The Barnes & Noble Review
Look out, Piers Anthony and Robert Asprin, here comes John Moore! His newest, Heroics for Beginners, is a gut-busting parody of formulaic fantasy that pits a daring prince and a buxom princess against an evil overlord and his Diabolical Device.
Prince Kevin Timberline has a problem. The love of his life, the beautiful -- and incredibly flirtatious -- princess Rebecca, has been recently betrothed to another man, the heroic Black Jack Logan. With Rebecca's father's kingdom in dire peril from a wicked tyrant named Voltmeter (whose interests include "candlelit dinners, long walks on the beach, and vivisecting small furry animals") and Logan readying for battle, Kevin realizes his only chance to win Rebecca's hand is to defeat Voltmeter and save the kingdom before Logan can.
Armed with a copy of The Handbook of Practical Heroics, Kevin travels to the village of Angst and prepares to enter the Fortress of Doom. Disguised as a ventilation-duct cleaner, Kevin weasels his way into the fortress (which has a very nice gift shop), where he soon meets Valerie, Voltmeter's kinky Evil Assistant, who has a thing for black leather and stiletto heels. Everything is going great until Kevin learns that Rebecca is imprisoned in the dungeon.
Like works by the aforementioned Anthony and Asprin, Moore's Heroics for Beginners is chock-full of witticisms and belly laughs. Although most comedic sequences are cleverly constructed, there are numerous one-liners scattered throughout that are so lewd or just plain bad they're funny! Fans of satirical fantasy will undoubtedly enjoy this fast-paced and farcical read. Paul Goat Allen
