I did not expect to like this trilogy. It’s a sports-crime novel which is not a genre I ever read. In fact, I never would have picked it up if my friend (perhaps the only person whose recommendations I trust) hadn’t read All for the Game and loved it. I started the Foxhole Court without high hopes and while I liked it, I probably wouldn’t have picked up the second one if it hadn’t been at my local library, as The Foxhole Court read as mainly exposition. In the Raven King however, things picked up and at some point, I paused and realized that I was very invested in both the story and the characters therein. By the time I had gotten to the King’s Men the trilogy was one of my favorites, on par with the Raven Cycle (a series that is remarkably similar in its brilliant and unique writing style if not its plot or subject matter).
Now I’m stuck with a giant book hangover, rereading the last book in a desperate attempt to satisfy my need for more of this trilogy. These books will wreck you. They will tear your emotional stability to shreds and make you laugh at its dark humor. You will get way too invested in the people and the plot and the sports (even if like me you couldn’t care less about sports IRL). When you are done you will not be able to read anything else because it will just pale in comparison. You will love it, do yourself a favor and go get it. Right now.
Neil Josten has been running from his father for nearly his entire life. When he signed up to join his new local high school exy team he didn’t mean to catch the eye of Coach Wymack of the Palmetto State Foxes, but before he knows it he’s signed up to join the Foxes as a striker. The problem? Well between worrying about Kevin Day, the Foxes new star player who transferred under suspicious circumstances recognizing him and his father finding out where he is, Neil knows that he shouldn’t be at Palmetto. He’s done running though and joining a team, even the troubled Foxes is a dream come true, so he’s willing to risk it.