The Twelfth Knight

Guardians of Camelot, Book 1

By: Victoria Sue

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

To battle an ancient evil, the greatest weapon each hero will have is each other.

Hundreds of years ago, facing defeat, the witch Morgana sent monsters into the future to vanquish a humanity King Arthur wouldn’t be able to save. The king might have won the battle, but now, centuries later, a few chosen men will have to fight the war. 

Merlin always hated being named after some mythological wizard. His dad had been obsessed with the magic man of King Arthur’s court before his untimely death - a loss that had sent Mel reeling in a downward spiral. He is ill-prepared, to say the least, for the outrageous claims of a proper English knight bent on overcoming evil.

Born a commoner, Lancelot was never supposed to be a knight in his own time. Never mind that now in a modern world, he is so woefully untrained to protect. Thrown into a battle centuries in the making, this flawed hero and a young man too used to battling monsters of the present day will have to come together in a last desperate fight to save humanity. 

Can Mel and Lance defeat the greatest enemy the world has ever known? 

Or, in the midst of fighting evil, will they discover the real threat has always been a shattered heart? 

And what if the one fight they cannot ever hope to win is with themselves?

©2019 Victoria Sue (P)2019 Victoria Sue

Did not finish

In fact, not only did I not finish this book, I barely got past the first hour and a half.

Let me explain why: there is a peculiar penchant authors of M/M fiction have, especially when there's one obviously gay character and one of a more ambiguous sexuality, for giving the gay character the most insufferable, unbearable personality possible and thinking that his sexuality somehow makes up for it. Mel, in The Twelfth Knight, is a textbook example of this. He's swept away into this admittedly well-crafted lore by a handsome knight, and what does he immediately start to do? The answer is WHINE. He finds out he's destined to be the soulmate of one of the knights and that it might be Lancelot, and Lancelot, pining for someone else (Guinevere), balks slightly at the suggestion, and Mel comes at him with "It's because I'm GAY, right? Homophobe!" Seriously, the word "homophobe" is actually used because Lance tells him to wait ten seconds while they all figure things out before jumping into a relationship with him that will last eternity. Mel promptly proceeds to storm off like a child.

Now at this point, he's just been whisked away on a grand adventure, and is in the presence of several 1,500-year-old warriors on a mission to save humanity from the Forces of Evil™. There are several reactions to this situation that would be believable: skepticism, awe, reverence. Mel's reaction is to petulantly ask what he's even supposed to DO around this dump, and when he's gently told that maybe he could be their cook, he whines "You want me to COOK for you? I'm not your servant!" and I seriously just wanted the Forces of Evil™ to sweep in and slap the bejesus out of him. If a meteor hit the house where all the knights were living and destroyed all hope for humanity, it would still be worth it because at least I wouldn't have to listen to Mel mewl out another line chastising everyone for not carrying him around on a pink litter. They're being attacked by dark magic from beyond the moon but Mel simply WILL not lift a finger to help save the world until they get rid of those hideous curtains, and it's at this point I totally peaced out and threw in the towel on this book, this series, and, more than likely, this author.

Indulge me for a moment and let me address all the wonderful women who write M/M fiction. All of you dear, sweet, loving, progressive straight ladies are doing us all such a service, and I say that with no irony. You make up the bulk of the fiction I read, simply because there aren't many gay men and even fewer straight men publishing works with gay characters I can read. But please, please try to understand that not all of us talk or think about our sexuality 24/7. What's more, we're not all permanent victims. My first reaction if I met a presumably straight guy and found that he's less than fully on board with having an eternal soul bond with me would not be to call him a homophobe. In fact, not only are we not like that, we typically can't STAND guys like that. All the "GFY" books where the straight guy suddenly and inexplicably falls in love with a stereotypical, obnoxious gay dude? Not only would a straight guy not be interested in that type of character, but most gay guys wouldn't either.

