The King's Men

Wow. This is a long review but this series deserves high accolades. Rather than review each book, I waited until I finished the The King’s Men to process and then attempted to write a review that does justice to this remarkable series. Amazon’s new “descriptive” blocks simply don’t apply; the story, characters, and emotions are too complex to neatly check a box. I ordered the first book, The Foxhole Court not only because the premise sounded unusual but because it was free. I ordered The Raven King and The King’s Men before I even finished it. Having said that, it took several chapters for me to not only get a handle on the storyline and characters, but to take an interest in them. But when I did, I was completely invested. Each character is unique and each is broken and/or recovering in some way. Together, they fit but it is not always a comfortable fit. They are brought together through Exy – a fictional NCAA sport, which sounds a bit like Lacrosse/ice hockey on steroids and played on a basketball-like court surrounded by glass walls. I’ll be honest, I could never “picture” how it was played, but that didn’t matter. Sakavic is such a talented writer, I became completely invested in the game, which is not only complex, but has a violent overtone, wrapped in passion, determination, perseverance, courage, and teamwork. To me, it mirrors the struggles of the characters as they achieve the impossible in college athletics against all expectations, including their own while also conquering far more personal issues and dangers. (I promise it is not a "movie of the week" angst!) While Neil/Nathaniel is the primary voice, he does not overshadow Andrew or Kevin or the “minor” characters: Coach Wymack, Aaron, Nicky, Dan, Matt, Allison, Renee, and Abby. Each of them is part of the tapestry. In addition to Exy, they are entwined in the connections of a crime syndicate that moves the plot through several twists and turns, including Riko and several other despicable characters. At one point, you will guess that a character has faced abuse. I was certain. I was right, but that did not prepare me for the sheer emotional power Sakavic creates as you see it through the eyes of an emotionally divested victim and those who love him. The hard part of reviewing this series is not giving spoilers. If I listed key plot lines, some might go "melodrama" and not read the books, which would be a mistake. The plot is intricate - but never slow. There is cruelty but it is balanced nicely with finding support and friendship. I did not like many of the characters in the first book, but by the series conclusion, I not only liked them, but understood how well-crafted they were in the hands of a very skilled author. And, there is a strong conclusion – well deserved after the trials faced. I hope that Ms. Sakavic might revisit Palmetto in senior year. Quite simply, I loved these books.

As a passionate person, I have the utmost respect for an author who can pull all levels of passion and emotion out of me throughout a book or series. And Nora has managed to blow even my feelings out of the water. This novel is raw. It's ugly and honest and in your face. The author builds and builds and she never backed down from the situations the characters found themselves in. And beyond that, the characters always stayed 100% truthful to them in every situation they were in. There is something huge to be said about this because authors don't always let the characters do what they need but what the author wants and Nora clearly let her characters react how they wanted to and they developed accordingly. I cannot say enough about how great this book is and how wonderful the trilogy is all around. The growth in the characters is fantastically done and the story moves and twists and turns and takes your breath away in both delightful and terrifying ways. I never wanted to put this book down, not even after I finished and there was nothing left to read. These books and characters have found their way deep into my heart and deeper. I love the characters fiercely and would fight for them as if they were real and that cannot be something faked or forced in books. I can happily say that these novels are amongst my favorites now and ones that I will go back to time and time again. These books push the boundaries of both the characters and the reader in a way that so many seem afraid of doing. And that is something everyone should hold in much higher regard.

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.

All For the Game, published in 2013 by Nora Sakavic, was a fantastic and unique series. The series focuses mostly on Neil during the beginning by describing his past, his adventures, and the dangers of accepting an offer to play with Palmetto State Foxes. Despite his fears, he gives in and joins the team to play the fictional sport exy. As the book progresses the reader finds out more about each character and why they are playing for a team nicknamed “a half-way home for athletes from broken homes.” I enjoyed the story and the characters in this book. Each character had a unique background that gave insight to their personalities and made them relatable. The author also focuses on real life situations that many young teens deal with. It is always necessary to have a fiction book that tackles such hard material focused at young adults. The details Sakavic uses are also fantastic. Without using going on long rants about the scenery, she is able to paint a picture in the reader's mind. When she describes the green in the college, her words are vivid and quick; “... but only because a stray hill forced Perimeter to hug the campus green near the clock tower. The hill might have been a nice spot for students to picnic between classes...” Young adult novels typically focus on romance and feelings, but not enough deal with drugs, medication, illnesses, and pressure at the same time. Many young adult novels have become cliché after cliché. However, All For the Game is an impressive break from the mainstream genre. This series is extremely well written and thought out. The characters are relatable and realistic, plus the content is truly unique. This is a wonderful series anyone can enjoy.

Yes, this is a great ending to a series of some wounded characters finding a sense of interconnection and comfortableness with self. There's a lot of damaged lives trying to pick of the pieces. The first half of the book slowly builds to a powerful climax. Definitely I was at the edge of my seat during the second half. The author had me captivated that I wasn't sure if there would be a pretty picture. Also, I was impressed that the price was still at a phenomenal bargain. I appreciate the series was finished by the author. The issue is after waiting a year I had a cautious enthusiasm. Although, Sakavic did try to refresh our memories it didn't seem to go far enough. I do think one would have to read the other two books to get the full impact of this last work. It's not a stand alone. The first half of the book could have had a faster pace . However, the second half made up for it. I'd give this a 4.5 rating. This is really close to a five star. Personally, I feel awkward not going for the five but pacing during the first half and jarring our memories a little more would have done it for me. Nevertheless, I don't hesitate to recommend this exceptional series.

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.

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

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.