Title: The False Prince
Author: Jennifer Nielsen
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Series: Ascendance Trilogy, #1
Paperback: 352 pages
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ (4.8)
Recommended Season to Read: Spring
Choose to lie…or choose to die.
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.
Reading this book was a real treat. Sage is such a cunning person, and makes the funniest remarks! I mostly read YA novels, so reading this book was refreshing, in a way (because it is for a younger public too). It has this lighthearted air to it that really drew me in.
But first, I’ll back up. Sage is an orphan, looked down upon, and underestimated. One day, Conner, a rich aristocrat, brings him and three other orphans to his grand mansion. Conner plans for one them to impersonate Prince Jaron. Sage and the others must learn everything about Jaron and what he knew. In the end, only one boy is chosen. As the story unrolls, Sage uncovers deeper meanings and dangerous secrets behind Conner’s mischievous plans. He soon realizes it might not only be his future that is threatened, but the whole kingdom’s.
As soon as I read the first sentence, my hands were glued to the book. Sage has so much character, Nielsen really succeeded in making his personality stand out. Sage is probably one of the most cunning and sharp-witted characters I know. WARNING: the rest of this paragraph might contain minor spoilers, I repeat: the rest of this paragraph may contain spoilers!!!! Feel free to skip this paragraph if you are sensitive to spoilers. Anyways, I need to mention the only thing that upset me about this book. It was the fact that Nielsen decided to keep us readers in the dark as to what was really happening around Sage. If you read the book you know that Sage knew and did many things throughout the book that we readers weren’t aware of. When Nielsen revealed to us in the end what Sage truly thought and did during the story, I was quite surprised. It upset me how Sage kept so many things from us and only in the end could I know all the details. It did create excitement when everything was revealed to us, though. And personally, as I was reading, I didn’t feel like some details about Sage’s doings were obscured.
The rest is spoiler free, I promise! The spoiler in the forgoing paragraph wasn’t really a spoiler, but I know some readers (like me) hate having clues about the ending. So, moving on, one thing that I enjoyed immensely about The False Prince is the way the story was written. The read was very engaging, humorous, and really hooked me in. Sage is also an interesting character. He is so unpredictable, I started each new page with no idea of what trick he will perform next. Honestly, that’s how I like reading a book: having no idea of what to expect of an exceptional story!
I would recommend The False Prince to anybody, really. Particularly to people searching for a fresh, new book, with cunning, smart characters. This fantabulous story is sure to mesmerize all of its readers!
Advertisements Share this:
