Actual stakes were now present, and the characters started behaving more like human beings. It wasn’t until the last 5% of the book that I became emotionally engaged with it. On top of that, I was confused as hell by the sloppy writing and continuity. It was unpleasant to be in these characters’ company, and they didn’t seem to like themselves much either. I didn’t like a single character, and actively hated many of them. Most of the time I was reading it, I was irritated and utterly flummoxed about why people loved this series. I read three novel length fanfics in the time I was supposed to be reading this book. I should have been able to kick it out in hours, in less than a day. This was a 262 page book that felt like 500. Look, I have a lot of thoughts, and many of them are confused, so bear with me. There is no romance in this book at all, but I can feel it coming on in the future. There is supposed to be an inherent conflict in the premise between Neil’s desire to play the sport he loves, which will bring him into the spotlight, and his desire to stay hidden and alive.

He also happens to have been childhood friends with one of his teammates, and works very hard not to be recognized. The main character is the son of a crime lord and has been on the run for most of his life he is living under a fake identity when he’s recruited. It follows a team of college athletes playing a made-up sport called Exy at a fictional university called Palmetto State. It’s entirely self-published, and managed to break through somehow. If you’re not aware of this book, a while back this series started making the rounds on Tumblr.

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic