How to Train Your Dragon

By: Cressida Cowell

Narrated by: David Tennant

Chronicles the adventures and misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III as he tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan, the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, by catching and training a dragon.

©2010 Cressida Cowell (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"David Tennant, best known for his role as Doctor Who, brings a slew of Scottish accents to this high-spirited rendering of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III's journey toward true heroism.... The taunting tones applied to Snotlout and his grunting sidekick, Dogsbreath, are a hoot. Tennant has a special talent for creating larger-than-life voices, particularly the lisping and stuttering of the dragon, Toothless, and the deep, malicious purring of the sea dragon. Music and ominous dragon roaring between scenes accentuate the performance." ( AudioFile)

Awesome!

Really amazing narration and hilarious antics galore! The only concern I found was the sounds between chapters seems to be way louder in volume than the narration which means it blasts us when we are driving and can’t grab the volume fast enough. Otherwise, absolutely amazing and entertaining to all four of my kids, 10, 6, 5, and 3. Dad and mom love it as well!

So much better than the movie!

But isn’t that always the case? All four of my littles, ages 5-11, enjoyed this on a recent road trip. I quite enjoyed it myself. David Tennent does an ASTOUNDINGLY fantastic job of narrating. We just finished book one today and I’m getting ready to buy book two. The kids can’t wait to keep going through the series!

Cute but different from the movie

It was a very cute story with many lovable characters. My only complaint was that the reader kept whispering too softly in part than would tell at others. I would normally appreciate this but since I would have to crank the volume all the way up to hear him at one part, I would immediately get blasted when he started yelling. But, over all it was a great story about a young boy learning how to appreciate his special gifts even if he seemed strange to everyone else.

Great narration

I could listen to David Tennant all day! The only issue I had with this audio version was the drastic change in volume. That’s something that should’ve been edited in post-production. For instance, in the first few chapters, going from Gobber’s voice to Hiccups was a drastic change in volume. Made the listening experience a bit difficult. Other than that, no complaints!

NOT the movie but fun in its own right.

It's a good book but it's _nothing_ like the movie. There's Hiccup, Toothless, Gobber, etc., and the setting is the same, but the story and characters are different. The hardest part for me is that Toothless is not as likable in the book.

I admit that I bought it because I love David Tennant. He could read the phone book and I'll listen. I was not disappointed.

Read it already!!

I picked this up because I love the movies. I read somewhere that the movies takes the general idea of the books but the books are quite different from the movies. So out of curiosity I decided to give this a shot. If I were to describe this in one word - Fantastic! It is funny, extremely entertaining and hard to put down. I am not going to give you a synopses of the book as you probably know the general storyline, however if you are on the fence about this my advice to you is - stop thinking so damn hard and read it already! Its a short, fun, very funny, widely entertaining book that you have to be someone without a sense of humor not to enjoy. To top it all off the narration is amazing! So go on give it a shot!

Good, very good

loved it but wish it was longer, reader was great, his voice is just great

David Tennant as good as ever

Began listening to this book because I needed more David Tennant in my life, and he did not disappoint. The story is pretty good too!

David Tennant Brings this story to life!

This series is a charming and exciting storyline that is fun to read for children and adults alike. David Tennant’s performance is so much fun and really gives the listener dozens of characters to follow along on their quirky adventures. Especially fun is the character Toothless the dragon, who is always complaining that his wings are to tired or hiding from any danger until situations ramp up causing him to show he really does care. “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Absolutely loved it!

Absolutely LOVED this book, and I would recommend it to children and adults alike. It's a relatively short book in comparison to most (of the ones I usually read anyway), which made it a quick and fun listen (I Audible'd this one, which actually made it even more enjoyable due to the narrator being fantastic). Overall, very funny and interesting book, and one that will be getting added to my list of favorites, as well as one that I will probably listen to again, which is something that I very rarely do.