By Oran Gelinas
The False Prince
Jennifer A. Nielsen
With your country on the brink of civil war, would you live a life of lies to save it? The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen is an action and adventure book, the main character is Sage, an orphan boy living in an orphanage when he his bought by a rich noble named Connor. Sage is very disobedient but gets punished for it. Sage, Connor, and his two servants -Mott and Cregan- pick up 3 more children from other orphanages around the country of Carthya. The first of which is Roden. He is strong and brawny but not very smart or educated. The next is Tobias. He is the exact opposite of Roden. Tobias can read and write, knows lots about history and other subjects but is rather delicate and weak. The last is a boy named Latamer who is very ill. He decides it’s the best for everyone if he leaves but is “killed by Cregan with orders from Connor”(Nielsen 33). Eventually, they all arrive at Connor’s, home, Farthenwood. Connor tells the kids that the royal family has been killed. They had a son that went missing 4 years back named Jaron. “[His] plan is simple, really. [He] intends to convince the court that one of [them] is Prince Jaron” (Nielsen 58). This is just where the book begins and a competition emerges between the three boys. They’re unsure what will happen to the others who aren’t chosen but based on the death of Latamer, one can only imagine.
In my opinion, this is a great book for people of all ages. The first word that comes to my mind when I think about this book is suspenseful. I was constantly wanting to read more and curious about the outcome of the book. My predictions were often wrong as to how many genius plots twists the author implemented into her creation and I really enjoyed that about the book; how I was always kept on the edge of my seat not sure of what to come next. Another great aspect of the book is the detail and thought put into the immense backstories of the royal family, each character, and the country of Carthya as a whole; as a reader, you’ll be able to understand why each character makes the choices they did and how they were put into their situation. At the beginning of the book, we learn that his “father was a poor musician and a coward.”(Nielsen 17).This influences many of Sage’s decisions. I think the themes are original and different which also leads to my zest towards the novel. A theme based around deception is integrated into the book as there are many betrayals and the characters soon learn they can’t trust anybody but themselves. I would highly recommend this book for really anyone who takes pleasure in reading fictional action and adventure books. If you’ve read series such as The Hunger Games or Ranger’s Apprentice then you would also indulge yourself in the book such as I did. I am both excited or curious to read the rest of the Ascendance Trilogy. There is more information about the rest of the series on the author’s website. Once again, I think this is a must read if you like action and adventure.
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