Tag: dragons

After a month-long summer break, the book bunnies are back! The first review of this new season comes from Caramel, who has just read the sixth book of Cressida Cowell’s How To Train Your Dragon series: A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons. As is usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you had a month-long break. Did you read any more How To Train Your Dragon books?

Caramel: Yes. And today I’m going to tell you about A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons. This is book number 6 of the series.

S: So what happens in this book?

C: It is still about Hiccup and his friends. I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone, but I can tell you that Hiccup decides to go to the MeatHead Public Library, which is a horrible idea, because it is a dangerous place. The librarian kills people who want to sneak in and steal books.

S: Well, can’t Hiccup just walk in and check out a book, like you do in a regular library?

C: No. For some reason the Vikings think that the books in the library are dangerous and people should not read them.

S: Oh so this is kind of like a book depository rather than a library, so books are preserved but not for reading by regular folks. Is that it?

C: Yes. But Hiccup wants to go in because his dragon Toothless destroyed a book and so Hiccup wants to get another book to replace it.

S: Hmm, that sounds like a good way of getting into trouble. So I’m guessing a lot of fun and dangerous adventures follow.

C: Yes.

S: So did you enjoy reading this book?

C: Yes. It is just as funny as the other books in the series. I especially liked the dragon profiles at the end.

S: Tell me about that. What are the dragon profiles about?

C: They are descriptions of eleven different types of dragons. For example there is a Stinkdragon, which is a dragon that is like a skunk; the smell comes from its mouth though. There is also the Mood-dragon, and the Driller-Dragon, and there is one called the red hot itchy worm. There are a lot of these worms in the library.

S: So the dragon profiles are descriptions with some illustrations of what these special dragons are like, right?

C: Yes.

S: Which is your favorite dragon profiled?

C: I don’t particularly have a favorite but there are lots of cute ones.

S: The ones you mentioned did not sound too cute to me!

C: Yes but there are also cutes ones. For example there is the Shortwing Squirrelserpent. Those are cute! There is a picture of them in this link. Hmm, I think that might be the only cute one though…

S: Alright, I can see you really liked this book, and will likely want to tell us some time about the next book in the series.

C: Oh yes!

S: So let us wrap up our review then with your three words describing this book.

C: Funny, curious, and adventurous.

S: Those will work! And what do you want to close with?

C: I hope you enjoyed this book bunny review. Stay tuned for more!

Caramel has been going through the How To Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell these past few weeks. He has already reviewed the first four books for the book bunnies blog: How To Train Your Dragon, How to Be A Pirate,  How To Speak Dragonese, and How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse. Today he talks about the fifth book in this series: How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions. 

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what happens in this fifth book of the How To Train Your Dragon series?

Caramel: The same as every other one of them. Hiccup gets in trouble and then gets out of trouble.

S: That sounds like you are getting bored of this series. Are you?

C: No.

S: So it is somewhat formulaic but you still find it a lot of fun to read?

C: Yes. There is a new character called Humongous, Humongously Hotshot. He plays an important role in the story.

S: So tell us a bit about that story. But please, no spoilers this time.

C: The book starts with Hiccup in the pirate training program, herding reindeer on dragon back. As you can probably expect, Toothless messes everything up. Again. Like he did in all the other books.

S: So is Toothless silly, impulsive, or volatile? Why doe he always mess things up?

C: He gets too excited about everything and that causes trouble.

S: I saw you giggling your way through the book. Is it just as hilarious as the earlier books?

C: Yes. If you like the other books in the series, you will like this too. For sure.

S: It seems to me that the books are independent from one another. Is that true?

C: Not so much. Some characters from earlier books show up and knowing them from those earlier stories really helps. There is Alvin the Treacherous who shows up here. And he is a pretty good bad guy. But he first showed up in How to Be a Pirate. That was the second book.

S: I see. So there is some continuity and development in the characters, and the basic story of Hiccup keeps developing. But the individual books have distinct adventures which are relatively self-contained.

C: Yes, that is right.

S: So maybe you can give me your three words to describe the book.

C: Funny, adventurous, and fantasy.

S: You have used the first two before, but fantasy is new.

C: But fantasy does work for all the books. This is fantasy because Romans, Vikings, and dragons all live in the same world.

S: That makes sense of course Caramel. So let us wrap this up so you can move on to the next book in the series.

C: Yes, but I am actually reading a different book now, and that will probably be my next review.

S: That sounds intriguing. Readers will need to wait a week to see what this other book is. But for now, what do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

It has almost been a month since Caramel reviewed for our blog How To Speak Dragonese, the third among the How To Train Your Dragon books by Cressida Cowell. Today he wanted to talk about the fourth book in this series: How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Reader beware! This review does contain some spoilers.

