Writer's Wednesday || The False Prince Book Review

Helloo, y'all! I decided I'd do another book review for Writer's Wednesday this week. Thought I would put this book up before it's sequel comes out (which I am *oober oober* excited about!)

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Neilson

Premise: Sage is an orphan and a thief. He has had to steal and lie his way through life, depending on his quick wits to keep him out of trouble, while his quick tongue always manages to get him into trouble. When Lord Conner, one of twenty regents in the court, kidnaps him and three other boys, Sage is thrown into a tangle of evil plots and plans to gain the throne, unraveling the deepest secret of the kingdom in the process.

Stars: 5

Language: None (besides some phrases like “the devils take you”)

Age Range: 10+

Upfront, let me just say this is now one of my all-time favorite books. Cleverly executed and written, Jennifer A. Neilson wove this story with skill. Sage, the protagonist, is funny and witty, and you instantly love him. He is extremely stubborn, but that just adds to the plot all the more. But he is also extremely sharp-tongued, and at points in the book I found myself feeling bad for the other characters who had to bear with him.

The flowing moral of this story is hard to see, but I would have to say its courage, or, in less formal terms, not-giving-in.  The hero, Sage, deals with not being manipulated or controlled by Conner the entire book, even at points he puts his life on the line to show he won’t give in to Conner’s manipulation.

That, by itself, is one of the reasons I absolutely love this book. I hate books that have main characters who are being manipulated and used, and while they’re made out to be these great, strong heroes, they don’t even stand up to the people who are manipulating them. Some examples are Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games. The protagonists are being trained to be heroes, while they can’t even save themselves or fight for the moral high ground. They let themselves be used, and they always have unhappy, unsatisfactory endings.

Sage, however, is trying to be the hero Conner is manipulating him into, while at the same time not allowing that to compromise his morals or beliefs.

Character wise, this book was fresh, but at the same time classic. The characters were realistic, and you could identify with them. Conner was a bit of an odd bad guy, but then, it was good to have a change from the stereotypical take-over-the-world-because-I’m-better-than-everyone-else-Voldemort type.

There were also good side characters, and they all had good names. If you know me, names are everything. Names that don’t fit or strange, hard to pronounce names distract from the characters themselves, and you find yourself trying to fit the character into the name, rather than just seeing the character as soon as you read their name.

Conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone, especially boys 10+. I know when my brother gets older he will love The False Prince as much as I did. I don’t reread a book unless I really love it, and I found myself wanting to go back to page one the moment I finished the last page. 

~The Reader in the Attic

P.S. Can y'all suggest any other books for me to read and review? I would love to know what some of your favorites are!