The Player King by Avi

The Player King

by Avi

In 1486 England, a penniless kitchen boy named Lambert Simnel is told by a mysterious friar that he, Lambert, is actually Prince Edward, the true King of England, setting him on a dangerous course to regain the throne. Based on a true story.

Reviewed by Briana @ Pages Unbound on

3 of 5 stars

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Initial: This is probably a perfectly fine lower middle grade novel, but I find it hard to go higher than three stars because the plot seems so rushed and under-developed (which, to be fair, is probably just a lower middle grade novel thing and not a fault particular to this book). However, it's hard to get behind a book that has a dramatic battle in about three pages, though I did enjoy the overarching storyline. The prose is sort of pseudo-medieval, enough to give young readers a taste of "old-timey" language without, perhaps, being too overwhelming. As someone who reads a lot of actual medieval texts, though, I found the constant use of words like "darkful" and "mightiful" more odd than anything else, even though they were in fact in use during the 1400s.

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  • 29 December, 2017: Reviewed