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

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
Published: May 1st, 2012 (Walden Pond Press)
Pages: 436
Age group: Middlegrade
Source: gifted by Daisy ♥
Series: The League of Princes, #1
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★☆☆ ½


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.

Ever wondered who Prince Charming really was? The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is the hilarious story of not one, but FOUR Princes Charming who all have their own songs, yet nobody knows who this mysterious Prince Charming is. They stumble upon eachother and find themselves in a monster-ridden and insane witch hunt which will be sure to make you smile.

This was quite possibly the most adorable middlegrade fantasy I've had the pleasure of reading so far. Four princes, four princesses, and a whole lot of trouble along the way. Healy pulls out all the stops and throws bandits, evil witches, trolls, dwarves (please note there aren't any dwarfs in this story!), dragons and giants at our heroes. To be honest, half of the princes aren't really as big a hero as they are made out to be, which really makes for an excellent story. I adored the naivity of some of the princes. They were so innocent, it was adorable!

I loved that the princesses were feisty. Lila really stole my heart, she was fantastic. Smart and good with words, but also very caring and protective of her loved ones. I would have loved to read more about her, so I'm hoping we'll see more of her in the sequel. Ella was fantastic, and Briar Rose was so spoilt it was hilarious. The entire storyline is bordering on silly but all in a good way! I was chuckling while reading it because it's so funny how these guys manage to land themselves in all sorts of trouble.

I really enjoyed reading about Liam, Frederic, Duncan and Gustav. Their interaction was fantastic and I loved their banter. Now that they made it through all these difficulties, I'm really looking forward to reading what's in store for them next.