Enjoyed this second of three books about a young prince whose family is murdered and he has many hurdles to taking and keeping the throne. Fair amount of violence, so not for young elementary, but strong enough plot to keep the 5th graders interested. Good plot twists and messages of loyalty and fighting for what is right. Not quite as compelling a story as the first one, but well written and more character development. Maybe more like 2.5 stars.I really enjoyed The False Prince and was excited to get into this book to see what else happens to Jaron as King, but after listening for about an hour of the audiobook, I found myself very annoyed with Jaron. In the first book, Jaron seemed to know what he was doing, even when he seemed to be making some stupid decisions or getting himself into trouble. In the first book, I could handle his stupid decisions, because it seemed like he knew what the outcome was going to be (or what he hoped for). BUT not with this book! Jaron gets himself into some seriously stupid situations, makes rash decisions, and doesn't listen to anyone who's telling him how stupid he is being. Even at one point he thinks to himself that he really did screw up this time and what a stupid decision it was for him to make. At that point, I didn't care for Jaron one bit. A character broke Jaron's leg, and all I could think about was how much he deserved it. At the end of The False Prince audiobook, there was an interview with the author and she explained that she loved books where it seemed like the main character had no chance with the position they were in. Well, she wasn't lying because that pretty much sums up this book. Other than Jaron annoying me, I did enjoy it enough to want to listen to the next book and I am curious to see what happens next.
