"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

[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.