How to Break a Dragon's Heart

Having stumbled upon David Tennant's reading of How to Train Your Dragon, our family became firm fans of the audiobooks of the series. This is the best one yet, and that's high praise indeed.
The story has Cressida Cowell's trademark mix of humour, suspense and action. In fact, this time the suspense is notched right up, thanks to a supposedly haunted beach, a blind witch and ancient stories of kingly betrayal.
The narration is a joy, with Tennant giving full rein to his remarkable capacity for accents. In addition to the regular characters, he brings to life 11 fiancés and their betrothed, the witch and her son, a fierce warrior girl, a heartbroken dragon and some menacing tribal chiefs (one of whom, deliciously, seems to have been inspired by the Kray twins).
The kids (8 and 10) want to listen to it over and over in the car, and it's so entertaining they get no argument from me.

I am probably too old for these books but I have enjoyed every one of them immensely. They are all well written, and wonderfully read by one of my very favorite actors!

These stories and the storytelling of David Tennant just keep getting better and better. I love this one! It keeps my daughter raptured for hours. She has already played it three times.

While keeping the easy to read and overall sense of the series, the books are progressively getting darker, and even a bit scarier. My 5 and 8 year old have listened to this in their delight, less laughs but more intrigue.

The next two books are not yet on Audible, so I'm reading them to them - which is OK but I can't do the voices as David Tennet does so the performance is missing (I do try Toothless which they appreciate). The next two books get even somewhat darker and Hiccup is in more trouble. But book 8 sets things up and seems important later so don't miss it.

Fun For All

Haven't read children's books in ages, but this was so much FUN! Great engaging story and masterfully narrated. Once I listened to one of the "Dragon" books, I had to purchase them all!. Funny, adventurous, life lessons - just wonderful and amazing for readers of all ages.

He is a master at voices!

This series is the only audio book I've heard so far, but I am enjoying the entire Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III memoirs known as the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell

The story is a delight for children, but also entertaining for adults.

I really love his variety and ability to portray all of the characters in a way that you'll recognize each one. I like the big oafish characters as well as his variety of dragons.

This is a fun series of books and David Tennant was a fantastic choice for Narrator and Character voices

According to my 9 year old son the book deserves five star rating across the board!

Audible lists this book in the 5-7 years old age category, and was among the top rated books listed as for that age group. I played it for my 5 year old twins without pre-listening to it. I have had to explain murder, death in childbirth, deliberate infanticide, profanity (mild profanity for me but nothing I say in front of my kids) and various kinds of cruelty. I have to say in all fairness, I listened to it myself and enjoyed it (when I didn't have to worry about the kids), but as a book I bought for my kids to listen to in the car, it gets a bad rating.

I thought of it as similar to how I think of violent video games. I enjoy them privately, when the kids are in bed but do not think them appropriate for small children.

No. I love this stuff. I enjoyed it personally and think the twins will enjoy these books when they are older.

I actually loved the performance. My only objection is the material for the 5-7 age category.

Horror (that my kids were hearing it and really wanted to keep listening). My daughter was frightened for Hiccup and was upset she couldn't finish listening the the death contest between him and the witch, because she wanted to know if she'd be killed.

Simply remove this as a recommended choice for 5-7 year olds. The books are clearly MUCH different than the movie (as often happens) and clearly are not written for little kids...