Reviews

The Raven King (All for the game #2)

Preview: The Foxes are a fractured mess, but their latest disaster might be the miracle they've always needed to come together as a team. The one person standing in their way is Andrew, and the only one who can break through his personal barriers is Neil.

Except Andrew doesn't give up anything for free and Neil is terrible at trusting anyone but himself. The two don't have much time to come to terms with their situation before outside forces start tearing them apart. Riko is intent on destroying Neil's fragile new life, and the Foxes have just become collateral damage.

Neil's days are numbered, but he's learning the hard way to go down fighting for what he believes in, and Neil believes in Andrew even if Andrew won't believe in himself.

Final Score: 4.5/5

Man, this was a roller-coaster of emotions.

When Neil Josten joined the Foxes of Palmetto State University as their new Striker for the Exy team, he had hoped he could leave before things got too out of hand. Nonetheless, Riko Moriyama has set his eyes on Neil and one way or another, he must keep this identity for a little while longer.

I have so many things to say, so be prepared for a spoiler review. (Warnings: Non-consensual Relationships)

If the first book kind of felt like an introduction to the story, where we were presented with this characters you didn't really knew how to feel about, this second novel was a refreshing and amazing sequel; Neil, as I stated in my review of "The Foxhole Court" is a protagonist I feel deeply related to.

He's a child who's gone from trauma to trauma, constantly having to escape his father's people who want nothing more than to kill him and leaving scars not only on his body, but that have affected him emotionally. At the beginning of the books, he could barely spoke two words with the rest of the Foxes without lying or immediately wanting to run away but, right now, he's slowly starting to learn that there are fights in which he needs other's help.

"There were different kinds of heartless and Neil, for all his problems connecting with other people, didn't want to be a monster" (The Raven King, Chapter 3 )

I feel his evolution, though slow, is one of the most significant. Neil has never had a home before: His father is a mob-boss killer who wants his head, his mother was abusive (Physically and emotionally) and he has shield himself from the world in order to survive. But, with the Foxes, he's starting to understand that he has other people finally who he can rely on; I can't begin to describe the amount of feelings I got every time is described that he's nearly in the verge of tears when someone does something remotely sweet or kind to him, because not many people have shown him basic human decency before.

"– You are going to be the absolute death of me –Nicky said- Yeah, kid. We're friends. You're stuck with us, like it or not." (The Raven King, Chapter 14)

And, God, he went from being completely disinterested on his teammates to consider them an actual family, and practically begging for their help.

"He was their family. They were his. They were worth every cut and bruise and scream." (The Raven King, Chapter 16)

"- Help me- He said through gritted teeth.

- Let me- Wymack shot back, so Neil closed his eyes." (The Raven King, Chapter 16)

He is surely giving me a wild ride, and I love the path the author has follow with him.

Now, another character that I felt deeply attracted to in the first novel was Andrew Minyard and... I really would love to hug him and shield him from all the bad things in the world (Even when he would probably stab me if I tried it, but it's worth the try.)