The King's Men

A wonderful and fitting end to a compelling, well-written series. Had the first book in the trilogy not been free, I probably wouldn't have picked this up. I don't like sports, the description didn't draw me in, and there were some bad reviews. I'm so lucky that I read it anyway. Like the only other reviewer so far, I've been stalking the author's blog to wait for this final book. It's been that good. Part of me was scared that the final book would somehow let me down. That couldn't be further from the truth. Like the other two books, the characters are complex with layers that mean some actions and words aren't immediately clear to the reader. A reviewer on the first book seemed to be unable to follow the characters or this complexity; I think it's one of the best parts. The author trusted us enough to not have to follow up any complex exchange with a simple explanation. Sometimes, this means we're as in the dark as Neil (or "obtuse" according to Coach), but like Neil we catch on as more clues fall into place. That's part of what separates these books from so much simplistic crap that's out there right now. Life isn't simple. People aren't simple. Compelling writing shouldn't be either. I devoured this book in one day despite having to work. It ended the way I needed it to without ever being trite or taking the easy way out. Even better, Neil finally gets some action, and you feel the heat of it without it getting cheesy or porny. That in and of itself is a rare skill these days. From reading the author's blog, I knew a romance was coming, but I hadn't been clued into it until then though all the signs had been there. Again, kudos to her for not beating us over the head with obviousness. With all of the pieces of this series out, I strongly recommend it to all. It's worth the time to get to know the characters and enjoy your time with them. Because there was time between books, I reread the first two a few times before the third book came out. That turned out to be a blessing because I picked up a lot of nuances that I'd missed the first time through. So not only are you getting good writing on the cheap, you're also going to read the more than once, increasing their value even further. Note: On Smashwords, one of the tags was for "young adults," I think. That may be who this was intended for, but I'm in my 30s and think Shakespeare is grand, so don't let that scare you into thinking this is written for a mindless audience. It's a wonderful page-turner and an occasionally tearjerker. Enjoy it. I need to go reread this book!

The King's Men is an epic, mind-blowing whirlwind of an ending. The question is, what DIDN'T happen? In the span of one year starting with The Foxhole Court, the story is packed with fantastic character development, the slowest of all slow burning book relationships, and one of the most heart-wrenching, nerve-wracking storylines I've ever read. I thought the book had reached a dark point in The Raven King, but this book proved me wrong. It can definitely get worse. We're read about violence on the Exy court during games and the characters have traumatic, violent histories that are alluded to, but violence and torture take on a whole new meaning when it's actually happening right in front of your eyes. There are happier moments, and it's a sigh of relief when a character can forget looming threats and just be content, if not happy. Neil and Andrew. They come from the most devastating traumatic backgrounds and honestly, I thought Neil and Kevin were end-game when I read the first book. Instead, Neil and Andrew is a slow burn. It's almost blink-and-you-miss it moment in The Foxhole Court. The relationship blossomed in the second book, but Nora Sakavic really rewards you in this book for your patience. Their scenes are filled with sexual tension and their scenes together are hot. There is one thing that comes up constantly in the The King's Men: CONSENT. You really don't read this in books enough. Both parties need to consent to each other's advances and know when "no" means no. We are given several scenes that gets reiterated explicitly over and over between Neil and Andrew, that saying "yes" once, doesn't mean saying "yes" to everything from that point forward. I was blown away that Andrew and Neil were the ones to develop a functioning, healthy relationship. Exy. This book has made me fall in love with a sport that doesn't even exist. I feel like I need this sport in my life, but only if there are teams like the Foxes or USC and not like the Ravens. The Foxes rallying together, especially when they were so fractured and broken in the beginning, is so lovely to see and I'm just so sad that the story is over. I just want a story of the Foxes for the next four years, playing Exy, Court, and just LIFE in general. I am not ready to let them go. All these characters felt so real that they just jumped off the page. I thought A Court of Mist and Fury gave a terrible book hangover, but this might be the series that gives you the ultimate book hangover that can only be solved by re-reading the entire series.

The King’s Men was a finale worth the amazing series it is of. There were so many plot arcs and so much going on, that finishing it seems like I have been reading it forever. It was a wild ride, to say the least. After Neil’s training/torture session at the Raven’s Nest, he returns to the Foxes, broken body but not broken spirit. Seeing his state and the newly inked tattoo Riko put on him, the Foxes are understandably outraged and out for blood. Then, sober Andrew makes a reappearance and Neil, always curious about Andrew starts to feel a change in their friendship. The fact that Andrew makes his attraction clear but is not ready to act on it stirs Neil into finally realizing his sexuality, but they both see it as a casual fling in the start. However, romance is hardly bound to be the main focus of a multi-layered plot like this, so all the previous dangers that Neil was running from, make an appearance in the finale. Once again, the book is painful at some places – Neil really can’t catch a break, poor guy. Those scenes were hard to read through, and worse was how the Foxes react to it. You can see that despite the team not being united on the court, when it comes to Neil they all love him too much to not be on the same side. And Neil, who had made his mission to fade away by the end of the year, for him to be so loved – that was so heart-warming. It has been a tremendously eventful journey for him, right from the boy on the run to the man who now stands his ground. Not to say everything worked out the way he wanted – he had to make some compromises, but the family and friends he gains overall feel like a prize for his pain. For their part, the Foxes, including Coach and Abby make for a dysfunctional but loving family. Not that this book is all pain and gloom though. There are some amazing game scenes – Exy being sort of like lacrosse, it wasn’t that difficult to imagine it, but the writing shines through in such scenes, bringing it out vividly in your mind. Another place the writing really speaks is between the characters – the subtle setting of the scene, the slow unveiling of feelings and emotions through gestures rather than words; it all speaks for a well-thought out process. And of course, the budding romance between Neil and Andrew is too hot to handle. I liked that Andrew starts to come out of his prickly thorn cage a little more, and considering his past, it is a big progress on his part, but sometimes I did wish he wasn’t so controlling! The team sort of united in the end, I guess, but a lot of the book was still spent on them squabbling among each other. It is pretty realistic, if you think about it, the way most of the threads were tied up, and from the start it has been a great series, so this book has all my love.

This author has won my heart and soul with her brutally honest dialogue, heart-wrenching characters, her edge-of-the-seat sports action depictions, and one of the best romantic relationships I have ever read. While this book doesn't contain the same sexual abuse triggers as book two, it is still extremely violent. If violence isn't your thing, then this book (probably the whole series, really) isn't for you. WHAT I LIKED ------------------------- - Sakavic's dialogue continues to be some of the best-paced, hard-hitting dialogue I've experienced. The characters pull no punches, especially in conversations involving Aaron, Andrew, Kevin, and Neil - in any combination. - The slow and tentative intimacy in the primary romantic relationship is so very sweet it hurt my heart with hope and affection. The pace of its development over three books made it all the more right as it progressed to something more in this final book. I would say more, but I want to avoid spoilers. I *will* say that I loved these scenes and this story line so much that I have started re-reading the book immediately, even though I just finished it yesterday. - I love Exy. Every game had me on the edge of my seat. It occurred to me at one point that there might be readers who don't get into the several-page depictions of the Exy games, but I figure those people probably weren't sports lovers to begin with. Even so, I suspect it's hard to write sports action that comes across with the same intensity you would experience when watching a sports event. Sakavic *nails* it. - Sakavic has a disturbingly deft hand with violence. Any better, and I would empathetically feel what she writes - and god help me, I don't want to. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ----------------------------- - Some plot lines wrapped up a little too neatly for me, but I imagine it was a struggle for Sakavic to determine what to resolve in a "safe for the rest of their lives" kind of way and what to leave as "this will continue to be hard". I would have leaned toward having more "this will continue to be hard" plot lines, but my husband often teases me about how brutal I want the endings of hard stories to be. Definitely, your mileage may vary on this point. :)

Neil Josten is back on campus, more than a bit worse for wear. He took on his rival to keep his teammates safe, whether they like it or not. And he hopes it will be enough to keep Riko off their backs until the end of the season. Because he doesn't expect to be alive must past that. But something's happened since Neil's been with the Foxes. His desire to run isn't quite as strong. And then there's Andrew. His hard-to-read exterior isn't quite a difficult for Neil to decipher as it is for everyone else. And there are moments when he thinks there's something there. But even if there's not, Neil won't be coming back from the summer, right? As the season progresses, Neil thinks that just maybe he can pull through. But he seems to have forgotten that there's more than one person that's been after him. And secrets can only be kept buried for so long... --- If you want to talk about slow burn, this is up there as the ultimate. Third book in the series before the relationship between Andrew and Neil that's been building at an almost painful pace finally has some sparks. But don't get me wrong: it's all worth it. There's so much dysfunction here that it almost drips off the page, but I find myself devouring every scene. My only complaint is that I wish there was more. Kind of disappointing to see this one end. Content warning: violence.

