March 29, 2012

The False Prince - Jennifer Nielsen

Young Adult
Pages: 352
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: April 1, 2012


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.

I really, truly loved this one.  It's not as amazingly written as my favorite Epic Fantasies but nevertheless, it was great. Maybe just because it's first person narration, told from Sage's point of view (not all of it, but you will see that as you go) and normally high fantasies delve a little more into a poetic writing when written in third person. But Sage's voice seemed very modern and witty, which was one of the things I loved about him. So, by no means am I saying that the writing is less than great, it actually flows neatly and the voice is very gripping. I've been pondering on how to review it because I'm not sure if it's YA or MG.

Either way, it felt YA to me. I absolutely adored Sage and I fell in love with the book even more near the end, and that left me thirsty for the sequel. I seriously cannot wait. This will be one of my most-wanted next year. Nielsen manages to give us a narrator that keeps us entertained while withholding bits of information, in a rather brilliant way. We find things that Sage has done throughout that he has never mentioned, and at first this bothered me, but ultimately I saw the amazingness in it.

While there is not too much world-building in this one, because the boys are prisoners, I felt comfortable in their world and I expect to see a lot more insight to the Kingdoms in the next one. Chapters are very short making this a very easy read.

What I liked the most, besides Sage? Shocking twist. That's always a big plus in a book. Count this in your Fantasy list for this year! 




4 comments:

  1. Ohh sounds amazing! I can't wait to read it, specially because the protagonist is male :D

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  2. Loved this book. And Sage was amazing. Glad to hear you liked it as well.

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  3. This has been on my TBR forever!! I seriously can't wait to get my greedy little hands on it :P Awesome review!

    All the best ♥
    Mackenzie Oh, For the Love of Books!

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  4. Super psyched for this one-I've seen a lot of good things and I think I will really enjoy it once I get my copy!

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