"This book was about some boys being taught to impersonate the lost crown prince"

[conuly]

"I remember there was some sort of crazy twist at the end!!!!"

Me: You are charmingly naive. The protagonist actually being the lost crown prince is not a crazy twist, even if you've never seen it before in print somehow. You know what would be a crazy twist? If somebody whose grand plan depended on being accepted as heir was actually a really good con artist, and maybe had enough inside information to fool those in the know.

Comments

[redbird]

Or if he was just convincing enough to be murdered by whoever is next in line for the throne, and then the narrative shifts to the now-heir and related plotting.

[conuly]

Killing off the viewpoint character is always shocking.

[greghousesgf]

It worked in Psycho.

[conuly]

And it was shocking!

[bitterlawngnome]

Well now that just sounds like recent political history.

[conuly]

Oh?

[bitterlawngnome]

... a country where someone whose actual agenda is personal validation and overwhelming greed got himself installed as supreme leader mostly on the strength of being a really proficient conman, and managed to fool enough of the right people by outright lies about his ability to fix what was hurting for them ...


OK, maybe it's not a perfect fit.

[jessie_c]

I think that it was far more important that he fooled enough of the people into believing that he'd hurt enough of the right people. A big part of his con depended on being able to hurt everyone by convincing them that he was hurting the right people even more.

[bitterlawngnome]

Simple spite.

[conuly]

Mmm, but thus far there's no hereditary right to rule.

[mindstalk]

There's an anime where a princess (not the heir, yet) is an impersonator, though she fell into it by mistake rather than a grand plan. We know she's not the real princess because we know where *she* is.

[conuly]

Is it any good, and if so, which is it?

[mindstalk]

I think it's awesome; I've seen it thrice.

What I mentioned is kind of a big spoiler, so I'll rot13 the title as a belated gesture to those who care: Cevaprff Cevapvcny

[affreca]

I was also thinking of that one. It is pretty good.

[mindstalk]

Last I checked, was available subbed on Amazon Prime video. Maybe other legit sources too.

[pauamma]

Not quite the plot you meant, but this reminded me of Double Star.

[nodrog]

This is what the Wizard did in Oz - imposed peace by being awesome but it was all flim-flam and humbug and sooner or later somebody was going to call his bluff…