Ascendance Trilogy

The Ascendance Trilogy is a trio of juvenile fantasy novels by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The first book in the series, The False Prince, was first released on April 1, 2012 through Scholastic Press.^[1] The book sold well and its paperback reprint in 2013 placed False Prince on the New York Times Bestseller List in May 2013.^[2] The second book, The Runaway King, was released on March 1, 2013,^[3][4] and the last book, The Shadow Throne, was released on February 25, 2014.^[5]

Stories

The False Prince

The story is told from the point of view of Sage, an orphan, who is kidnapped along with three other orphans by a Carthyan nobleman, Bevin Conner. One of the orphans (Latamer) is swiftly killed by one of Conner's henchmen, Cregan, to impress upon the boys that the mission is important. The remaining three, Sage, Tobias, and Roden, are taken to Farthenwood, Lord Conner's estate,^[6] where they are informed of the nobleman's intentions: The Carthyan royal family--King Eckbert, Queen Erin, and Crown Prince Darius--have been murdered, a fact which is known only to some in the Carthyan court.^[7] The three boys all bear resemblance to Jaron, the notoriously-unruly second son of the Carthyan royal family, who was lost at sea and is presumed dead after his ship was attacked by pirates from the hostile neighboring country of Avenia. Conner means to present one of the three boys to the Carthyan court as the long-lost younger prince in order to claim the throne, and prevent civil war.^[8] It is generally understood among the three that the two boys not chosen will be killed by Conner.

At Farthenwood, the three boys--who appear to have varying levels of education and grooming--are given a crash course in the skills and knowledge which would be expected of a young prince--riding, fencing, history, and basic literacy. Sage comes to befriend two of Conner's employees--the servant girl Imogen, forced into servitude by Conner after her mother spurns his advances, and the vigil Mott; Roden likewise becomes a favorite of the violent Cregan. Sage, who has talents in the skills of a thief, discovers secret passageways in the estate. After stealing back a seemingly-worthless rock from Conner (which Conner had earlier taken from Sage), Sage is taken to the dungeons and beaten, until he agrees to be loyal to Conner and cooperate with him.

Later, the three boys are sent to work with the kitchen and waitstaff at the estate so that they may observe Princess Amiranda of Bymar, who is betrothed to the throne of Carthya--a betrothal originally intended for Darius but which would fall to Jaron were he to claime the throne. Sage catches her attention, much to Conner's dismay, and she inquires of him about the rumors of the death of the Carthyan royals, but Sage reveals nothing. Soon after this, Farthenwood is raided by soldiers of Lord Veldergrah, Conner's rival and the late King Eckbert's prime regent, who suspects that Conner may be concealing a pretender to the throne and knows of his scouring of Carthyan orphanages. The boys hide in the secret passengers, but are nearly discovered, but Sage kills the soldier who finds them and Mott cuts himself on the arm to make it appear as though he were defending himself, and takes the blame for the kill.

Soon after, Conner announces his choice--Roden--who reneges on a previous promise to try and spare the lives of the other two boys. But Sage demonstrates expertise at a parlor trick that Jaron was noted for, and Conner changes his mind and chooses Sage instead, deciding that only Sage is capable of fooling the Court. Sage is allowed to go for a ride prior to their departure, is followed by Mott, and Sage reveals to him a secret: Sage (who is an unreliable narrator throughout the trilogy) really is Jaron. He was not on board the ship when it was attacked by pirates, and who was subsequently (and secretly) ordered by his father to remain in hiding as an orphan, both to save the royal family from embarrassment from Jaron's undisciplined ways, and to avoid a diplomatic incident that may lead to war were it conclusively shown that Avenia was responsible for the pirate attack.

The company travels to Drylliad, the capital city of Carthya, on the day that the Court is to meet and announce the deaths of the royals. They attempt to enter the castle, but are rebuffed by the guards who note that many young boys claiming to be Jaron have turned away. Sage leads them in through a secret passageway (that he claims to have discovered during his time on the streets), and Roden and Cregan turn on the rest of the company, demanding that Roden be the boy to be presented as Jaron. Cregan is killed and Roden is sent away; Sage sneaks into the royal quarters and retrieves his sword, and presents the worthless rock to the high chamberlain, proclaiming it to be gold--a pre-arranged sign of his true identity. The chamberlain, Lord Kerwyn, proclaims Sage to be Jaron, and Conner realizes that the orphan he has held in captivity really is the young prince. Veldergrath is sacked, and Conner named as his replacement--but only briefly, as Jaron had previously discovered that Conner was behind both the attempt on his life at sea, and behind the murder of the royal family; Conner is arrested and imprisoned. Imogen is granted nobility. Princess Amiranda reacts coldly to the events, as she is both saddened by the news of the death of her fiancé (and her sudden betrothal to his younger brother), and outraged by Jaron's apparent deception.