Listen, I could deal with this if I thought at any point in the novel Mel would be contrite, or if any of the other characters wrinkled up their face in annoyance and said to him "Seriously, dude? Dial it back, like, a million percent." But instead, we get 1500 year old, world-weary warriors berating themselves and each other for "mistreating" him somehow, just like we always do in books with characters like this. I presume, of course, Lance will realize that Mel IS his soulmate, or whatever the word in this particular novel is. I could already see signs of it, and that would be great if Mel gave any sign of being worthy of it. And yes, I fully admit I only listened to 1/5 of the book, and it's possible and even likely that Mel totally proves that he's worthy and blah blah blah, but there are only so many hours in our lives and I'm not wasting them.

Greg Boudreaux or Tremblay or whatever his name is does an excellent job, because he's an excellent narrator. I wish he were a little more choosy with the books he narrates.

Forever isn't so boring when I know you're mine

First of all, as a true nerd I am, I looooove “The Legend of Arthur” and am pretty much obsessed with Camelot. So when I heard we are getting a story with Lancelot and Merlin as love interests from my favorite author Victoria Sue, I was on cloud nine. 😍 And then I heard Greg Tremblay is the narrator, I thought I was flying. 🥰 The downside, I had to wait until the audio comes out and boy, was it long when you want the time to gone. But it was soooo worth the wait in the beginning.

Mel lives in a difficult life as someone who sells his body just to survive. But things got even worse when he was attacked by monsters in a back alley. Until a knight in shining amor and the armor (and the sword part is quite very literal 😛)came rescuing him from the monsters. Suddenly, things aren’t so bad anymore. Apparently, there’s a whole new world that Mel didn’t know exist and he’s the linchpin of this whole mess. Apparently, Camelot was real and Lancelot in front of his eyes is THE Camelot .. not just someone who’s named after the legendary knight. And also Lancelot and he are fated mates and that the world may end any time. Talk about information overload for a guy. However Mel believes in Lance and the beautiful future they could have together. If only Lance sees that as he does.

I love it when Miss Sue writes urban fantasy. Her way of thinking and world building on UF stories are always very unique and fresh. 💜👏 And I think this is a similar case of Talon/Finn situation from her another UF series “Enhanced” because I was really really frustrated with Lance in the beginning. I mean, my god, that man is even more stubborn than a bull. 🙄 And it took him almost losing Mel to see that they belong together. At least he made up for his shortcomings. And I’ll be honest, even though I knew the original story of King Arthur and Camelot, I was a bit lost in the beginning because it’s a completely different take on the story. But the world building and the background story really shone in this story. I wanted a bit more romance and swoony moments between Mel and Lance but since I believe the second book is also about these two, I’m sure we will get more romance in the sequel. 😌 And surprise, Greg sounded so young in the story when he played Mel’s part and I was very pleasantly surprised. 😱 Just when I thought I knew everything about Mr. Tremblay’s performances, he then went and surprised me with more refreshing tricks up his sleeve. Kudos to your performance sir. For now, it ended with a HFN and I’m dying to get next book in my grabby little hands! 👋


4.5 Forever doesn’t sound so boring when I know you are mine stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫




Audio rating

Story - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Performance - 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I am not usually a fan of stories of Camelot.

This book made me realize that it's the traditional stories of Camelot that I'm not a fan of. When I realized that lancelot was the main character I almost quit. I'm glad I didn't. He's still got a stick up his butt, but Merlin is fun, sassy and just what he needs. The story pulled me in so much that I set aside several things and finished it in one go. I would recommend this book.
I received this audio book free and am reviewing my own opinion freely.

Lancelot in New York!!

I had fun listening to Greg Boudreaux perform this urban fantasy! His performance was a solid 4.53 Stars!!

The story goes something like this: Lancelot and other knights were granted immortality at the final battle against Morgan and Mordred by Merlin. This was to prepare them for the final battle. To do this they had to give up half of their souls only to reunite with them in the future.

The last 1500 years they spent looking for their other half and fighting the evil that Morgan unleashed on the world.

In comes Mel (aka Merlin) who inexplicably can see the evil creatures the knights have been fighting (mere mortals cannot see them). Recognized as a “tresor,” another half of a knight’s soul, the knights take him home to protect him.

