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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Frustrated that the book didn't pick up until the last 100 pages. I was hooked then but it was very slow to start.
This book was a little slow at the beginning but turned out quite good. Scholastic calls it the middle school version of Game of Thrones. I wouldn't go that far, but I will be purchasing the sequel from my February book order.
Read for Lexi's book group. It was fun. The tweens enjoyed it. The tale of a switcheroo.
I started to read this book a while back and it was only a page here and a page there. Until about 3 days ago, I decided to lay down and really wail into it. This story was surprisingly engaging, I couldn't put it down.
With the murder of the royal family of Carthya, this includes King Eckbert, Queen Erin and the crown prince Darius, the throne is now up for grabs. The only hope to stop an all out war between the lands is for prince Jaron to claim the throne. The only problem is, prince Jaron was killed four years ago by a band of pirates, and no body was found.
A nobleman named Conner decides that he must find a replacement prince Jaron, to save his country. He scours the countries orphanages in search of a suitable replacement. He finds four boys, and for three weeks he trains each one of them to become prince Jaron and claim the throne. They are thrown into a competition, not only to take the throne, but also for their lives.
Each of these boys must compete with each other for the crown; Ladamer, Roden, Tobias, and Sage. They each have a trait that could potentially get them the crown. Ladamer was a Lesson, Roden is deteremined, Tobais is scholarly, and Sage is …. Difficult.
This story mainly follows the orphan named Sage, he is difficult, mischievous, and has no desire to become king. He can’t read very well, his sword skills are lacking, and he has a really sharp tongue that seems to constantly get him into trouble. Yet, he is a favorite of Connors, and for some reason the obvious choice.
About halfway through the book, I could pretty much see where it was going. I had to finish it as quick as possible to get to the ending so I could read the sweet revenge that was going to unfold.
I highly recommend this book, I really enjoyed it. Once I really got into this book, I couldn’t put it down. I refused to go to sleep tonight, until I could close the book and call it finished. I can’t wait to get the chance to read the second book in the series.
With the murder of the royal family of Carthya, this includes King Eckbert, Queen Erin and the crown prince Darius, the throne is now up for grabs. The only hope to stop an all out war between the lands is for prince Jaron to claim the throne. The only problem is, prince Jaron was killed four years ago by a band of pirates, and no body was found.
A nobleman named Conner decides that he must find a replacement prince Jaron, to save his country. He scours the countries orphanages in search of a suitable replacement. He finds four boys, and for three weeks he trains each one of them to become prince Jaron and claim the throne. They are thrown into a competition, not only to take the throne, but also for their lives.
Each of these boys must compete with each other for the crown; Ladamer, Roden, Tobias, and Sage. They each have a trait that could potentially get them the crown. Ladamer was a Lesson, Roden is deteremined, Tobais is scholarly, and Sage is …. Difficult.
This story mainly follows the orphan named Sage, he is difficult, mischievous, and has no desire to become king. He can’t read very well, his sword skills are lacking, and he has a really sharp tongue that seems to constantly get him into trouble. Yet, he is a favorite of Connors, and for some reason the obvious choice.
About halfway through the book, I could pretty much see where it was going. I had to finish it as quick as possible to get to the ending so I could read the sweet revenge that was going to unfold.
I highly recommend this book, I really enjoyed it. Once I really got into this book, I couldn’t put it down. I refused to go to sleep tonight, until I could close the book and call it finished. I can’t wait to get the chance to read the second book in the series.
Audrey pressed this in my hands. Had to read for fear of letting her down. Talk about peer pressure. No worries though. I loved this book!!!! I can't wait to steal the rest from her shelf! Perfect for a middle school student looking for adventure.
The twist at the end was so unexpected! This book was great! I read it for BoB and it was by far my favourite of the 8 books I had to read for it.
So predictable it hurts. (Warning: This is a very subjective review. What doesn't work for me (at all) might work for some people.)
Besides the fact that the resolution was a forgone conclusion, I didn't like any of the characters enough to say 'it's the journey, not the destination'. (Although I did kind of like Tobias. He was…interesting. And not the sort that I wanted to strangle. Unlike the main boy.)
This book was told in first person perspective - except for a couple, very strange chapters that were told in third person. It was really jarring and, unfortunately, only served to show me how much better the book would have been if I hadn't been stuck in Sage's head. This book has one of the worst examples of unreliable narrator I've seen since that Agatha Christie book that I hated because of this.
And, what's worse, this was a case of keeping things from the readers that isn't even plot relevant. It's going to be ignored, not even mentioned until a third party discovers it or the brat's - I mean - Sage's hand is forced. One of the 'secret's' that the boy keeps is the fact that he's been slowly gathering a hoard of items from around the house and hiding them near his bed.
Well, this is conveniently not mentioned at all until he's found out. And, did I mention that we never leave this boy's head? (Except for the aforementioned trio of chapters, of course.) This can't even be passed off as a case of 'he did it when we weren't there'. Or even 'this is told in diary form so the main character can edit what happened'. Nope, this is just good old fashioned 'I won't tell you'.
I dislike unreliable narrator's - partially because it's painfully easy to see when we aren't getting the whole story. Sure, the thefts took me by surprise, but it was more of a 'and when, exactly, did you do this?' surprise and not the good kind.
