Bad Prince Charlie [Paperback]

John Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2006

After the king of Damask dies, Bad Prince Charlie is put on the throne to divert attention from his uncles' plan-to procure Weapons of Magical Destruction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ace (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441013961
• ISBN-13: 978-0441013968
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,409,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not So Bad, May 8, 2006

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Prince Charlie (Paperback)

Damask is a poor country with doubtful resources. It was once joined with a more prosperous kingdom on the other side of the mountains. But currently it is an independent drought-ridden nest of corruption. With the death of the king a plot is formed to put an undesirable on the throne to cause a revolt and have the neighboring kingdom take over. All they have to do if create a regent and get him to alienate the rest of the country, nobles and peasants alike. The king's illegitimate son Charlie (nicknamed Bad Prince Charlie) is the choice for regent.

But Charlie is no sooner in power than things begin to go awry. Charlie has no trouble alienating the nobles as he discovers the corruption that is strangling the kingdom. Rain has been scarce so he knows there will be hunger. Public works programs are brought in. But then Charlie discovers that the real reason for everything is a supposed weapon of magical destruction, WMD for short. Although the possibility of such a device is probably wishful thinking as magic has never been strong enough everyone seems sure that it actually exists. If it does exist Charlie must keep it out of everyone's hands and destroy it. But while searching he has to feed the hungry, deal with romance, fight intrigue, save his own skin, get overthrown, deal with traitors, face prophesies, and that's just the beginning.

John Moore takes a slightly different direction with this one although it is still pure comedy. Classic fantasy and medieval politics combine to create an original tale. At first one wonders if this will be another take on Hamlet (there is ear-poison here) but it really isn't. Moore shows that he is quite familiar with more than just fairy tales and heroic fantasy. If you have enjoyed his other novels, then this one should do the same. If you are unfamiliar with Moore but like Terry Pratchett, you will see some influence. Check it out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars amusing little riff on Hamlet, September 19, 2006

By 

Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Prince Charlie (Paperback)

Another in the growing genre of fantasy parodies, this book is loosely anchored in Hamlet but covers everything from the Oracle of Delphi to bland American beer and Starbucks coffee shops. It is full of "meta-humor" -- jokes about itself and the genre it is part of. Most of them work, but none of them are as shockingly funny as those in a Chris Moore or Douglas Adams book.

As a typical example, consider the scene where Charlie meets the ghost of his murdered father (the former king). Charlie dislikes his dad and is glad to tell him that he is working with his father's murderers. He also warns him that he is not interested in listening to the ghost's story, because he knows the ghost will vanish at dawn just before he reveals some crucial information. And, of course, several pages later, that is exactly what happens, just after the ghost has finally convinced Charlie that he should pay attention to the problem he is worried about.

The humor and the characterization are well done, but unfortunately the plot is a little bit underbaked. It is slow and overly complicated (which could also be said of the plot of Hamlet). The jokes and the plot keep fighting with each other over which element gets to take center stage (unlike, for instance, Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest books, where they are much more symbiotic and complementary).

The book is written for adults and older teens -- younger readers (and those unfamiliar with Hamlet) will miss many of the jokes.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moore's Weakest, but Passable, July 10, 2006

By 

N. Bilmes "bookaholic" (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Prince Charlie (Paperback)

Of Moore's 3 latest books, this is by far the least entertaining.

The book gets off to a sluggish beginning which I pushed myself to read through (Moore had built up a lot of good-will points from his previous books, and many were spent at the outset of this one) even though my instincts warned me to STOP READING. The pace of the novel did pick up shortly thereafter, but from time to time bogged down once again. In his previous outings Moore used dialogue and action to move the story along, but in this book there are numerous long descriptive passages that add little to the story or humor*. About 1/2 way through the book I recognized that my enjoyment of the book was enhanced if I simply passed the descriptive passages and went to the next bit of dialogue. The story itself is full of double-dealing people playing the Game of Thrones, and there are moments of good humor.

If you're looking for good fun, I recommend reading Moore's other two books first, and then reading this effort.

*Moore's use of footnotes was enjoyable, and if he were to have used more I probably would have enjoyed the book more.