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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
3.75 stars
I've heard so much about this book, and I really wanted to like it.
Maybe even better than powerless.
But no, it doesn't even compare to powerless.
The beginning and end just dragged on, and I was pretty much just forcing myself to read.
Now, there were some really good scenes too.
But I was dying of boredom a lot of the book.
I'd say the main highlight of this book was Sage. He's so sarcastic, funny, and doesn't think before he talks.
And that's a positive thing in this case
I don't really understand why Imogen is pretending to be deaf either.
I missed 15% of this book because I made myself stay up late and listen, and I forgot everything.
Every. Single. Thing.
So yeah, the way that I took it Imogen is just shy so she pretends to be mute.
And how is this middle grade?? Its a bit violent for a ten year old...
I've heard so much about this book, and I really wanted to like it.
Maybe even better than powerless.
But no, it doesn't even compare to powerless.
The beginning and end just dragged on, and I was pretty much just forcing myself to read.
Now, there were some really good scenes too.
But I was dying of boredom a lot of the book.
I'd say the main highlight of this book was Sage. He's so sarcastic, funny, and doesn't think before he talks.
I don't really understand why Imogen is pretending to be deaf either.
I missed 15% of this book because I made myself stay up late and listen, and I forgot everything.
Every. Single. Thing.
So yeah, the way that I took it Imogen is just shy so she pretends to be mute.
And how is this middle grade?? Its a bit violent for a ten year old...
I am conflicted about The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. I thoroughly enjoyed Nielsen's Underworld Chronicles trilogy and was looking forward to finally having a chance to read the first in her new series. I was put off almost immediately by the graphic nature of some of the violence. I actually listened to the book on audio and had to turn it off because my 9 and 11-year-old were in the car and I felt the content of a child being tortured in a dungeon cell was inappropriate for them. I considered discontinuing the book at that point myself since I do not enjoy reading descriptions of animals or children being tortured, hurt or killed--and I typically do not care for books which include these things. I am glad that I continued with the book because, although that was not the only depiction of violence I did not deem appropriate for juvenile literature, there is much in the main plot of the story that DID pique my interest.
The story seems to be set in a medieval village where the royal family has been murdered. Those who are aware of the murders are trying to keep it a secret until a new king can be determined. There is the very real fear of civil war and of Carthia's enemies seeing an opportunity to conquer a land without a strong, established leader.
Enter the nobleman, Conner, who collects several boys from local orphanages who bear resemblances to a second royal son, believed lost at sea four years previously. Bringing the boys to his home in secret, Conner intends, after training, to choose one of the boys to pose as the lost prince. This boy will ascend the throne and Conner's place in the elite nobility will be assured.
Nielsen does an excellent job of weaving mystery, suspicion, secrets and deceit into all aspects of the tale. The plot is masterful. My only reservations were: (1) the unnecessary overly graphic nature of some of the violence inflicted on individuals in the story--particularly children; and (2) there are at least three places where the story seems to drag, getting bogged down in details that are neither terribly interesting, nor move the story forward. Nielsen's research into accurate aspects of the time in which she has set her story are evident everywhere, and need not be drawn out simply to show the author's knowledge.
"Violence" is always a buzz word. I do not think The False Prince is inappropriate for young adult readers. I think middle school and elementary-aged readers need to be considered on an individual basis: some of these readers will be able to handle the story and some will not--teachers and parents should be aware of its content so they can make the best choice for a specific reader. Often in situations like this I will use the book as a read-aloud at home so that my children and I can discuss the moments that I feel would be difficult for them to process independently.
In summary, The False Prince has a good, solid plot with moments of brilliance in its storytelling and character development. For me, it had too many spots where it seemed to drag and was hard for me to stay interested, and given the violent content of Book #1 which I have already mentioned, I am apprehensive about what may be in Book #2. If you enjoy medieval settings, aggressive intrigue, mystery and adventure then you WILL enjoy this new series by a talented author.
The story seems to be set in a medieval village where the royal family has been murdered. Those who are aware of the murders are trying to keep it a secret until a new king can be determined. There is the very real fear of civil war and of Carthia's enemies seeing an opportunity to conquer a land without a strong, established leader.
Enter the nobleman, Conner, who collects several boys from local orphanages who bear resemblances to a second royal son, believed lost at sea four years previously. Bringing the boys to his home in secret, Conner intends, after training, to choose one of the boys to pose as the lost prince. This boy will ascend the throne and Conner's place in the elite nobility will be assured.
