THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen

A.R. Book Level: 5.1
A.R. Points: 12.0
Pages: 342

I read a book review that called this one “The Hunger Games for a younger group of readers,” but as I read it, all I could think was “This is NO Hunger Games!”  This book is weak in characterization, and the author has a bad habit of revealing information in a confusing way.  That being said, The False Prince needs to be taken as itself (not compared to other books) and read with a bit of patience, and if the reader can stick it out to the end, the incredible plot twist makes it completely worth it.  In the book, Sage is an orphan who is forced into a plot to impersonate a dead prince, but the kicker is that four boys are competing to become the “false prince,” and the three who aren’t chosen will be… let’s say sent to the great library in the sky.  It’s almost like Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series meets Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy, if that’s possible.  Give it a try!