The Fox Hunt: A Novel

by Caitlin Breeze

Behind closed doors at England’s most ancient university, a circle of privileged students enter into a dark pagan ritual—one that holds tantalizing power and comes at a terrible price.

When practical, unassuming second-year student Emma Curran wins an exciting research fellowship, she is ushered into the glittering debauchery of the University elite. There, she falls for the devastating, aristocratic Jasper Balfour, leader of the all-male Turnbull Club: a shadowy secret society that has created centuries of Britain’s leaders, power brokers and history-makers.

One night, the Turnbulls propose a sinister little game: a fox hunt. The women run. The men chase. And Emma finds herself fleeing for her life through the streets, hunted by the boy she loves.

Torn from her ordinary life and trapped in a dangerous, otherworldly realm, Emma awakens transformed. No longer mortal, she's become something beastly. And now she must summon every ounce of cunning and ferocity to save herself.

Genres: Dark Academia, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Contemporary, Fiction, College

448 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 24, 2026

Reviews

[Mai ༊*·˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 ★— What a ride this was! The Fox Hunt almost feels like it could be split into two very different halves, with the second one being where the story really hits its stride.

The book follows Emma Curran, a student at a prestigious university dominated by the wealthy and privileged. Emma has always been on the sidelines, sticking to her small circle, until she meets Jasper Balfour, who perfectly embodies the rich, beautiful elite. Drawn into his world, his friends, their secretive Turnbull Society, and its strange rituals, Emma gradually begins to uncover a darker side to things she never expected.

I’ll admit, I felt a bit bored after the initial introduction to campus life, Emma’s first meeting with Jasper, and her slow integration into his friend group. She’s portrayed as somewhat naive and easily influenced, which I found frustrating to read at times. While I know this characterization was an intentional choice by the author and necessary for the plot and Emma’s eventual transformation, personally, I prefer heroines who are a little sharper or grittier. Emma falls into the trappings of the quintessential “trying to belong” main character falling in with the wrong crowd. As such, as a reader, I always felt a little like I was watching an impending disaster (which I basically was!) as Emma was drawn deeper into the Turnbull Society and its workings.

The story really picked up around the halfway mark, when the more fantastical elements that had been lurking in the background finally came to the forefront. This is when I became fully engaged, as the mysteries surrounding the university’s strange occurrences began to unravel. From this point on, the book felt much more compelling, especially as Emma descended further into this eerie, magical underworld and began to change in a marked way.

Additionally, this is when I felt myself get more interested in the world-building, so much so that I often wished the author had dug deeper into the lore and mechanics of the magic at play and given more insight into the hidden depths of world she presented. It all felt so rich and ready to be explored further!

The book also focuses on some weighty themes: classism, misogyny, privilege, and the way power sustains itself within old institutions. For the most part, this is threaded into the story in a way that makes sense, though I sometimes felt the execution lacked a bit of nuance.

I especially felt the lack of nuance when it came to Turnbull Society. Its rituals and history felt so steeped in clichés that it wasn’t all that exciting to see everything unraveled as the story went on. And that’s my biggest criticism with the book: while the fantastical aspects of the story shone, the university’s society and the darker parts surrounding it felt a little too familiar. Its history leaned so heavily on an amalgamation of all the common “dark secret society” tropes that much of it came across as predictable. This made certain aspects of the book less exciting and caused Emma’s time spent in this world to feel similarly trite and not very original. I kept wishing the author had given Turnbull Society more unique characteristics to make it stand out from other dark academia stories.

All that aside, I still had fun with this book overall, and I’d be very interested in a sequel. There’s so much more to explore in this world and in Emma’s story! I’d love to see where it goes next.

___________________

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an invite from the publisher to read The Fox Hunt based on my previous love of all things fantasy. And they were right - everything in this story was exactly up my alley! It’s a dark academia fantasy novel with atmospheric prose and thriller vibes. It mashes the otherworldly and gothic horror against a decidedly modern backdrop. I loved the blend of genres and the themes of feminine rage, sisterhood, survival, and revenge.

It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel! The pacing and arc of the plot were superbly done. I loved Emma’s development from unsure and studious to hardened and cunning. Her relationships with the fox maidens and the librarian and his sister were some of my favorites. I was fully immersed in the setting, in the characters, and the mystique of it all!

