Blog Tour Review: His Royal Hopeless by Chloë Perrin

Hello everybody! Today, I’m delighted to be part of the blog tour for Chloë Perrin’s debut His Royal Hopeless, which came out on the 2nd of September with Chicken House. Onto the post!

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Review:

My friend Lily described this to me as being like a Pixar film in a book, and I don’t think there could possibly be a more apt description for it, as it just so totally fits the vibe of their quirky yet classic filmography, although I also I think it would make a great stage play. It’s the story of Robbie Sinistevil, their to the Sinisevil throne, as he sets out on a quest to prove he is evil enough for the job, given that he is considerably kinder and much less cruel than literally every other member of his family

Robbie is such a lovely character, if a little (or a lot) oblivious to his situation, and the way his mum treated him made me so angry. The Queen was such a phenomenal baddie though, with so many evil schemes and sinister plots (see what I did there? 😉), and while I don’t want to spoil what happens at the end I found some of her final scenes very, very funny (even though I would have made different choices if I were Robbie, I think). Some other standout characters were fierce, fair and supportive Layla, and loyal, clever and kind Devon, and I don’t know if it technically counts as a character but I really loved (to hate, obviously), the Tree. The friendships in the story were so lovely too, especially Robbie and Layla’s, and I also appreciated how good the character development was, particularly in relation to Robbie.

Something else I really enjoyed about this story was the humour, which made me laugh really quite a lot, especially some of the narrator’s comments, such as the one about Robbie’s name being really quite unusual for a Sinistevil, and I don’t know but the word doctorcerer also made me chuckle when it was first mentioned! The plot was brilliantly original while also paying homage to traditional fairytales, and the setting of the forest was both kind of creepy and kind of somewhere I’d like to visit, so I found it interesting that Chloë has said it was based on Wales. Overall, this is a fabulously funny fantasy with a plot that kept me gripped till the very end (I was so worried for the characters!), and I’m very excited to see what Chloë writes as their career continues.

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Thank you so much for reading! Have you read this, or are you planning to? Which middle grade books would you love to see as a film? I’d love to hear in the comments!

Amy x

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