Run fast, be safe, live free.
—Isla
Foxcraft is a series of books written by Inbali Iserles. The first book was released in 2015.
Isla’s happy life with her fox family in a patch of urban greenery is destroyed when her den is attacked by strange, savage foxes and she is left all alone. But, she doesn’t give up hope that her brother is still alive. She sets out to find him, though she is still too young to understand she can barely knows how to hunt. An older fox finds her, and begins to teach her the magic of foxcraft. These skills will prove essential; the foxes who attacked her family are part of something much larger and much darker than she could have imagined.
Has nothing to do with the 1.14 update of Minecraft, which introduced foxes.
The books in the series are:
- The Taken
- The Elders
- The Mage
This series contains examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Isla. Throughout the series, she goes head-to-head with skulks of brainwashed foxes, packs of coyotes, and even humans, and survives.
- Affectionate Nickname: Pirie calls Isla 'little fox' while Isla calls him 'her idiot big brother.' It's a lot cuter than it sounds.
- After-Action Healing Drama: Isla healing Siffrin in the second book after he fights a coyote, which causes her to pass out.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Tao, who is a dark furred fox, and is usually very easy going. Until The Taken kill her and her brother Simmi's greatfa, and siblings, and turn their parents into one of his slaves.
- Artistic License – Physics: A story about animals being able to go invisible, shape shift and take away the free will of another creature? Sure, why not?
- Bad Powers, Bad People: In a fox kind of way with The Mage
- Band of Brothers: Isla,Haiki, Tao and Simmi All of them lost their families to The Taken, and they travel to The Elders together. Or at least they do before Haiki betrays them all Also, Siffrin and Isla count.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Isla accidentally described herself as beautiful, and she is one of the most compassionate foxes around.
- Betty and Veronica: In a sibling way, Pirie is Betty and Siffrin is Veronica to Isla's Archie. In another way, Haiki can be thought of as a Betty too.
- Big Bad: The Mage.
- Big Good: The Black Fox, the master of all arts of foxcraft. Isla takes up this mantle at the end of the series.
- Big Brother Instinct: Pirie and Siffrin to Isla. Haiki as well, since he defended her from Tao and Simmi when they were talking behind her back. And then he betrayed her, but you now, other than that.
- Big Brother Is Watching: The Mage can see through the eyes of The Taken, so he can watch Isla
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Farraclaw saving Isla by killing Karka and scaring off the Taken at the end of The Taken.
- Siffrin saving Isla and Tao and Simmi's family from coyotes, Isla saving Haiki from drowning in The Elders.
- The Bishar of Claw helping defeat the Narral in The Mage.
- Black Mage: The Mage. He uses his powers of pleaching to strip others of their free will and is nearly unstoppable in combat.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Taken.
- Break the Cutie: To Isla, upon finding out her family's dead. Same with Tao and Simmi. It actually makes them more determined, and pushes them to learn more Foxcraft so ..
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Siffrin and Isla, respectively. Also Simmi and Tao.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Foxes call a road, a deathway, a human, a Furless, and the stars, Canisia's lights. They also call Aura's Maa's.
- Cats Are Mean: Isla outright says this in the first book.
- Constantly Curious: Isla, who wants to know everything there is to know about Foxcraft.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Haiki, who outsmarted a group of dogs.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Siffrin vs the Mage at the end of The Mage. The Mage tosses Siffrin around like a ragdoll, with Siffrin unable to even touch him. It turns out to be because the Mage had pleached with the White Fox.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The Black Fox. Whoever becomes one has their fur turn dark, and they use their powers to protect fox-kind.
- Determinator: Isla has lost her home, parents, safety, comfort, and her brother in a frozen tundra, yet she still keeps going.
- Disability Immunity: Haiki can't do Foxcraft, and it is hinted because he's a gray fox. However, Foxcraft doesn't work on him.
- Establishing Character Moment: Everyone gets one. Isla mimicking a bird, Pirie going invisible, their Greatma predicting the weather, Karka killing their parents Siffrin prancing around as a dog and Farraclaw talking about true freedom. Then, in the second book, Haiki establishing himself as friendly,cheerful, but cunning, outsmarting a group of dogs. Simmi and Tao are very loyal to their brother Mox, defending him from Isla when they think she's being mean, and being wary of her. And the elders, who are the masters in their respective arts and can talk without opening their muzzles.