This story is perfect for lovers of:
- Dark academia and secret societies
- Tricky bargains and shadow realms
- Feminine rage and revenge
- Sentient cities and libraries

While the initial mystery resolves, the door seems open for future stories in this world. I would love to see more tales featuring Emma, the University, and the Night City!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Laura (crofteereader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not settled into what it wants to achieve. It is, by turns, too long (the first half before all the magic kicks in was just too long; rich boys behaving badly did not need nearly that much real estate) and too quick (Julia was done dirty; she has barely any “screentime” but is a major stabilizer for the plot). There’s moments of really gorgeous like horror imagery in the beginning (when we first hit the rose garden, there was one line that I read over and over) but most of the time there’s little to no visual descriptions at all. A huge portion of the climax is just a villain monologue that answers a bunch of questions I for one had been thinking about almost from the beginning; which is a very boring avenue for answers. It also feels decidedly unfinished.

I did really like the Night City and wish we’d seen more of it and gotten more from the other foxes (like did Sara ever wake up? Do the twins have names?). There were also a lot of threads in the Night City left dangling (the eel with his stolen totem, why did the golden boar care so much about Emma?)

{Thank you Little, Brown for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}

[Heather Daughrity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Girl goes to college. Girl steps outside her comfort zone. Girl meets boy.

Girl is in way over her head, and before she knows it, she's transported--rather abruptly and much to her surprise--into a world that overlaps her own yet is something completely different, a world of magic and fairy bargains and fox maidens and danger the likes of which she's never known.

An excellent story full of magic and mystery. The writing itself was beautiful, the kind of writing that transports the reader into the world of the book and makes you feel each scene with all five senses.

I literally lost time while reading this book; that's how immersive the writing was. The story ends with a perfect set-up for a sequel, so I hope we've got a series on our hands here.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like Alice in Wonderland x The Secret History to me. Emma gets into an exclusive gothic university on a prestigious scholarship, and suddenly she’s drawn into the dazzling world of Britain’s elite. Through Julia, she’s welcomed into the social scene, but also into their secret society: a place where belonging quickly turns sinister.

At first, it feels intoxicating. Then the ceremonies begin. And then comes the fox hunt where Emma is the prey. That’s when the story shifts into something much darker. Emma’s role as a social-class outsider is central to the story, she’s thrust into the rarefied world of privilege and wealth, and the constant power imbalance between her and the elite students around her feels sharp and suffocating, echoing the same class tension and quiet menace you’d find in a film like Parasite.

What makes this book so great is how it layers reality with something stranger. It has a touch of magical realism, blurring the edges of the real world of mortals with the Night City that pulses like its own living, breathing thing. It’s fantasy, but it’s also a story of masks, illusions, and power games, with layer upon layer interlacing until you’re lost in it. The “book within a book” element is like Russian nesting dolls where you keep peeling back layers and falling deeper.

I was left with this haunting sense of unease, but also wanting to learn more about the Night City. “Feudal fairyland”, secret societies, the city as its own character - it was stunningly done. I really wish there was a book two, because I’m not ready to leave this world.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC!

[tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fox Hunt is packed with cunning twists, turns, and complete vibe switches that I did not expect - it begins with the prototypical "evil cult-like academic society" and as soon as you become accustomed to the strange pit-like feeling in your stomach that "something here isn't quite right," we are whisked away to The Night City, a magical mirror reflection of the University's campus, layered underneath mortal reality. I loved the concept of a city being sentient and having whims, quirks, and annoyances - I only wished we learned more about the lore of The Night City. I feel like you can build an entire novel off of that alone.

My other qualms were the fact that Nat, the ever-reliable best friend, gets dropped like a hot potato when the FMC starts hanging with the rich and popular crowd - I was growing increasingly irritated at the FMC's repeated excuses for the behavior of the pathetic and affluenza-riddled Jasper.
I also think we left off with some unanswered questions - how did The Night City get swindled into a bargain that it couldn't find a loophole out of? I almost wish we would get a book 2, because I feel like there's plenty of material left to explore.

[Sandrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. This was a really fresh take on a fantasy novel. Not every book needs romance in it and The fox hunt is the proof. To save herself from the fox hunt, Emma unknowingly makes a bargain with the Night City and must pay her debt. At first, it starts a bit slow. The elements described in the summary are only happening around the 25-30% mark. During this time, I was holding my breath while reading because I knew something bad was coming. There’s a lot of foreshadowing.

I loved how strong and determined Emma is. She is never backing down from her quest of revenge on the Turnbulls. In a world where bargains are common and can have really bad consequences, Emma is quick to understand and use that to her advantage. I also loved seeing the sisterhood forming. Once the events are in motion, the pacing becomes really fast, which I liked. I couldn’t stop reading. For what I assume is a standalone, the world building was well fleshed out. I’d love to read more books in the world, as I feel there’s a more to explore ! I definitely recommend this book if you love a strong and cunning FMC !

