littleread1
Written on May 1, 2017
If you love the danger and sword-fighting of MERLIN, you'll like this! 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. As Sage's journey continues, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally a truth is revealed that proves more dangerous than all of the lies put together.
- ISBN13 9781407133058
- Publish Date 7 June 2012 (first published 1 April 2012)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 June 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Scholastic
- Format Paperback
- Pages 352
- Language English
Reviews
layawaydragon
Written on Apr 20, 2016
My previous excursions in middle grade books didn’t go well. Not just plots being obvious and stale, but the characters weren’t people, but abstract shadows. None of that is a problem in The False Prince.
In the beginning I was sure of where this was going. It felt so obvious. But as it went on, I was less sure and more confused. What I knew…I doubted. Sage threw me and I don’t know what’s going to happen next. And I can’t wait to find out.
World-building:
Sure, so far it’s not an original high fantasy. The world isn’t explored far. What we do see is the standard several contentious countries, high court in-fighting drama, and economic strife inside Carthya.
I'm not all that excited about this aspect, but it's solid.
Characters:
Sage is a fantastic protagonist. He’s mischievous clever trickster with layers.
I haven't read such a great male YA perspective in a long time. He seems able to manipulate and do it all but I'm sure we'll see more downsides now he's out of his element and seemingly clueless.
He’s unreliable, dramatic, and doesn’t back down from what he thinks is right. He psyched me and everyone else out. Even after his truth is revealed his plan isn’t. I couldn’t stop reading. I had to find out what he was going to do and how he was going to pull it off. His narration MADE this book.
The other boys aren't nearly as great, but they're no slouch in the character department either. I'm really excited actually to see how one of them turns out next.
The Villain had the same type of surprising but *facepalm* obvious reveal that I'm so impressed with. He's not so well done, being so morally repugnant but I like how it illustrates how people justify the terrible to themselves.
There aren't many women or girl characters but what I see so far is good. I'm impressed with The Servant's sneakiness and tactics. The Princess we only meet briefly but I like her fire.
Plot:
It somehow makes the obvious surprising and new. The focus is so tight in The False Prince, I honestly don't know what's coming in the next book.
And I will absolutely be continuing.
KitsuneBae
Written on Mar 21, 2016
Chelsea
Written on Mar 1, 2016
1. I was originally going to give this book 4 stars because it was a teeny bit predictable, but I gave it 5 because the narrator or this audio book was fantastic!
2. I loved all the characters and how they evolved throughout the story. The author didn't really good job with that.
3. The plot was a little bit predictable but I really liked it anyways. There were still enough twists and turns to keep me really entertained.
4. I'm really looking forward to the next book! I'm hoping we learn more about the kingdom and there's a few characters I'd like to see more of.
BookeryBliss
Written on Jan 19, 2016
nitzan_schwarz
Written on Oct 6, 2014
To read this review and more check out Afterwords!
Confession time: I start a shit ton of series but finish only a fraction of them. And it's only because they're bad about a third of the time. The rest is... well, because I'm stupid, okay?
Take The False Prince for example. I truly and honestly loved this book when I first read it in 2014. I finished it being wowed, and excited, and super interested in reading the rest of the series. SUPER INTERESTED, okay?
But then came the waiting period until the second book made it into my doorstep, and somehow, by the time I got it, I had forgotten that I loved the first one. Just... forgotten. So I put it on the shelf and barely even looked at it from that day on.
Finally, fate intervened. The third and final book was available on Kindle for, like, 3 dollars, and I succumbed and bought it. Now, I had no reason not to finish the series, and better yet, I was thinking of it again. Now, I couldn't just start with the second book, could I? Naturally, I had to re-read the first book first. And then it would be time for... THE BINGE!
Now, originally, I had given this book a 5 star rating. As I re-read this novel I had to concede that it was no longer a five star for me. It's still a wonderful story that I highly recommend, which is why I gave it a very respectable 4 star, but there were some things that just fell short considering I knew what was coming.
My experience with The False Prince, both times, started out slow. This book doesn't immediately make me unable to put it down. It took a while, say eighty to a hundred pages, for me to suddenly be grabbed by the need to read it. But then, when it came, it didn't let go until I finished reading, so I guess all in all it's a definite win for the book.
The strongest part of this novel is, hands down, Sage himself. As far as main characters go, he is a long way from perfect, and that's actually why I loved him so much. He is a brave, clever, headstrong boy. Who is also reckless, sharp-tongued and stubborn, with far too much ego at times. But he has a good heart, and his actions are always derived from that place. In fact, he almost never does anything for his own sake, but he always makes it appear like that's what he's all about, which just... it just made him extra lovable in my eyes.
