? Focussing on explaining the not-so-important parts (which I actually quite liked), but not properly explaining the things that really matter (which was annoying). I felt like a lot of names just sprang out of nowhere. Bless ebook search function for saving me multiple times. 
• WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THIS GODFORSAKEN GAME? How do they play it? Why is it so violent? What is the shape and size of the ball? What is the shape and size of the goal? What is the shape and size of the racquet? How sturdy and how deep is the net, if they're meant to smack AND catch with it? How did it get so popular in such a short time? I can't visualise anything other than the court. Maybe it's the curse being non-American.
• There are quite a few clichés. Be it the personality of the characters, or their behaviour, or the plot.
• The writing did read like a fan fiction at times. I wasn't bothered by it as long as it didn't leave out necessary details and drove me crazy. Just a thing to note. 

NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY

AHEM

THIS WAS SO FUN??

Like, I do realise that the way I fell in love at chapter 1 was most definitely due to seeing this series EVERYWHERE and growing fond of the characters before I knew anything about them. And the constant comparison to the sister fandoms that I am actively a part of — I'm talking about Tumblr's Holy Corvid Trinity, of course (Six of Crows, The Raven Cycle, and this one, if you didn't know). Plus, it's character driven + gay + dysfunctional + found family + sports + mafia. I mean, that's right up my alley.

Let's talk about the characters. NEIL JOSTEN, my love. I don't know what it is about him that captivated me from the beginning, but I absolutely adore him, he's my little pookie. Although, he's gotta have to sort his priorities out lmao (bro was more scared of Kevin potentially hating him than getting murdered by his mafia family, I gotta respect that). I hope one day my boy is able to live freely without being paranoid about every little thing.

I know, I listed a lot of gripes I had with Exy, but listen, IT'S A CO-ED SPORT!! I love the girls and I hope we get to see a lot more of them in the upcoming books. Renee Walker, I don't know anything about you, but I love you. Matt is an absolute sweetheart. So is Dan. I wish we got to see more of Allison and Seth. Coach Wymack, what a gigachad. I loved his dynamic with the kids, and loved the way he handles them. I need to see more of Betsy and Abby, as well.

Now moving on to Andrew's lot. For a good majority of the book, I didn't understand how I was supposed to believe that Neil is going to end up being friends — or, uhhh, lovers — with any of these people. Nicky, I have to admit, I didn't like him in the beginning, most definitely hated him in the middle, didn't like him in the end. Aaron is... just there, I guess? I forget he exists half of the time. Kevin reminds me of Rin Itoshi from Blue Lock, so I automatically like him. Andrew, well, sometimes I'm absolutely in love with him, sometimes I don't have an opinion on him, sometimes I flat out don't like him. This roller coaster is perfect to his character to a T, so kudos to that. I can smell the sibling angst coming up, and sibling angsts are always the death of me. Praying for my future self.

Random other things I liked: The last couple of chapters were WILD! I literally couldn't put the book down. A lot of messed up things happened. Almost all of the characters are clinically insane and need therapy. They hate each other, but if you try to hate them, they'll hate you more. All the little things Neil did out of paranoia (sitting in the back of the classroom where no one can approach from behind, or in the middle of the car where he could see both the driver and the passenger). The banter and the chemistry between the Foxes. The way the queer characters were represented. How funny a lot of the scenes were.

It doesn't matter if you like this book, or think it's trash. I think we all can agree that the Moriyamas have a special place in hell. And that chapter 7 was mega messed up.

TL;DR
This book is unhinged and definitely not for everyone. If you are willing to overlook certain aspects and just read for the fun it brings, go ahead. But, I strongly urge everyone to look up the content warnings before proceeding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, and Acephobia/Arophobia

I strongly urge everyone to take the content warning seriously as the book covers pretty dark topics. Additional tags include: Explicit descriptions of spiking drinks proceeded by non-consented kissing, rape jokes, overdosing, traumatic childhoods for almost all the characters.