Summary: Neil Josten is out of time. He knew when he came to PSU he wouldn't survive the year, but with his death right around the corner he's got more reasons than ever to live.
Befriending the Foxes was inadvisable. Kissing one is unthinkable. Neil should know better than to get involved with anyone this close to the end, but Andrew's never been the easiest person to walk away from. If they both say it doesn't mean anything, maybe Neil won't regret losing it, but the one person Neil can't lie to is himself.
He's got promises to keep and a team to get to championships if he can just outrun Riko a little longer, but Riko's not the only monster in Neil's life. The truth might get them all killed—or be Neil's one shot at getting out of this alive.
Final Score: 5/5
Nora Sakavic, I gently ask you to give me back my emotional stability, because I have lost it thanks to this AMAZING ending. Neil Josten has broken every single rule his dead mother taught him in order to survive: He has let people into his life and become attached to them; He has maintain an identity for far too long, and now he doesn't want to let go; and, finally, He has stopped running. But when the demons he has tried eight years to fight and hide from finally catch up to him, Neil has to make the hardest decision of his life: To stay and fight or go down quietly. With this incredible premise we, sadly, are welcomed to the last instalment of this trilogy.
(Warnings: Some minor spoilers, mentions of torture and past sexual assault)
Neil Josten is an incredible example of how to develop your main character! At the very start of this books he's just a runaway boy who only wants to stay alive no matter the consequences. Then, during "The Raven King" he slowly starts to open up and realizes that he might enjoy this life more than he expected. But now, he's desperately trying to hang onto The Foxes with his every breath.
"— The Foxes are all I have, Matt. Don't tell me I was wrong for making the only call I could" (The King's Men, Chapter 1)
Neil has finally understood friendship, loyalty and has found a family within the Foxes. For the first time, he knows what having support and love feels like and he's not going to let it go so easily. I think the only word that actually works here to show my love for him is to say that I'm beyond proud about every choice he made; he deserves nothing more than happiness and it physically pained me when he was constantly thinking "Well, I'm going to die so let's make the most of it" "Neil had spent his entire life drifting by on the outskirts, looked over and looked past. It'd made him happy, or so he'd thought, because being ignored meant he was safe. He hadn't realized how lonely he was until he met the Foxes." (The King's Men, Chapter 12)
It absolutely shatters me how he simply thought that even if he was gone, he was going to leave the Foxes as a unity. A family where they could reach one another and confide even when some issues still remain. A special gesture he made, even when his original purpose might seem shady, was managing Aaron and Andrew to FINALLY talk their issues and accept going to therapy together so their relationship might be better in the future.
It was him finally mending IN with the crowds instead of shielding himself away that show how far he came and it was the reason why his torture scene, when his father's people finally found him and beat the hell out of him, left me emotionally drained FOR WEEKS. Neil could only think about the Foxes, his found family and the friends he choose, while being near his death and It killed me in more ways that I could've imagined.
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