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official_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
goodem9199's review against another edition
3.0
Josh loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. Me? Eh. It was 400+ pages of out-loud reading in several different voices. Oy.
badseedgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Every so often I will come across a book that has a title so appealing, I am almost compelled to pick it up and start reading. Very often these novels disappoint me, but I am happy to say that was not the case with The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy. Picking up this novel was a happy accident. Our local library is going through an extensive renovation, and has moved to a temporary location. This location is about an eighth as big as their old space so everything is jammed in close together. I was looking for a YA novel and did not realize I had wandered into the Juvenile stacks. It did not matter when I saw this novel I just had to read it.
It has become almost unthinkable that a modern fairytale would ever have a “Damsel in distress” waiting to be saved by her “Prince Charming”. If you have any doubt about it, look no further than the most recent Disney Princesses, in the movie “Brave” Miranda actually rejects the idea of settling down with a prince. In Christopher Healy’s novel, he suggests that most if not all of the princesses in fairy tales really did not need their “Princes Charming”. I just adored this novel because the Princes had their faults, but so did the princesses. In fact Sleeping Beauty turned out to be a stone cold bitch in the end of this story. I just could not stop laughing the entire time I was reading. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom does a marvelous job straddling the line between the feminist movement that said all fairytales show the victimization of women, and traditionalist who insist that fairytales are just stories for kids. I was born in the heyday of the Feminist movement, and my mother NEVER read the "Disneyfied" versions of Grimm's Fairytales. I got the original stories with all the pecked eyes, and where the prince does not marry the little mermaid and where she gets turned into sea-foam in the end. So for me this story was even better.
Mr. Healy did a wonderful job of making his characters three dimensional, something that seems to be a challenge when writing to a youth market. The writing style was simplistic, but the characters were rich and well created. There is minimal violence, but there is some. Although a Juvenile novel, I think any Young Adult reader would find things to enjoy in this book. I’m actually looking forward to reading the other novels in the series.
It has become almost unthinkable that a modern fairytale would ever have a “Damsel in distress” waiting to be saved by her “Prince Charming”. If you have any doubt about it, look no further than the most recent Disney Princesses, in the movie “Brave” Miranda actually rejects the idea of settling down with a prince. In Christopher Healy’s novel, he suggests that most if not all of the princesses in fairy tales really did not need their “Princes Charming”. I just adored this novel because the Princes had their faults, but so did the princesses. In fact Sleeping Beauty turned out to be a stone cold bitch in the end of this story. I just could not stop laughing the entire time I was reading. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom does a marvelous job straddling the line between the feminist movement that said all fairytales show the victimization of women, and traditionalist who insist that fairytales are just stories for kids. I was born in the heyday of the Feminist movement, and my mother NEVER read the "Disneyfied" versions of Grimm's Fairytales. I got the original stories with all the pecked eyes, and where the prince does not marry the little mermaid and where she gets turned into sea-foam in the end. So for me this story was even better.
Mr. Healy did a wonderful job of making his characters three dimensional, something that seems to be a challenge when writing to a youth market. The writing style was simplistic, but the characters were rich and well created. There is minimal violence, but there is some. Although a Juvenile novel, I think any Young Adult reader would find things to enjoy in this book. I’m actually looking forward to reading the other novels in the series.
misspippireads's review against another edition
5.0
Review available at http://adolescentaudioadventures.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-heros-guide-series.html
Reviewed from a library copy.
Reviewed from a library copy.
meganagain's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
mehsi's review against another edition
4.0
I saw this book in one of the 2 ABC stores we have here in my country, and decided to buy it. And what a wonderful book it was! The illustrations are really brilliant and make the characters more alive.
The Princes, well let's just say they are idiots. The things they do. I seriously wonder how they even survived. I, at first, didn't like Gustav or Duncan. Later I started to like them when I saw they could be something different than what they were at the beginning of the book.
The book was hilarious and absolutely silly. I really enjoyed it.
The Princes, well let's just say they are idiots. The things they do. I seriously wonder how they even survived. I, at first, didn't like Gustav or Duncan. Later I started to like them when I saw they could be something different than what they were at the beginning of the book.
The book was hilarious and absolutely silly. I really enjoyed it.
therealbel's review against another edition
4.0
What a wonderful book. A rehash of the traditional, popular fairy tales, "The Hero's Guide to Saving your Kingdom" takes the four most popular couples, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Snow White and each of their Princes Charming, and throws a spanner in the works.
It was funny, exciting and beautifully written. Christopher Healy has taken well loved characters and created less perfect more realistic versions of them. It's worth a read for 8-12 year olds, and for fun, read it to them... You won't be sorry..!
It was funny, exciting and beautifully written. Christopher Healy has taken well loved characters and created less perfect more realistic versions of them. It's worth a read for 8-12 year olds, and for fun, read it to them... You won't be sorry..!