False Prince - A Review

Can we please stop and talk about this book for a moment? Thinking about it gives me such chills and nostalgia like—it's just so good. If you've seen or read The Maze Runner series, you would enjoy this one.

I remember the first time I heard about it was in my business class, senior year in high school. We had free time and my friend had been reading it and being the nosy person I am, I stole peeks and glances whenever she had put it down. Took her maybe about a week to finish it, only 355 pages, and when she set it down in class she took a breath and very calmly asked, "Okay which of you wants to read this so we can talk about it?" I don't remember which of us took it first but whoa boy when we were done with it...

Major spoilers ahead.

The basis of the story is the royal family is killed and someone needs to take the throne. Enter stereotypical evil adviser Conner to the rescue. He's basically "No! The family isn't dead! I'm certain the prince is alive! Let me search and I'll bring him to you at the next big event!" and all the regular evil deeds to ensure he's ruler of the land. Of course there is no proof of anyone from the royal family being alive and he just wants to control the kingdom for his own gain. I mean come on, a name like Conner and no one can piece together that he's a conman. So said evil man ventures to an orphanage to pick up some boys to train them to be the replacement prince. Survival of the fittest ensures.

The four boys, Sage, Roden, Latamer, and Tobias, fit the general description of what he was looking for, though none of them really knew why he had chosen them in the first place. As Conner was taking them to his estate, Latamer was killed because he had been too sickly to do anything. Rest in piece little bro, we knew you for like three chapters. His death set off a sense of urgency in the other three, mainly if they didn't meet his standards, they would die.

The whole of the book is Sage defying Conner at every chance he gets while also trying to figure a way to escape from the manor with the other boys and the servant girl. When Conner and his cronies found out however, Sage had been thrown in the dungeon and beaten as punishment. See, Sage had been dubbed a liar because he carried around a small stone that he insisted was gold whenever anyone asked him about it, also he constantly lied to Conner and his men. Whatcha gonna do?

When they all find out that Conner is grooming them to imitate royalty— teaching them to read, table manners, proper way to speak and walk— Tobias and Roden are hesitant. They've been orphans and being treated as a prince doesn't seem so bad. Though Sage is a liar, his heart is in the right place and he doesn't want to be included. Even if the reward was being a prince, he didn't want it. Expressing his displeasure and uncooperative nature, Conner tells him "Either listen to me or die" and since dying isn't on Sage's to-do list, he has to follow.

Three days before the big event at the castle, Roden is chosen at dinner as the prince candidate because out of all three of them, he's the most poise, he can read the best, he's polite, he listens, all the fun things you would expect a prince to do. Tobias is frantic and terrified that he will be killed and Sage, because of a nervous habit, rolls a coin over his knuckles on his left hand.

Conner is just, "Whoa, hold up. Where did you learn to do that?" because it's a trick the late prince could be able to do, only with his right. Low and behold, Sage could also do it with his right and wouldn't you believe this is where everyone learns Sage is ambidextrous? Everyone's mind is just—boom, mind blown—and Sage is picked as the prince instead, even though he still doesn't want to lie to the people of the court but he made Conner promise not to kill the others. Conner promises and Sage agrees to be his prince.

On the night of the party, ball, shindig, whatever is happening at the palace, Conner presents the court with Sage, all dressed up and nice looking just like a prince should look. Of course, the court is doubtful because anyone can pull some boy off the street and train him to be a prince. He asked for some sort of proof, real proof, and that's when Sage walked up to him and handed him the stone and told him, "It's gold." The only ones who had any sort of idea what he was talking about where him, the king, and his closest advisers.

Now this is where we sort of flashback in the story to the king and his son. Walking around in the town, dressed as common folk, the king was teaching his son how to be a pickpocket. 10/10 best dad right? It took several tries and many years before he, the prince, could actually do it without being detected. The reason he, the king, taught his son, was in case anything ever happened to them and wouldn't you know, the ship he was on for an adventure over seas was attacked and his family had been poisoned so the throne was left empty.

The king had told his closest advisor, "There will come a day when many claim to be the lost prince. They will be rehearsed and look the part. You will know Prince Jaron by one sign alone. He will give you the humblest of rocks and tell you it's gold."

Bro, can you believe how I felt when I read this? Like oh my god I can't believe I didn't see it sooner.

Of course, as the adviser announces the prince has come home, there are some who still believe he is an imposter so Sage, or the newly Prince Jaron, pulls a coin out of his pocket and proceeds to roll it on his knuckles. Now everyone's in agreement that he really is the lost prince and whoa was that a long and wild ride he went on to get home.

A day or two later he is crowned king and his first order is to put Conner in the dungeons at let him rot because he was responsible for killing Sage's family.

And that's pretty much the story; Tobias becomes Sage/Jaron's page and Roden runs off somewhere(?) and everyone lives happily ever after—or so you might think.

There are two more books in the series; The Runaway King and The Shadow Throne and I highly suggest to everyone that you go read this series. My review doesn't do it justice at all and it's just—it's such a good series. I know there was supposed to be a movie adaptation but I'm pretty sure it got over looked because the third book came out just when The Maze Runner was beginning to get popular.

Either way, I highly recommend this series for anyone who enjoys adventure.