The How to Train Your Dragon series, Book 1 Cressida Cowell Hodder Fiction, CH Fantasy/Humor Themes: Dragons ***
Description
Bards - what bards still exist - remember Hiccup Horrendus Haddock the Third as one of the last great Heroes, from the days when the Vikings of Berk still caught and
trained dragons. They manage to conveniently forget that Hiccup, despite being the son of the great Stoick the Vast of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, was once a scrawny,
overlooked runt of a boy... a boy who, when sent to collect a young dragon to train as part of his tribal initiation rites, grabbed the smallest and most stubborn little
beast anyone had ever set eyes on. But the path to Heroism isn't always about bashing in brains or shouting the loudest. Here, recorded by Hiccup himself, is the story
of one boy taking the Hard Way to Heroism, interspersed with notes on dragons and Hiccup's sketches.
Review
This series forms the basis of one of my favorite movies of all time... and, had I read this book first, I might not have watched it. Geared toward a much younger
audience, Hiccup's tale revels in references to snot and poo and other bodily emissions, not to mention dragonloads of anachronistic references and a slapstick-heavy sense
of humor. Toothless, Hiccup's unprepossessing Common or Garden Dragon, is a selfish jerk, but then all dragons prove to be amoral, cruel and self-interested beasts. Buried
deep beneath the crudity, I found glimmers of depth and interest... glimmers that seem strangely out of place paired with so much goofy shallowness. The vast green sea
dragon that threatens the island is a particularly nasty creation, a riddling and philosophical monster in the vein of Tolkien's Smaug. The scribbled sketches and notes
interrupt the flow of the narrative - and, at one point, directly contradict the text - but children might find them fun. On its own level, for younger readers especially,
it's not a bad story of underdogs making good and the power of kindness over brute force. Personally, I much prefer what DreamWorks has done with the movies.
In ancient times, long before the British Isles knew they were even British, a vast, wild, and dark forest covered the land. Within this forest were all manner
of magical beasts and beings, as well as a race of human Wizards... until the Warriors showed up from across the sea, bearing iron that was immune to their Magic.
Battle lines were drawn as trees were felled and deaths mounted, and Wizards and Warriors both learned from the cradle to hate one another. But in fighting each
other, they forgot another threat: the witches, a race of the worst sort of Bad Magic. It is said they were exterminated centuries ago... but many things are said
that are not entirely true...
Xar may be the son of the King of the Wizards, but even at thirteen his magic has yet to grow in - as his bully older brother never lets him forget. Tired of the
looks of disappointment from his father, the boy has concocted a desperate plan, one that involves finding and trapping a witch and then using stolen Warrior iron
(a simple saucepan, in truth, but iron nonetheless) to steal its magic for himself. Of course, his older brother gets wind of the plot and utterly humiliates him
for his foolishness - but Xar may not be wrong, and his trap ends up catching something very interesting, if very dangerous.
Wish is everything her mother, Queen of the Warriors, cannot stand. She has a limp and but one good eye, instead of a sturdy and whole warrior body. She's untidy
and has a wandering, inquisitive mind, instead of being tidy and following the Rules of her people. And now she's slipped out into the forbidden woods after a pet
she isn't even supposed to have: a spoon that somehow acquired magical life. Worse, she took with her an even more forbidden object: an enchanted iron sword she
discovered on her way out of the keep. Magic is strictly forbidden by her mother, and her bodyguard is at his wit's end trying to keep her in line, but Wish keeps
defying everyone... until something very strange and malevolent chases her straight into a trap.
Wish and Xan hate each other at first sight, as befitting their upbringing, but another, greater evil is afoot. It may take the combined might of Wizards and
Warriors to stop a truly terrible fate from befalling the land of Once, and everyone in it.
Review
Given the target age, this is a fun and adventurous romp through a fantastical Dark Ages, one populated with wizards and warriors and trickster fairies and
gentle giants and great lynx-like "snow cats" big enough to ride and more wonders - as well as darkly dangerous witches, not to mention the all-too-human problems
of prejudices, misunderstandings, and the secrets kept by those in power to keep themselves in power. As with Cowell's other series (the popular How to Train
Your Dragon series, loose source material for one of my favorite animated trilogies of all time), it walks a line between exaggerated humor and dangerous
stakes, with a little more to it than its outwardly silly trappings might suggest; I felt that line was stuck to better in this series, personally. Once in a while
it pulled a punch slightly and waded a bit deep into tangents for the sake of silly tangents, but overall it moved decently and wasn't too predictable, and it kept
me entertained for a while as an audiobook at work (even if the sound effects and voices seemed overdone - though, again, I'm a few decades over the target age,
and I expect kids would find it enjoyable to have their listening interrupted with bangs and blasts to punctuate action bits). Being entertained is really all I
asked of it, and it delivered.
