The False Princess

by Eilis O'Neal

For sixteen years, Nalia has been raised as the princess of Thorvaldor, but one day she learns that her real name is Sinda and that she is part of a complicated plot that would change the future of her country forever.

• ISBN10: 1606840797
• ISBN13: 9781606840795
• Publish Date: 25 January 2011 (first published 13 July 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 27 July 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Egmontusa
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 319
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

So this one wins "best unexpected good read" award of the year so far. I picked it up because it fit a certain category for my reading challenge, but I really wasn't thinking much of it based on the cover (I know, I'm prejudiced). I'm so, so glad it surprised me.

Sixteen-year-old Nalia's life is completely upturned when she discovers she's not actually the princess of Thorvaldor. Before she was born, an oracle predicted the real Nalia might die a violent death before she turned sixteen. To protect the princess, she was swapped with a girl named Sinda, who turns out to be our protagonist. After the oracle's prophecy is "beaten", the kingdom sends Sinda out to her only surviving relative with a handful of coins and a completely lost sense of direction as thanks.

But Sinda learns she has a dangerous amount of magic suppressed by the spell that had made her look like the real Nalia. When she becomes a wizard's scribe, she discovers a new sense of purpose and another secret behind the oracle's prophecy.

I literally thought this would be another typical "princess book", you know, one of those books you read as a kid and loved, but read later as an adult and realized it was just a no-substance type of kid's book. But this book is loaded with twists and turns and surprises that really makes it shine as a book, not just another white protag princess book (although yeah, it's really just a white-protag book, I'll be honest).

I loved all the character development during the first half of the book. It was written in a very mature way, but also in a way appropriate for a young adult audience. During the second half, though, so much plot-wise was happening that it overshadowed any character development or even any kind of introspection whatsoever. I wish there were more interaction between characters too, but again, there was so much ... plot happening that there was just no room for any interaction or anything but pagetime to move the plot ahead.

I guess I just wish there was more. More world building, more meat to the story, more there that expanded the story. That might have pushed this YA novel into two or three books, but I just wish there was more to it. What's the backstory behind this Nameless God? It's always mentioned, but I felt there needed to be more behind it/him, more there than just a "Nameless God" present to serve as a "god" figure to be worshipped. I don't know. I just wanted more, I guess.

Anyway, a good princess story!

[boghunden]

Jeg fik min søster til at vælge denne bog blandt alle mine ebøger og jeg forventede absolut intet. Synopsen lød okay, men jeg regnede egentlig lidt med at jeg ville blive skuffet. Det blev jeg ikke.

Sproget var ikke noget at råbe hurra for, det var for det meste fladt og kedeligt, men der var et par sjove navne og stednavne iblandt. Jeg mener, selve byen hed Vivaskari. Det er ikke helt normalt. Det var med til lige at sætte et ekstra magisk præg over det. Desværre var resten bare det samme kedelige, flade sprog, som vi kender fra en masse andre ungdomsbøger, så den udmærkede sig ikke på nogen måde her.

Karaktererne var okay, der var desværre bare ikke særlig stor udvikling i deres personligheder. Jeg følte ikke hovedpersonen, Sinda, lærte noget som helst undervejs. Kiernan, hendes bedste ven, var imidlertid humoristisk og beskrevet med en varme, men heller ikke han blev udviklet. Han blev ved at virke stædig og bedrevidende.

Plotmæssigt var bogen hyggelig. Den havde en del magi og en smule kærlighed, men måden den strøg henover sidstnævnte på, var desværre ret skuffende. Den havde elementerne med undervejs for til sidst bare lige at glide fladt henover dem. Rigtig ærgerligt, når nu der var lagt op til noget andet og mere.

Generelt var bogen okay, den var lidt anderledes end de sidste mange bøger jeg har læst, og så var den bare hyggelig at sidde og læse i. Det er ikke en bog jeg direkte vil gå ud og anbefale, men det er bestemt heller ikke en bog jeg vil frafåde folk at læse.

[mrs_mander_reads]

Quick read. I enjoyed the story and thought it moved along well. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to read a one-shot that's catchy.

[violetpeanut]

Meh. This was just ok. It was a fairly predictable fairy tale about a girl raised as the princess who finds that, in fact, she is an ordinary girl. She was switched at birth to protect the real princess from assassination.

There was nothing really wrong or bad about this book. It's an entertaining story that I'm sure many people will love. It just didn't do it for me. I think it was a little predictable, there were too many coincidences and the main character was wishy-washy.

[ladygrey]

This was a fun book with good characters that I wanted to like more than I did.

I liked that all the characters are flawed and make bad choices, even if I didn't like reading when they did. I liked the story quite a bit and enjoyed the way magic is handled. I wanted more magic. Kiernan was great which made everything more interesting.

But, overall I had a hard time reading this book because there was so much of Sinda's introspection, I got tired of it and just wanted the story to move forward or the characters to interact or something to happen. If it had been a little bit tighter and spent a little more time with the characters while retaining its sense of fun and romance I would have liked it a lot better.

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a ChapterFirst Sentence: The day they came to tell me, I was in one of the gardens with Kiernan, trying to decipher a three-hundred-year-old map of the palace grounds.

Super Brief Review: A wonderful story about a girl whose entire life has been a lie.

Favorite Quotes: Substitute princes, failed dyer, scribe – none of those role had prepared me for this.

Slightly Longer Review: The False Princess is an amazing tale that grabbed my attention from the first chapter. Sinda was very easy to relate to and didn’t get on my nerves. The only life that she has ever known is stripped from her and she’s tossed aside and forgotten like a used Kleenex. As a reader I understood clearly both sides of the story but I felt that the way Sinda was left behind was extremely harsh. Perhaps this was done on purpose so that I would bond with Sinda instantly.

Sinda leaves the palace without putting up much argument and accepts her new role in life with a sort of numbness. Life for Sinda outside of the palace is exceptionally difficult. She was only ever prepared for life as a future ruler. The day to day life of the working man is hard to adjust to but not for a lack of trying. This is something that I truly admired in Sinda. She wanted to learn how to do everything that she could. She just had a hard time picking up the dying trade, or cooking, or cleaning….you get the picture.

Sinda decides to return to the only city that she can really call home. She has no clue that doing so will start into motion the biggest adventure of her life.

Sinda is surrounded by great secondary characters and without them the story would probably not have been the same. O’Neal does a wonderful job setting up her story and then following through with almost non-stop action. Anyone who enjoys a good adventure story with a mix of fantasy and young adult romance should pick up this book!