Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Release Date: April 1st, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 342
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: Finished copy for review

Rating: ★★★★★

THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end. 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. An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

I'm sure by now you all know how much I love Fantasy books, and how picky I can be when it comes to reviewing them. The False Prince embodied everything I like to see in a Fantasy novel, Jennifer has created a story that will easily catch your interest from the very start.


The story itself is extremely complex, once you finish it you will look back and think how did I not see certain things throughout the book coming? I found Conner to be not the brightest character, it took him quite awhile to figure out what was right in front of him throughout the story. And between Sage, Roden and Tobias there are plenty of little hints that could of helped him see the truth. I will admit that seeing him be so shocked by the truth made the story much more enjoyable for me though.


The False Prince isn't an extremely intense Fantasy. You can easily tell that it is targeted toward an younger audience of Fantasy readers. But it is still an amazing book for any Fantasy lover. It doesn't have the vast amount of detail that you might see in some Fantasy/High Fantasy books but I honestly don't think this book needed that. It was a wonderful story for what it was, and it had some wonderful messages for readers.


I can't get over the ending of the book. Once you find out the truth behind it all, you don't really know what to think. Jennifer did an amazing job building the story up to that point, and feeding you little bits of information throughout the story that ultimately led to the overall explanation of what truly took place four years before the story took place. And it's interesting to see how Connor, Sage, Roden, and Tobias play into all of it.


I am extremely excited to read the next book, it left on a good yet crazy note. And I really want to know where things will go from there, even though you do get a pretty good hint of some things that might be in the second book. I personally want to learn more about Kerwyn, you hear about him a little in the story and quite a bit at the end but he really wasn't what I would consider a major character in this book, but I hope to see more of him in the second book it seems like he would be an interesting character to have more of a focus on, especially considering the way things turned out.


As I mentioned, I would highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoys Fantasy. It's a really great book, and well worth reading once it's released. Got a really good feeling about this new series, and can't wait for the rest of it.


Thank you to Scholastic for providing me with a copy of this book for review.