Review by Sleepy puddle -- The Fox by M. N. J. Butler

[Sleepy puddle]

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

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4 out of 4 stars

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This is a review of The Fox by M.N.J.Butler.

The setting of this book is in Sparta.The story starts with Leotychides being asked to write an autobiography by his teacher. Later on as he gets older he is sent to the flock, there he makes some of his lifelong friends. The book tells the story of a young child becoming a young man. As he becomes older, secrets get unfolded which changes his life and in bitter way during the end. Leotychides had allegedly been the illegitimate child of the Queen and that the King was not the father. The story portrayed the emotions Leotychides felt during his younger ages perfectly. How hurt he felt over his his father's coldness and his feelings in the end towards his father.

The story shows how devastating it felt when someone close to you died during the war. As I read and felt more connected to the Leotychides through out the entire story, it broke my heart when people near him died. But there was a really special moment which touched my heart; I loved it when the son of Leotychides had been named Agis. It was a heartwarming moment for me.

The story wasn't about Sparta's glory days it was about how it slowly fell to its doom. Agisilaos let his ambition get the better of him. He dreamed to get the victories which had not been designed for Sparta. He wasn't the villain of the story but was simply misguided.

The author does an excellent job portraying Sparta. There were so many characters to even keep count and I ended up getting confused a lot between the names starting with A. It really annoyed me that the book was a little too much big but considering the fact that this was mainly someone's life story I guess it was okay but it was still a little too long. The author did a great job with the book and it is a genuine shame that the author didn't write any other book after this. I would rate the book a four out of four as there was not anything that I particularly disliked and would recommend this book to those who are into Ancient Greek history.

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The Fox
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