How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!

Other books by
author Cressida Cowell

"How to Train Your Dragon"
Message Board

Cressida Cowell Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR: Laura Southcombe

SCHOLARS:

Would you like to be a scholar and make five dollars per review? Click here to submit a review!

Review Summaries

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a son of a Viking chief. Someday he is supposed to lead the tribe, but he seems to lack the qualities of a good leader. Hiccup is a small, skinny boy, not a brawny hero the Vikings want. Nobody takes him seriously, not even his father, Stoick the Vast, and other boys bully him. His chance to prove himself worthy comes on the day of initiation when 19 Viking boys go on a dragon hunt. Each must capture a young dragon, raise it and training it. Hiccup fails, to no one's surprise. Instead of capturing a Monstrous Nightmare, a mighty dragon fit for a chief's son, Hiccup is only able to catch a Common Garden dragon. Besides, his dragon is not just young – he is an infant. Everyone has a good laugh, and Hiccup's new dragon is named Toothless – because that's what he is. Hiccup starts raising Toothless and training him to fish. But even a baby dragon does not take him seriously! Toothless turns out to be stubborn and lazy, he does not obey his master and refuses to learn. However, Hiccup possesses a rare ability to speak Dragonese, which eventually helps him to develop his own dragon-training techniques. These techniques prove very useful when the whole tribe is threatened by a huge, vicious Seadragons. Only Hiccup knows what to do. The boy nobody thought capable of anything comes up with a bold plan and saves the day."
Laura Southcombe, Resident Cressida Cowell Scholar

Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!

Overall Review

Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 30%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Adversaries are… - dragon buddy
Is this an adult or child's book? - Kid's book (ages 7-14)
GIANT monster(s) Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Age: - a kid
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - a kid
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Terrain - Forests
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
Mara's Flame by Hamish Clark
Hatching Magic by Ann Downer
Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
The BFG by Roald Dahl

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Book search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed book search
(click here) or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion

Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!

Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!

Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game

Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

Clash of the Titans: Clash of the Titans 9/7/2008 3:53:28 AM

Blade Runner: Blade Runner 9/6/2008 12:13:28 PM

Star Trek Enterprise: T'Pol shows her nude butt on Enterprise! 9/2/2008 3:20:24 AM

Star Trek Enterprise: Jolene Blalock on T'Pol and Star Trek Enterprise 9/2/2008 3:12:39 AM

Star Trek Enterprise: Is T'Pol supposed to be a Vulcan lesbian? 9/2/2008 3:02:45 AM

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 8/31/2008 1:47:59 AM

Charmed: How can Phoebe Halliwell get an abortion? 8/29/2008 10:02:34 PM

Alien Hunter : Alien Hunter 8/28/2008 1:25:23 PM

Charmed: What's wrong with Rose McGowan's chin? 8/26/2008 8:21:36 AM

Charmed: What kind of name is Piper for a girl? 8/20/2008 5:34:24 PM

Newest slaves:
Chellina 11:46:54 PM
Reese Witherspoon 11:46:53 PM
Aeryn Sun 11:46:19 PM
Luke Skywalker 11:45:20 PM
John Crichton 11:41:59 PM
John Crichton clone 11:41:14 PM
Winona Ryder 11:41:00 PM
Zhaan 11:40:43 PM
Dargo 11:39:52 PM
Sicko-zoo 11:39:24 PM
All slaves
(click here)

Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)