Author: Cressida Cowell
Review
This book is a treasure, and a steward. I have only grown to love it more, now that I, thanks to some great Lit classes, have the tools to REALLY appreciate it. It’s a very simple story, with a very simple hero. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is small, skinny, and rather unremarkable. He isn’t particularly adept at sports, prefers a civil conversation to a fistfight, and can almost spell motivation correctly. In other words, he’s a terrible Viking. Being the son of the Chief and The Hope and Heir of the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans doesn’t help things a great deal. Sticking to the ancient customs of his clan, he and his fellow novices are ordered to capture, grow and educate their own dragons in preparation for an all-important initiation ceremony. Still, the dragon that Hiccup gets saddled with, though pint-sized and completely toothless, proves to be more than his little flight simulator can handle using the traditional Viking method. Consequently, Hiccup begins to plan his own training techniques, speaking directly to the beasts rather than relying on deterrence. For a volume about the crude, violent shenanigans of historically inaccurate Vikings, it is unexpectedly rich. In fact, there’s some really genuine, down-to-earth morals and wisdom here that I have simply noticed by effectively growing up with this script. The movie only scratched the surface of what this record really has to provide when it recited the fib of a strange little Viking who ends up succeeding thanks to his strangeness. This script is basically a book about problems and how to resolve them. It’s all about putting things into perspective. It explores the matching quality of Death. It examines the helplessness one can feel under the onslaught of a wild, misguided world, and how eccentricity can be valuable in an environment plagued with stagnant values. It, like the rest of Cowell’s Hiccup books, shows a hero who would much rather talk things out with his foe than barge into violence. The heavy irony of this volume is that the dragon never gets “trained”- at least, not in the manner you’d anticipate it to be. While exuberant, melodramatic and even crude in her execution, Cowell is completely down-to-earth when it comes to the genuine truths of spirit. If you can stand a few bathroom gags, a few risqué plays on words, and a distinct lack of female characters, you’re in for a genuine dainty. If nothing else, it is a very entertaining read that will grant your kids the giggles, and render you an opportunity to stretch your playing skills: with its gruff Viking yellers, sarcastic heroes, and self-satisfied dragons, the book BEGS to be read out loud.