The False Prince book review

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
on April 1, 2012
Pages: 342
Goodreads

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.

The False Prince was a reread for me and although I knew the ending it didn’t ruin the enjoyment of the overall book for me as there were loads of details that had forgotten all about and added extras at the end that I didn’t even realised had happened. I think when I first read this book I was fully enthralled in my YA fantasy obsession and I think this book is a perfect book for anyone looking to jump into fantasy but is intimidated by the huge books that are usual for the genre. This book has it all, political intrigue, sword fighting, drama with regents and a betrothed princess. I really did forget how much I loved this book and I’m sad that I never carried on with the series, something I am going to remedy.

The three main characters in The False Prince are the three orphans who are competing to become Prince Jaron, Tobias, Sage and Roden. I think my favourite would have to be Sage but I think that’s only because we saw the world through his eyes and his sarcasm was on point. I do however have a certain amount of love for the other two as well, there was definitely a discrepancy between them all and how they ended up having to keep up appearances. I loved that they were all individuals and they each had their own character, what I will say those is that this book is very predictable and I think the fact that we don’t get a lot of backstory on any of the characters plays into this. I would have loved for every character in this book to be well-rounded and complete.

I think for me the best bits of The False Prince was definitely the teaching of the different roles and the time spent at the manor. I think watching these three boys grow into completely different people in a relaxed and natural manner was really well done. I was intrigued by each of them and I loved watching allegiances and friendships grow and change. It was definitely an interesting concept and I loved waiting to find out what was going on and how everything was going to work itself out. I thought that the pacing throughout this book was really well done, it was slow and steady which made for a great read.

One thing I did struggle with when it came to The False Prince was the predictability of it all. I think there were moments that kept the twist relatively under wraps but overall there was nothing surprising about this book or how it ends. I wish there had been more of a twist or climax at the end because I think it would have made for a great character arc.

I actually would recommend this book, I really loved the reread of this. I think it’s the start of a great series and I can’t wait to read the next book and see what’s next for all the characters!

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!