Book Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen ( The Ascendance Trilogy #1 )

Title: The False Prince
Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Series: The Ascendance Trilogy #1
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Publisher: Scholastic 
Publication Date: April 1st 2012
Format: Paperback
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Buy it: Barnes & Noble | Amazon
Summary from Goodreads;
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant 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. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.
Rating:
5+ stars, new favorite
Thoughts:
I had such a hard time thinking of what to write for this review because I felt that it's too awesome to put into words. Same thing happened when I read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The cover is quite simple but it portrays the book rather well.
The writing was gorgeous! I could visualize and even feel like I was in the book not just sitting down and reading it. The details were wonderful, I could see everything the author described.  You could get to feel for the characters and want to learn more about them but you couldn't feel the author in them. It was as if as soon as I opened the book, they took a life of their own. I really liked reading about Sage's character and journey. He developed quite a lot in the book for the best and I couldn't help but root for him while reading. He was sarcastic too, adding humor to the novel. Every character in Nielsen's The False Prince has a role and is significant. No one just appears for show, they all have a well, role they play which adds up to the big picture and ending.
I guess you could say there was a smidge of romance but it doesn't take over the plot of the book, which I actually quite enjoyed considering the focus was on the training to be the false prince.
Towards the end, there was some rather big twists which left me shocked and flipping through the book even faster to find out what had happened. This book felt like a puzzle and you slowly got piece by piece of it throughout the book until the end where you get a magnificent ending that clears up so many questions.
I recommend this to anyone looking for a fast paced novel with gorgeous writing and a riveting plot.
Trailer:

“Hail His Majesty, the scourge of my life," Conner said to Roden and Tobias as he stomped up the stairs. "I fear the devils no longer, because I have the worst of them right here in my home!”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The False Prince