So, after reading and nearly loving Knightley Academy by Violet Haberdasher I read the sequel The Secret Prince... and I did not love it as much. It was good, parts of it I absolutely reveled in. However, it's not as great as the first book.Henry and co. at Knightley are concerned about the Partisan school. When Henry was there months earlier he discovered a secret, illegal combat room. Worried that the Nordlandic students are planning a war the students at Knightley form a secret battle society to learn to defend themselves. Things come to a head when Francesca, the headmaster's daughter, goes missing. Henry and Adam sneak of to the Nordlands to spy on them and all manner of hell breaks loose. It's a rather curious book. Actually... it feels like 3 books smashed into one. That's part of the problem. Part one feels like book 5 in the Harry Potter series... a lot like book 5. The second chunk is interesting but long... terribly... long. The whole thing could have probably been trimmed down a 100 pages and I would have been happier. I found myself growing bored and losing interests in spots. As much as I liked these characters I could have stood with less of them.That said, I liked the twists and turns of this book. It definitely feels a lot more of a fleshed out drama than the first book. This one took all of the characters on a roller coaster. I will definitely read another one... despite this one's problems.3.5 stars. Out of 5. I wanted to love it. I'm hoping the third book is better. - review courtesy of www.bibliopunkk.net