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caitlin_123a's review against another edition
- 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
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
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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Car accident and Acephobia/Arophobia
cattails'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: Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Homophobia and Blood
Minor: Violence, Vomit, and Medical content
swiftpool'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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Murder, and Sexual harassment
luxxxio's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
yamine'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? No
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
fancypebble's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia
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
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.
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.liaer's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
This is an intense book. Beware the content tags. A couple more areciuli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
4/5
Weeeell, here I am again! I didn't know which audiobook to pick up next, and i told myself 'why not reading this book for the forth time?' lol
Have to say, I wasn't a big fan of the voice actor because he sounded too... 'american', if you know what I mean. I think it's because this voice is too 'big' for Neil, does this make any sense to anyone else other than me? (Lol). Neil is young, not a teenager but he's only 18, and he's almost pocket size, so giving him this strong, older voice doesn't really fit his character in my opinion.
But it's really nice to listen to this on audio, it kind of gives it a different perspective. And honestly? It's so good to listen to Neil roasting people left and right. It's so satisfying lol
_____
I honestly don't know how I feel about this book yet. 'The foxhole court' was basically an introduction to the series and nothing really happened in this first book. I also don't really understand the need to introduce a new sport, it felt kind of weird considering that everything else is set in the real world. And it felt kind of confusing to keep up with.
BUT anyway, the story is captivating and interesting to read otherwise I wouldn't have read the book in two days! All things considered, I couldn't put it down once I started it. I'm curious about how the plot is going to evolve in the following books.
PS. I feel like I should point this out because it was a real bummer for me. I knew before starting reading it that it was self-published, but I didn't think that the printed version would be so bad. The lines were too close to each other, the font too small and the pages were so white it hurt my eyes reading it? I'm saying this because other people might have the same problems as me as I'm very picky with books. I ended up downloading the ebook version in the end, and just so you know, the first book is free on the Amazon ebook store! Wished I'd known that earlier!
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Violence