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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.

Shane Hegarty – Darkmouth | Review

Title: Darkmouth

Author: Shane Hegarty

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 416

Rating: 10/10

Shane Hegarty – Darkmouth

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

I haven’t read a series debut that was this good in a long time, and that’s the truth – I might have received this book for free, but I’ll be buying the next one myself, when it comes out. Hegarty’s Darkmouth is a small Irish town that’s the last place in the world that’s still under attack from monsters – Legends, to give them their full title.

The Legends are able to attack the streets of Darkmouth by creating portals between their world, which is an arid, acrid wasteland, and our own. All that stands between them is twelve-year-old Finn, the last Legend Hunter. Finn’s being trained by his father who’s hoping to pass on the skill, but he’s not a natural – he tries hard, but he does more harm than good, and he secretly hopes to become a vet when he grows up.

This, then, is a coming of age story, and it’s a beauty – a super exciting new series that has serious potential. It might not dethrone Harry Potter, but it could easily overtake the Skulduggery Pleasant series and pose a serious threat to the likes of Artemis Fowl, the author of which described this book as “incredible, the next big thing.”

Shane Hegarty

The village of Darkmouth is also a lot easier to visualise thanks to the epic illustrations that are dotted throughout the book, as well as online in the form of animated YouTube videos (unless I dreamt that). Harper Collins has done a great job here, it just exudes quality everywhere it exists – there must’ve been a pretty big team working on this one, ’cause it looks to me as though they’ve covered every angle.

Even the cover is epic, and I’m not just talking about the artwork – the spine is ridged, and feels like snakeskin if you run your fingers over it. It’s the little touches like that which make this book stand apart from most of the other young adult books on the market, and both the publisher and the author should be proud of this.

Fingers crossed that the rest of the series follows suit, because this is one hell of a promising start. The potential for the story to be developed seems almost limitless, and I can’t wait to find out what Finn gets up to next.