It’s been a while since I’ve decided to pick up a middle-grade novel, and I’m extremely happy that my boredom and blase attitude led me to this little nugget.
So, look. I was in a pretty bad mood and mouthed off almost everyone who dared talk to me (even made my younger sister burst into tears) but several pages into this book and my sulk-athon vanished. Seriously, the first line hooked me right in and I couldn’t stop grinning.
This book is basically about how a King’s nobleman, Conner, decides to recruit four orphaned boys to try and impersonate the younger prince of the kingdom, who’d disappeared four years ago. It’s told from the perspective of a cunning and wickedly charming fifteen year old boy named Sage. His voice is so refreshing, especially because he’s so sarcastic he might as well be fluent in it. The way he speaks angers anyone within a five foot radius, which made me and a lot of the characters wonder if he took pleasure in being the target of a spew of expletives and heated glares.
The story, on the other hand, was intriguing enough. I mean, it wasn’t that much of a built-upon world, but at least the plot was engaging and fast-paced. A little too face-pace, actually, but whatever. It is juvenile fiction, after all. The writing was a bit too simple and mediocre for my taste, too, often leading me to want more details and explanations, but that’s just a small flaw.
I think what made a lot of this book so entrancing was the characters. They all had such distinct personalities, especially Tobias and Roden, the other two recruits. Plus, another side character who I loved seeing interact with Sage was Imogen, a possible love-interest? I hope so, because their cuteness definitely resulted with me putting of my math homework and doodling this lil’ sketch here of Imogen patching up Sage’s wounds:
bookwarrior 