The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
Series: The League of Princes, #1
Source: Bought
Publisher: Walden Pond Press
Publication Date: May 1, 2012

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You’ve never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.

Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, the princes stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it’s up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

Christopher Healy’s Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is a completely original take on the world of fairy tales, the truth about what happens after “happily ever after.” It’s a must-have for middle grade readers who enjoy their fantasy adventures mixed with the humor of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Witty black-and-white drawings by Todd Harris add to the fun.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom was a very fun book. I first picked it up because of the awesome illustrated cover, but after I read the intro there was no putting it down. First off, well, the premise itself was just awesome. I love the idea of it! Anything done with fairytales is A-OK by me, seriously. But anywho, this is one of those books that I kind of feel to old for...it was way fabulous, and I loved it to death, but it was written for kids much younger than me.

But that's not the point. The illustrations were awesome, the story was captivating, and the overall experience was something special. I loved all the princes-- Gustav, Liam, Duncan and Frederic. Weirdly, I think that anti-social Gustav was my favorite, being the youngest of two sets of octuplets (seriously laughter occurred when that was announced). His dorky heroism and complete uncaring nature won me over, y'all.

In spite of that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the other princes, and of course the princesses too! Almost every chapter was in a different point of view, which you'd think would be confusing, but it really wasn't at all. It was fan-freaking-tastic. Each point of view was uniquely fleshed out, and each and every character had their own quirks. It was all very whimsical and imaginative.

All in all, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom was a really interesting break from all the bad books I've been reading lately. I really loved it, and I'm hoping to get to the sequel soon!