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book, opinions are my own.

[Veronica ☽◯☾]

"For fans of Ninth House and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue"????
SAY LESS

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book deeply atmospheric and emotionally engaging in many parts, though it did not always maintain its grip. What I appreciated most was the way the story builds tension slowly, letting moments of unease linger until they land with real weight. Once the fantasy elements fully emerge, the sense of danger feels earned, and the darker themes of class, privilege, and power become more compelling. The setting feels lush, the magical underworld haunting, and there are vivid images such as rotting roses in enclosed gardens and bargains with mysterious forces that stayed with me.

The main character is sympathetic even in her mistakes. Watching her want to belong, to climb into a world that dazzles, only to discover that the glamour conceals something cruel, made her arc resonate. She stumbles and misreads people, but those flaws make her more real rather than less. When the story picks up, I was invested in her choices, even when I wanted to yell at her to pull back. The moments of sisterhood and the way power operates in these elite circles were some of the strongest parts of the book.

But there were moments where the pacing felt uneven. The first quarter of the book is very slow, with a lot of atmosphere, setup, and world building, and for me it dragged at times. Some of the rituals and certain scenes felt overly familiar, such as secret societies and elite universities with hidden deals, and the shift in tone from near horror into fantastical faerie bargain territory was sometimes jarring rather than seamless. Also, while the lore has promise, I wanted more explanation and more depth in how the magic works. I also wanted more detail in the Night City and its rules so that the stakes felt even higher.

By the end I was mostly pleased. The final stretch is satisfying and leaves room for more. Even the flaws did not break the experience, as I ended up thinking about the characters and what power means, what it costs to belong, and what you might sacrifice along the way. It is not perfect, but the highs are high, and the emotional texture is rich enough that I will remember this one.

3.5 rounded to 4 stars.

[East of Reality · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this expecting a simple romantasy with foxes. Instead it’s a young woman coming into her own power, finding sisterhood and purpose in her need for justice after she was used by a secret society as a blood sacrifice. Emma, as a character, has a solid voice — muted somewhat by the needs of the plot to throw out half a dozen threads and then to carefully tie them up one by one before the end. And the plotting is solid, but I do sort of wish that either this book (already 448 pages) was a bit longer, or had been broken into two books.

The set up with Emma meeting Jasper, finding friends at school, having her first college romance — and then the betrayal — was solid, and segued nicely into the introduction to the Night City. But the Night City parts felt rushed with not enough room for the City to become an actual character, or for all of the fox sisters to become people. The boars were very much a victim of this, falling more into a tell don’t show — because there was no time to show — and a rushed ending with no set up, and no payoff.

The writing style isn’t quite to my personal taste. The moments where it draws back to talk to the reader — Emma didn’t know she looked like this; or talking about how no one saw this character suddenly do something perfidious; or two days later the mystery revealed itself — felt jarring. Not poorly done but, again, I didn’t care for it. There are also some very florid, adverb heavy descriptors that … well, some passages worked better than others. Overall, it felt like there were portions of the book where the style became the focus rather than the story.

However, I did have fun with this. It’s a quick read with some interesting moments; I just felt like it tried to do too much in too little time and the ending, rather than feeling cathartic, felt flat. I will still be keeping my eyes out for more stories from this author, and if there is a sequel, I’ll be more than happy to grab it.

Thank you very much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Electric Monkey for the early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book came to me in an ironic manner, I’d just finished promising my sister that I’d try to stop requesting so many books on Netgalley so I’d stress less about the amount I had to get through and, not one minute later, I got approved for Fox Hunt! 😂

It’s a good thing this book was absolutely worth the stress.

It was a book of two halves: the first one introducing all the human characters and slowly watching Emma join the society and the rich group of friends. Also slowly watching her ignore more and more red flags from Jasper… and seeing a lot of familiar traits in the fellow members that I’ve experienced myself at one time or another. (Who hasn’t met a few rich entitled douches out of touch with reality in their time?)
Also, Venetia really gave me Amren vibes from ACOTAR and I can’t wait to see if she gets more page time in future books (if there are more).

The second half was an introduction to an entirely new world, in a mix of traditional fey vibes and the Wayward Children worlds. It was fantastical but rooted in enough trope-ness that it felt familiar and easy to wrap my head around. (Though the phrase Night World still makes me flinch when I remember the Night World Series never getting its 10th book 😂)

Emma was an amazing character - cunning and driven and really intelligent, though a little naive at the start. I loved living alongside her for a few days. She reacted in very realistic ways to very extreme scenarios, and I never rolled my eyes at her making a stupid decision or getting in her own way. She’s up there with the main character from the film Ready or Not with people who make all the right decisions and still find themselves in crap situations - who stay awesome throughout.

