Alexene Farol Follmuth
Published: 28th May 2024
Genre: contemporary, romance, young adult
Spoilers?: no
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake) comes Twelfth Knight, a grumpy/sunshine YA romantic comedy and coming of age story about taking up space in the world and learning what it means to let others in.
Viola Reyes is annoyed.
Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and school running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her―girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself.
But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos―Cesario and Duke Orsino―are surprisingly well-matched.
As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realise they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline…
Galley provided by publisher
I love Shakespeare. Longtime readers of this little blog will know that. I also love rom-coms, high school high-jinks, and any kind of plot revolving around the You’ve Got Mail trope of “we’re dating but we also don’t know it.” So, obviously, I loved Twelfth Knight.
We follow Viola Reyes, gamer and ren-faire enthusiast, and Jack Orsino, football player recently benched due to an injury, as they connect in the online MMORPG Twelfth Knight. When it becomes obvious that Viola knows Jack in real life, she panics and says she’s her brother, Sebastian, setting in motion the events of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in this charming and warm high school rom-com.
I’ve been a fan of Alexene Farol Follmuth (as Olivie Blake) for a long time now, so I was thrilled when I had the chance to read an early release of this book. Let me tell you: it did not disappoint. Viola, Jack, Bash, and Olivia were all such dynamic characters, and the relationships between the four of them were such a highlight. Viola and Bash’s sibling dynamic was honestly my favorite part of the novel. Something about strong sibling relationships in fiction always just… it gets to me, man.
I also loved how clear it was that the author loves online gaming and renaissance fairies. It’s so apparent when “nerdy” hobbies appear in fiction that the author either a) knows their stuff or b) has no goddamn idea what they’re talking about. It was such a delight to see things I love represented so well in fiction, and it was just fun to see Viola get so excited about nerdy things. As a woman in geek spaces, I know all too well the struggles of dealing with misogyny, and that’s without having the added struggle of being a woman of color. Her decisions were completely understandable, and her arc throughout the book was incredibly moving to read.
The bottom line: this is a warm, fun, enjoyable read. Is it perfect? No. There are a few, minor, spoiler-y details that I wish were different, but given that those are a) spoilers and b) minor, I won’t get into them here. Really, if you’re in the mood for a warm hug of a book, you should absolutely check this out.
SENTENCE: WED. Twelfth Knight is a warm, charming rom-com that hits the mark.
six of queens reads 