Books like “The False Prince”

What to read after “The False Prince” by Jennifer A. Nielsen: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Goose Girl
Shannon Hale · 2003
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Mistaken Identity
- Coming of Age
Princess Ani sails to a neighbouring kingdom to marry a prince she has never met, but on the journey her lady-in-waiting seizes her name and crown. Forced to work as a goose girl, Ani must keep her identity hidden and gently win back what was stolen.
2
The Thief
Megan Whalen Turner · 1996
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Adventure”
- Unreliable Narrator
Gen has been locked in the king's prison of Sounis for boasting that he can steal anything. Freed by the king's magus, he is dragged along on a hunt for an ancient artifact that could settle the fate of three nations, and he schemes, complains and remembers more than he admits.
3
This Woven Kingdom
Tahereh Mafi · 2022
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Hidden Heir
Alizeh hides in plain sight as a servant, keeping the secret that she is heir to a lost magical kingdom and the subject of a prophecy she wants no part of. Kamran is the crown prince, bound to protect his grandfather's throne. He does not know who she truly is, and the truth could destroy them both.
4
Rebel of the Sands
Alwyn Hamilton · 2016
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Adventure”
- Coming of Age
Amani Al'Hiza lives in Dustwalk, a dead-end desert town, and hides two things: she can shoot like a legend, and she is half djinn. Refusing a blackmail marriage and a future in Dustwalk, she disguises herself and joins a stranger heading into the desert, where a rebellion is gathering.
5
The Blue Sword
Robin McKinley · 1982
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Harry Crewe, newly orphaned, travels to a remote outpost on the Darian border to live with her brother. Corlath, king of the Free Hillfolk, carries her away from the fort, and she finds an old magic waking in her blood. Caught between two peoples, she must decide where she belongs.
6
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater · 2012
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Blue has grown up in a house of psychics and is warned she will cause her true love's death. Drawn into the search for a lost Welsh king with a group of boys from a prestigious school, she finds her life tangled with theirs and with their dangerous families.
7
The Amulet of Samarkand
Jonathan Stroud · 2003
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Nathaniel is a young apprentice magician who summons the djinni Bartimaeus to steal a powerful amulet from a politician. The djinni is clever, sarcastic and far from willing, and the theft sets off a fight that neither of them expected to survive.
8
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss · 2007
Same genre: “Adventure”
- Unreliable Narrator
- Coming of Age
Kvothe, once a renowned magician and musician, tells a scribe the truth behind his own reputation. His story moves from a travelling troupe to a brutal city and the magic school where he learned far too much.
9
Dragonflight
Anne McCaffrey · 1968
Same genre: “Adventure”
- Hidden Heir
Lessa hides as a drudge in the hold that was stolen from her family, waiting for a chance to reclaim it. When dragonriders visit, she impresses the golden queen Ramoth and becomes a weyrwoman. With deadly Thread falling from the sky, she and the rider F'lar must find a way to save their world.
10
Sky in the Deep
Adrienne Young · 2018
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
Eelyn is a warrior of the Aska clan, raised to fight the rival Riki in a war older than anyone remembers. Captured and forced to live among her enemies, she begins to see them as people, and finds herself drawn to a young man she was always taught to kill.
11
We Were Liars
E. Lockhart · 2014
Similar plot moves: “Unreliable Narrator” and “Twist Ending”
Every summer Cadence joins her wealthy family on their private island, where she and three cousins form an unbreakable group. The summer she is fifteen something goes wrong, and Cadence returns two years later with gaps in her memory that she is desperate to fill.
12
Eragon
Christopher Paolini · 2002
Similar plot moves: “Coming of Age”
- Coming of Age
Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the mountains, and it hatches into a dragon. Chosen as her rider, he is hunted by the king's servants and must leave his village to learn the ways of the Dragon Riders and join the rebels.