The newly-crowned King Jaron leads a celebration in the capital, anticipating the troubles that will follow, as Carthya's neighbors consider plundering a weakened state.

The Runaway King

When Jaron is walking in the Castle garden, he is attacked and threatened. Apparently, the King of the Avenian pirates wants to kill Jaron, as the pirates did not kill him the first time. After that encounter, Jaron talks to Avenia's king and Imogen, who he insults to make her run away, as he knows that the pirates will come after her and wants her to not be captured. Jaron then runs off and heads toward the pirate camp because he thinks that he has to fight the pirates to save Carthya. As he journeys toward the pirate camp, Jaron (again going by Sage) is encountered by a pack of robbers and is adopted into their ranks. Jaron then travels to the pirate camp and is recruited as a pirate with the help of the robbers, one of whom also is recruited. Jaron finds Imogen there serving as a servant girl. Jaron also finds out that Roden is a pirate and is out on a raiding journey. Jaron then discovers that whoever defeats the pirate king can become the next pirate king so he challenges the current pirate king and wins. Soon after, Roden returns and challenges Jaron. Rodden wins, breaking Jaron's leg but not killing him. Jaron is put into a high security cell along with two of his accomplices from the Robber pack. Jaron escapes and challenges Roden again. Jaron starts to lose because of his broken leg, but then Roden sees Jaron's commitment to Carthya and surrenders. Jaron is by default the Pirate King. Jaron asks Roden to be his Captain of the Guard, makes the pirates agree to help Carthya, and appoints one of his robber friends to be the next pirate king. Jaron, Roden, Imogen, and Fink (one of his robber friends) head back to Carthya. In the epilogue, Jaron and Amarinda are informed that Avenia has invaded Carthya.

The Shadow Throne

The book starts with both Avenia and Mendenwal waging war against Carthya. Roden and Jaron have fought and Roden left with a group of Carthya's soldiers. Imogen has been taken by Avenia as a trap to lure Jaron into their hands. Jaron goes to save Imogen and barely makes it out alive. The Avenians shoot Imogen but because of the way that she falls she cannot be seen and the Carthyans cannot go back for her. Jaron and his friends make it out of the Avenian camp, leaving Imogen. Jaron presumes that she is dead. However, the fight between Jaron and Roden was staged and that they are actually still friends. Jaron wanted the fight to be public, so that his enemies could underestimate him and that Roden and his men could defend Avenia's borders. Jaron heads back to Carthya's capital city to lead the next battles. Jaron and his troops are trapped in the battle against Avenia and Mendenwal and are forced to retreat to the woods. Jaron gives up his life to give the medication his troops needed. The Avenians take Jaron to Farthenwood and there he finds that Imogen and Roden are still alive. Conner helps them escape execution and dies in the process. Jaron convinces Mendenwal that the war is not justified, and so saves Carthya.

Reception

Critical reception for the first book in the series has been mostly positive. The False Prince was named one of the New York Times' "Notable Children’s Books of 2012".^[9] Praise for the first entry in the trilogy centered upon the book's appeal to a wide age group,^[10] as well as for the book's plotting and characters.^[11] The review from the New York Times wrote that the book "makes the effort of reading worth the getting to the end" but that the "absence of a fully furnished world keeps this particular page turner from lingering very long after the book is closed".^[12]

Reception for the second entry was more mixed, with Publishers Weekly commenting that the book's villains were "perhaps too easily manipulated by the young king".^[13] Commonsensemedia also gave a mixed review, criticizing Jaron's arrogance and saying that "the reasoning behind his reckless schemes is often unclear, so he seems to constantly put himself into needless danger".^[3]

Film adaptation

In late 2012, Nielsen announced that film rights for the series had been purchased by Paramount Pictures with the intent to create a film series.^[14] Bryan Cogman has been hired to adapt the first book in the series into a movie screenplay and Deborah Forte has been announced as the film's producer.^[15]

References

External links

• Official website