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_forestofpages's review against another edition
- 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
This one is the one I will rate a four. That feels weird, but it's honest.
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, and Vomit
Minor: Homophobia
sophia_pearl's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
magicshop's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
this isn't what i'd call a good or well-written series. my overall rating for each book is pretty much about that, as is usually the case. the enjoyment rating, though, which can often be wildly different for me, is a fucking doozy of a 4.5-5 star. i consumed these books so fast i'm pretty sure i wormholed into another dimension for a while there. (there were aliens. they also enjoyed it.)
keeping it simple: the good, the reaaaaally good, in summary, is basically all of the character writing and eventual relationship development. nora sakavic could wrestle an interesting inner monologue and/or dialogue/banter out of every single ancient spartan citizen if pressed. that's the key, and why these books (aside from the first) have such high ratings, i'd say.
a few more goods or good-ishs:
- relationships. you may know this as a romance series, but it's actually mostly romance-less contemporary for about 2/3rds of the way through. despite that, or maybe because of it, i have enjoyed the relationships immensely, including but not limited to the romantic ones.
- half the main cast is at least bilingual, and while it's quite unbelievable or at least confusingly questionable for some characters
now......... the bad (and sometimes reaaaaally bad, and sometimes actually not entirely bad at all and more complex but potentially ok than anything else):
- exy makes no sense. the rules don't make sense. the equipment doesn't make sense. i'm not even sure whether i can say nora tried her best to make it make sense or wrote every exy scene letting out villain laughs one after the other for several hours while ingesting copious amount of wine. either way, it's a mess, but it kinda doesn't try to be anything else so it's very easy to forgive.
- this book was written in the early 2010s and it shows. it has that typical early YA try-hardness going on, but i'd say as far as the ya i've read goes, it doesn't take itself too seriously. the way it's written makes it look like it's being taken very seriously, but there's something about it (similar to the lack of exy pretentiousness) that keeps it humble and grounded. you can tell nora didn't think this would be the next raven cycle or anything like that (though as a cult favorite it came almost close in the end??), she just sort of had fun with it. i can vibe with that.
- going along with the 2010s YA predicament, there isn't much political correctness involved, and certain slurs are thrown around semi-freely (mostly the r-word) by people who should know better. not a dealbreaker for me personally, but be aware.
- plot is neither here nor there. it's really just there to prop the characters and their develoment up and i wouldn't say it has anything particularly interesting or unique about it in itself. it's not what you'll care about. the people and relationships are.
- the stakes are so ridiculously high it's not even funny. everything is life or death for no reason, and everyone's been abused within an inch of their lives for most of their lives, no exceptions. these books are the definition of the "epic highs and lows of high school
- everything about andrew's condition and his medicine is a grade-a disaster. that's not how medicine works, that's not how psychiatry works, and the message that only sobriety from psychiatric medication (which, by the way, is not supposed to make you "high" and "manic" - you are taking the wrong medicine and you need to stop! adults should know AND enforce this!) can bring forth someone's "real self" was frankly insane even back in 2014. andrew needs better medical care, not to be forced to
phew, so! i can definitely say nora sakavic seems like a madman and a genius trying to decide which side to give into any given day, much like some of her characters, and i'd read just about anything she decided to write. and i hope she keeps deciding!
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Car accident
andmingmingtoo's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol
wolf_midnight_11's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping
trintrin's review against another edition
- 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
One word to sum up this whole book.
I could go on and on about how exponentially the writing has improved, the beauty of circular endings, intricate and well-developed characters and such, but we're gonna be here for a super long time, then.
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, and Vomit
pjthom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Homophobia and Rape
mint_frog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Homophobia, Self harm, and Outing
tovetott's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think that, despite spending my first fanfiction-reader-years on Wattpad, this series is a little too extreme for my taste. This series' way of always choosing violence and snarky comments over every other possible strat made me nearly lose my mind and caused almost all of my journal entries to be in all caps including words like "WHY" and "WTF".
Every single character got under my skin and on my nerves and every single time they earned a positive point on my scoreboard, I had to take it off because of some othet stupid shit they pulled. Andrew and Neil's relationship especially made me question why they kept hanging around each other and had me feel absolutely NOTHING. ðŸ˜
I feel like it says a lot that in this sports-mafia-drama with LGBTQIA+ rep, I (who usually has a negative amount of interest in sports) enjoyed the descriptions of the Foxes' games the most. (Also the TROJANS !!! Absolutely lovely! We meet them for like ~a minute~ but damn they might have saved my entire experience with this book lol)
One thing that I have to give Nora though, is that she has the balls to kill off any character without blinking an eye, or hesitating. I can sleep well at night knowing I will never be able to put any of my OCs through the absolutely insane hell that she does to hers. So, um, thanks for that, Nora lol
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse
mkw1lson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book was the best in the series so far. Everything comes to a head in this book, all the things we have been waiting for come to fruition - for good and for bad. To be vague, Neil's past catches up to him and his present still causes problems, and throughout the book you're left wondering who is doing what and who should Neil be looking over his shoulder for. This is mixed with Neil's desire to just live his life and enjoy what he has left, with the tragic knowledge that he isn't going to be alive in a few months.
The foxes come together more than they ever have before, and I loved seeing how the team dynamics and relationships continued to develop.
Great book, great series. Short, easy read but also very addicting and engrossing.
Again - heed the warnings.
Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence