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July 23, 2013
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy (with illustrations by Todd Harris)
I think most people who write book reviews do it not as a service to others, but as a way for them to remember the book and know if they liked it or not. The human brain is way over-taxed as it is - so trying to remember all the meaningful, impacting, fun and whimsical things we read is practically nearly almost basically impossible. Thus, periodic book reviews seem like a good idea to me. So here we go!
“The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom” (which, from now on, will be referred to as just HERO) was an enjoyable read but a LONG one. There are many, many characters in this book and it could be slightly challenging for younger readers to keep everyone identified. I read the book to our 7 yr old daughter and found myself thinking hard from time to time to remember who someone was or exactly how they fit in the overall story. I’d then have to help Cecilia keep everyone straight in her mind.
All the characters are interesting and entertaining, and it sure was fun to do a bunch of different voices whilst reading aloud. I particularly liked doing a drawn-out, whiny, bored voice for Ruffian the Blue. A minor character but maybe my favorite. Incidentally, this mention of Ruffian allows me to point out Mr. Healy’s devoted attention to detail regarding his characters. Even the smaller ones are well thought out, consistent and creatively involved in the story, which make them all necessary.
In addition to involving a huge cast of characters, HERO is chock full of long, wordy descriptions and side stories. None of which seem out of place and all these seemingly “extra” passages truly do add many fun layers to the story. However, as I’ve said, it all makes for a long read. A VERY long one. Plus there are several flashbacks and flashsideways, if that’s even a word. Perhaps some flashforwards too but I can’t recall for sure. Amazon tells me the target age is 8 and up but I’d say that’s on the young side unless you plan to read aloud or have a very advanced reader.
You can read all about the book’s plot on Amazon so I won’t go into that. I will say it’s very well written and a clever, intriguing idea to intermingle all the fairy tale Prince Charmings. We certainly find out that a royal hero’s life is not always rosy. And again, the real gems, in my opinion, are Mr. Healy’s well written side characters. Such as the before mentioned Ruffian the Blue or Reese the sympathetic giant.
Lastly, I must say that the periodic black and white sketched illustrations throughout the book are phenomenal. They give us a fantastic glimpse into the story's universe and help us readers feel like we are definitely part of the hero team.
I would easily recommend HERO to boys AND girls (plenty of strong, feisty female characters in there) who love fantasy adventure books and have shown the ability to stay interested in long stories with multiple character arcs. And I think you moms and dads would dig it too if you want to make it a night time read aloud book. Be prepared for long chapters, though - 20 mins sometimes.
CECILIA SAYS - “The best adventure book ever! I loved when all the heroes and princesses came together at Mount Batwing.”
That’s pretty powerful praise from our 7 yr old reader who devours books like they were made of chocolate. Check out HERO - we think you’ll like it too!
Happy reading!
Click here to find HERO on amazon.com
I think most people who write book reviews do it not as a service to others, but as a way for them to remember the book and know if they liked it or not. The human brain is way over-taxed as it is - so trying to remember all the meaningful, impacting, fun and whimsical things we read is practically nearly almost basically impossible. Thus, periodic book reviews seem like a good idea to me. So here we go!
“The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom” (which, from now on, will be referred to as just HERO) was an enjoyable read but a LONG one. There are many, many characters in this book and it could be slightly challenging for younger readers to keep everyone identified. I read the book to our 7 yr old daughter and found myself thinking hard from time to time to remember who someone was or exactly how they fit in the overall story. I’d then have to help Cecilia keep everyone straight in her mind.
All the characters are interesting and entertaining, and it sure was fun to do a bunch of different voices whilst reading aloud. I particularly liked doing a drawn-out, whiny, bored voice for Ruffian the Blue. A minor character but maybe my favorite. Incidentally, this mention of Ruffian allows me to point out Mr. Healy’s devoted attention to detail regarding his characters. Even the smaller ones are well thought out, consistent and creatively involved in the story, which make them all necessary.
In addition to involving a huge cast of characters, HERO is chock full of long, wordy descriptions and side stories. None of which seem out of place and all these seemingly “extra” passages truly do add many fun layers to the story. However, as I’ve said, it all makes for a long read. A VERY long one. Plus there are several flashbacks and flashsideways, if that’s even a word. Perhaps some flashforwards too but I can’t recall for sure. Amazon tells me the target age is 8 and up but I’d say that’s on the young side unless you plan to read aloud or have a very advanced reader.
You can read all about the book’s plot on Amazon so I won’t go into that. I will say it’s very well written and a clever, intriguing idea to intermingle all the fairy tale Prince Charmings. We certainly find out that a royal hero’s life is not always rosy. And again, the real gems, in my opinion, are Mr. Healy’s well written side characters. Such as the before mentioned Ruffian the Blue or Reese the sympathetic giant.
Lastly, I must say that the periodic black and white sketched illustrations throughout the book are phenomenal. They give us a fantastic glimpse into the story's universe and help us readers feel like we are definitely part of the hero team.
I would easily recommend HERO to boys AND girls (plenty of strong, feisty female characters in there) who love fantasy adventure books and have shown the ability to stay interested in long stories with multiple character arcs. And I think you moms and dads would dig it too if you want to make it a night time read aloud book. Be prepared for long chapters, though - 20 mins sometimes.
CECILIA SAYS - “The best adventure book ever! I loved when all the heroes and princesses came together at Mount Batwing.”
That’s pretty powerful praise from our 7 yr old reader who devours books like they were made of chocolate. Check out HERO - we think you’ll like it too!
Happy reading!
Click here to find HERO on amazon.com