Kate’s Review: “Fence: Vol. 2”

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Book: “Fence: Vol. 2” by C. S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad (Ill.)

Publishing Info: BOOM! Box, July 2018

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Nicholas Cox is determined to prove himself in the world of competitive fencing, and earn his place on the Kings Row fencing team, alongside sullen fencing prodigy, Seiji Katayama, to win the right to go up against his golden-boy half-brother.

Tryouts are well underway at King’s Row for a spot on the prodigious fencing team, and scrappy fencer Nicholas isn’t sure he’s going to make the grade in the face of surly upperclassmen, nearly impossibly odds, and his seemingly unstoppable roommate, the surly, sullen Seiji Katayama. It’ll take more than sheer determination to overcome a challenge this big!

From the superstar team of C.S. Pacat (The Captive Prince) and fan-favorite artist Johanna the Mad comes the second volume of this acclaimed, dynamic series. 

Review: As we are starting to get a bit more past a huge slew of ALA books and horror focused reads for the month of October, I am now going to make an effort to get more into graphic novels again going into the next year. We had the newest “Lore Olympus” to kick that off, and now I am going into the second volume of “Fence”, the YA sports story by C.S. Pacat about ambitious fencers who are trying to make the prestigious team at their school and to prove themselves, while trying to maneuver through teenage love, familial angst, and other stressful factors. I’m glad that we’re back at Kings Row and following their fencers duke it out to make the team! And duke it out they absolutely do.

Tryouts are still in full swing, and Nicholas Cox is hungry to make the team, even after having a bad first match back in Volume 1. He is desperate to make the team so that he can perhaps eventually go up against the half brother he has never met, but to get there he has to get past established Kings Row fencers, and also his rival and roommate Seiji Katayama. I liked seeing Nicholas have a fire lit under his ass this volume, and how we see his strengths come out through fencing technique and pure potential. As someone who fenced for one season, I liked how Pacat makes the tension of a fencing match leap off the page, and how she breaks down the various techniques and how they can work during a match. I also continue to like seeing Nicholas’s driven personality and how he is easy to root for while also being a bit of an endearing doof in other ways. He’s just a fun protagonist, and I’m fully invested in him making his way to his goal. I am a bit curious to see how long these tryouts are going to last, volume wise, but for now I’m still buying in to the plot.

But there is the added bonus that in this volume, as we kind of get to get a bit more into Seiji’s head as the tryouts go on and he starts to show cracks in his armor. Volume 1 was so focused on giving us Nicholas’s backstory that we didn’t really get to explore his rival Seiji. But in this volume, Seiji changes from being mysterious and sullen wunderkind into something a little more rounded and fleshed out. We start to see his insecurities, and we start to see that perhaps he isn’t so perfect, as he has a pretty significant stumble. Heck, I’d even go so far as to say that Pacat is now starting to move on to the other teammates, whether it’s the lothario Aiden or serious and driven Harvard (also, are Aiden and Harvard potentially going to be a thing? That will probably actually be pretty cute, right?). I like getting to know the fencers as they have to face off with each other, and like that it isn’t going to just be the Nicholas and Seiji show.

I will be curious to see where this goes, and when (if?) we get to see Nicholas face off with his half brother. But for now, “Fence: Vol. 2” continues to follow ambitious fencers as they strive to make the team, and builds on their complexity. Looks like I need to get my hands on the next one soon!

Rating 8: The stakes are high and the characters are starting to become more complex as the pressure is on, and “Fence: Vol. 2” continues to shine!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fence: Vol. 2” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now (this kind of shocks me?), but like the fist volume it would fit in on “Fencing Fiction”, and “Graphic Novels: Featuring LGBTIQ+ Themes”.

Previously Reviewed:

• “Fence: Vol. 1″