By Christopher Healy
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, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav 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.
This is one of those satirical books that was pretty fun to
read, though you need to be in a certain mood to really enjoy it. I admit, it
took me a while to get into this book, but I was determined to finish it
because my friend said that she and her husband read it out loud and couldn’t
stop laughing. This would’ve been a great read-out-loud book. It’s about four
princes, who are each known as their kingdom’s “Prince Charming”. Liam is a
hero who is the darling of his kingdom, until he meets sleeping beauty,
Frederic has never been outside of his own castle and fell for adventurous and
sheltered Cinderella, Duncan luckily stumbled across Snow White, a hermit, in
the woods, and Gustav is known for being rescued by Rapunzel, who healed his
blindness with her tears. The princes band together to save their reputations
and find out if they really are hero material. What ensues is a hilarious
satire of fairy-tale stories and all the stereotypes that happen. It’s clever and
well done, kids love reading about these unlikely Prince Charmings, and adults
laugh at the way the story pokes fun at the genre. Again I had a hard time
getting into the story, it was a little too dumbed down for me, geared for
children and not adults. Some books can easily bridge the gap, but this one
fell a little flat for me.
I give it a 3 out of 5
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