Title: How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero
Author: Cressida Cowell
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 384
Rating: 3/5
Reading this was a little disconcerting purely because I’d just read How to Speak Dragonese, which comes a lot earlier in the series. Cowell says that you can read the books out of order, and while that’s true to an extent, this is so far along that the characters have undergone quite a bit of development. It felt like a clash to me, and I normally don’t mind reading series out of order.
I think the main reason for that is the fact that by the time that the action starts, Hiccup and his friends are essentially living as outlaws. An evil dragon is out to get them, using a very literal scorched earth policy in its effort to leave them nowhere to hide.
But I did still enjoy the read, mostly because it had vibes of the twelve tasks of Hercules. The funny thing is though that while we get a ton of references to Hiccup needing to get a bunch of items to succeed in his quest, that all just kind of happens in the background. I was expecting us to have a chapter for each item and then a big showdown at the end. The reality was very different.
If you’ve read the series up until this point, you’re going to want to keep on reading, and indeed it’s pretty much some more of the same, but with a few new bits and bobs thrown in. It also has a somewhat darker feel than some of the early books, but I think that’s probably because Cowell has evolved as a writer and also decided to tackle some different themes. And fair play to her for that.
And then there’s the ending, which left a lot to be desired. It basically finishes up with a “to be continued”, which is kind of annoying considering each of the books is meant to work as a standalone. It’s supposed to set things up for a big showdown in what’s apparently the final book of the series, but it just ended up feeling like half of a book. I mean, it wasn’t the worst book, but yeah.
