Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential¿and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.
Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. … the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.
But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.
more
I can’t count the number of times I nearly stopped reading and it’s so frustrating because the base for a great and captivating story is here. But the complete disregard of the realities of collegiate sport make it too hard to just enjoy the drama of the story.
I know, I know…”it’s fiction”, “willing suspension of disbelief”…that’s fine when you go totally fictional but for some bizarre reason the author chooses to make up a fictional sport and then set it down in the middle of real world college athletics and then proceeds to ignore every reality of collegiate athletics. There’s no reason for it and that’s why I can’t ignore it.
If you’re going to make up a sport then make up the whole framework. Don’t use the actual NCAA and then completely ignore its rules and structure. You don’t sign contracts for collegiate athletics, you don’t get five years of eligibility, they are called divisions, not class and you can’t get kicked out for losing (Columbia’s football team—five years, Northwestern 34 game streak), etc. Probably most bothersome was the idea that a league would sit down and debate the “problem” of one player on a team outshining another leading to the disaster that occurs. Leagues don’t debate that as a problem…they hype it to build more interest.
If the author is making up an entire sport and giving it a backstory why not just create its governing body too? Just avoid the whole disconnect for those of us who know how collegiate athletics works.
This of course still brings us to the whole only ten people on the team and what those team members get away with but that’s where the willing suspension of disbelief can come in and it’s just a mild disconnect.
I suppose I should add that for those who are totally unfamiliar with how collegiate sports operate or just don’t care this probably isn’t a big deal. But like doctors watching hospital dramas, cops or firefighters watching those dramas, for those of us in the arena this is just super annoying when it could have been avoided without impacting the story.
I’m debating whether to go on to book two since the book ends on a cliffhanger. I guess I may have burned my intense annoyance out enough by now. It’s just such a shame as the dramatic premise and the bizarre characters have so much to offer.
I’m going to be real with you: the writing isn’t great, the dialogue is unrealistic, and most of the characters deserve jail time. That said, it’s a thrilling ride and I loved every minute of it.
Well that really wasn’t what I expected, but I got totally sucked in to it!
Focussing on a college Exy sports team, the Foxes, (a creation of the author and a ‘game’ that I don’t totally get, but it seems to be a mix of lacrosse and squash?!), it’s a team made up of damaged 18 – 22 year olds, and their equally damaged coach. Lots of back stories and secrets yet to be revealed. I’m totally taken with the crazy addict Andrew
Our MC is Neil Josten (not his real name) who is on the run from his psychotic crime lord father. So many relationships still unfolding, drugs, deaths and an undercurrent of really slow burn romance if I’m not mistaken.
5
I found this series maybe a couple years ago. I have since read it several times, like a read through of all 3 at least once every 6 months. I just get sucked in every time! It is so good, if you can suspend reality and realize that it is a book of fiction you should give it a shot! I hate all the “that couldn’t be a real sport” or “teens wouldn’t have that kind of life” people. Life for some people is rough and gritty, and some people like myself like to read some rough, gritty and dark.
I picked this book to at the recommendation of a friend and I’m so glad I did! I don’t know what genre I thought it would be, but it is great!
You know a Kindle book is good when you’re suddenly at the end and you haven’t even been checking to see how much longer it is. Going to get the next book now! Perfect for a snowy weekend.
I really was not sure what to think about this book prior to reading, and I still am not sure what to think. I think my main takeaway is the character and world building were very good. I was definitely invested from the very beginning and still am. I do not feel the need to burn through the next two reads though, and think I will let this one settle a bit before going back. The thing about this book is there is a ton of dark undertones. Like there are not a lot of dark scenes, but the dark undertones are there in spades. Neil is a great character, he is strong, fierce, fearful but always stands up for what he believes is right. There were some problematic scenes in the book, but I think it went with the story as far as these broken boys go. And they are all broken in one way or another as well as the girls in the story as well, and really they are all adults, but they all had to grow up way to fast. Also, Coach Wymack is a great character and he was what this team needed. I love Alexander Cendese and thought he did a phenomenal job with this narration. Will definitely be finishing this series.
While this has been on my TBR for a long time, it’s the recent fanarts that actually pushed me to start it. Yes I got art baited and it was worth every second!!!
I didn’t think I would be this interested in a made up sport but I was so damn wrong! I devoured this book and I’m so gone for Andrew and Neil.
