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A review by stuffandwhatnot
Black Knight by Rina Kent
3.5
A few months ago, I watched a short youtube video about Boris Johnson and how he was a snobby, shitty bully in his schooldays and it had pictures of him and his teen bully clique and now I think it completely ruined bully romances that are set in English schools for me.
I liked Kim and and her struggles--I wanted so badly for someone to just see how bad things were for her and help her. This made Xander all the more frustrating, because he clearly knows her pretty well, and yet he missed her eating disorder, her self-harm, her suicidal ideation, her deep depression? Sure, he's an alcoholic who's forcing himself to hate her (for EXTREMELY melodramatic reasons), but still.
As for his reasons, I'm going to spoil the Big Reveal here so click the spoiler link at your own risk:
So you're eleven years old and you overhear your dad and your best friend's mom talking and it turns our your best friend (who you like as more than a friend) is your sister. What do you do?
- Tell her and try to navigate this new aspect of your relationship together. After all, you promised to always be there for each other, right?
- Don't tell her and try to suppress your feelings, maybe step back a bit from how intense your friendship is, but that's normal for boys and girls when they hit puberty anyway, right?
- Don't tell her, try to drink your feelings away, tell her you hate her and think she's disgusting. Bully her in school and stand by as others bully her, too. Let her think for seven years that you turned on her because you can never forgive her for a childish prank. Then, when another boy shows interest in her, drunkenly make out with her and then tell her she's disgusting again. Finally, only after just barely saving her from a graphic, on-screen suicide attempt (chapter 19, if you want to avoid it), only then tell her that you are siblings and the whole reason you've been a shit to her is because you don't want to get incest boners. (Which didn't work, btw.)
Of course it turns out (via a VERY soap-operaish twist) that they aren't siblings (he was a Jon Snow, not a Jaime Lannister!) and that makes everything a-okay. Time to head to bone town! (I really liked that it turned out Xander was also a virgin, in spite of his manwhore reputation. Very sweet and unusual.)
I liked Kim and and her struggles--I wanted so badly for someone to just see how bad things were for her and help her. This made Xander all the more frustrating, because he clearly knows her pretty well, and yet he missed her eating disorder, her self-harm, her suicidal ideation, her deep depression? Sure, he's an alcoholic who's forcing himself to hate her (for EXTREMELY melodramatic reasons), but still.
As for his reasons, I'm going to spoil the Big Reveal here so click the spoiler link at your own risk:
- Tell her and try to navigate this new aspect of your relationship together. After all, you promised to always be there for each other, right?
- Don't tell her and try to suppress your feelings, maybe step back a bit from how intense your friendship is, but that's normal for boys and girls when they hit puberty anyway, right?
- Don't tell her, try to drink your feelings away, tell her you hate her and think she's disgusting. Bully her in school and stand by as others bully her, too. Let her think for seven years that you turned on her because you can never forgive her for a childish prank. Then, when another boy shows interest in her, drunkenly make out with her and then tell her she's disgusting again. Finally, only after just barely saving her from a graphic, on-screen suicide attempt (chapter 19, if you want to avoid it), only then tell her that you are siblings and the whole reason you've been a shit to her is because you don't want to get incest boners. (Which didn't work, btw.)
Of course it turns out (via a VERY soap-operaish twist) that they aren't siblings (he was a Jon Snow, not a Jaime Lannister!) and that makes everything a-okay. Time to head to bone town! (I really liked that it turned out Xander was also a virgin, in spite of his manwhore reputation. Very sweet and unusual.)
I did appreciate that they both got help instead of relying on just the power of love. Rehab for him, therapy for her. But it did seem to tie up a little too quickly and neatly for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Suicide attempt