I genuinely can’t wait to read more books in this world.

[kiki’s delivery witch ౨ৎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark academia with a magical twist sounded right up my alley. It had me eyeing a few choices along the way, but the vibes were (mostly) solid.

Emma's our girl here, a practical second year uni student who gets sucked into the Turnbull Club, this super exclusive, all male secret society full of posh boys playing at being history's next big power brokers, which totally doesn’t sound like Date Rape Central at all (🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩!!!!)

Enter Jasper Balfour, the devastatingly aristocratic leader who's basically walking fanfic bait, tall, brooding, probably smells like old money and forbidden libraries. Emma falls hard in thirty seconds, gets invited to all the glamorous soirées and "historic rituals," and then bam, they hit her with the fox hunt game. Women run, men chase. Sounds like a cheeky totally not 🚩tradition until it's suddenly very much not a game, and Emma ends up literally running for her life from the guy she's smitten with who is already exhibiting all sorts of red flags you kinda wanna smack her upside the head.

Emma wakes up later, confused, in the Night City, this shadowy parallel realm where she’s been transformed into something beastly, powerful, no longer fully human. Suddenly we're in full-on magical survival mode, with bargains, hybrid creatures, and Emma clawing her way toward justice. The second half really picks up; the worldbuilding in the Night City is lush and creepy, like wandering through a fever dream version of Oxford at midnight.

I wish it leaned harder into the magic sooner and ditched some of the Regency larping. Fun ride, but left me wanting a bit more bite.

- Dark academia secret society
- Human fox hunt gone magical
- Portal to hidden fantasy realm
- Transformation into something beastly
- Bargains with tricky magic
- Empowerment through sisterhood and revenge
- Entitled rich boys getting called out

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fox Hunt is the story of Emma Curran, a second-year student of law at university in England. Emma grew up following her mother from research site to research site, so it's unsurprising when she puts together a proposal for a grant that lands her in orbit of some of the most prestigious students at the school. As it turns out, the life of luxury for many of these students comes at a cost, and Emma soon learns what that cost entails. An unknown plea to the Fae may save her life, but it doesn't come for free either, and soon Emma discovers what she has to pay for her association with both.

This book is an interesting take on the themes of dark academia, fae bargains, creatures of myth, and the price that unsuspecting people often pay for others to obtain power. While there were unique elements to this story, and I enjoyed reading it, I do feel a bit like it could have been a longer story that was condensed perhaps. I don't know how to describe it better than that, and I think that it mostly comes down to a difference between story telling style and my reading preferences. I really enjoyed Emma's storyline and watching her grow into herself, and the magic was interesting. I also like that while we sort of got an ending of the story, there were elements that were left kind of vague, which could lean towards us perhaps seeing another story set in this world. Secret society at a school is one of my favorite book tropes, it never fails to give me the shivers, and The Fox Hunt did a great job with it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company, and Caitlin Breeze for the eARC of this novel to review.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Caitlin Breeze, and Little, Brown and Company for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love the dark academia genre, especially books that incorporate magic and mystery. But this book was not for me. The beginning is slowly paced, which made it hard to get into the story. Parts of the story felt disjointed. I wasn't a fan of the characters. I could see the potential for me to love this book's concept. But it turned out not to be a favorite. I would still recommend giving this book a try. I could see a lot of readers loving this book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the request of the publisher, this review will go public on January 18th, 2026.

Thank you to Little, Brown & Company as well as Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and the rest of my reviews can be found at https://littlereapling.wixsite.com/fa...

[Gabriela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this reminded me of some my childhood favorites, where the characters leave the real world and enter one full of fantasy and magic. Except a more adult version. Full review to come closer to publication (Feb 2026).

Thank you to Little, Brown and Co and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Kat]

I received a free copy from Little, Brown and Company via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date February 17th, 2026.

Review held until January 18th by request of the publisher.

[isitucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed the Oxford slander here, will absolutely be picking up the sequel!

[The_Phae_Library (Francesca Phae)]

Review will be held closer to time of publishing 💛

[millena ★]

dnf @ 48%

i genuinely have no idea what the hell is going on in this book and i think i’ve officially reached my limit of confusion

[midnightsandtea · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3,5✨️

[Gabic Reads]

Review coming at Gabic Reads. eARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.