Lance tries to deny Mel is his tresor. Mel is insulted. This goes on for much of the story. Unfortunately, this gets boring because they build up no tension—they could have, or the author could have played with destined souls fighting against each other. This is where I had a problem with the story and made me 3 star it. I felt no sexiness from Lance nor Mel. Major miss here.

Aside from the lack of chemistry, I REALLY LIKED THE STORY and the take on the Aurthurian legend! I will definitely read/listen to the next one!!

Fantastisches Buch

Die Arthur-Saga weitergesponnen in die heutige Zeit. Sehr spannend und gut erzählt. Ein fantastischer Start in eine neue Serie. Freue mich schon auf Buch 2 und ein wiederhören mit den Rittern der Tafelrunde.....hoffentlich wieder von Greg Boudreaux gelesen.

Love it!

Wonderful take on the knights of the round table. Can’t wait for the next book!

WOW

This book is AH-MAZING. I freaking loved it. It is such a great take on Camelot and fated mates. It is really worth listening to. A little bit of angst and great sexy times. Greg Boudreaux does such an amazing job. Seriously listen to this. I have such a book hangover after this book.

Really good!

This new series is awesome, I love the ebook and I can just say that the audio is even better, Greg Boudreaux is a great narrator, he brings this book to life and I enjoyed immensely, I’m looking forward to listening the next one! I highly recommend it.

This audiobook needs 10 stars!

Confession time: I have many books in my Audible library that have been narrated by Greg Boudreaux/Greg Tremblay (two names for the same person) but I had not listened to any of them until I received a copy of The Twelfth Knight by Victoria Sue.

I loved this book so much when I read it (see original review below) but I'm having trouble finding the right words to describe how much more I loved it while listening to it. OMG – the voices Greg does for the many different characters in this story!

When I started listening to it I had so many other things I should have been doing but instead I became totally absorbed in the story all over again and listened to it straight through. This is somewhat unusual for me when listening to a book that I've already read. It's especially unusual when it's only been a couple of months since I read the book.

All I can say is – if you enjoy fantasy and/or books based on King Arthur's Knights, one click this book or audiobook as fast as you can. It was truly amazing!

Below is my original review from October 2019:

I pretty much don't read fantasy-based romance stories, and I have to be honest here… When Victoria Sue first announced that she would be writing books based on King Arthur's Knights/Camelot, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. But I have been doing beta reads for her for a while now, so when she asked her beta group to read this for proofing, etc. I couldn't let myself say no.

OMG – she had me hooked nearly from the first paragraph. The Twelfth Knight is a fairly complex story. It does a lot of the world building that I'm sure will be needed in future books for the series, but I never felt like it was tedious information and it never caused the story to drag for me. In fact, it was just the opposite; it kept me enchanted with it.

Lance and his group were all Knights at Arthur's Roundtable and they are immortal (you will learn why when you read the book). Each of them must find the other half of their soul in order to help save the world. The Twelfth Knight focuses on the relationship between Lance and Mel, who is Lance's other half.

Mel's life hasn't been great ever since his beloved father died when he was ten. His mother became an alcoholic and drug addict which ended up with Mel in the care of family services at age thirteen. His experiences in the system weren't good and he ran away at age fifteen. He did what he had to in order to survive.

Lance doesn't want Mel to be the other half of his soul and he fights his feelings for quite a while. Mel is skeptical about everything that Lance and his friends tell him but it doesn't take him long to accept it.

The world that Victoria Sue has created is really special. The way she blends the past with present day is great. We meet a lot of different characters in this book and I hope there will be books for all of them.

With The Twelfth Knight, Victoria Sue has once again proven to me that she is a masterful storyteller. I have no idea how she comes up with her ideas for stories but I hope she doesn't run out of them any time soon. While Lance and Mel get a HFN in this story there are things that won't be answered until future books.

A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author or narrator.

***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***

Love it so much!!!

