Give me a Shakespeare retelling and I will gladly read it. This book did not disappoint. I loved everything about this book, it referenced Twelfth Night without being too overbearing and incorporated the gaming aspects perfectly. I loved how we got to see inside the heads of both of our main characters instead of just following one point of view.

This is an adorable teen romcom that is a shakespeare retelling. The author has done a great job with character development. Viola and Jack are enemies at school but best friends online who have been gaming together. This is a cute concept that isn't overly original which is to be expected with a retelling but the characters were well developed and overall an enjoyable read.

Twelfth Knight is a YA retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It features Viola, a competent but kind of abrasive senior and Jack (sometimes Duke) Orisino, a star football player. When Jack is injured, he starts playing a MMORPG, one Viola absolutely adores and spends all her free time on. They begin to interact more in real life and online, where all the Twelfth Night triangles and schemes and pretending to be someone else roll out amazingly well.

I have to be completely honest: I read Twelfth Night once in uni and never revisited it. However, I do a yearly rewatch of She’s the Man and this retelling had big shoes to fill to meet She’s the Man level of acclaim. I’m happy to say that it came close.

I really loved the YA beats of high school drama interspersed with expecting 17 year olds to make life altering choices for their futures with the absolutely zero brain cells they have. I liked Viola’s confidence that others read as shrew-like or bitchy. At times, I did wish she showed others a tiny bit of grace - especially with her friend. However, she grew as a character and I really liked the resolution of that. I liked the Olivia “twist” and I really enjoyed Jack. Jack was delightful and kind and just the best YA boyfriend. Do these 17 year olds exist?

Overall, a really fabulous read that came close to Amanda Bynes perfection. If you are a fan of She’s the Man but with a 10 Things I Hate About You type of heroine, this is your book.

This story was superb and a love letter to young women everywhere who KNOW it is their right to take up space. I loved Vi. She is headstrong, opinionated, and incredibly independent. She is everything I love in a FMC. Her POV’s were a testament to the daily wrongdoings women face, and I found myself continuously rooting for her.

Jack is an absolute sweetheart. There is something to be said about a MMC who is the sunshine in the pairing. I loved the way he handled his conflict with Vi and his own personal conflicts regarding his injury. I loved his willingness to be open minded with everything regarding fandoms.

The writing in this story was beautiful. Each moment felt so real and genuine and forged a lovely connection between reader and author. I will be thinking about this story for a long time.

I think this book did a great job of making Shakespeare accessible to kids. I can see myself chatting with my students about this book. It was not my favorite book I have ever read. But it was a good time.

As a person who LOVES a good 90s/00s teen reimagining of Shakespeare, I was already on board with this book. Add in the fun RPG narratives, and a young angry feminist learning what it means to love and let people in without compromising your values, and I'm completely sold!

I really liked all the characters, they were treated with a kindness and given room to be imperfect and develop over the story, and the various relationships, romantic, family and friendship were lovely to be a part of.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

This was SO CUTE.

The first third of the book was a little shaky, like the story was trying to figure out what it was, but after that point, it was really really good.

If you want to read a book that is kind of like a cheesy (in a good way!) rom-com movie that has satisfying individual character arcs and believable relationships WITH NO THIRD ACT BREAK-UP(!!!!!) then pick up this one!

And the believable relationships aren’t JUST our main romantic one between Vi and Jack, but the friendship between Vi and Olivia (I LIVE for this friendship), the sibling relationship between Vi and Bash and the friendship dynamic and growth between Jack and Olivia.

That being said, Jack and Vi’s banter and flirting had me kicking my feet and giggling, I love how they went from ‘people who antagonized each other’ to ‘the ONE person who truly saw and understood other person’. Beautiful.

Their individual growths in this book were very satisfying as well. I loved Vi realizing that she does NOT have to change anything about her personality, she just has to trust her instincts on what people to allow in to truly see her. And Jack’s gradual understanding that football is not all he is and it is not the thing about him that people like him for was really nice, especially for a former athlete like myself.

In conclusion, go read this and just have a good time.

