Sage is an orphan who is quick-witted, agile and clever.  Caught stealing meat, a country gentleman bails him out of trouble with the butcher and takes him from the orphanage.  Along with Sage, Conner, the country gentleman, procures two other orphans of similar looks and age.  The three boys accompany Conner and his companions to his estate, where the boys learn of the treasonous plot Conner has hatched.  Conner, one of the king’s regents, wants the boys to compete to become an impostor of the king’s youngest son, believed to have been lost at sea four years earlier.  Unbeknownst to the boys, the king, queen and eldest son have been murdered and the news of their deaths withheld from the public until a meeting of the regents to crown a new king will be held in two weeks’ time.  For two weeks, the boys are schooled in their country’s history, language and grammar, fencing, and horsemanship.  It is understood that the winner will potentially become the new king and the two losers will be killed because of their knowledge.  For two weeks, the boys train and each have their own talents and one of Conner’s cohorts champion and train them.  Sage is the most reluctant and defiant, which earns him punishment instead.

For the past four years, Sage believed that his parents did not love him or care about him.  His father gave some money to the orphanage to care for Sage, but it had run out long ago.  He had to learn street smarts in order to survive.  But listening to Conner, Sage realized that his father did love him and it was that love that sent him to the orphanage.  His father, the king, realized that a civil war was brewing and a plot to overthrow him was eminent.  He wanted to keep his youngest son, the brightest, daringest, cleverest son alive to someday assume the throne.  Conner’s plan to present Sage as the long lost son works, but then works to do him in, also.  This is a very cleverly written historical fiction which elementary and middle school libraries should have in order to introduce historical fiction to students, also to modern-day politics.