Next to Sage is a cast of interesting characters; first, we have Tobias and Roden, the other two orphans fighting for the title of prince. These two fought for my affection and hatred throughout the whole book, and I honestly didn't know who I would end up loving and who I would end up disliking until the final chapters.
Then we have Imogen, a servant girl in Connor's house who catches Sage's attention. She is a fierce lady whom I loved, although her storyline made less sense to me the second time around. I remember feeling a bit baffled by the apparent affection between these two the first time around as well, but I definitely felt it stronger with this re-read. I just don't quite understand Sage's attachment and gratitude to her, seeing as she had very little to do with the actual plot.
It kind of felt the way it does when you listen to someone's conversation, then something distracts you and you return to listening at the end. You feel like you've missed something in the reasoning and progress of the story, even if you get the general gist of things. I am curious to see how their relationship develops--if at all--throughout this series.
Then we've got Mott, Connor's loyal right-hand man, and one of my favorite characters. Mott and Sage start off on the wrong foot but boy does he prove himself to be a good man at the end there. He's kind of, like, the father figure Sage has always needed but never had, you know? And, speaking of the devil, Connor himself was quite interesting as well. I never liked the guy, but I never quite hated him, either, if that makes sense?
Now, going into this novel the second time, I obviously knew what was coming. And even though I pretty much called it on my first read as well, I had much more time to look for the clues... and not all of them add up. Sometimes, Nielsen puts in paragraphs that make no sense in light of what's to come, and that feels like a real flat attempt at misdirection that could've been solved if only things had been phrased a little differently. I still feel things were very well done, but not as tidy as I originally thought they were.
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Original Review
Originally published on my blog.
When I started reading The False Prince, I wasn't sure of it. It took a while for me to truly become immersed in this story, but once I did, it didn't let go. I had to know what happens next, who will live and who will die and how does Sage gets out of this mess?
Speaking of Sage, I love him as a main character. He is a flawed, brave, sharp-tongued, clever, headstrong boy. His positive qualities overweight his bad ones by a hair, which makes him so human and lovable. Though, he is clearly something special.
Next to him is a cast of interesting characters, from the two other boys - Tobias and Roden, who fought for my affection and my hatred throughout the whole book, Imogen, whom I honestly loved, Mott, Connor's loyal right hand (love you dude!), and Connor himself, who I kept second guessing about.
This book is filled with that - second guessing, I mean. You are never quite sure who's in the right and who's in the wrong. Who you can trust and who you can't. Who will be an ally and who would be an enemy. And I loved it.
I loved that the big twist - though I guessed it from literally the first moment - wasn't obvious. It was actually very underhanded, very subtly hinted at. And the book never failed to surprise me in regard to everything else.
I thought everything was beautifully done.
The style of writing - and honestly, story - strongly reminded me of The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, one of my absolute favorite books. So I highly recommend this book for fans of Turner.
I don't think I'll get the chance to read the sequels any time soon - I have to order them, and I don't know if I've told you, but I'm starting my mandatory services in the army, so I might not have time, but I swear to god I will do it the first chance I get because I just have to know where this is going from here.
e_rodz_leb
Written on Jun 6, 2014
The False Prince is in essence a fantasy. Sadly, one of the most difficult parts of writing a fantasy is the world building and I feel that it was deficient here. We do know that our characters live in the country of Carthya and that it’s in the brink of civil war. We also get a lesson on the way the country’s government works and the royal family, but that’s it. I fell like a lot more could have been done to build this world.
There are two things that make this book so memorable to me, one is the plot and the second is Sage. The plot is a gem. I cannot tell you that I didn’t suspect the truth, but I couldn’t have predicted anything else that happened. The story is complicated, full of intrigue, politics, a bit of romance, challenges and twists and turns. I think it is supposed to be a middle grade series, but it doesn’t feel like one.
On to Sage. If you recall, he is the second reason why I adored this book. What an incredible character! Sage is one of the three orphan boys that Conner collects for is evil plan (*insert malevolent laugh here*) Together with Roden and Tobias, he go through the motions of getting trained to be a prince. They get lessons on a lot of things, such as horse riding, sword fighting, reading, history, and manners. Oh, Sage! He is a thief, irreverent, proud, unpredictable, reckless, adventurous, and a master strategist. You cannot appreciate his awesomeness until almost the end.