Nielsen does an excellent job of weaving mystery, suspicion, secrets and deceit into all aspects of the tale. The plot is masterful. My only reservations were: (1) the unnecessary overly graphic nature of some of the violence inflicted on individuals in the story--particularly children; and (2) there are at least three places where the story seems to drag, getting bogged down in details that are neither terribly interesting, nor move the story forward. Nielsen's research into accurate aspects of the time in which she has set her story are evident everywhere, and need not be drawn out simply to show the author's knowledge.
"Violence" is always a buzz word. I do not think The False Prince is inappropriate for young adult readers. I think middle school and elementary-aged readers need to be considered on an individual basis: some of these readers will be able to handle the story and some will not--teachers and parents should be aware of its content so they can make the best choice for a specific reader. Often in situations like this I will use the book as a read-aloud at home so that my children and I can discuss the moments that I feel would be difficult for them to process independently.
In summary, The False Prince has a good, solid plot with moments of brilliance in its storytelling and character development. For me, it had too many spots where it seemed to drag and was hard for me to stay interested, and given the violent content of Book #1 which I have already mentioned, I am apprehensive about what may be in Book #2. If you enjoy medieval settings, aggressive intrigue, mystery and adventure then you WILL enjoy this new series by a talented author.
This book is good. I’m sorry it’s late and this post is probably not going to be great but I’m reading another book tomorrow and don’t want to forget about this one. Okay so usually I can see plots and have a general idea of where things are going. Usually I know the goal, I just don’t know how we reach the goal. I did not know the goal, the main point, the main characters ambition. I didn’t really know what he was going to do next, which works really well since the Prince he’s pretending to be has that sort of unpredictable attitude. I just can’t really say more other then read this book.
The characters were great and fill their roles very well. I am curious to see how some turn out in later books. Have they really set aside ambition or are they merely plotting, lots of fun things to come in 2013 and whenever the third book is released. It is nice to see that characters for the most part keep who they are. They don’t suddenly develop some odd endearing quirk, you get who you get. A brute is always a brute and a coward is always a coward.
Surprisingly I was never bored even though two weeks in the novel world took up over 2/3 of the book. I guess with what I had read recently days passed so quickly that I wasn’t expecting the boys training to be prince to actually span the novel. There isn’t really a dull moment, perhaps too many hushed conversations with various individuals but it all works out well. I will admit I’m fearful of a love triangle in the next two novels but at least genders are swapped and it’s a boy with two lovely ladies. I’m giving this novel a four and a half out of five stars. I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too.
The characters were great and fill their roles very well. I am curious to see how some turn out in later books. Have they really set aside ambition or are they merely plotting, lots of fun things to come in 2013 and whenever the third book is released. It is nice to see that characters for the most part keep who they are. They don’t suddenly develop some odd endearing quirk, you get who you get. A brute is always a brute and a coward is always a coward.
Surprisingly I was never bored even though two weeks in the novel world took up over 2/3 of the book. I guess with what I had read recently days passed so quickly that I wasn’t expecting the boys training to be prince to actually span the novel. There isn’t really a dull moment, perhaps too many hushed conversations with various individuals but it all works out well. I will admit I’m fearful of a love triangle in the next two novels but at least genders are swapped and it’s a boy with two lovely ladies. I’m giving this novel a four and a half out of five stars. I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too.
This book is probably really good, but I just don’t like this type of royal-intrigue, no magic fantasy.
Well written and engaging. The setting and plot were interesting. I did see the plot twist coming but it didn’t make me want to stop reading which was nice. I hope the next book is just as good.
This was a book I happened upon by chance while quickly scouring a Barnes & Noble for a book to read on a long train ride (since I was an airhead and forgot to bring one of my own). I skimmed through many books and decided quickly that this book would have to do. I don't know what first drew me to this book but after reading it, I'm happy that fate brought us together.
This is probably one of my new favorite series that I can't wait to read more of. It has a little bit of an Anastasia feel to it, with the lost royalty and someone trying to pass an orphan as said royalty but really that is the end of the comparison (but this was enough to peak my interest). There are many other things though to like about the book, and only a few things I had some issues with.
On some positive notes, I love Sage. I love the snarky, witty characters in almost every book I read and Sage is no exception. He loves to cause trouble but does know the difference between right and wrong and would never do something to intentionally harm any innocent person. I think the author does a great job of getting you connected with Sage.
There is also a lot of secrecy and mystery to the book which made me not know which way was up half the time. I found myself thinking, "Do I like this character? I can't tell if they are a dick or not... Oh wait I like them now. No wait... maybe not...." and I thought this a lot about many of the characters. Things are not always as they appear, but that leads to some great excitements and shocks along the way. I can't wait to see if my impressions of certain characters hold up in the next book.
