Book Review: "Fence: Rivals" (Volume 4) by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, and Joana LaFuente

We return to Kings Row Boys School for more adventures with the fencing team, in the fourth volume of the Fence graphic novel series.

When Volume 3 ended, the members of the fencing team were chosen. To no one's surprise, prodigy Seiji Katayama was selected, but much to his own shock, Nicholas was selected as one of two reserve team members. But when an old rival of Seiji's comes to visit and tries to encourage him to return to his old school, it makes him more determined than ever to stay at Kings Row...but he still thinks he's better than everyone else.

But just as the team starts getting into a groove, the coach throws them for a loop: they're going to have an exhibition match with Methodist Lads College (MLC), the school that knocked them out of the state championships last year. While Seiji is prepared to lead his team to victory, what neither he nor Nicholas understand are the strategies involved with a team fencing event. Since fencing is usually an individual sport, a team event is entirely different, and it's going to take more than talent to win.

Will Kings Row be able to pull out a victory, or will they fall prey to their rival once again? Will one team member be responsible for the win, or will they finally start working together? Will Aiden show up for the match?

In Fence: Rivals, the relationships between the teammates start to develop into more than simple competition with one another. Friendships start to build, and who knows what could happen next?

I enjoy these graphic novels because the characters are so diverse without any discussion (Aiden goes from guy to guy, but there's never any conversation about his sexuality, just that he's a bit of a slut) and they teach me a lot about fencing, which I knew nothing about!

The downside is they're super, super slow-burn, so I hope the next volume advances the plot a little quicker. There are so many threads I'd love to see develop and I hate having to wait, lol! But I'm super excited because a full-length novel called Fence: Striking Distance, based on this series, will be published at the end of September.

See my review of Volume 1 here, and see my review of Volumes 2 and 3 here.