Book Review: How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)  by Cressida Cowell

It is probably best that I have NOT seen the Dreamworks film based on this book, as I was able to go into the book without expectation. 

And without expectation, it was an eminently entertaining read. The illustrations are purposefully messy, as is the font, and the book is littered throughout with faux ink blots, just as a young male Viking's journal might be, if the Vikings knew about ink. Or journals. 

And, sure, I could go on and on about the incongruities of the plot based on historical timelines, but what's the point? This is a work of imaginative fiction; Cowell has deliberately created a world that tugs at our ideas of history and throws them on their head at the same time. 

A tad violent and bullies, both of human nature and dragon nature, appear throughout. But the hero prevails and becomes a Hero.