The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

SYNOPSIS

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.

Synopsis from Goodreads

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PERSONAL REVIEW

This is an older series but I only recently read it on a recommendation from a friend...and I thought it was pretty good. Definitely my favourite thing about the book was the storytelling choice; I thought that was really well done. In general, this was a pretty light read and I'm excited to find what happens next in the trilogy. 

Creative Storytelling: 
​I absolutely LOVED the way that this story was written. Written only from Sage's perspective, we follow along as he and two other orphans are trained to become the new Prince. While I didn't completely buy how quick the timeline was in this book (2 weeks??) I did love the massive reveal that we get near the end. I thought the way that this first book was wrapped up was so well done and puts the story and its reader in position to find out what will happen next. 

Entertaining Characters: 
I thought all of the characters were fun and easy to read about. We obviously spend the most time with Sage, but I still really liked getting to know Imogen, Tobias, Mott, and Roden. I wasn't completely sold on Roden "betrayal" at the end of the book -- it seemed really forced, especially considering that Sage was going to bring him into the palace with him. I know that it's a setup for the next book, but I just didn't buy it. I did love Imogen and I can't wait to spend more time learning about her!

Lots of Character Growth Available for Future Books: 
I like when we meet characters, but we don't learn absolutely everything about them. It's important to me that there is room for them to grow and change in future books, otherwise the series falls flat. In this case, we've been introduced to many characters (some just very briefly, like the Princess) so there's so many places that the next two books can take these characters. I love how The False Prince ends with so much potential for what will happen next. Sage is entertaining, but I think we need the chance to see other characters as well so that the next book doesn't get bogged down by internal conversations. 

Overall, this was an easy and fun read. I think the best part for me was definitely the way the story was told -- I was completely convinced that Sage was nothing more then an orphan and was completely stunned to find the truth. I'm looking forward to what happens next to him and his friends!

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FINAL RATING: 3.5/5