Book Review #644 - How to Train Your Dragon (How to Train Your Dragon #1) by Cressida Cowell

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a truly extraordinary Viking hero known throughout Vikingdom as "the Dragon Whisperer"...but it wasn't always so. Travel back to the days when the mighty warrior was just a boy, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans. Can Hiccup capture a dragon and train it without being torn limb from limb? Join the adventure as the small boy finds a better way to train his dragon and become a hero!

My Rating: 5/5

I absolutely love the film/TV adaptations of this book and its sequels and so I was surprised to find that the book was of the same quality. 

There are so many differences between the book and the film that I won't go into them except to mention the one that I loved the most and that was the fact that Toothless and the other dragons are able to talk in the book. 

I loved the adventure you can only find in children's books and am definitely adding this series to the list of books I will give to my nephews when they are old enough to read. 

Book Review #568 - The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin

My Rating: 4.5/5



Source: Bought



Buy: The Book Depository




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An enchanting tale of courage and sacrifice for young readers and adults by the wildly popular George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the series that inspired HBO's Emmy Award-winning GAME OF THRONES. 

Lavish illustrations by acclaimed artist Luis Royo enrich this captivating and heartwarming story of a young girl and her dragon. 

In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire the ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember. 

Adara could not remember the first time she had seen the ice dragon. It seemed that it had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the frigid snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back for the first time. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara's home. 

And only a winter child-and the ice dragon who loved her-could save her world from utter destruction.

Even though the no setting is named, it is not hard to imagine this enchanting little tale being set somewhere in Westeros - the setting of A Song of Ice of Fire. 

This book is visually stunning. The illustrations by Luis Royo were amazing and although they complimented the story perfectly, they also told a story of their own. 

Book Review #559 - A Storm of Swords, Part Two: Blood and Gold (A Song of Ice and Fire #3.2) by George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin's superb and highly acclaimed epic fantasy A 

Song of Ice and Fire continues with the third in the series A Storm 

of Swords. There is passion here, and misery and charm, grandeur

and squalor, tragedy, nobility and courage. Unabridged and split

into two parts. The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and 

blood feud, and winter approaches like an angry beast. Beyond the

Northern borders, wildlings leave their villages to gather in the ice 

and stone wasteland of the Frostfangs. From there, the renegade 

Brother Mance Rayder will lead them South towards the Wall.

The men of the Night's Watch are ready for the coming of a great

 cold and the walking corpses that travel with it. But now they face

 a horde of wildlings twenty-thousand strong - hungry savage

 people steeped in the dark magic of the haunted wilderness - 

poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark 

wears his new-forged crown. But Robb's defences are ranged

 against attack from the South, the land of House Stark's enemies

 the Lannisters. His sisters are trapped there, dead or likely yet to 

die, at the whim of the Lannister boy-king Joffrey or his depraved 

mother Cersei, regent of the Iron Throne. Cersei's ambition is 

unfettered while the dwarf Tyrion Lannister fights for his life, a 

victim of treachery. And on the other side of the ocean, the last of 

the Targaryens rears the dragons she hatched from her husband's 

funeral pyre. Daenerys Stormborn will return to the land of her 

birth to avenge the murder of her father, the last Dragon King on

 the Iron Throne.

My Rating: 5/5

I read this book immediately after finishing part one and I would recommend that as the best way as they really compliment each other very well. 

Unlike part one, this book is full of action and death. 

Dany is a character that I have enjoyed so far throughout the series especially due to her dragons but in this book I found her chapters too full of speech and nowhere near enough action. 

The story lines are slowly starting to merge and a feel of the real grand scheme plot is beginning to develop. 

I would have really loved a chapter or two from Cersei's persective especially during the middle portion of the book. 

The more I read of this series the more I can feel myself being swallowed up by the shear magnitude of this world.   

This was by far my favourite book so far in this series and I am already reading the next one. 

Book Review #558 - A Storm of Swords, Part One: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire #3.1) by George R.R. Martin

Winter approaches Westeros like an angry beast.

The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud. Beyond the Wall, a horde of hungry, savage people steeped in the dark magic of the wilderness is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North. Throughout Westeros, the war for the Iron Throne rages more fiercely than ever, but if the Wall is breached, no king—or queen—will live to claim it.

My Rating: 4/5

This series just keeps on surprising me. It was not a series I expected to be able to keep up with let alone love (which I definitely do). 

I love how many aspects this series has that are normally things that turn me off books such as the massive amounts of characters that are involved. 

There were certain narrators that I found more interesting than others and so having to wait 100 or so pages at times to get back to favourite characters made the book seem slower paced than what it was. 

What I loved most about this book was that it finally started hinting at merging storylines. 

I loved the inner look at the wildlings which is the reason I wasn't too happy with how the book ended (spoiler - Jon Snow escaping them means there is no longer a narrator with them). 

The amount of characters hasn't bothered me (yet). I still get some of the minor characters confused but that has no impact on the story. 

Dany is by far the most under used character. I feel like we haven't had enough of her narration across the books I have read so far. I am hoping this changes as when her dragons grow her role in the war will only grow also. 

I would have also liked to have had Robb Stark as a narrator. It would have been interesting to have his perspective on his role in the war rather than seeing it through his mother. 

Jamie Lannister was the character that I felt developed the most in this book. Now that he has gotten away from Cersei he is also starting to become likable. 

Book Review #552 - A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R Martin

The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are plagued by civil war, while the Night's Watch mounts a reconnaissance force to investigate the mysterious people known as wildlings. Meanwhile Daenerys Targaryen continues her quest to return to and conquer the Seven Kingdoms. All signs are foreshadowing a terrible disaster that is to come.

My Rating: 4.5/5

This is the second book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series and is the sequel to A Game of Thrones. 

I loved this book more than the first because they story, settings and the characters were already familiar to me. The only issues I had were trying to keep track of where the characters were as they travel frequently. 

Whilst I do like Tyrion as a narrator, I felt like there was perhaps too much of him especially in the middle portion of the book. 

The chapter from Tyrion's perspective of the battle was my favourite chapter in the series so far. It was gripping and so well written. 

Arya continues to develop and I still consider her my favourite character. I didn't like that the end portion of the book had very little of her narration. 

Dany was another character that developed significantly and her dragons were an interesting dynamic. 

I still found it hard to remember who the minor characters were but so far this hasn't impacted my enjoyment or understanding of the story as a whole.