I love Victoria Sue's stories and this is no different. I love this take on The Knights of Camelot. When I read Mel and Lance's story I just fell in love with the story and the characters. So to listen to Greg Boudreaux narration is perfection! He took a already amazing story and made me fall in love all over again. This definitely makes me want more of this world. I can't wait for the next one!

Interesting story

The concept is intriguing though there is a lot of contradictions in the story. The narration is very good.

wonderful world to fall into!

I was gifted the AUDIO version of this book.
I struggled to write a blurby bit, that didn't give everything away, so I'm jumping straight in!
Mel meets Lance, and is pulled into a battle of good vs evil as old as the legends as Arthur and his Knights.
The melding of the legends and tales is seamless and very well done. I loved that there are Knights with well known names, but also newer, less known ones, who I hope to get to know as the series moves on.
Lance is old, and tired. He dispairs of ever meeting the other half to his soul, his Tresor, which was split from him (and indeed ALL the Knights lost a part of themselves to keep them alive) in the last battle with Morgana. Meeting Mel, however, was a shock to his system in more ways than one. It's also a bit of a catalyst that brings Morgana's beasts closer to the Knights door.
Mel hated being named after a wizard of legend, but as time moves along, he realises that maybe its not just his name that Mel shares with Merlin.
I loved that all is not immediately clear, what's going on. I loved that things move FAST (strangely, cos I don't usually!) for Mel and Lance. Loved that both men fought against the pull towards the other with all their might.
Loved that it took the strength of love to make them both see the truth, that they really were made for each other.
Greg Tremblay narrates.
Its been a while since I spent any time with Mr Tremblay in my ear, and I missed him!
I love his "reading" voice, the one that tells the story. Its deep and even and clear and I did not lose anything at key points when things got heated!
Love his voices, the accents of the Knights are distinctive enough to tell them all apart when in multi person conversations. All the supporting voices are, to be honest.
Tremblay gets over all the upheaval that Mel is facing, all the anguish that Lance carries in the half of his soul for all the Knights he wasn't able to save from the beasts. All those Knights who died across the time, they weigh heavy on him. Tremblay gets over just how much Mel lifts that weight, without even trying.
Tremblay also gets over just how much Lucan fights what he feels for Tom, the youngest member of this band of Knights. Tom isn't a Knight, but he is Lucan's Tresor, and their book is next.
I loved this!
5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narrations
5 stars overall
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Got bogged down

This story got really bogged down with info dumping which pulled you away from the story, so I found myself getting bored and was glad when I got to the end. Nice idea, but just didn’t work for me.

Fantastic series start

Fantastic start to a new series. Can hardly wait to hear how it will continue.

Cracking good yarn!

I’ve read this 3 times as a book and loved it each time. Listening to Greg Boudreaux’s narrative is like having a film in your ears, the places are clear enough to imagine the bricks, the people ( individualised marvellously by Greg) are so real. The mixture of Arthurian legend and modern day trouble with the Ursas gels so well. Mel is so very 21st century, Lance is the epitome of an Olde World English Knight. They are awesome together.
There’s a lot more to come and I can’t wait!

New Take on Camelot

Oh wow. What an interesting take on the tales of the Camelot. I'm a big fan of Victoria Sue's other urban fantasy series and I'm happy this one did not disappoint. The world building in this one is quite enchanting. The characters are well developed and very interesting. And romance, the romance. Also the story, the world is complex and really interesting.

Ms Sue is a master storyteller, that's a given, but in tandem with a great narrator like Greg Boudreaux makes this audiobook worth all the stars and credit!

Arthurian legends!

I loved this story based on Sir Lancelot and Merlin in a very unique view. Nice world building, and the characters are all rich and interesting. I really want to listen to Thomas story. I really enjoyed Lance and Mel adventures and journey to love.
Great narration by Mr. Boudreaux...🎧

Wow, how exciting

I've always loved the Arthurian legend, so getting an MM romance based on it is like a dream come true. The story is really exciting and intriguing. This beautifully crafted tale kept me on my toes to the last line.
The narration was awesome too.