Nora Sakavic’s The Raven King, published in 2013, is the second installment in the All for the Game series, preceded by The Foxhole Court and followed by The King’s Men, The Sunshine Court, and The Golden Raven. The novel blends the genres of sports fiction, psychological drama, and crime thriller. It continues the story of Neil Josten, the runaway son of a crime lord, who plays for the dysfunctional Palmetto State University Foxes, a team of gifted but traumatized athletes. Neil must navigate his fragile deal with the team’s volatile goalkeeper, Andrew Minyard, who offers protection from Neil’s past while facing escalating threats from a powerful rival, Riko Moriyama. The narrative explores themes including The Creation of a Found Family in the Wake of Trauma; The Interplay Between Lies, Identity, and Survival; and Confrontation Versus Evasion as a Response to Trauma.

This guide refers to the 2013 self-published e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, rape, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, antigay bias, mental illness, suicidal ideation and self-harm, addiction, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The Palmetto State University Foxes Exy team returns to practice for the first time since the death of their teammate Seth Gordon from a drug overdose. The team is fractured, with a recent brawl between Matt Boyd and Andrew Minyard, the team’s volatile goalkeeper, prompting Coach David Wymack to separate the players. Andrew is on parole and required to take medication that induces a manic state. The team’s newest striker, Neil Josten, reflects on his recent deal with Andrew. Andrew has promised to protect Neil from danger if he helps keep star player Kevin Day on the team. This requires Neil, who is secretly Nathaniel Wesninski, the runaway son of a crime lord called “the Butcher,” to integrate into Andrew’s insular group.

Andrew arrives at practice and receives a call from Officer Higgins of the Oakland Police Department, a former mentor. The call, regarding an investigation into one of Andrew’s foster families, visibly agitates him. After a heated exchange, he abruptly leaves practice. Andrew’s twin brother, Aaron Minyard, reveals that Higgins was the one who first told him he had a brother.

Later, back at the Fox Tower dorm, Nicholas “Nicky” Hemmick, the twins’ cousin, recounts Andrew and Aaron’s history. Their mother put both of them up for adoption shortly after their birth but reclaimed only Aaron a week later. The brothers did not properly meet until years later. Team captain Danielle “Dan” Wilds and Matt Boyd ask Neil to act as a bridge between the upperclassmen and Andrew’s group. Later, Renee Walker, the team’s other goalkeeper, returns from a sparring session with Andrew. She explains to Neil that her friendship with Andrew is based on shared dark pasts.

The team prepares for an away game against Belmonte University. Seth’s girlfriend, Allison Reynolds, returns, appearing catatonic. Neil feels guilty, believing that his televised taunts against rival player Riko Moriyama may have prompted Riko to orchestrate Seth’s death in retaliation. Wymack announces a new lineup that requires Andrew to play the entire game through withdrawal from his medication. In exchange for his cooperation, Wymack offers Andrew a bottle of expensive scotch. Kevin is furious that Andrew agrees to Wymack’s deal after refusing a similar one from him. He confronts Andrew, who cuts Kevin’s chest with a knife hidden beneath his armbands. Wymack later explains to Neil that he maintains leverage over his players by tacitly allowing their illicit activities.

During the game, Neil executes a risky play to score a crucial point. Andrew, playing sober, makes a spectacular, game-winning save in the final seconds, shattering his racquet. The Foxes win, and the team shields a physically devastated Andrew from the crowd as he deals with his withdrawal symptoms. In the nurse’s office, Neil finds Andrew recovering with his medication and his promised scotch. He is baffled by the goalkeeper’s ability to focus on the game despite his professed apathy.

A few days later, the team forces Neil to go shopping for new clothes. He has a panic attack when Andrew gifts him a burner phone, as it triggers a traumatic memory of his mother’s death. Andrew forces Neil to keep the phone as a lifeline, repeating his promise to keep him safe.

At the fall banquet, the Foxes are seated across from the Edgar Allan University Ravens—the team Kevin played for before his adoptive brother, Riko, deliberately broke the bones in his dominant hand. Jean Moreau, a Raven player, reveals that he knows several of Neil’s past aliases, confirming that Riko has been investigating him. Neil responds with a scathing verbal takedown. In the ensuing chaos, Jean reveals to a horrified Kevin that Neil is Nathaniel Wesninski, son of “the Butcher.”

Back at the stadium, Neil admits his true identity to Kevin. Kevin reveals that Neil was meant to be a “gift” to the Ravens’ coach, Tetsuji Moriyama, before his mother fled with him. Kevin urges Neil to run, but Neil refuses, vowing to finish the season and then expose the Moriyamas to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As the team grows closer, Neil learns more of their backstories. Nicky reveals the full history of the Minyard twins, including their mother’s abuse of Aaron. Andrew later implies to Neil that he caused his mother’s death in a car crash to protect his brother. Renee reveals to Neil that Andrew is gay.

On the twins’ birthday, Neil persuades a reluctant Andrew to attend a family dinner with Nicky’s estranged parents. The dinner is a setup, and Andrew’s abusive former foster brother, Drake Spear, is waiting upstairs. Neil and Aaron kick in the locked bedroom door to find Drake raping Andrew. Aaron kills Drake with a single blow from Neil’s new Exy racquet. In the aftermath, Andrew reveals that Nicky’s father knew that Drake had abused him years prior but dismissed it as a “misunderstanding.”

The police arrest Aaron, and Andrew is taken to the hospital. A guilt-ridden Neil confronts Andrew, who reveals that he sabotaged his own adoption by Drake’s parents to protect himself and his brother. During the confrontation, Neil sees Andrew’s old self-harm scars, previously hidden by armbands. Betsy Dobson, the team psychiatrist, has Andrew committed to a psychiatric hospital for immediate, forced withdrawal from his medication. Neil promises Andrew that he will protect Kevin and will not run.

The Exy Rules and Regulations Committee allows the Foxes to finish their season. At the Christmas banquet, Riko summons Neil to a private conversation. He confirms that he identified Neil via fingerprints and reveals that Neil’s father was an enforcer for the Moriyama family’s yakuza organization. The money that Neil’s mother stole when she fled with him as a child belonged to the Moriyamas. Riko then confirms that he orchestrated Drake’s assault on Andrew and Seth’s overdose. He threatens Andrew’s safety at the psychiatric hospital unless Neil comes to Castle Evermore, the home of the Ravens.

Neil travels to Castle Evermore and spends two weeks in “the Nest,” the Ravens’ underground living quarters, where Coach Moriyama brutally beats him and Riko tortures him. Jean, forced to be Neil’s partner and accomplice, reveals that Coach Wymack is Kevin’s biological father.

On New Year’s Eve, Neil wakes up at the airport in South Carolina, covered in wounds and with no memory of his departure. His hair dye has been stripped and his colored contacts removed, revealing the features that strongly resemble his father’s. The number “4” has been tattooed on his cheek, branding him as the Ravens’ property. He calls Wymack to take him home.

Neil tries to cut the tattoo off with a knife, but Wymack restrains him. Neil promises to tell Wymack the truth after they beat the Ravens in the spring. As the new year begins, he exchanges texts with his entire team, gaining strength from their solidarity.