342 pages
"FOUR BOYS.
ONE TREACHEROUS PLAN.
AN ENTIRE KINGDOM TO FOOL.
In a faraway land, civil war is brewing. To unify his kingdom's divided people, a nobleman named Conner devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him on the throne. Four orphans are forced to compete for the role, including a defiant and clever boy named Sage. 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. His rivals will be devising their own plots as well, so Sage must trust no one and keep his thoughts hidden.
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of deceit unfolds, until finally, a truth is revealed that may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together." -Dust Jacket
This book reminded me a little bit of The Thief, one of my favorites of last year, only not nearly as good. Sage is a smart-mouthed, act-before-he-thinks type of character which makes him instantly likable, much like Gen, only I don't think he's quite are smart as Gen. He's also brave and does things to protect others, so he's not entirely self-centered. This book is the first in a trilogy and it just recently came out, but it ended in a way that wrapped up this first part of the story. There is a plot twist near the end that you could sort of see coming but which will make the next book(s) interesting. There were also some other likable characters, particularly Mott.
{MAJOR SPOILER}
If I were to have an issue with this story, it would be in how Sage's true identity comes out. The reader's been given little hints all along the way that Sage is really the long-lost prince, but the way he reveals the truth is a bit puzzling. He tells Mott while they're standing along the riverbank, but it's done in a new chapter and told from a third-person point-of-view. I'm not sure if that was to drag out the surprise for a little bit longer or what, but I would have liked it better if the author would have just let Mott & Sage/Jaron continue on with their conversation in the same chapter. Prince Jaron escaped from the ship, before the pirates sunk it, and then was later found by his brother and father. His father, the king, told him that he must not come back home--apparently because he feared for their safety--and that he'd have a hard life ahead of him. Jaron changed his identity and became the orphan Sage and for the past four years had been living on the street and in an orphanage. But...his father provided a way for him to come home and reclaim the throne eventually.
After the truth is revealed (only to Mott), the storyline seems to then make a fast-paced dash to the end. I would have liked Sage to toy with Conner a bit more. He gets what's coming to him but it would have been more fun to see Conner think his plan had succeeded for longer than five minutes before Prince Jaron brought the curtains down.
There were a few unanswered questions for me: What would have happened if Conner hadn't found him at the orphanage? Would he have just made his way to the naming ceremony anyway and reclaimed the throne then or done it differently? What would Sage have done if Conner hadn't picked him to be his prince? I guess Sage was at least smart enough to make sure that didn't happen and he did let things drag on to uncover all of Conner's deceitfulness.
It will be fun to see if Conner escapes the dungeons, if Roden and Cregan try to exact revenge in some way, and if Tobias stays loyal to Jaron.
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