This was a very fast, very entertaining read, along the lines of The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner (highly, highly recommended, especially for those who liked The False Prince). However, having just mentioned the amazing Queen's Thief series, it becomes impossible not to compare Nielsen's work to Turner's, and The False Prince comes off the worse for doing so. Sage is an incredibly likable character, and definitely the biggest draw of the novel, though the premise and fast-moving plot don't hurt either. However, the sparseness of details given left me a bit wanting - I couldn't bury myself in the world of Carthya the way I wanted to. I also didn't like the third-story chapter(s?) that came in the middle of the novel for the purpose of revealing extremely important backstory. I'm fairly certain there could have been a more elegant way to resolve that particular revelation. 
 However, all criticisms aside, this was a extremely fun read. I'd definitely come back for the rest of the trilogy - I love me some court politics.