ARC Review: Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Fullmuth

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…

• Title: Twelfth Knight
• Author:  Alexene Farol Fullmuth
• Publisher: Tor Teen
• Publication Date: May 28th, 2024
• Genre: Romance, contemporary, retelling 
• Source: Digital ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
• Targeted Age Range: YA
• Content Warnings: injury (on page, torn acl), misogyny (challenged), sexism (challenged), gaslighting, catfishing, unwanted sexual advances (challenged)
• Rating: ★★★★.5

As someone who loves Shakespeare and Shakespeare retellings, this one felt made for me. Twelfth Knight reminded me so much of some of my favorite Shakespeare adaptations, She’s The Man and 10 Things I Hate About You, with a little hint of A Cinderella Story. Additionally, I will read anything that Alexene Farol Fullmuth (aka Olivie Blake) writes and I most likely will love it, what can I say? She gets me and I get her. I also must take a moment to give her praise for her skill in writing fantasy, dark academia, literary fiction, and romance so seamlessly. No matter what genre you’re reading from her, no matter if it’s her adult or young adult novels, she has a distinctive writing style that flows perfectly in each genre and I think that takes so much skill.

If you’re a fan of Shakespeare retellings where you can clearly see the inspiration, but want the book to stand on its own, then this is definitely one to check out! While it’s obvious that the inspiration for this book came from Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, you don’t have to know Twelfth Night backwards and forwards to understand what’s happening. Something that I think Fullmuth does so well is pepper in multiple Shakespeare references — there were so many and they were so fun — and some of them anyone with a general knowledge of his works will get, and some you’ll only know are Shakespeare references if you’re well versed in his works. I think she makes his work accessible to people who may not know it super well, and the general themes of Twelfth Night are well explored, which I think is the most important thing in a retelling.

The characters were absolutely the star of this book for me, I thought they were so well done. The characters really made this book for me, and I was rooting for them from the get-go. What I really appreciated was that even if they didn’t have the same names (or variations of the names) of the original characters in Shakespeare’s plays, you’d so easily be able to tell who each character was inspired by, because Fullmuth really captured the spirit of the original characters. 

Vi felt like a mixture of Viola, Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew (another Shakespearean heroine whom I adore) and Veronica Mars. She was outspoken, strong-willed, determined, a little selfish and single minded, but most importantly she felt real and complex, and I love characters like that. Sometimes she could come off just a little “I’m not like other girls” ish, but it mostly didn’t bother me because I do remember what it was like to be a 17-year-old girl and just feel really out of place or misunderstood, so I give her a little grace there. I could definitely see where she was coming from with some of her reactions, not that I always agreed with her, but her reasonings and motivations always felt clear and realistic.

I was also glad to see her stand up for herself so much throughout the book; especially when she was on the receiving end of unwanted advances from boys (and some men), or being talked down to — I hated how some characters would act like she was being unreasonable because she would call out behavior towards her that she wasn’t okay with. It was incredibly frustrating, but also very realistic, which made it all the more frustrating. I thought she went through great growth throughout the book and was really happy with the progression of her journey.

Jack was absolutely my favorite character though, I ADORED him. I really appreciated that he wasn’t the stereotypical jock stock character — yes, football was a major part of his life and identity (especially with the pressure from his dad who was the head coach and his brother who seemed destined for the NFL), but he had a lot more going on under the surface that got revealed once he wasn’t able to play football and I loved that exploration. I really appreciated reading from his point of view, especially when discussing how, as a half Black young man, he was always very conscious of how he came across to other people. He was always making sure to be approachable, likable, and easy going — it wasn’t that he wasn’t naturally those things, he was, but he was very conscious of how he would be perceived if he got angry or upset and I found those discussions to be very interesting and informative. He was just an absolute sweetheart who really cared for the people around him. He’s definitely up there in my ranking of favorite male characters written by Fullmuth/Blake.

I felt that the side characters were just as strong as the main characters. I adored Olivia, I thought she was so sweet and really wanted only the best for her — I had  a feeling about the trajectory of her storyline (which I think if you know Twelfth Night well you would also expect). I loved the friendship that she and Vi developed and they had some beautiful scenes together. Bash always made me laugh and he was very reminiscent of some of my theatre friends in high school; I especially loved when he said that Shakespeare calmed him, that made me laugh and say “relatable”. Bash and Vi’s relationship was sweet and fun, with peak sibling energy and banter, but underneath it all were two siblings who would do anything for the other.

Jack and Vi are maybe one of my favorite young adult couples that I’ve read in recent months. I don’t remember the last time I reacted this way to a couple from a young adult novel, but I was utterly obsessed with them. I loved their banter — they were so funny and had me cracking up multiple times throughout the book. They really had great chemistry, and I liked how their friendship and relationship progressed. They were great counterpoints and balanced each other well. There were moments that had me squealing, giggling, kicking my feet, twirling my hair…they were just so cute. I don’t want to spoil it because I quite literally gasped when I read it, but there was one specific paragraph/moment relating to Jack and Vi that was so beautifully written, truly one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in recent months, that I think about all the time. 

It’s been a month since I read Twelfth Knight and I still think about it often. I can’t wait for this book to be out in the world and to have a physical copy in my hands. I definitely recommend this one if you’ve enjoyed any of Fullmuth’s previous works!

Links for Twelfth Knight: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop