How to Speak Dragonese

How to Train Your Dragon, Book 3

By: Cressida Cowell

Narrated by: David Tennant

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was a Viking hero - dashing, brave, and ever so hairy. But even Viking heroes have to begin somewhere.... Toothless has been captured, the nanodragon is about to be gobbled, and Sharkworms are on the loose. Once again we are relying on Hiccup to be a hero.

©2005 Cressida Cowell (P)2006 Hodder Children's Books

Great Listen

Where does How to Speak Dragonese rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The How to Train Your Dragon series of books are the only audiobooks we (Mom, Dad, Son (8 yrs old) and Daughter (5 yrs old) have ever listened to, and we are sold. It has been a huge hit with the entire family for long road trips.

What did you like best about this story?

The kids love the entire series. The highlight of this one for them was when Alvin the Trecherous fell out of the baloon.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made us laugh. We loved it!

Any additional comments?

We recommend for the entire family. A great book to bridge the age gap between our 8 and 5 year old. I also think older kids would like it.

Great book, love Tennant.

This is a great continuation of the adventure but some of the action and gore may be more suited to older listeners.

Great Listen

What made the experience of listening to How to Speak Dragonese the most enjoyable?

David Tennant is a GREAT narrator. We laugh all the way through the book.

What did you like best about this story?

The story is quite humorous and enjoyable for our entire family.

What about David Tennant’s performance did you like?

He does the most superb voices for each character.

Fun for the whole family

What made the experience of listening to How to Speak Dragonese the most enjoyable?

The great interplay between the story and the narration made this a truly entertaining and enjoyable listen. The story is solid, and well worth reading on its own - full of adventure, intrigue, creativity, and individuality - but when the narration of Tennant is added to the mix you get a 1+1=5 scenario. He really brings the already great story to life.

I occasionally have trouble keeping track of who is speaking when listening to audio books but Tennant's character voices are so distinct, and fantastic, that not only do they make it easy to follow the dialogue, they make it seem as if there is an entire cast performing the book. The only downside (and its a very small, potentially hilarious one) is occasionally I would get sidetracked trying to figure out how one person was making so many different voices (complete with trying to mimic them), I would have to "rewind" the audio to catch the bit of story I missed.

What did you like best about this story?

I love how real Hiccup and his friends are. This isn't the story of someone suddenly finding out they are exactly what the world thinks they should be, or of some mystical "fairy godmother" figure coming down and fixing everything. This series is about a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, and all of the wonderful lessons, challenges, and self appreciation that is gained through that process. A message we can all benefit from hearing more often.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

These books are great for people of all ages!

Awsome

This book is so Awesome ,funny ,cool when snotlout gets pushed by fish legs overboard ha ha ha ha ha!

Fabulous for kids (age 7+) and adults

If you could sum up How to Speak Dragonese in three words, what would they be?

perfect for travel

Any additional comments?

The whole How to Train Your Dragon series is so worth its price! David Tennant's reading is amazingly entertaining. Our family now has standing jokes about Hiccup Horrendous Haddoc the Third, Big Boobied Bertha and "Oh, ye actually arr not a bad sword fighter! For a boy, o'course..." complete with the required pronunciation : ) Only word of caution: the language and accents may be hard to follow for kids under 7ish.

Totally Epic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What did you love best about How to Speak Dragonese?

Kamikaze's escape plans. I liked it when he actually told you how to speak Dragonese as well as when Hiccup fought his way out of the arena.

What was one of the most memorable moments of How to Speak Dragonese?

When he told you how to speak Dragonese, as the translations hilarious!

Which scene was your favorite?

When Hiccup told you how to speak Dragonese.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Hiccup told you how to speak Dragonese, I was lying on the floor for five minutes laughing my head off!!!!!!!

Great audiobook!

I'm 35 years old and I've really enjoyed the "How to Train your Dragon" series so far. Great amount of action and humour in them. David Tennant is a great narrator!

Another great story!

Again, I’m listening to this book with an Australian family while on tour. Everyone unanimously gave this book 5 stars. My 9 year old girl loved the cliffhanger at the end of the book. The 12 year old boy liked: “when the fat dude got electrocuted!” And the mom loved the colosseum type fight!

Well done to both the author and narrator! We’re hoping to do book 4 in two days time!

great easy listen

great book must listen to the series in order to pick up the small crossovers