Book 7: How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm
3 ½ out of 5 Covers
Book 8: How to Break a Dragon’s Heart
5 out of 5 Covers
The adventures of
Hiccup the Viking continue as he competes in the Intertribal Friendly Swimming
Race. Now Vikings don’t race to see how fast
they can swim, oh no. Coming from an
arctic region, they compete to see how long you can stay in the water. Which is why Hiccup has 3 months, 5 days and
6 hours to make it back. It doesn’t help
that Hiccup is captured by his nemesis Norbert the Nutjob, hunted by
Polar-Serpents, nearly discovers America and has to free Norbert’s slaves.
While the logic behind
the Viking swimming race makes sense within the world that the author has
built, it also strains credulity. While
this series has always required a strong illusion of disbelief, the initial
presentation of the idea of swimming for months is a stretch of physics that
weakens the underlying premise of the volume.
Sadly, it is not the only plot element that felt forced, though
revealing more would give away some crucial developments. Having read further volumes, I know that the
developments are crucial to future books, but here there is a sense that the
author needed it to happen and didn’t quite know how to fit it into the
narrative.
How to Break a Dragon’s Heart is the best book in the series so
far. Everything else has been laying the
groundwork for this story, which begins with Hiccup’s discovery of the Lost
Throne of the Wilderwest, last occupied by his ancestor Grimbeard the Ghastly. From there the story leads to the island of
Berserkers, where Hiccup’s friend Fishlegs believes he will find his
parents. Hiccup must survive the
Berserkers, free his friends and free an ancient dragon that was friends with
his namesake, Hiccup II. Unfortunately,
this dragon now hates Vikings and wants to start a war.
The centerpiece of this
volume, the part that helps it rise about excellent to exceptional, is the
prophecy. Many heroes’ stories have prophecies
and it helps raise them from fun stories to legends, being now wrapped up in
the history and mythology of the land.
In Hiccup’s case, the prophecy includes a terrible decision, for will
have to choose between saving the Vikings or saving the dragons in the upcoming
war. I cannot stress what a great affect
these revelations had as it changes the whole dynamic of the series and puts
everything that came before in a much greater context. Fantastic stuff.
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