Get to Know the Narrator of The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
Over the past few weeks, I have been reading The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy, a fantasy fiction published in 2013, and I really enjoy it. This book is about many fictional worlds colliding: the realms of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel. It is a story about what happens to the princes after their fairy tales end. The story is unique and captivating, largely because of the voice of the narrator. The book is written in the second person and has a lot of humor. Throughout the book, the narrator gives vivid descriptions, well-timed spoilers, and talks to the reader. This book offers an interesting plot told in an interesting way.
Being set in a fantastical world, many of the book’s surroundings and situations are in need of descriptions. Many novels simply describe the color, shape, lighting, or maybe textures of a setting, but this narrator goes a step further when offering descriptions by incorporating humor. When describing a bar that the princes encounter, The Stumpy Boarhound, the narrator says it is “the kind of dank and miserable place where pirates and assassins play cards while plotting their next despicable crimes (which often involve robbing the tavern itself). It’s not the type of place you would expect to find even one Prince Charming, let alone four” (Healy 3). The description proposes a humorous situation and prompts the reader to use their imagination. It compels the reader to give the description more thought and gives it dimension.
The narrator also gives away spoilers at times, which is very rare in novels. As the main characters get ready to face the villain of the story, they feel confident. They gather backup, figure out a plan, and the situation seems optimal. However, right after the narrator says “they were more optimistic than ever,” he adds a twist by saying “they probably wouldn’t have been if they’d known that one of them was not going to walk away from that battle. Oops, sorry about that. I probably should have said, ‘Spoiler alert’” (344). Giving the reader a glimpse into the future, showing that it is not as the characters believe, provides the reader with a sense of anticipation. After seeing the protagonists’ high confidence in victory, one might get bored and think they know what is to come. However, the vague spoiler given by the narrator himself brings a twist and makes the novel more interesting.
The novel’s use of second-person overall gives the book a very unique feel. The voice is very natural, and with periodical conversational comments, often at the ends of chapters, such as “honestly, [the princes] didn’t need any more trouble than they already had,” keeps the reader engaged and the tone light and humorous (226). Although the topic of the story, a fairy tale parody, may seem childish and cliche, the voice of the author makes it captivating. I would recommend The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom to any fantasy lover looking for a fun read.
-Florence Lin
This was a really enjoyable blog post to read! I liked how you greatly analyzed the novels' usage of description and the interesting ways the novel was presented. I think reading books such as these in high school has become less and less common, and we all forgot how fun they actually are to read! Thank you, I'll have to check this book out some time!
ReplyDeleteThe Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom seems very different from most traditional fantasy books because the narrator interjects with mini-spoilers throughout the story. If I were to read this book, I would probably try to guess specifically how the upcoming events will unfold by using the vague foreshadowing comments as a guide, in order to stay intrigued while reading. For example, I might try to predict how the battle will go or who will leave the fight early. I believe that spoilers are necessary for rewriting fantasy books, because the author needs to remind the reader that their story is different from the original one we are all familiar with.
ReplyDeleteI like how this book is formatted differently from a stereotypical fairy tale, where people live happily ever after and you can always predict what happens. I've seen performances of mash-ups of fairy tales, but never read an author's interpretation. I think that the author's "spoilers" actually make for a more interesting read and I'll definitely have to read it at some point.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds different than any other book I have read. I never even knew there was a book like this out there. It sounds more like a friend telling you a story with you in it, and thus bringing you into the world, rather than the way traditional novels form a world for you to imagine. I am glad that you focused on the book's unique qualities because otherwise I would never have known there were books so different from the norm. The book seems like something truly fun to read and I will probably read it sometime in the future.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you explain how the narration affects the readers experience while reading the book. The description of the uniqueness of the narrator helps better understand what is really going on in the book. This interpretation of the narrator is really intriguing, which makes me want to read this book.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like the kind of book I would've really loved in 6th grade, and that's no insult to the book, but at that time I was just finishing up the How to Train Your Dragon series and this seems like a very similar book to those. I like how you explained in detail how the narrator adds humor to the story and how it's unique compared to other books. This sounds like a very fun book to read and I'll have to check it out sometime. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an intriguing book which seems quite different from typical fairy tales. It's really interesting how the narrator not only describes what's going on, but does so with a sense of humor and occasionally gives too much away. That is something that I've never seen in a book and makes this one sound unique and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of explaining how the unique narrator influences the feel of the story and sets it apart from similar books in the same genre, and how its unique descriptions affect the novel as well. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the way you described the way the narrator described the setting, that they went one step further than just colour. I also liked the way that you added an example for the humorous spoilers and gave a background for the excerpt that you included. Good blog post!
ReplyDelete