The False Prince Review

Hey Blogger Buds,

I've got a book review today: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. It was absolutely amazing.

Blurby:

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing.

To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

Review:

tl;dr version: Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
full version: I absolutely loved this books. All the characters were very real, and super charming.

CHARACTERS

Um...I think that's the wrong kind of sage...

All of the characters were super-lovable, even the bad guys. (Okay, I didn't love the bad guys, but they were still great!) Sage was a pleasure. Jennifer A Nielsen really captured his essence, and the voice was so distinctive. He was a brilliant and brilliantly funny main character. Super charming. I never got tired of his exploits. He manages to hide details from the reader without you guessing at a thing. (Well, you get suspicious, but that's because he's just one of those mischief-loving types that you should very well be suspicious of.) The only drawback was that Sage paid very close attention to detail, and would describe the way other characters looked. When I first meet three characters, the detailed descriptions of them all goes over my head a little bit.
The other characters were all fantastic as well. Sage's rivals were very mysterious, and Master Conner, who was the puppeteer in this whole charade, was the Severus Snape of The False Prince.
There is a...like interest? It was a bit insta- and not intense enough to be called love, but there was a girl that caught Sage's eye. Not a particularly memorable relationship, though.

WORLD-BUILDING

The kingdom of Carthya was very interesting, and the political system was both very complex and very simple. There's no magic--the niche is called Medieval Fantasy, which is also a personal favorite of mine.

The plot is a brilliant one, which I absolutely loved. And I didn't start guessing at the "big reveal" until 50-ish pages before it was, well, revealed.

Also: I have a secret love for political intrigue books that can pull it off. This one did. (This is, by the way, why I've been meaning to get my hands on Game of Thrones.)

OTHER STUFF

I don't really know what else to say. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I am so glad there's a sequel, because I would be incredibly sad if I couldn't have more Sage. MOAR SAGE!!!! When the third book ends, I don't know what I will do...

Rating: 8* (out of 5) This book was amazing. Better than 5* could equal.

Song: Viva La Vida by Coldplay (a little reversed, but this is it)

For those of you who have read The False Prince, what did you think? If you didn't, do you plan to? I hope the answer is yes!

Peace,

Riv

PS: Sorry this post is going up so late. It takes many long hours to summarize all of the awesome that is this book.