What follows is a nuanced tale following four orphaned boys and a competition to find a carbon copy replacement for the lost Prince Jaron. There aren’t large battles being fought but small bouts of physicality and intelligible wit that see these kids vying for the position to stand atop a crumbling kingdom. If you were looking for a “MG Fantasy” not Riordan, Colfer, or Rowling, you should give Nielsen’s series a nod. When a series geared towards MG audiences features a protagonist far more grey than the average YA hero, well…shit, I’m sold. – Romance is a bit of instalust and/or love triangle but is not the focus at all. – The protagonist walks around with a a witty “better than you” swagger. Likability factor depends on the readers opinion on grey characters that aren’t “good” for the sake of being a hero – World building may not be descriptively vibrant if you’re used to intricate magic systems etc.

– Low fantasy featuring historical/medieval undertones (no magic or anything as of now) and a politically driven conflict – Competitive premise tautly written page-turning narrative and palatable action sequences

Should this book be picked up? the tl dr review:

(re: Goodreads The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen) But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well. 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. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. 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. In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. OL15932756W Page_number_confidence 94.38 Pages 358 Partner Innodata Ppi 300 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20200827200423 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 478 Scandate 20200825031715 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 9781407133058 Tts_version 4.Book Title: The False Prince (Ascendence Trilogy #01) Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 16:05:14 Boxid IA1915619 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

The false prince