I just enjoyed a wild, wild ride! From a trilogy I owned for 3 years (but, as I have numerous bks on my Kindle, I only recently remembered it was there. And bc of its name, I merely assumed it was a paranormal book and not something I would want to read at the moment.) Once I saw how many 5* ratings it had, tho, I realized it was *obviously* worthy of more attention. The book involves a sport called Exy, sort of a combo of lacrosse and hockey? (I won’t say I now understand all the rules, regs, and how the sport is played; merely that I understood enough to throughly enjoy the games and be excited about the outcomes.) The protagonist is on the run from his father, affectionately known as “The Butcher”, and altho he expects to run away first chance he gets, he ends up being signed onto a college team called the Foxes (at the start, on a par with the Bad News Bears). The team is mostly a bunch of so-called rejects, sort of a Glee popularity level (albeit, since the Glee club was mainly filled w football players and cheerleaders, I never truly understood why they wouldn’t be popular. But I digress.) There is one person on the team that he knew prior to running away; but in disguise and a decade later, he thinks there’s a good chance that the boy won’t recognize him. And he actually wants a chance to play at least one time with Kevin (from his old life) bc Kevin is a huge star in the world of Exy. Without giving away spoilers, just be prepared for a trilogy about a college sport that, in actuality, will include murder, torture, rape, abuse, drugs, alcoholism, numerous mob families, and continuous moments when you believe “this is it” for the MC (Altho, while the story isn’t entitled “Neil and his life...”, it’s unlikely the main character will be killed in the first 2 books of a trilogy.) I should probably mention that Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors, and if anybody has read her work, you’ll realize that the above will not scare away anybody who loves her novels. Indeed, altho this might be the “slowest burn” romance in the history of slow-burn romances, Neil eventually does get involved in a relationship, and likely not with the person you’d expect. (Or maybe I’m just really slow on the uptake. One or the other.) I was surprised by how very much I enjoyed this trilogy (certainly I should have been prepared due to the trilogy’s popularity) but I rarely, if ever, watch shows or movies involving the mob and, like I said, Exy was like me attempting to understand quidditch. Nora Sakavic managed to get me involved in the lives of almost all of the members of the Fox team (sort of like OITNB) and while there were some I took a really long time warming up to (and some I never liked) she did manage to capture my attention. I SHOULD mention that some of the plot line requires one to remember offhand remarks made at odd moments in time; but enough of an explanation is given to make you remember too and, possibly, think to yourself: wow, these kids are really bright (to pick up on tiny details that explain major issues). Even tho this is the end of the trilogy, if somebody happens to be reading my comment who hasn’t yet read the first two books, I don’t wish to ruin anything for them so there isn’t much else I can say except that I read the entire trilogy straight through (to the extent I had time over these past 3 days). There was never a moment I got bored or thought “god, why are we dwelling on this?” and the books are paced pretty damn fast. Other than the thought that few, if any of the students, seemed to truly care about actual coursework, I honestly loved the books, and am pretty sad that I didn’t read them just a bit slower. But I highly recommend them as something enjoyable to do while not worrying about the pandemic or the upcoming election!! Edit: Just for the record, my favorite character in the trilogy was Andrew. He was multilayered, had depth to his character, was beyond intriguing. (If it helps, my fav character in the show Justified was Boyd Crowder, by far. Even tho Raylon Givens (Timothy Olyphant) was quite nice to look at for lengthy periods of time. And Boyd & Raylen’s interactions (for me) were probably the highlight of the show.) In any case, I’m sure different ppl have dif opinions on the subject, but I was particularly interested in how Andrew became more and more layered as each book in the trilogy was written. This is not to say I didn’t enjoy the other characters. I already said that above. But it occurred to me that in this ridiculously lengthy comment, I never mentioned this straight out.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐'𝚜 𝙼𝚎𝚗 "You were supposed to be a side effect of the drugs." "I'm not a hallucination," Neil said, nonplussed. "You are a pipe dream," Andrew said. ______________ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A hazy amount of time has passed when Neil awakens at the airport, not recalling previous events as to how he got there; but we know. We couldn’t have forgotten and unfortunately he doesn’t for long. The third book brings the final punch and all the secrecy and hiding comes out and to an end. Neil must face his quickly approaching past. Andrew faces sobriety from his (anti-psychotic/whatever the author made up) meds. The team faces the championship. Andrew’s sobriety was everything I wanted and hoped for. His relationship with Neil - as well as his brother and teammates - can finally be faced clearly, his life, however traumatized, is finally his own. This finale stole my breath. It panicked me and excited me. I couldn’t put the book down. These boys, the team, became my whole world. When Neil faced all he feared in his miserable life, his new friends held viciously to him and never abandoned him. I adore so much that the coach pursued these vagabonds and broken people to form his team and they found healing. This story didn’t force positivity. It didn’t rally the team and suddenly inspire them to win because of some epiphany of self-confidence. It broke them and beat them and mocked them. Yet they got right back up, and with sweet patience they learned to trust each other, extend their hands, and through sweat and tears they trained and with passion in their hearts they stood up against their oppressors and played a game they loved. This book was absolutely perfect. It was gritty and beautiful and real - as much as fiction allows. This series is not one I would outright recommend because it could absolutely be controversial, and it is dark, but it is in the top five of my reads this year and I’m ready to read it again. Andrew owns me and Andreil is so precious to me. I adored the demisexual relationship, the slow burn, the traumatic processing and healing. I loved the character depth and diversity.

