TW: sexual assault, drugging, homophobia, ableism

Unfortunately, this book was the first I finished in 2026. I was this close to DNFing it, but unfortunately, rage is one of my closest motivators.

I'm keeping spoilers off because I think people deserve to be warned about the content so they don't go in without being warned (the way I did). I'll try not to mention specific details. That being said, if you don't want to be spoiled at ALL, probably don't read this review.

I expected this book to be dark, but in the murder-gang-violence sort of way. Instead, it's just extremely outdated: I counted 2 F-slurs, 3 R-slurs, and a number of other ableist terms. What makes it worse is that it was used only to make the characters look gritty.

Also, I was totally unprepared for that character to get drugged and assaulted, especially since he just decided to forgive them like a week later?

I've heard lots of good reviews about this book, but the unexplained outdated content just makes me confused as to why. On top of that, the writing isn't solid enough to justify such strong reviews. The writing wasn't terrible, but the plot felt entirely unfinished. I understand that there are sequels, but I personally believe that if each book in a series does not follow through with its plot to the end as if it's a standalone, then it has not succeeded in fully telling the story of that book. Yes, it's a largely character-driven story, but the plot felt as though the ending should have been the midpoint.

The pacing dragged at points. The book as a whole would've benefitted from more editing, both in the preliminary and copy-editing stages, before publication.

Many of the characters felt the same (some variation of the stereotypical asshole). Nicky is written in an extremely homophobic way, and Allison is written in an extremely sexist way. Aaron felt mostly irrelevant.

I will say that the premise is unique, and the writing, though definitely imperfect, was good enough to keep me from DNFing the book entirely. However, I still don't understand why this book is so highly praised, as I tried to like it but found so little to like. I've seen this book compared to "The Raven Boys" a few times and I just do not think they're even remotely comparable. "The Raven Boys" is a masterpiece of writing and filled with so much heart and such memorable characters, and "The Foxhole Court" is a book with unmemorable characters that come off as insulting to a number of marginalized groups.

TL;DR: Offensive and outdated, and the writing isn't terrible but not good enough to redeem it.