The False Princess - Eilis O'Neal
Description: YA fantasy first novel
Blurb:
Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia has led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when she learns, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city, her best friend, Kiernan, and the only life she's ever known.
Sent to live with her only surviving relative, Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. Then she discovers that long-suppressed, dangerous magic runs through her veins, and she realizes that she will never learn to be just a simple village girl.
Sinda returns to the city to seek answers. Instead, she rediscovers the boy who refused to forsake her, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history forever.
An intricately plotted and completely satisfying adventure, The False Princess is both an engaging tale in the tradition of great fantasy novels and a story never told before that will enchant - and surprise - its readers.
Review:
This is a 319 page novel and it definitely had enough plot twists. It's got good writing style for a first novel and good imagination. I did get jarred a little by the lack of court formality in Thorvaldor. There were several times when I was sure Sinda would have acted more formally, having been raised with servants and courtiers and fancy etiquette. Unfortunately, I didn't mark them when I was reading, and I've forgotten what the incidents were. I was also idiosyncratically bothered by Sinda having a name I disliked, when the other characters had such neat names. But I think it's actually a reference to Cinderella - here Sinda goes from princess to village girl with castoff dresses as if her past life had been just a night's wish.
Sinda is very shy, and rather academic, and when she is told her status and birth are a lie her self-esteem shatters. She has a few bad reactions where she acts emotionally and ends up regretting it, and she must face up to those. The romance with Kiernan is kind of obvious, but then again it's spoiled on the cover-flap, and Kiernan is warm and friendly and fun enough to make up for it, a nice change from grumpy otherworldly dudes. The introduction of the theme of privilege is well done, at first I didn't think they were even going to consider it, then it sneaks in gradually in thoughts, then the characters all start doing something about it.
It's also notable that the villain's cause isn't even a bad one. It's their methods and heartlessness that make them the villain. In the end the princess and false princess have little difference between them - it would be a subversion of the Chosen One trope except for the fact that the princess does end up with the throne. All I will say about the last third of the novel, so as not to spoil anything, is that everyone is damn lucky somebody turned out to be a good person.
All in all, a lot of fun.