So since I've been writing really vague reviews about this series, I'm gonna try and start from the top again now that I've finished. So The Foxhole Court starts off with Neil: a kid who's been on the run from his father for about nine years. He gets recruited by Kevin to join Palmetto State Foxes playing Exy. Exy is what people like to call, Murder Lacrosse. And it's literally Murder Lacrosse. After reflecting on the beginning of the book, I've come to realize that it kind of starts off like who Captive Prince did, with the hole "I hope he doesn't recognize me" thing. But that's where it kind of stops. It has a lot of the same themes and twists. But this series, The Foxhole Court, wasn't as predictable as I found Captive Prince. I was a lot more invested with this series than that too. The author made you care for Neil from page one. I didn't want anything to happen to him. I connected with these characters faster than lightning. Some of the things that I liked especially about this series is the character development. Neil went from an unattached, closed off liar to someone that started to care and let people in. And he eventually stopped lying. Kevin started off with his tail between in legs and now he's gained the confidence he should've always had. And Andrew, well he's a special case because he was so misunderstood that it's hard to break down into then and now. Another thing that I absolutely loved was the way she integrated languages into the book. whenever there's a different language being spoken she lets the reader know and then continues the conversation in that language until its done. In the past when I've written a language into my story I wasn't sure if I should write it in the proper language and offer a translation or just ignore it all together. It sounds too east to really think about it but that was something that I found troubling but Sakavic did it so simply. I'm never not going to get over how consistent each character is. You always know who is speaking regardless of if there's a tag at the end saying who it is. And they even developed within their personality that made it feel and seem more realistic. The story has one major plot and that is to beat the Ravens. That plot goes on throughout the whole series but there are subplots and major events that come up along the way and some of the things that happen seem absurd but it all makes sense because of the world that Sakavic built. And the pacing was well done. The 'action' was thought out and came at just the right time to keep the story interesting. Especially The Kings Men. I think that's why I got through it so quickly because there was always something going on three chapters down. 6/5 (will probably be the only series I'll reread) ps I love that the Foxes place bets and have dozens going on at once pps I love my Foxes

Holy gods. What a ride. I just had this funny feeling at the end of book 1 that I'd want to come back and scale up my rating, and here we are. I've only done that for one series before, Captive Prince, and now I understand why Goodreads kept recommending them both as though they were linked. It's the only time I've been confused by the first book in a series, unsure that I really was reading what I expected, because at no point was there romance. This book was gritty, gory, and dramatic. Neil went through a lot - and deserved that ending. Andrew's slight shifts throughout the book were slight enough to be realistic, and also huge enough to delight his fans, me being one of them. I can't get enough of Andrew - he's an absolute nutjob, but he's been through a hell of a lot, and is finally getting his chance to be more. Thank goodness Kevin finally shifted his mindset at the end there - I was honestly getting sick to death of him, he was the only one I didn't like at that point. Andrew's response to Neil at the hotel with the FBI was stunning, and his little gift he bought him. I just want more of those little moments. The touch-him-and-die energy has never been higher than in this book. Riko got what he deserved.

Item arrived, all good,

This has to be my favourite book of the series yet. The complexity of every single character and the loyalty they show towards each other is unmatched. I love how Neil slowly comes to terms with his past, his present, and how everyone in it has become important to him—something he has never been able to experience before. Sakavic has to have created some of the most complex and interesting characters who each have something to add to the story of equal importance. Possibly what striked me the most is how Andrew and Neil come to terms with their trust and feelings towards each other. They are so different, yet so similar and Andrew's ability to protect and ground Neil when necessary is—again—amazing and beautiful. Nora Sakavic has written yet another beautiful book, and I am sad to have only just found out about the series. Sakavic has a genious mind for fitting each segment and character into the story and I never once lost interest throughout the book. 5/5, would definitely recommend. I hope All for the Game receives the recognition it deserves!

❝ Fight because you don't know how to die quietly. Win because you don't know how to lose. This king's ruled long enough—it's time to tear his castle down. ❞ this book was a wild ride. the end was everything but the journey to get there through all the violence and the hurt was something precious. andrew minyard is an amazing character, so broken yet so protective, so strong and complicated. who knew these white and orange covers contained so much beautiful souls, well not me. all for the game made my favorite series of all time cut and I don't see it ever leaving it.

Personnellement une de mes séries préférée. L'intrigue est riche, les personnages et les relations qui les unissent d'une complexité à couper le souffle. Une fois que j'ai commencé la série, je n'ai pas réussi à la lâcher jusqu'à la fin du 3ème tome. En bref une série qui nuit à votre temps de sommeil et qui ne vous lâche pas même une fois le livre refermé. Un seul regret pour moi, c'est qu'il n'y ait pas encore de suite à l'histoire des Foxes. A acheter absolument !