Whew! October since my last post?! I have no excuse except
that it was a particularly long and emotionally draining school year. (I teach
in Chicago, and I believe we unfortunately make the national media enough that
I don't really think any more needs to be said on the topic!)
But alas, I'm not here to lend my comments on the state of
public education. I'm here to discuss and recommend books. It is my intention
to write multiple posts this summer, so please, friends (you know to whom I'm
talking to)nag me, stalk me, do whatever it takes to hold me to it!
I have just this morning finished reading The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
And according to my fellow young adult fiction fan, Amber, it took me way too
long to complete it. Here’s the funny thing, I can’t really explain why it took
me almost two months to get through it. **Well, there was that interruption I
had of reading multiple Sherlockian mysteries by Michael Robertson---thank you
to my aunt for the recommendation! (And if you enjoy anything loosely related
to Sherlock Holmes, they are easy, quick and enjoyable reads!)
Back to the book at hand. Nielsen’s False Prince didn’t compel me to read at every chance I had, but
this doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a read. The book is set in medieval Carthya.
The fictional country is on the brink of civil war as the entire royal family
is dead. Enter Bevin Conner, a noble intent on saving the country from ruin by
presenting an orphan at court as the lost Prince Jaron who is believed to have
died at the hand of pirates, but since there was no actual proof in the form of
a corpse, his plan just might work. Conner has combed the country looking for
orphans of the right age with a resemblance to the prince. He takes (by force,
really) three such boys, Sage, Tobias, and Roden to his castle in order to give
them a crash course in all things princely. At the end of a few short weeks
Conner will choose the boy most likely to pass himself off as Prince Jaron in
order to assume the throne. All his servants are sworn to secrecy since they
are all aiding in committing treason, and the boys are sure that whoever is not
chosen will be murdered in order to protect the new king from blackmail. As I
was reading I couldn’t help wonder if Conner was so ruthless and arrogant that
he would also dismiss or sacrifice all his servants in order to keep his act of
treason secret.
Sage quickly stands out because of his scorn for the throne
and defiance of all authority. He is rash yet witty in thought and word. Sage
makes both friends and enemies in his time in Conner’s castle. He is conflicted
about his role in the plan to assume the throne. While he doesn’t want to be
king, he is resigned to the fact that he will surely die if he cannot get
Conner to choose him. Nielsen’s writing was not quick paced, but her twists and
turns in plot and ever changing character alliances kept the story interesting.
I especially enjoyed her character development. Attention is paid to even minor
characters which in the end gave a greater, richer picture of the entire story.
For me, overall the plot was predictable, but I’m excited to see where the
series goes. The False Prince is the
first installment in a trilogy. At the end of the book, the narrator’s voice
changes and I found myself excited to see where the story will go from here on
out.
So bottom line is; did I love the book? No. But did I run
out and find the sequel, The Runaway King
(released in April) at a Chicago Public Library? Yes!
