The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal
One day, the princess wakes up and speaks with her parents. That day, she finds out she is in fact, NOT
Princess Nalia. She is Sinda, a lowly
peasant girl that has been raised by the royal family to avoid a prophecy fortelling
of the princesses death by age 16. Now
that both girls are 16, Sinda is shipped out of the castle to live with her
aunt, while Princess Nalia leaves the convent she grew up in to take over her
princess duties. Sinda will never know
her parents, her father, under a wizard’s spell, believed his daughter to be
dead, and died himself years later.
Sinda had only one friend, Kieran, who she can no longer see because he
is royalty and she is not. When she
meets Tyr in the village, she falls head over heels because he is so good
looking and charming. But Sinda’s aunt
warns her that he is trouble—he thinks he is better than he really is. When Sinda finds out the truth, magic bubbles
inside her and she burns a few flowers and the grass around her. Scared by this new development, she leaves
her aunt to attend the Wizard’s College in the city. When they fail to accept her (she is too poor
now), she finds Philanthia, the crazy wizard to teach her. Fortunately, she also makes contact with
Kieran again! Unfortunately, the real princess has requested from Kieran that
he introduce the two. When Sinda and the princess meet, followed by a strange
man in a dark cloak, Sinda begins to wonder if what the world believes about
the princess is true, or if there may be a vengeful wizard behind everything
wrong with the story. When Sinda and
Kiernan find out the oracle gave a false prophecy, and is related to one of the
wizards, the story begins to unfold and Sinda finds herself in danger.
This was not at all I thought this book would be like, and thank goodness! Because at first, I didn't want to read this book because I thought I would be reading about princesses waltzing around, kissing princes, and acting like a Disney movie. What I GOT was sorcery, lies, deceit, oracles, prophecies, sacrifice, learning who you are as a person, and general awesomeness! Boys, you will like this too, I do believe.
Sinda is a phenomenal character, and the ways O'Neal changes her throughout the story is a success. Sinda starts out as a privileged "princess" but when the truth comes out, she is tossed out with next to nothing. You see her overcome obstacles, fall for stupid men, but come out on top, because she herself is stronger than anyone gives her credit for. She is not longer a princess living a plush life with everything. She is a fierce, determined woman, and young girls around the world should be proud to call her a princess!
No comments:
Post a Comment