This is the first book in a trilogy is written completely from Neil’s POV. The sport, Exy, is a mix of lacrosse and ice hockey. The Foxhole Court is extremely character driven and you will fall for every member of the team. I’m invested in all these characters but especially Andrew. And Neil needs to be protected at all costs. I love found family and this book has that in spades. Love the team dynamics and can’t wait to read more.
It is an incredible slow burn and there’s no romance in this book. But the chemistry is scorching!
“It sounded like a dream; it tasted like damnation.”
I originally read this in 2012, and I have since re-read it a lot. But I’m gonna share my original gleeful freakout :p
I’m writing this review in hope that it will easy my mind because it’s been 2 5 days since I finished this novel and I can’t stop thinking about it. This is hardly that unusual when I read the first part of a trilogy whose two other parts remain unpublished.
But back to Foxhole Court. It is amazingly readable, this is a quality often looked down upon but a good writer knows how to make interesting content digestible and Sakavic certainly had me on page 20 before I realized I was reading on the laptop once again.
The narrator is rather paranoid teenage Neil, well, “Neil” since we are to assume that his name is fake since he’s been in the run with his mom since he was a kid. Neil’s only indulgence is the revolutionary sport of Ezy, a weird cross of lacrosse and rugby with rules I’m unclear on even after following a match from the edge of my seat (and man, if I could care less about organized sports! but, again, Sakavic, through Neil, made it the most important thing possible). Neil is finishing high school, although it’s unclear why since he plans on running and ditching the identity of Neil as soon as he’s done and playing Ezy on the school team. He receives a rather unpleasant surprise when his coach tells him he sent a video of him playing to a A-league team, the Foxes, and he’s being recruited to play for them. The new star striker of said team is someone from Neil’s past who could recognize him and thus jeopardize his life along with his anonymity. Kevin Day is also someone who’s gotten to play Ezy, the sport Neil loves, and be famous because of it, that is, from Neil’s POV, he has a charmed life.
The Foxhole Court is the story of how this boy becomes a person again, how he learns to give a small measure of his trust (but how big it seems to him) to someone else, I particularly like how it’s not a typical hurt/comfort story in which this is done in a romantic relationship but that Neil has to learn to trust a number of people in his life (and how very weird are each and every one of the Foxes), from mentors to frenemies to teammates (and i do not use this word lightly, Ezy being the center of both Kevin’s and Neil’s worlds). I’m dying to read the rest of the saga and find out if he can keep moving forward.
I’m OBSESSED with this series.
There is really no other way to describe my state of mind. I started googling characters when I was just 30% into the book. That’s when I found the fan art on Tumblr.
And I was a GONER.
Andrew and Neil pretty much rule my life right now. The Foxhole Court is a YA novel, the first in a trilogy which is concluded, so no fear of having to wait until book 4. Of course I hope the author will write some more and I’ve seen some tweets that suggest that, but at the moment I’m happy to know that all the books have been released.
Neil is an Exy player, Exy is a cross between lacrosse and hockey, rowdy, bloody and aggressive as hell- and I love it.
Everyone on the team, aka supporting cast is fascinating, screwed up, but together they work as a team. Their dynamic is incredibly well plotted. The entire book is superbly plotted. So many sub plots, intricate friendships that are as volatile as intriguing, and so many mysteries to uncover. The book keeps me flipping pages at a frightening pace.
I didn’t even want to write a review. Actually, I thought I’ll write a review for the entire series, that’s how reluctantly I’m putting this book aside.
I’m also seriously considering of getting some fan art – especially the prints above. For the first time in ages I’m shipping a couple and I don’t regret a single thing. I’m welcoming this feeling with opened arms and can’t get enough of it.
This series has my heart, and the last time I felt like this was when I read Captive Prince – it was all consuming, and that’s how I feel with All for the Game Series. Here is a snippet of how the team is being described.
“The Palmetto State University Foxes were a team of talented rejects and junkies because Wymack only recruited athletes from broken homes. His decision to turn the Foxhole Court into a halfway house of sorts was nice in theory, but it meant his players were fractured isolationists who couldn’t get along long enough to get through a game.”
Doesn’t this sound FASCINATING???????
Prepare to be wowed!!!
Having no interest in sports I was encouraged to read this by someone who felt it would be up my alley. I have no regrets and I’m hanging in every word. The characters pop and the world comes alive. Give it a go even if you don’t like sports at all. Trust me.