Review Detail

5.0 1

King of Nothing Featured

Young Adult Fiction 310

Intriguing look at the choices teens make

April 09, 2026 (Updated: June 24, 2026)

Overall rating

4.7

Plot

4.0

Characters

5.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Anton is being raised in South London by his mother, a project manager for social services charities, while his father is imprisoned for a violent crime. He's in ninth grade, and hangs out with a group of boys including Kehinde, Marcus, and Caleb. The boys see no point in school, other than to harass teachers and goof off, in order to be "cool" in the eyes of their classmates. The fact that Anton's father is in prison makes others somewhat afraid of him, making him even cooler. When he gets into yet another confrontation, and also doesn't take care of his grandmother as well as his mother would like, his mother changes the Wi-Fi password and lets Anton know he won't have access to the Internet for a month. When even this doesn't stop him, she enrolls him in an after-school program called Happy Campers at a center she works with. There, Anton runs in to Matthew, a boy who goes to his school and who is constantly bullied. The center has camping trips, social service projects, and talks from specialists about things like developing healthy behaviors and identities. Reluctant to embrace anything at the center at first, Anton starts to realize that his friends are not making good choices, and he is happier when he engages in healthier behavior. He helps Matthew reinvent himself in order to attract a girl he likes, and develops a relationship with another girl, Rochelle. After his father is released from prison and he can no longer keep his relationship with Matthew secret from Kehinde, Anton must decide which life path he would like to follow.

Good Points

I have seen an unfortunate number of young men like Anton who think it is amusing to disrupt classes, make fun of others, and ignore schoolwork, so this is definitely a realistic book. Being set in London does give it a different flavor, with school uniforms and slightly different interests. Anton is a rather unpleasant character at first, especially when dealing with his ailing grandmother, but he develops as a character in a very constructive way over the course of the book. Matthew is very formal and proper, but struggles with his own family issues. His personality quirks, along with his inclusion in the Happy Campers group, made me wonder if he was on the autism spectrum, but there is no formal diagnosis stated.

Kehinde's treatment of girls and women is problematic, but definitely called out. After the talk at the center, Anton starts to look at his own actions and thinks about how he would feel if people put strictures on his mother's behavior. When he hears similarly toxic opinions from his own father, he takes a critical look at what he might want to change in his own life. It's very insightful of him to want to distance himself from his original friend group.

I definitely appreciated that language and situations were circumspect, and I would not hesitate to hand this to a middle school reader. My only concern is that the book is on the long side and rather British, and the sort of student who would benefit from it might be a bit daunted by the length.

There is a definite lack of books exploring the every day relationships and activities of older teen boys, so this was good to see. Lessore has written several other books that maye not be available in the US, but I will have to look into his 2025 Dropping Beats. This is a good companion to Jung's The Boys in the Back Row, Brown's Rhythm & Muse, and Ross's The Amazing Beef Squad: Never Say Die.