How to Train Your Dragon #1: The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup the Viking
Cressida Cowell
Little Brown, 2003
$10.99, Hardcover
978-0316737371
February 23rd, 2012
Genre:
Fantasy
Age: 8+
Description:
The books in this series are the “memoirs” of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III—an
extraordinary Viking hero known throughout Vikingdom as the Dragon Whisperer.
However, his life didn’t start out super heroic—in fact when he was young he
barely even passed his Viking Initiation. This is the story of that initiation
and is the first volume of Hiccup’s story telling how he eventually becomes a
hero.
Opinion:
Knowing that these books were popular, I decided to check them out. They are
quite long (200+ page) and really, in my opinion, drag on and on. There are
illustrations throughout the book that are done like quick pencil drawings by
Hiccup himself so they have a cute amateurish feel to them. My favorite part of
the story was his dragon—Toothless—who had a fun, snarky attitude but also
proves to have a heart of gold. The first volumes covers a lot of territory in
its 200 pages—Hiccup’s initiation, how he has to find a dragon, his six months
training said dragon, and then the dragon competition to show how well the
training has gone to ensure his spot in his Viking tribe. You thing the story
would end there but it keeps going when two huge dragons awaken and threaten
the island. Hiccup, having the unique power to speak Dragonese (which is
presented in a fun way but possibly hard to read for some since the font is
very odd with the letters clustered close together), attempts to save his
people from destruction. I felt that this story dragged on way too long. I
found myself wishing it would end. However, those who love tales of magic and
dragons and fighting would probably be enthralled with the details. I, however,
passed on the second volume.
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