You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had heard this book's movie was quite different from the books. It sure is. This book series (and the movie, and the show) are my son's absolute favorites. He specifically asked me to listen to this audiobook so we could talk about it. The audio is read by David Tennant and he does a fine job. I'm so glad my kiddo asked me to listen to this because it was good. I really enjoyed it.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I am a fan of the movies, but I had never read any of the books in this series. It's very different from the film and also a lot of fun. I enjoyed the first book and hope to read the rest of the series.
The movie is only very loosely based on this book - about the only thing that's the same is the names and character's physical descriptions. No Astrid at all, and the only women at all in the story are barely mentioned in passing. The book itself is ok, but this will the second time only in my life that I will admit that I liked the movie much more. Fun for grubby messy children and geared more towards boys (despite the fact that on my experience, young girls are equally gross and messy given the choice), but kind of meh for anyone else.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Cute. Read it to my daughter in three hours.
I'm not the target audience for this book but David Tennant did a fantastic job narrating this and I'm pleased I chose the audiobook as I'm not sure I would have finished the book if I was reading it myself. There is lots of humour that is likely to appeal to children and it is a creative setting. There were some parts which really stood out to me, such as the description of the cold and wet weather. I just didn't enjoy the way anyone was treated, dragon or human. It is one of those rare times where I preferred the film to the book.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a weird book.
This book was just outright weird. Odd. And it was also sometimes (painfully) juvenile. Sue me for my bias, but I still don’t think I would’ve loved this as a kid if I had read it before the movie.
The LACK of ITALICS.
Why is EVERYTHING capitalized instead of ITALICIZED. And italicization is still used sometimes? But very sparingly? And the dragons have italics occasionally but it’s so difficult to make out with the different squiggly font that they talk in. Oh yeah, the dragons actually talk in these books.
Toothless is a little shit.
And I think it’s meant to be funny? It just annoyed the hell out of me. Hiccup trying a new method of training on Toothless and hoping for better results all being tarnished by Toothless really not giving a damn anyways. I think that it’s, once again, meant to be comedic, but I was just annoyed. And because everything is meant to be comedic, no single character sticks out. I really didn’t even ever really care about Hiccup in this book. His characterization is similar enough, but it’s just ????? ugh. Stoick literally couldn’t care less about banishing Hiccup. HIS OWN SON AND LITERAL HEIR OF BERK.
movie bias
I think my bias and love for the movie really chips away at my opinion for this book. What a HUGE IMPROVEMENT IT WAS. It makes me so sad to say that the movie is better than the book because it truly is. The movie took everything that pissed me off in the book and made it right. But it makes me sad to say that because without this book, we wouldn’t have the glory and god-given masterpiece that is the movie (to then do so well it gets two more movies and so many shows). Sometimes it was funny - random things that probably shouldn’t have even made me laugh - but that’s about it
anyways
It’s just the way I would claw at the walls to give the movie more than five stars, but I’m resorting to give the book it was based on two stars. I would say not to waste your time with it, but everyone should try everything once, and I’ve enjoyed some books that others have hated. I am obviously not the target audience, which isn’t what I considered, given I grew up with the movies and shows that were not totally funny gaggily silliness. I genuinely would not read this again. 😞
This book was just outright weird. Odd. And it was also sometimes (painfully) juvenile. Sue me for my bias, but I still don’t think I would’ve loved this as a kid if I had read it before the movie.
The LACK of ITALICS.
Why is EVERYTHING capitalized instead of ITALICIZED. And italicization is still used sometimes? But very sparingly? And the dragons have italics occasionally but it’s so difficult to make out with the different squiggly font that they talk in. Oh yeah, the dragons actually talk in these books.
Toothless is a little shit.
And I think it’s meant to be funny? It just annoyed the hell out of me. Hiccup trying a new method of training on Toothless and hoping for better results all being tarnished by Toothless really not giving a damn anyways. I think that it’s, once again, meant to be comedic, but I was just annoyed. And because everything is meant to be comedic, no single character sticks out. I really didn’t even ever really care about Hiccup in this book. His characterization is similar enough, but it’s just ????? ugh. Stoick literally couldn’t care less about banishing Hiccup. HIS OWN SON AND LITERAL HEIR OF BERK.
movie bias
I think my bias and love for the movie really chips away at my opinion for this book. What a HUGE IMPROVEMENT IT WAS. It makes me so sad to say that the movie is better than the book because it truly is. The movie took everything that pissed me off in the book and made it right. But it makes me sad to say that because without this book, we wouldn’t have the glory and god-given masterpiece that is the movie (to then do so well it gets two more movies and so many shows). Sometimes it was funny - random things that probably shouldn’t have even made me laugh - but that’s about it
anyways
It’s just the way I would claw at the walls to give the movie more than five stars, but I’m resorting to give the book it was based on two stars. I would say not to waste your time with it, but everyone should try everything once, and I’ve enjoyed some books that others have hated. I am obviously not the target audience, which isn’t what I considered, given I grew up with the movies and shows that were not totally funny gaggily silliness. I genuinely would not read this again. 😞
I've loved the first How to Train Your Dragon movie ever since I first saw it and I've always been curious what the books are like since I'd heard that they were wildly different. Having now listened to David Tennant's wonderful narration, I can confirm that these are basically two entirely different stories, but I was pleased to find that the morals are quite similar. Both stories are about praising kindness and intelligence over meanness and brute strength. I liked the movie more, but the book was cute and a nice listen on a plan ride.
While I'd happily read this to a kid, I did want to note some differences that may turn off movie fans:
While I'd happily read this to a kid, I did want to note some differences that may turn off movie fans:
- -All the main characters are male. No female warriors to be found here.
- -The book is a lot more silly than the movie with less developed characters
- -Toothless the dragon is wildly different. Much more mean and lazy with a more surface-level friendship developing between him and Hiccup
- -Book Hiccup is not an inventor, he's just generally clever
- -The disability rep is movie-only for both Hiccup and Toothless
- -There is no dragon-viking war or lessons on acceptance, the book is just a general lesson on kindness
this was so funny???? like i was laughingggg why was toothless an asshole <3