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)

Loved the movie, had to listen to the book.

Where does How to Train Your Dragon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was well read by David Tennant and a funny Viking adventure story. But, after all it is a children's book and I am an adult so it would not rank in my top 50 books.

What other book might you compare How to Train Your Dragon to and why?

Cannot really compare as I do not read many books like this.

Which character – as performed by David Tennant – was your favorite?

The main character, Hiccup the Useful was cute and had a good heart.

Any additional comments?

A great book for children that like adventure stories featuring dragons. Has a bit of humour and action with a good ending. The book is not like the movie.

Wonderful performance by David Tennant!

Although it was very different from the movie that the book inspired, this was a really good story. The performance was excellent, and I look forward to listening to it again with my daughter.

The real How to Train your dragon

HOW DID WE LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS?! Look if you’ve come here from the movie you’re going to start being disappointed and then get very excited. It’s NOT the movie but that’s not a bad thing. Just as exciting and thrilling as I remember it from my childhood. Honestly why we didn’t get THIS as the movie is beyond me. Amazing read and great for a hungry imagination.

A fantasy told in witty prose read with linguistic genious

Author Cowel’s raucous humor and reader Tennant’s brilliant linguistic ability bring us this imaginative story of an unlikely heroic boy and his toothless dragon whose devious resourcefulness save the village from certain arma-dragon-gedon. Don’t miss this deeply entertaining and fantastical tale for all ages.

Bit loud but epic lol 😄😁😆😃😀

David tennant totally 💯 was amazing with this yesss he wuz the doctah is doctor who and he is so great with this book so like the thors day Thursday audio was kinda loud and jarring even but overall the book is so awesome 😎 and the green death oh whoops I was about to say a spoiler.

Fantastic book

My 5 year old and I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I do agree with other reviewers that the audio goes up and down often, which is slightly annoying but the book is definitely worth getting through it!

Bookmarking for next road trip!!

So glad I listened to this!! Thought I should start reading the books since I enjoyed the films so much... Pleasantly surprised to find my 2nd favorite Dr is the narrator! Fascinating to hear the differences and similarities in story and character. This is a wonderful funny work - looking fwd to playing this on our next road trip!

Didn't want to Put Down

I got this because I heard David Tennant was the narrator and was really amused with his narrating. He did an excellent job with all the characters.

Where are the girls though?

We read the audio version, read by David Tennant. His reading is awesome, though the sound quality was troublesome because there were whispers interspersed with loud yells and the choice was either to miss the whispers or be deafened by the yells. My main complaint is that while women (mothers) are mentioned in the book a couple of times and one actually speaks a line or two (max), there are zero girls in the book. ZERO. Like, were they eaten by dragons? Why don't the girls get dragons? Do the girls even exist? They are never even mentioned, not a single word about girls in the tribe. Where are the girls? I think having them in the book would add a lot of interest. The book was a bit one-dimensional. It needs a Hermione! (In the movie made from this book, a female main character is added!) Loved the dragons and adventure and the world-building is great. Worth a read, but disappointed.

Good Story

Listening to my his was quite an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I recommend it to anyone who likes light fantasy.