Book Review: The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy

My Book Retreat

The Princes Charming are back in The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy. This is the second book in the The League of Princes series, and I had a blast reuniting with Frederic, Duncan, Liam and Gustav, and all of their princesses! This time, the princes start off on a mission to stop the wedding of the evil Briar Rose and Liam. But soon they’re on a whole new mission: get the bejeweled sword that belongs to Liam’s family back from the Bandit King, their nemesis from The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.

As in the first book, the missions are full of bumbling foolishness and wacky characters who somehow persevere through it all. One fun difference is the inclusion of the princesses in most of the action. Briar Rose, Ella, Snow and even Rapunzel join the men on their big adventure to storm the castle of the Bandit King. And they bring many of their friends from the first book along for the ride.

I will admit that I didn’t laugh quite as much as I did with the first book; I think perhaps because the story and characters weren’t so new to me. But this was an excellent follow-up that’s more focused on the growth of the characters, particularly Liam who struggles with his heroism after learning some old family secrets. It also continues some of the love stories that were started in the first book, particularly the triangle between Frederic, Ella and Liam. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

If you’re thinking about reading The League of Princes series, definitely start with The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom before moving on to The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle. I don’t think this story would stand alone well ~ and it’s much more fun to meet these characters in the first book. If you’ve read the first book, absolutely read this one too. It will be published next week on April 30th.

My Rating: 5/5

This review was written based on a copy of The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle that I received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.