The book also has really short chapters so be prepared to be saying "Eh just one more chapter"... a lot. If I didn't have to work, feed, bathe and relieve myself every so often I would have probably devoured this book a lot faster. As if the short chapters weren't enough to keep me from putting the book down, it is fairly fast paced so it will leave you racing to see what happens next.
These just scratch the surface of why I liked this book. I don't want to dive deeper otherwise I would have to give away spoilers and I hate doing that.
There are some things that keep this book from getting 5 stars from me. One big thing is predictability. I hate it when books are overly predictable. This book was fairly predictable in that I called the ending and a lot of the series of event that happened. BUT! This was probably one book where I didn't knock it too bad for being predictable. For everything I predicted there was one element that I never saw coming. The author does tend to almost shove the hints about what will happen in your face and that can get annoying but it's almost like she makes you focus on that so you don't see what else she has cooking to knock you off your feet.
That was my biggest annoyance with this book and overall, it wasn't too bad. I also wish we got to learn more about Tobias and Roden but the story is about Sage and is told from Sage's point of view so naturally, we know only as much as he does about them.
This book gets 4.5 stars from me and now I can't wait to get the second book to see where Sage takes us next :)
This is probably one of my new favorite series that I can't wait to read more of. It has a little bit of an Anastasia feel to it, with the lost royalty and someone trying to pass an orphan as said royalty but really that is the end of the comparison (but this was enough to peak my interest). There are many other things though to like about the book, and only a few things I had some issues with.
On some positive notes, I love Sage. I love the snarky, witty characters in almost every book I read and Sage is no exception. He loves to cause trouble but does know the difference between right and wrong and would never do something to intentionally harm any innocent person. I think the author does a great job of getting you connected with Sage.
There is also a lot of secrecy and mystery to the book which made me not know which way was up half the time. I found myself thinking, "Do I like this character? I can't tell if they are a dick or not... Oh wait I like them now. No wait... maybe not...." and I thought this a lot about many of the characters. Things are not always as they appear, but that leads to some great excitements and shocks along the way. I can't wait to see if my impressions of certain characters hold up in the next book.
The book also has really short chapters so be prepared to be saying "Eh just one more chapter"... a lot. If I didn't have to work, feed, bathe and relieve myself every so often I would have probably devoured this book a lot faster. As if the short chapters weren't enough to keep me from putting the book down, it is fairly fast paced so it will leave you racing to see what happens next.
These just scratch the surface of why I liked this book. I don't want to dive deeper otherwise I would have to give away spoilers and I hate doing that.
There are some things that keep this book from getting 5 stars from me. One big thing is predictability. I hate it when books are overly predictable. This book was fairly predictable in that I called the ending and a lot of the series of event that happened. BUT! This was probably one book where I didn't knock it too bad for being predictable. For everything I predicted there was one element that I never saw coming. The author does tend to almost shove the hints about what will happen in your face and that can get annoying but it's almost like she makes you focus on that so you don't see what else she has cooking to knock you off your feet.
That was my biggest annoyance with this book and overall, it wasn't too bad. I also wish we got to learn more about Tobias and Roden but the story is about Sage and is told from Sage's point of view so naturally, we know only as much as he does about them.
This book gets 4.5 stars from me and now I can't wait to get the second book to see where Sage takes us next :)
I liked this one better than I should. It's predictable, weak on world building for a work of fantasy, and weak on character development. However, it was the right book for me right now, as everything else I'm reading is either because I have to, is really old, or is about injustice. Timing is everything :) It was fun.
Wow. I was blown away by this book. It took me a couple tries before I got into the book but after I convinced myself to read it, I was sucked it and wasn't let go!
I read the entire series over a matter of less than three weeks and was completely immersed in the story!! The characters and depth and complexity of the story was awe-striking and I was amazing at the twists and turns Nielsen took me on practically every chapter.
Content: Mild violence/injures/gore etc but not too bad. Some romance.
But all in all, I highly highly recommend this book! I'm already wanting to go re-read it!
✨ 5 Stars ✨
I read the entire series over a matter of less than three weeks and was completely immersed in the story!! The characters and depth and complexity of the story was awe-striking and I was amazing at the twists and turns Nielsen took me on practically every chapter.
Content: Mild violence/injures/gore etc but not too bad. Some romance.
But all in all, I highly highly recommend this book! I'm already wanting to go re-read it!
✨ 5 Stars ✨