I will admit, I did not like this book for about the first quarter. I found both the leads to be obnoxious and unlikable, the plot to be goofy, the writing to be middling. And then something changed. What changed? you may ask.
I do not know.
But I can tell you that it really did grow on me. As Jack and Vi got to know each other and learn to bear one another, they became more likable and more fleshed out to the reader as well. Specifically, the texting conversations were very funny and also accurate to how kids text. Follmuth also really captures the pure chaos of Twelfth Night here, which is part of what makes it so much fun. As the title suggests, it's a modern YA retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where Vi and the Duke get to know each other while playing an online video game, in which Viola plays as a male character to avoid the nonsense of being a girl in such male-dominated online spaces. In their real lives, Jack is a football player who's expected to live up to his father and older brother's legacies, until he tears his ACL and has to reconsider his future. Vi, on the other hand, is an intensely Type A overachiever and massive nerd who would get along great with Kat from Taming of the Shrew. Slowly, the lies come to a head, and the pair get even closer, and the whole thing is actually quite good.
So I misjudged this. Don't make the same mistake.

As someone who loves She's the Man, I was really excited to read a different modern take on Twelfth Night, especially one written by Follmuth!

Overall, this was a really cute read and easy to breeze through. The gaming elements were fun, especially the world-building of the Twelfth Knight game, though I did wish we got to see more of Cesario's and Duke's interactions in the game. The development of their relationship as Vi and Jack was well-done, but their Cesario / Duke interactions seemed shallow enough that the inevitable "betrayal" of Jack finding out Cesario's true identity seemed a tad overblown in my opinion. But, despite this, their relationship was still fun to see developing.

But overall, I really enjoy this author's YA books, and I hope she continues writing more books like this and My Mechanical Romance with high school female protagonists with traditionally masculine interests.

Honestly this book was so hard to get into. As soon as they started talking about RPG I was lost. I just couldn’t get into it. I really appreciate the nerd references and being an outcast because I find it relatable but at the same time for me it’s a different type of nerd. I didn’t connect or particularly develop any type of feelings with the MCs so I had the hardest time getting through the book

If you are looking for a sympathetic lead, this isn't the book for you, unless you are the kind of person who pushes everyone away in the hopes you're getting there first.

This book isn't looking to do a 1:1 story of Twelfth Night, it's not looking to be a perfect rom-com, it's not looking to be a cookie-cutter (white) suburban YA. The one main character is insecure and self-destructive and the other is obsessive and, in many ways, coasting. Flawed teens getting to know each other better through vulnerability.

Sounds good to me.

Thank you to Tor Teen for this early review copy.

I am a huge fan of “She’s the Man,” and I was super excited to dive into this YA Twelfth Night retelling. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for a fun Shakespeare adaptation, this is not it. Stick with Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum.

I wanted to give this book a fair chance, but Viola was such an insanely awful and rude character I couldn’t give her any more chances. She’s extremely selfish, mean to her best friends, and acts as though she is a world class video game / storyteller. Sorry girl, you’re just a high school kid who needs to learn how to be humble.

I didn’t mind Duke’s character but I really just didn’t see Duke and Vi ever getting along. I found their relationship so unrealistic and couldn’t suspend my disbelief to believe that someone as awful as Vi would find anyone willing to talk to her.

I was shocked to see such an awful female character written under the guise of being a hardcore feminist. Feminism isn’t about judging women who have boyfriends or fall in love, and Vi really just doesn’t understand that. I think for a YA audience, this book should be more explicit about feminism because the intended audience of this novel may not understand that Vi is off the mark in the beginning of the book.

I wanted to like this book but it didn’t hit the mark for me.

ARC REVIEW
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for the ARC of Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth!

Alexene Farol Follmuth is 2/2 for outstanding YA novels. I was already a fan of her first, My Mechanical Romance, so when I found out that there was an ARC for her sophomore YA novel, i was ECSTATIC to get the opportunity to read it before the release! It’s safe to say I was NOT disappointed, in fact, I think Twelfth Knight might be even better (and that’s not a light statement).

I genuinely believe no one has written strong female characters so well without giving them the “pick me” vibes, which can be so frustrating to read. Viola “Vi” Reyes is quite literally the opposite of a “pick me” girl, she is an unapologetic, smart, witty, creative badass who clearly never needed a love interest but she also never expected Jack “Duke” Orsino.

