Cressida Cowell

Chronicles the adventures and misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third as he tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan, the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, by catching and training a dragon.

How to train your dragon

Cute and vastly different from the movie. Like that fishlegs is in it more.

Cassidy Webb

Sarah Sammis

Like many of the reviews I have listed below, I learned about the Cressida Cowell series from seeing the film adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon. I liked both versions even though they are so very different. But the spirit of the book carries through to the film.

The biggest difference is the dragons. They have the same names and species types but they are smaller. They are the size of the fire lizards in the Pern books instead of being something big enough to ride. The other big difference is that the Vikings already use them as trained hunters and fighters.

How to Train Your Dragon as a title is more direct than it is in the film. The book opens with Hiccup and the other boys (no girls, sadly, who were an improvement in the film) trying to catch dragon hatchlings to keep and train. So it's no surprise that Hiccup ends up with Toothless, nor something he has to keep secret. Toothless's name though here isn't ironic; he's a runt and literally toothless.

So how does one train a dragon? If you follow the handbook, it's by YELLING VERY LOUD. If you're Hiccup, it means listening to dragons and realizing they can speak. Dragonese, spoken about in greater detail in How to Speak Dragonese (review coming), is sort of a dragon pig latin with some potty humor thrown in for good measure.

Hiccup is pretty much the same. He likes the draw. He keeps a journal and the novel is supposedly a transcript of his first journal. He's good with dragon husbandry, though the dragons in the book are more intelligent and less animal like than they are in the film. I find the film dragons more believable.

I would argue that the movie though different in the big details is the same in spirit. While much of the changes I see in the film I see as improvements, I am disappointed that Hiccup's mother is removed from the plot. Hiccup has a completely functioning family in the book and that is replaced with a dysfunctional father / son relationship.

I liked the book. My son didn't. He loved the film and wasn't willing to put up with the differences. That said, he loved How to Speak Dragonese and plans to read the rest of the books in the series. So if you want a perfectly faithful adaptation from book to film, don't read this book. If you don't mind letting the two things to be separate stories that share a title and some other points of similarity, you'll like the book.

Briar's Reviews

Welcome to a world of dragons....

I absolutely loved the movie series How to Train Your Dragon. It blew my mind that it was based off a book, and ever since I had been chasing down a copy. It's been years of me trying to find it at local bookstores (because why just find it online? The hunt is way more fun), but I finally came across it. Not through a store, but through a friend! A friend of mine grew up reading and binging this series, and when I happened to mention it was one I was looking for - BAM! I borrowed the book. It's funny how things turn out, eh?

This book is the first in the series of How To Train Your Dragon. It follows Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (we just call him Hiccup), and his journey to become a Viking. There's a special ritual the men of the tribe have to go through. They collect a dragon and train it. Once they've trained their dragon and completed special quests, voila! Viking! Hiccup is a little awkward turtle though. He ends up picking the smallest dragon, who most people are sure is the most wildly available (and kind of bland) dragon, but Toothless ends up being anything but. Small but mighty! 

Hiccup and the band of misfits all end up totally blowing their chances at becoming Vikings... Until, by chance, a giant problem arises. Mean, evil dragons are there to destroy their crew! Well, this sounds like a time to call a bunch of hooligan Viking-wannabes and their barely trained dragons, right? It might not be the most sound of logic, but they take a chance anyways! 

This book is an absolute delight. If you're like me, you watched the movie first and then were oddly surprised when the book was NOTHING like the movie. They are vastly different, but still both excellent in their own right. You can tell that the movie took inspiration from the book but didn't follow it 100%. I like that! It makes both of them their own separate entities. I honestly can't wait to grab more books in the series. This book was an absolute delight.

I definitely recommend middle graders picking this book up. It's fun, fast paced, has pictures and will take you away to a fantasy land. It's goofy, silly and just a delight to read. I highly recommend it! Why, you might ask? Well, Hiccup is a lovable character with great ethics and goals. He does his best, isn't perfect but still comes off as likeable and very real. He's not whiny, or bratty, or anything annoying (like some other middle grade books). He wants to do his best and really tries to help everyone out. He loves his family, his dragon and his friends (even if some are super annoying). Then you have Toothless - he's quite the little dragon who packs a very sassy punch. He's a fun character who has a great character arc. Once you get past your main characters, you have a wealth of dragons and fun quirks about each of them. You can learn about the many fictional characters and be amazed by how much Cressida Cowell has put into them. Plus the humour in this book is awesome. It's not all fart jokes - it holds up whether you are a kid or an adult. It put a big smile on my face.

Four out of five stars!

How to Train Your Dragon

bernard black

My experience of this was definitely enhanced by david tennant's reading

Audiobook Gift Set

I didn't like this book, and I actually think that I am to blame for that, because I went into it expecting it would be like the movie (which I adore), it wasn't and I didn't like it...

Izza

3.5 stars | Pretty cute story, but I love the movie better 😂

Read the New York Times bestselling book that inspired the hit movies! Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb? Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons--and becomes a hero. This action-packed, hilarious, and perfectly illustrated novel is a modern classic beloved by millions across the globe.

