Review of The Fox

[Tetei Brown]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Fox" by M. N. J. Butler.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Fox is a historical fiction novel written by M. N. J. Butler. It is the autobiography of a fictional character named Leotychides. As an old man who has seen many things, he tells a story of the most eventful and memorable times of his life to keep for future generations. He tells us of Sparta, his birth home, the wars that happened during his time, and the tragedy that many of his friends had. He teaches those who may have forgotten the Spartan way of life and explains what the Spartan spirit looks like.

With close to 1000 pages, one can say that The Fox is a long read that will demand hours, even days, for one to finish reading. But when I was done with it, I looked up and confirmed that M. N. J. Butler successfully wrote a book that taught, entertained, and challenged me all in one. After reading this book, I may just decide to quit taking history lessons on Spartan History (just kidding).

I liked a lot of things about this book. For starters, the accuracy of the accounts given by Leotychides surprised me very much. I don't know why I was that surprised, but if I had to guess, I would say that since it was fiction, I didn't expect the events to be real. Secondly, I liked the friendships that were shown in the story. This made me understand the length that many friends would go to for those that they love. Thirdly, I liked how the story taught me a great deal about Spartan politics and the role that both men and women play. This has to be the one that I like the most in the story. It actually is.

I would say that the missing punctuation, words, quotation marks, and typographical errors, in general, are what I liked least in this fine novel. I feel like this book would have been perfect to me if much attention had been paid to the editing and not just a cursory glance (which resulted in the semi-poor editing that I saw).

Because of the poor editing that I noticed throughout the novel, I rate it 3 out of 4 stars. It is a beautiful book and had those mistakes been cleaned up before putting the book out here for consumption, then I would have rated it excellently. I recommend it to be read by fans who love historical fiction novels.

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The Fox
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