The characters are so well developed. Roden, and Tobias are competing with Sage (to me there wasn’t really a competition), but Sage offers them protection and friendship. They each have their reasons for wanting to be prince, and for working hard towards that goal, even if they have to sabotage each other. Conner is a despicable man. He is cruel, conceited, and he belief himself to be all-powerful.
The story is told from Sage’s point of view, except for a part towards the end where the ‘truth’ is explained to the reader in the third person. As I was listening to the book, I didn’t find this awkward at all. The writing is genius to go hand in hand with the amazing plot. I already bought The Runaway King, the next book of the series and I hope to start reading it soon. I also saw that the book was purchased for movie, well signed me up!
About the narration: It’s the first book narrated by Charlie McWade that I’ve listen to before and I really liked it. The voices were distinct from each other as were the accents too. This must have been difficult as most of the characters were male.
lizarodz
Written on Jun 6, 2014
The False Prince is in essence a fantasy. Sadly, one of the most difficult parts of writing a fantasy is the world building and I feel that it was deficient here. We do know that our characters live in the country of Carthya and that it’s in the brink of civil war. We also get a lesson on the way the country’s government works and the royal family, but that’s it. I fell like a lot more could have been done to build this world.
There are two things that make this book so memorable to me, one is the plot and the second is Sage. The plot is a gem. I cannot tell you that I didn’t suspect the truth, but I couldn’t have predicted anything else that happened. The story is complicated, full of intrigue, politics, a bit of romance, challenges and twists and turns. I think it is supposed to be a middle grade series, but it doesn’t feel like one.
On to Sage. If you recall, he is the second reason why I adored this book. What an incredible character! Sage is one of the three orphan boys that Conner collects for is evil plan (*insert malevolent laugh here*) Together with Roden and Tobias, he go through the motions of getting trained to be a prince. They get lessons on a lot of things, such as horse riding, sword fighting, reading, history, and manners. Oh, Sage! He is a thief, irreverent, proud, unpredictable, reckless, adventurous, and a master strategist. You cannot appreciate his awesomeness until almost the end.
The characters are so well developed. Roden, and Tobias are competing with Sage (to me there wasn’t really a competition), but Sage offers them protection and friendship. They each have their reasons for wanting to be prince, and for working hard towards that goal, even if they have to sabotage each other. Conner is a despicable man. He is cruel, conceited, and he belief himself to be all-powerful.
The story is told from Sage’s point of view, except for a part towards the end where the ‘truth’ is explained to the reader in the third person. As I was listening to the book, I didn’t find this awkward at all. The writing is genius to go hand in hand with the amazing plot. I already bought The Runaway King, the next book of the series and I hope to start reading it soon. I also saw that the book was purchased for movie, well signed me up!
About the narration: It’s the first book narrated by Charlie McWade that I’ve listen to before and I really liked it. The voices were distinct from each other as were the accents too. This must have been difficult as most of the characters were male.
tellemonstar
Written on Apr 12, 2014
The first chapter or two of the book is a little bit slow, purely because some things have to be explained and we need to be shown the main adults in this story and what they are, for appearances sake anyway, like. There are one or two minor things that are a little bit confusing but they are soon cleared up as the story goes on.
Sage, the protagonist of the series, is fairly young to be taking on the role of prince and king, however there is much, much more to young Sage than initally meets the eye. Jennifer Nielsen weaves Sage's background through the main plot quite well, and you begin to suspect certain things about him, and these are more or less confirmed as the book goes on.
Surprisingly for a middle grade/young adult novel set in medieveal times, there is no magic in this story, and to be honest it doesn't need it. The story works quite well without relying on magic to carry it along. Sage and the other boys are enough to give the plot some colour without overdoing it at the same time.
As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, Sage is a boy with several secrets, one of which may well threaten the whole escapade should certain people find out about it. From about halfway through there are big flashing arrows pointing the reader to a couple of things that will ultimately alter the course of what happens to the characters. These are done quite intentionally, for the reader becomes aware of these things well before other characters do, which then makes you wonder when the others are going to figure it out/find it out.
The book finishes neatly with a 'what's going to happen in the future' ending as opposed to some great big cliffhanger, which is nice for a change.
Amanda
Written on Mar 20, 2014
Ahem.
So a list review will have to suffice. And a quick note: I have a feeling this is the kind of book that holds my attention in audiobook, but I have doubts about how much I would enjoy it in print form. Sometimes books are just better when they're read to you.
The False Prince is for people who...
...enjoy plotting and political intrigue
...have ever wanted to go from rags to riches
...don't mind that this is just the beginning of Sage's journey (I'm pretending everything's okay as the book ended)
...love characters with secrets
...like wondering how everything is going to work out *flails*