(You can also check out Caramel’s reviews of  How To Train Your Dragon, the book that started the series, and How to Be A Pirate, the second book. A while back, Marshmallow had also reviewed the ninth book, and her favorite in the series: How to Steal A Dragon’s Sword.)

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you know exactly what I am going to ask you.

Caramel: Yes, I know. You’ll ask me to tell you a bit about this book. So Hiccup gets stung by a Venomous Vorpent.

S: What’s that?

C: It is a dragon whose sting is almost always fatal. The only cure is the vegetable that noone dares to name. The Potato!

S: Wait, how is the potato such a daring thing to talk about?

C: I am not sure. But the Venomous Vorpent comes up at the end of the third book, How to Speak Dragonese. Remember that I told you then that there was something like a cliffhanger? But we only learn that he stung Hiccup in this fourth book. Only at the very end.

S: Wait, so you are giving away the main plot line!

C: Kind of.

S: Hmm, that’s tricky! Maybe if we put a warning at the top of this review, we can salvage it. But try not to spoil things too much more, okay?

C: Okay, no more spoilers.

S: So tell me more about the book without any more spoilers.

C: We meet a new character named One-Eye. He is a dragon and he plays an important role in the story. In fact–

S: Wait! That sounds awfully like you are close to giving away more information about the book’s end. Remember, no more spoilers!

C: Okay, okay. But he does save Hiccup.

S: That sounds too much like another spoiler Caramel!

S: Tell me some other things about the book.

C: There is another new character, a Doomfang. Those are some other types of dragons. And Hiccup thinks his friend Fishlegs has been stung by a Venomous Vorpent too. So there is a lot going on. There are also a lot of funny parts. Hiccup’s dad calls Fishlegs Fisheggs!

S: So it sounds like you really enjoyed the book.

C: The story is exciting, the plot is good, and I tried to read it as fast as possible. And I liked the end too. But of course I liked the other books in the series too.

S: So the author manages to keep up the fun and the adventure at a level comparable to the previous books.

C: Yes. So my words for the book would be: funny, adventurous, and a good plot.

S: Okay, those will work.

C: And I will close the review up by saying: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

In these past few weeks, Caramel has been reading the How To Train Your Dragon books by Cressida Cowell. And he has already reviewed for our blog How To Train Your Dragon, the book that started it all, and How to Be A Pirate, the second book of the series. Today he is reviewing How To Speak Dragonese, the third book. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you finished the third book of the How To Train Your Dragon series. What is the main storyline in this one?

Caramel: The main character is again Hiccup, but we meet a few new characters. Ziggerastica and Camicazi. The first one is a small dragon and the second is a Viking girl. She is from a different tribe than Hiccup. They are called the Bog Burglars.

S: So there are some new characters. That is interesting. Tell me then: what is happening?

C: There are Romans in this one. They have a hidden outpost called Fort Sinister and they are trying to take all the dragons in the Barbaric Archipelago and turn them into handbags or food.

S: Oh, so Hiccup’s task is to save the dragons from the Romans?

C: Yes.

S: And he does this with the cooperation of his friends and dragons?

C: Yes, Fishlegs and Toothless help him. But my favorite character in the book is Gobber.

S: Who is that?

C: Gobber the Belch is a Hairy Hooligan, from Hiccup’s tribe. His funniest line in the story is in the back of the book:

“THE BOAT SORT OF SANK?” roared Gobber. “YOU CALL YOURSELVES VIKINGS AND YOU SORT OF SINK YOUR OWN BOAT ON A PERFECTLY CALM DAY TWO HUNDRED METERS FROM YOUR OWN ISLAND? WHAT KIND OF HOOLIGANS ARE YOU ANYWAYS? YOU CAN’T BUILD BOATS, YOU CAN’T TRAIN DRAGONS, FISHLEGS HERE CAN’T EVEN SWIM…”
“Saltwater brings out my eczema…” mumbled Fishlegs.

S: I know you have loved reading these books not only because they remind you of the animated series or the movies but also because they are absolutely hilarious. Is this book as funny as the first two?

C: Yes. Possibly even funnier.

S: So I bet “hilarious” could be one of your descriptive words for this book, right?

C: Yes definitely.

S: What other words would you add to that to describe this book? We usually give three. So you need two more.

C: Good plot twists and neat illustrations.

S: Hmm, that is more than two more words, but you described the reasons why you liked the book well. So do you see yourself rereading this book?

C: Yes, and you should read it too. But now I need to move to the next book. At the very end there is something like a cliffhanger. So I want to know what happens next.

S: Hmm, then let us not delay you too much. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!