Review of The Fox
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John Christopher
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Review of The Fox
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Fox" by M. N. J. Butler.]
The book called The Fox revolves around Leotychides, a Spartan Prince, and his life in a flock. A flock is a kind of communal institute for rearing the Spartan youth. This means that the reader would see how Leotychides interacts with youth that is around the same age. As the story would span Leotychides' life, readers would be able to see the life in Sparta through his eyes as a Spartan prince with an absentee father, as he matures into an adult. The book also shows the life of Ancient Greece in war, and what are the consequences involved.
M.N.J. Butler truly is a master of storytelling to have readers follow the life of Leotychides, in the person's first-person point of view with such detail. Readers would be able to follow him and his thoughts on the matter. Some readers may consider this a coming-of-age story. Along with Leotychides, readers would also see the character development of his flockmates, which obviously, would have grown with him into adulthood. The author made a great job of presenting what readers may consider as the main antagonist, as not only are you able to hate the character, but also respect how he does things. The story-telling style also made the readers feel involved in the life of Leotychides, so whenever there would be any deaths involved, the reader also feels the impact of it through Leotychides' inner thoughts.
The main strength of the book may also be its greatest weakness, for some. Although I am praising the book for its storytelling, it's a story that spanned hundreds of pages for the actual plot to be established. It's a slow-burn kind of enjoyment and may turn off potential readers, as there's not much happening in the first few chapters of the book. This also means that writing a summary without spoiling any major plot point may prove to be difficult for other reviewers. As this is a story that spans from childhood to adulthood, there would also be quite a number of characters involved that may or may not be mentioned ever again throughout the story.
The book appears to be professionally edited, as I've only seen one typo in the book. It's a typo for a name, which I don't see as impactful for the reading experience. I don't see any other way the author could improve the work, as making the book shorter, or removing the first few chapters, may take away from the overall feel and tone for the reading experience. With that being said, I would like to give this book a 4 out of 4 stars.
I would recommend this book to those that have a lot of time available, in order to fully enjoy the book and the plot. There would be a lot of male characters that would use the term "love" for describing their platonic friendship, which may be misinterpreted as something else if the reader isn't truly paying attention. It may not be for those audiences looking for that kind of male-to-male interaction. There is also a lot of deaths in named characters that are involved, so if that's not something you're comfortable dealing with, then this might not be the book for you.
******
The Fox
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The book called The Fox revolves around Leotychides, a Spartan Prince, and his life in a flock. A flock is a kind of communal institute for rearing the Spartan youth. This means that the reader would see how Leotychides interacts with youth that is around the same age. As the story would span Leotychides' life, readers would be able to see the life in Sparta through his eyes as a Spartan prince with an absentee father, as he matures into an adult. The book also shows the life of Ancient Greece in war, and what are the consequences involved.
M.N.J. Butler truly is a master of storytelling to have readers follow the life of Leotychides, in the person's first-person point of view with such detail. Readers would be able to follow him and his thoughts on the matter. Some readers may consider this a coming-of-age story. Along with Leotychides, readers would also see the character development of his flockmates, which obviously, would have grown with him into adulthood. The author made a great job of presenting what readers may consider as the main antagonist, as not only are you able to hate the character, but also respect how he does things. The story-telling style also made the readers feel involved in the life of Leotychides, so whenever there would be any deaths involved, the reader also feels the impact of it through Leotychides' inner thoughts.
The main strength of the book may also be its greatest weakness, for some. Although I am praising the book for its storytelling, it's a story that spanned hundreds of pages for the actual plot to be established. It's a slow-burn kind of enjoyment and may turn off potential readers, as there's not much happening in the first few chapters of the book. This also means that writing a summary without spoiling any major plot point may prove to be difficult for other reviewers. As this is a story that spans from childhood to adulthood, there would also be quite a number of characters involved that may or may not be mentioned ever again throughout the story.
The book appears to be professionally edited, as I've only seen one typo in the book. It's a typo for a name, which I don't see as impactful for the reading experience. I don't see any other way the author could improve the work, as making the book shorter, or removing the first few chapters, may take away from the overall feel and tone for the reading experience. With that being said, I would like to give this book a 4 out of 4 stars.
I would recommend this book to those that have a lot of time available, in order to fully enjoy the book and the plot. There would be a lot of male characters that would use the term "love" for describing their platonic friendship, which may be misinterpreted as something else if the reader isn't truly paying attention. It may not be for those audiences looking for that kind of male-to-male interaction. There is also a lot of deaths in named characters that are involved, so if that's not something you're comfortable dealing with, then this might not be the book for you.
******
The Fox
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Veterans Day by J. J. Jorgens
