Eighth – DaneCobain.com

Cressida Cowell – How to Break a Dragon’s Heart | Review

Title: How to Break a Dragon’s Heart

Author: Cressida Cowell

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 320

Rating: 4*/5

Cressida Cowell – How to Break a Dragon’s Heart

When I first picked this one up, I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to finish it. I mean, it’s a kid’s book, right? But it turns out that despite being the eighth in a series of which I’ve only read the first, it was actually quite the cracker. I really enjoyed it, and I’m glad that they’re written in such a way that you don’t have to read them in order. It means I can keep on picking them up from charity shops as and when I see them.

If you’re familiar with the movie (or the TV show) of How to Train Your Dragon then you pretty much know what to expect here. In this adventure, Hiccup finds himself saving his friend Fishlegs by accidentally proposing marriage and having to complete an impossible task to win permission from her father. Along the way, he learns a little more about his ancestor, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second, and meeting plenty more dragons along the way.

Sure, it can be a little daft at times, but it’s pure escapism and it proved to me that you’re never too old to enjoy a good tale about dragons. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I now plan to add the rest of the series to my Goodreads wishlist, which must mean something. Cowell’s writing style is perfect for kids without being offputting to adults, and the illustrations throughout the book really helped to bring it to life. I also noticed a few differences between the books and the movie/TV shows, including the fact that in the books, Toothless is green. But he’ll always be black in my head because the animated Toothless is the spitting image of my cat, Biggie. So cute.

Cressida Cowell

Click here to buy How to Break a Dragon’s Heart.

J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Review

Title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Author: J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 344

Rating: 4*/5

J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

First of all, no matter how many times people call this ‘the eighth Harry Potter book’, I’m not going to do that. That implies that this is a new novel, but I rank it alongside books like Quidditch Through the Ages and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. It’s more like a bonus book, and it’s written in the style of a play because… well, because it’s a play. But you can’t reproduce it without prior written consent from the Rowling estate.

The story itself follows the tale of what happens twenty years or so after the end of the original series, with the next generation interacting seamlessly with the characters that you know and love. We have the sons of Potters, Weasleys and Malfoys, and a story which uses time turners to show us alternative realities. It works, and it’s very self-referential, but it doesn’t have the same spark as the main series. At times, I even felt there were lines that the characters were saying that just didn’t sit quite right.

But other than that, it’s hard to fault it. It feels a little bit like a byproduct rather than a work in its own right – like it was created because the market demanded it, not because of its own merit. There’s also the fact that, as a stage play, it was occasionally difficult to picture how it would be acted out – in the back, there’s a list of all of the crew that worked on the original performance, and there are people doing all sorts of things, like working with wires.

Still, it was a new installment in the Harry Potter series, so of course I still enjoyed it. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone unless they were a massive Potterhead, though. If you read the books and merely thought they were ‘okay’, this one isn’t for you.