Book 9: How to Steal a
Dragon’s Sword
4 ½ out of 5 Covers
Book 10: How to Seize
a Dragon’s Jewel
4 ½ out of 5 Covers
At this point, I really could be reviewing each book
individually, as they have gotten longer and more complex. But for the sake of tradition, I am going to
continue with the two book format. As
things are definitely building towards a finale, it will be hard to talk about
things without a few spoilers. So there
are going to be revelation ahead.
In Book 8, Hiccup freed a dragon that had been friends with
his ancestor, Hiccup II. But this dragon
had also been tormented for the last hundred years and has begun a dragon
rebellion, bent on freeing all the dragons that have been enslaved and wiping
out all the Vikings, but particularly Hiccup.
To combat this, all the Vikings tribes are meeting at the
School of Swordfighting, here boys become men.
But this time, they will also decide on a leader to guide them through
the perilous events. Things are not all
that it seems at the school, though, as it has been taken over by Alvin and his
witch mother, who have a plot to make Alvin the king. But the king has to be able to find all of
Grimbeard the Ghastly’s lost treasures, something that Hiccup has a knack
for. And there is one treasure located
beneath the school.
Book 10 begins with Hiccup at his lowest point: alone and
hunted while his friends and tribe are enslaved. Then his mother attacks him. This is the first appearance of Vahallarama,
who has been out on quests for most of Hiccup’s life. Barely surviving, Hiccup then has to sneak
into the Slavelands to find another of Grimbeard’s lost treasures if he is to
have any hope of creating peace between the dragons and Vikings. Things do go from bad to worse, though there
is a surprise revelation the origin of Hiccup’s friend, Fishlegs. And events take a dramatic turn when Hiccup
confronts Alvin the Treacherous.
In both these books, the first two thirds are filled with
the usual dose of action and preposterous physics. But the last thirds are dramatic with
heartwrenching choices because the character’s decisions now have
consequences. The first half of the How to Train Your Dragon series was
typical of middle reader fare, with silly action and everything being restored
to normal by the end of the book. But in
the second half, character’s actions have long lasting effects on the
future. And this has really elevated the
series towards exceptional and makes this reader very excited for the
conclusion, however many more volumes that may take.
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