The False Princess

by Eilis O'Neal

[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!