Keeping secrets from the readers and having big reveals are great - but it only works if you play fair. You can't leave out whole chunks of what happened and then later be all 'oh, by the way'. We're inside the character's head in the most intimate point of view possible. You can't have him steal a knife and forget to mention it until he uses it. That smacks of sloppy writing to me. (Either because the secret's couldn't be kept any other way, or because the writer wrote themselves into a corner and to go all 'ghost in the machine' to fix it.)
I will admit, the story improves slightly towards the end. The writing seemed less…annoying and Sage was…less needing to be strangled by me. But by then, I already knew what as coming and felt cheated at the way the 'big reveal' was kept from us. It wasn't organic and felt really forced just so we could have a 'twist'.
"The enemies at our borders will feel tricked."
The readers in your pages will feel tricked.
(Actually, some of us would, if we didn't know the truth from page 30 and spent the rest of the time wondering why we were being kept in forced, fake darkness. And gradually getting more and more put out with the book.)
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
Besides the fact that the resolution was a forgone conclusion, I didn't like any of the characters enough to say 'it's the journey, not the destination'. (Although I did kind of like Tobias. He was…interesting. And not the sort that I wanted to strangle. Unlike the main boy.)
This book was told in first person perspective - except for a couple, very strange chapters that were told in third person. It was really jarring and, unfortunately, only served to show me how much better the book would have been if I hadn't been stuck in Sage's head. This book has one of the worst examples of unreliable narrator I've seen since that Agatha Christie book that I hated because of this.
And, what's worse, this was a case of keeping things from the readers that isn't even plot relevant. It's going to be ignored, not even mentioned until a third party discovers it or the brat's - I mean - Sage's hand is forced. One of the 'secret's' that the boy keeps is the fact that he's been slowly gathering a hoard of items from around the house and hiding them near his bed.
Well, this is conveniently not mentioned at all until he's found out. And, did I mention that we never leave this boy's head? (Except for the aforementioned trio of chapters, of course.) This can't even be passed off as a case of 'he did it when we weren't there'. Or even 'this is told in diary form so the main character can edit what happened'. Nope, this is just good old fashioned 'I won't tell you'.
I dislike unreliable narrator's - partially because it's painfully easy to see when we aren't getting the whole story. Sure, the thefts took me by surprise, but it was more of a 'and when, exactly, did you do this?' surprise and not the good kind.
Keeping secrets from the readers and having big reveals are great - but it only works if you play fair. You can't leave out whole chunks of what happened and then later be all 'oh, by the way'. We're inside the character's head in the most intimate point of view possible. You can't have him steal a knife and forget to mention it until he uses it. That smacks of sloppy writing to me. (Either because the secret's couldn't be kept any other way, or because the writer wrote themselves into a corner and to go all 'ghost in the machine' to fix it.)
I will admit, the story improves slightly towards the end. The writing seemed less…annoying and Sage was…less needing to be strangled by me. But by then, I already knew what as coming and felt cheated at the way the 'big reveal' was kept from us. It wasn't organic and felt really forced just so we could have a 'twist'.
"The enemies at our borders will feel tricked."
The readers in your pages will feel tricked.
(Actually, some of us would, if we didn't know the truth from page 30 and spent the rest of the time wondering why we were being kept in forced, fake darkness. And gradually getting more and more put out with the book.)
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
Jennifer A. Nielson writes a novel to captivate the audience with fast-paced action and a little mystery. The plot is character driven by only the narrator, Sage, when he is plucked from an orphanage. He is told he has a chance at a different life. Safe must compete agonist three other orphans in order to take the throne as a false prince. The royal family is dead leaving one last hope for their country. A prince who was supposedly killed by pirates about four years ago. The world believes he's dead, but no body was ever found.
The novel starts in the action yet full of regret, which becomes an interesting introduction for Sage, a deadpan snarker. Short chapters lead the reader to believing they read more than they actually did. Then each end with either a cliffhanger or a provoking thought to keep interest in the story. After a few twist or turns, it ends in a way that made me panic. The whole time I personally just wanted everything to work out for everybody.
To be honest, The False Prince became that book. I sat down with it the day I bought it and then finished it that same day. Whenever I took a break, I couldn't stop thinking about what may happen. While I did find many points to be predictable, it was entertaining nonetheless. Sometimes you just need a book for entertainment. This is that book.
I would give it five stars, but there are moments where I have a lot of complaints. That's beside the point though. For the most part, it was everything that I wanted. A male narrator/protagonist, a fun plot, fast paced writing and then no random love subplot thrown into the mix.
Read it.
The novel starts in the action yet full of regret, which becomes an interesting introduction for Sage, a deadpan snarker. Short chapters lead the reader to believing they read more than they actually did. Then each end with either a cliffhanger or a provoking thought to keep interest in the story. After a few twist or turns, it ends in a way that made me panic. The whole time I personally just wanted everything to work out for everybody.
To be honest, The False Prince became that book. I sat down with it the day I bought it and then finished it that same day. Whenever I took a break, I couldn't stop thinking about what may happen. While I did find many points to be predictable, it was entertaining nonetheless. Sometimes you just need a book for entertainment. This is that book.
I would give it five stars, but there are moments where I have a lot of complaints. That's beside the point though. For the most part, it was everything that I wanted. A male narrator/protagonist, a fun plot, fast paced writing and then no random love subplot thrown into the mix.
Read it.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced