The Secret Prince (Knightley Academy Books) [Hardcover]

The first few chapters reminded me a lot of the Harry Potter books, but then it spun into its own wonderful story. There are some really great and solid characters as well as unforeseen twists and turns. One involving Henry and Adam pretending to be servant boys and taking a train into Nordland to spy at the Partisan School.

I enjoyed the story quite well. A lot of it is Henry discovering new things that will lead up to a possible conflict between Nordland and the Britonian Isles. This includes finding out who his parents are and where he came from.

There's quite a bit of mystery as well as a bit of action in this novel. And several secret clubs. I particularly enjoyed the Battle Society at Knightley. Even though you could say that it is similar to Dumbledore's Army in Harry Potter, it is a different group. These boys know that they will have to go to war, fight and lose quite a few lives.

The characters in this book will surprise you from how they act and how some of them (re)appear. Henry becomes friends with some unlikely people, I would say. There's a very neat moment in which he decides that he shouldn't just stick to his trio and branches out to become friends with other people in his year. It's such a beautiful moment because it reminds me of when I was a freshman in a small university. There were people who knew one another already and so getting to know them could have been deemed difficult, but I tried and succeeded.

This is one of those books that I sat down and read in about two sittings. There were some slow times and the story didn't really resolve. It is the second book in the series, so I'm sure the third will give a bang. That's just want Violet Haberdasher does, right? The Secret Prince is more about building relationships and self-discovery and more life-threatening situations than finding a resolve to Henry's story. It had an ending that tells the reader that this is the calm before the storm.

I am really not trying to spoil, but there are some bits that will rock your world, some parts will scare you, and there will be at least one bit that will make you cry. And the latter is about a character that you would have never thought because he seems so hateful at times.

I would recommend Knightley Academy: The Secret Prince to anyone who read the first book and wants more of Henry's story. Also, to anyone who wants to read a rather intelligent Middle Grades novel.

The Secret Prince is every bit as good as the first book. I just love the Knightley Academy series. Sure it has a bit of a similarity to Harry Potter, but in a good way - not in a cheesy copy way. The books are just really well written and filled with interesting characters. I would highly recommended it for young adults and adults who just enjoy a good adventure story!

While I was a bit confused when I reviewed Knightley Academy I have since asked questions of the author about what what Harry Potter Inspired Fiction really is. Now that I understand this concept so much better I went into The Secret Prince armed with knowledge and was able to simply just fall in love with the story and the characters. Oh, and fall in love I did. The book starts off with amazingly intriguing prose:

In the pale gloom of the unusually cold January afternoon when our story starts, the roads are desolate but their emptiness is not due entirely to the dreadful weather.
As you have probably heard, or read, or suspected without quite knowing why, sinister things indeed were happening up north, and in those dark days, fearful rumors were more common than holiday cheer.

But where there is suspicion there is also doubt, and some people still pretended that nothing was the matter. After all, appearances have to be maintained, especially by those looked to as an example. "Let the superstitious servants worry!" the aristocracy scoffed from the comfort of their elegant town houses.

After all, it wasn't as though there were proof to any rumor. pg2 of the ARC

The Secret Prince was quite honestly an adventure mystery. I loved every minute of reading this and I adore Henry and his ragtag group of friends. I greatly appreciated and enjoyed the love story side plot and that we as the reader get to know more about the Nordlands and what makes them so different from where Henry lives.

There is love, laughter, death and life decisions made that are forced upon our protagonists. We learn more about Henry and his history, we learn about his friends and what their home life is like, and it reads like a suitor to Harry Potter.

I cannot wait to read book three and see what Henry and crew come up with to combat all of the things they learned in this book. Fantastic reading.