Amina Madadi (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ)

I watched the movie before reading the book and Good God it was different!
I had some troubles imagining toothless, green and small? I gotta admit that I got used to the toothless that looks just like my black cat and had some difficulties while reading.
Over all, I liked the book and had fun time reading it, and I hope I'll be able to adapt to toothless in the rest of the series!

Kirsten Simkiss

I think this one deserves four stars out of five.

I would like to preface this by saying that if you are going into reading this book expecting it to be like reading the movie, this is not going to be what you were looking for. The book is very different from the movie in so many ways. In fact, there are very few similarities aside from human characterizations and the names of the dragons. I won't go through all the differences because, all in all, the book came first. I also recall reading somewhere that Cressida Cowell said it was in the spirit of the book, even though it's very different. I have to say, I do agree with that.

The concept of the book is that Hiccup, son of the chief and expected future leader, is not at all cut out for being the traditional viking chief like his father and forefathers. The story is about Hiccup growing into himself, being unafraid to be different even though it's not as well accepted, and about people learning to buck their traditions when it's clear they aren't appropriate anymore.

I think it's a very charming book and touches on some fun things, adding in some whimsical ideas that you wouldn't typically think to pair with dragon tamers. Though a lot of it was really fun and clever, I wasn't a fan of the illustration styles. I assume they were meant to be Hiccup's drawings, but they were something I would rather have just ignored in favor of the text. I also didn't care for the concept of the dragons "singing" when they died to show when they're really dead. Despite it being fiction, a kid grieving for a loved one or pet that's recent passed on could very easily interpret the book to say that that person or pet isn't actually dead because they aren't singing. Probably not, granted, but even so it seems a ridiculous concept.

There is also only one named female character ever seen in the book, which is unendingly frustrating.

Charis Naylor

Oh the NOSTALGIA, I cannot wait to re read the rest of them again!!!! I truly love this book series and the main reason I rate this is 3 stars and not more is because I know they get so much better from here on so ya know

Stephanie Ridiculous

Wildly different than the movie but equally lovely. Listening to it read by David Tennant was a particular treat and I am 100% going to binge the rest of the series.

Celeste Richardson

Full (mini) review now posted!

I’ve loved the movie inspired by this book for years. Longer, in fact, than I knew that the book even existed. However, I had heard that the book was far different than the movie. So when I saw the audiobook was narrated by David Tennant, my favorite Doctor from Doctor Who and the fabulous new voice of Scrooge McDuck, I took the plunge.
 
This was a fun story, made even more entertaining through the incredibly Scottish narration of Tennant. I love the idea of Viking villages using dragons the size of dogs to fish for them. It’s a cute concept. As is the idea of boys having to train their own dragons, and having very little guidance to help them do so. I enjoyed Hiccup as a protagonist just as much in the book as I did in the movie. However, I did not enjoy Toothless as much, unfortunately. While he was funny, and I liked the addition of dragon dialogue, he wasn’t nearly as epic as his silver-screen counterpart. 

Cressida Cowell’s little novel was funny and entertaining and even sweet at times. I can see where this would be a wonderful book to read to kids before bed, or to listen to as a family on a road trip. I highly suggest the audiobook, as David Tennant is an absolutely fabulous narrator. And once you read it with your kids, definitely watch the movie, as I still consider it just a bit superior.

Well it's cute. I would've loved it as a kid.

Kelsi Proulx

This was a lot of fun! The audio was narrated by David Tennant which definitely increased my enjoyment of the book, since he's one of my favorite actors! While the book is very clearly aimed at young boys, it was still amusing and enjoyable. It was great to see Hiccup, who is a bullied outcast who just never fit in, overcome his trials and show the tribe his worth.

Jeff Speight

I read this series to my two older sons several years back. They really enjoyed it. Recently, my youngest asked if I would read it to him. Always encouraging book time, I dove right in. He had a blast. It reminded me of how much better the book series is than the movies and shows. Completely different. Anyway, this was a super-fun quick read that had my son laughing from start to finish and running to his brother's room to grab book 2 as soon as we were done.

Kate

3.5. David Tennant's narration is delightful.

Yoomi

Listen to the audiobook read by David Tennant!!

Tiffanie Dang

I didn’t expect this to be so different from the movie. Although I love the movie and also liked this book, I think I have a stronger connection with the movie and its characters. I appreciate aspects of both this book and the movie and treat them as two separate entities instead of my usual rants about how the movie ruined everything and the book was better. There are always exceptions to the rule. I’d like to read the rest of the series and see how the characters develop, especially Hiccup and Toothless. It was a fun and goofy read, and even more fun that David Tennant was narrating the audiobook because he does awesome voices. I read along in the actual book while I heard him narrating into my headphones and found some interesting cultural changes. Overall, it was great and I chuckled at some parts too.

How to Fight a Dragon's Fury

Stephanie Haynes

Manon van Heumen

This was so different from the movie, but I absolutely loved it!!

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, everyone's favorite reluctant Viking hero, has three months, five days and six hours to discover America, get back to Berk, save his father, battle Polarserpents, and win the annual Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race. Can he do it?