Jack is also not your typical MMC, in the best way possible. I’m not used to reading about male people pleasers but it’s honestly so refreshing and it makes sense for his character. I also love that unlike everyone else, Jack actually sees and understands Vi in a way that so many people don’t because they just assume she’s a bitch. I also can’t help but LOVE the jock turned nerd pipeline in this story.

But Twelfth Knight is not just a love story, it’s a story about truly finding who you are, finding friendship in unlikely places, and the unfortunate reality many women (including myself), constantly face, for basically anything we do, say, or enjoy.

I cannot recommend enough that you pick up Twelfth Knight on May 28th!

This was a fun premise! I think I'm not the biggest fan of olivie blake's writing, but this one's RPG vibes were really fun!!

This book was a doozy. It seemed like the perfect book! I love Shakespeare retellings, and Twelfth Night is a notoriously queer play, and the two main characters are BIPOC? Sign me up. But this? This was a Trainwreck. Vi was absolutely unlikeable. She bashes all her so called friends and then gets mad when they dare to oppose her on anything? She is mean, vindictive, and acts because she thinks she deserves to act the way she does because she's a woman and it's not fair how women get treated, especially women of color. She's right. To an extent. But there's only so much right you can be before you veer off into such wrongness that it makes it hard to care about your character. And Jack? Woof. And not in the good way. He needs to take no for an answer. If his girlfriend breaks up with him, that's that. Clearly she doesn't want to be together. Stop trying to win her back, dude! Both of them were seriously unlikeable and that made the entire plot go down the drain. Not to mention Vi using her brother's identity so Jack won't treat her shitty, and then letting it go as far as Jack trusting her brother with his thoughts and feelings on his moment with Vi and her replying "Well she's her own person" knowing DAMN well that she isn't her brother and she's basically catfishing Jack. My god. What a mess. I also don't like the nickname Bash for someone named Sebastian. Gross.

Alexene Farol Follmuth's YA writing is always such a delight and I would say that Twelfth Knight is just as good as her previous YA novel. The character development is fantastic, you come to understand why the characters are the way they are and you get to see them grow along the way. The writing is well done and keeps your attention the entire time. The writing is smart and doesn't dumb itself down for a YA audience and I think that's very beautiful. Overall, a fantastic YA read!

Twelfth Knight is cute and charming. I almost always enjoy a Shakespeare retelling and this one is a fun twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

The main character was so insufferable I couldn't get through it. While I appreciate that that was sort of the point -- young women don't have to be likable to be worthy of respect -- it still makes for quite an exhausting read.

I haven’t read Twelfth Night, but I’ve watched She’s the Man enough times to get the gist of the storyline and I think this retelling did a good job updating the story for a modern setting. It hits on all the main plot points and does so in a new, refreshing way that makes sense for the characters and storyline. It was clever to use a video game avatar to be the “male” disguise for Viola and I appreciate how the author adapted Olivia's character. I also love when characters from different “social” circles find a way to get along so Jack learning to love video games and Vi learning that popular jock doesn’t mean he’s an idiot was lovely for their character dynamics.

I love the nerd culture in this book. Reading this made me really want to play video games and create cosplay and attend a convention and just participate in all the fun nerdy things. It all felt super relatable and realistic and reminded me of Geekerella, which I adore. I also appreciate the way the author handled the treatment of women when it comes to nerd culture. This book has just the right balance of feminist themes without bashing all men.

The story does include the miscommunication/lying trope and while I can’t stand that, I know it was for the plot so it can be forgiven in this instance. I just really wanted to grab Vi and tell her to just talk to Jack already (much like Sebastian does in the book). But overall, this is a fun, diverse retelling for a new generation of readers.

Twelfth Knight is Alexene Farol Follmuth's sophomore YA novel. In the Shakespeare retelling, the author, who also writes for adults under the name of Olivie Blake, creates a story focusing on two characters, Violet and Jack, in a grumpy-sunshine dynamic, with an exploration of fandom culture. Follmuth thrives in a rival-rival setting and proves to have a fresh voice in the YA scene. They create a thoroughly engaging plot that sometimes gets lost in its own technicality. I believe this story serves better for those who are into sports like football and are engaged in fandom culture, especially those of video games.


Thank you to the publishers for an arc and the chance to review the book.