- Evil Smells Bad: Isla describes the Taken as smelling of ash and death.
- Fantastic Foxes: They have their own lore and magical abilities.
- Fantastic Racism: Foxes, coyotes and wolves either fear or look down on one another. By the end of The Mage, the wolves and foxes are able to get past their differences and work together to stop the Mage.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Isla and Siffrin.
- Fragile Speedster: Isla is very good at Foxcraft, yet if she was in a fight against other foxes, she would be very easy to break.
- Happily Adopted: Jana adopted Siffrin when he was younger, after healing him from the Taken curse.
- Heel–Face Turn: Haiki in The Mage.
- Hidden Depths: Haiki is actually highly intelligent and can see through Foxcraft tricks easily.
- Humans Are Cthulhu: Foxes view humans like this.
- I Gave My Word: Siffrin promises that he will take Isla, Haiki, Simmi and Tao to the Elders in three days. He doesn't. He has an excuse, but still.
- I Never Told You My Name: Isla gets this after Siffrin calls her that.
- It Gets Easier: Isla says this about the grief of losing your family
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Siffrin. He is an annoying, arrogant, know it all, but he genuinely cares about Isla.
- The Load: Isla, in The Taken, Haiki in The Elders
- Losing the Team Spirit: Isla gets this after Haiki betrays them
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Isla and Haiki, though he isn't that feminine.
- Master of Illusion: Siffrin, The Elders, and, to a much lesser extent, Isla.
- Mind over Matter: What Haiki tells Isla when she is almost entranced by one of The Taken
- Mind-Control Eyes: Foxes eyes turn rim red when they're converted into Taken.
- The Mole: Mirraclaw in The Mage, secretly defecting to the Bishar of Fang and revealing that King Birronclaw was dying, nearly resulting in the Bishar of Claw being taken over by the enemy.
- Muggle Best Friend: Isla and Haiki, in a way
- Multigenerational Household: It seems that most fox dens hold mothers and father, cubs, and greatmas, and greatpas, as well as aunts.
- Mundane Utility: Isla using slimmering to creep past Furless, and to scare the fur off Tao and Simmi after they were rude to her.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Mage, Karka, The Taken. None of them sound particularly pleasant
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Siffrin hadn't lied to Isla, then she wouldn't have freaked out and ran away, getting herself caught by the furless. Isla Calls her out on it towards the end of "The Taken".
- Noble Wolf: Prince Farraclaw. Though he initially turns up his nose at Isla, he proves to be a valiant ally to her when she frees him from the zoo, and even saves her life multiple times.
- Non-Action Big Bad: The Mage. He does take part in trying to catch Isla at the end of The Elders, but mainly lets his brainwashed army and his assassins chase them down before that.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: What Isla feels after her family is killed.
- Papa Wolf: If you mess with Isla, Siffrin will end you.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Isla says this to Siffrin when he almost dies.
- Redemption Equals Death: Haiki is killed by Koch after rejoining Isla's group.
- Reduced to Dust: The Mage's fate.
- Shapeshifting: Though they call it wa'akkir, Siffrin, Jana, Karka and the Mage are all masters of this. And later Isla, who learns it later.
- Ship Tease: In the first book, it looked like Siffrin and Isla, though now it seems it's Isla and Haiki.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Isla's greatma can predict the weather, Pirie can grasp Slimmering almost instantly, and Isla, well, is Isla.
- Thicker Than Water: Isla, time and time again, shows that even when she is offered safety and protection, she will give it all up, to find her brother. Also, both Isla and Pirie have a physic link thanks to this trope.
- Tragic Villain: Most of The Taken are actually just regular foxes who had their free will literally stripped from them. In the second book, it's even more tragic, as when Isla attempts to reason with them, and brings this up, one sadly murmurs "My . .. family?" Before attacking her again.
- Unfazed Everyman: Haiki so much. He shows no fear when three huge dogs are standing in front of him, when Isla was panicking.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: Haiki rejoins the rest of the group in The Elders after betraying them in the last book when he learns that his family had been dead all along.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Haiki gets this, as he can't do foxcraft, but he can see through it, so it's more 'eyes' than 'heart'
- What the Hell, Hero?: Isla is very upset when she learns that Siffrin lied to her about her family's fate, and that Siffrin abandoned her family and let them be killed by The Taken.
