Httyd Books Zone

First off, and extremely average day at school unfortunately for our boys. And the much anticipated boarding of spooky ship that I've been wondering about since I preordered this book in January.

I will tell you what though, Hiccup's previously unseen and never-before-mentioned Aunt Gladioli handcuffed to a small nervous man was not on my bingo card 🤣 and she is a BEAST.

'I LOVE her,' whispered Camicazi, with bright eyes, doing a little dance of delight... 'I love her, I love her, I LOVE her!'

I love her too, and I love how much Camicazi immediately loves and looks up to her 🥹🥹🥹

Stoick leaving a "gon fishin" note 😂💀 And another glimpse at the Haddock family tree! Since I think both books have had the family tree for us to reference i'm wondering if it will continue to be pretty prominent

Not much on King Thundermore. He is a King of the East, and I feel like that could be prominent based on that one short story

Hmmm another seemingly random assortment of specific and possibly destiny significant items you say? And Hiccups sword is made of the same metal you say? Hmmmmmmm

Hiccup hiding his library books on dragons from stoick under the bed 🥹 I'm glad he's using the library they worked so hard to have open, and I love that he's smuggling books on dragons into the house under stoicks nose

Fishlegs!! Fishlegs!! FISHLEGS!! We finally get to see Fishleg's home!! (I always thought it was strange that fishlegs was apparently literally raised by a dragon and it was only mentioned a couple times and never again?? And he doesn't speak dragonese either?) OH my gosh this is so cute, I love Mogger, I love all the babies rushing to hug Uncle Fishuggs, I love this snippet of his life coming home and hugging his family and preparing for the next adventure. This was too cute and I'm freaking out

The adventure was pretty bland? It's not the highlight of this book and I don't think it's meant to be. Weird windwalker fake out death tho?? It just sort of happened and then he was fine? It's sort of like, 'And then windwalker fell! Oh no! But then he was okay, and everyone was happy!' There is a big beautiful drawing of Camicazi catching hiccup by the hand, maybe the importance of this is to show she has his back or something? This book sort of feels like its written more like a kids book then usual somehow.

'Now that's true love, right there. One lettuce meets another lettuce, and what do you get? ...SALAD.' -Aunt Gladioli

She's so iconic, I love her.

Aunt Gladioli, eyes twinkling, put her hand on Camicazi's shoulder. 'Take some advice from me, Camicazi. If you want to be a Woman of the Wind, it's a grand old life... But everyone isn't always going to like you for it. And that's just fine, as long as you follow your heart.'

First of all, based. Second, it seems this scene is the setup. We have King Thundermore and Petal, who are very in love and a salad, and we have Gladioli, an adventurous solitary 'Woman of the Wind'. And the prominence of "love is a bad business" returning as well at the ending toast "to love!" I feel cements it to me that this is going to be the arc of the story. We have two very different life tracks seemingly for Camicazi, and which will she choose?

Camicazi seems to really look up to Aunt Gladioli, and she took what Gladioli said to heart and is aspiring to be a future Woman of the Wind, even doing the last mission alone. If she does develop a crush at the end of book 12, would that make Hiccup her "enemy" to her self image of being a Woman of the Winds? And how would she react and how would she handle it?

If I'm being honest I've really been hoping my theory that "she will be your enemy one day" from the last book was just something cheeky. Like they aren't literally enemies, but "shell be your enemy one day...she will always leave her socks on the bathroom floor" type stuff. I'm still hoping for it.

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Anyway this is the end, thank you to any who stuck it out and read all of this! Please share your thoughts on the new book! 🙏

I'm not sure if anyone else feels this also, but I feel this book was written more like a childrens book then usual. I'm also an adult reading a childrens book so take that with an actual single grain of salt. I'm not entirely sure how to articulate what I'm saying, it just reads a lot more for young-uns then usual, where the writing is very simple and straight forward. There is not as much detail or depth. And our gang sort of feels like caricatures of themselves. Even in the og httyd book one I feel like there was more depth, like how real the bullying felt, how my heart sank to my shoes when the test goes horribly wrong and everyone is exiled, how real and relatable the feelings were when hiccup is walking to talk to the dragon for the first time and he's terrified but its somehow easier when you have no choice, etc. This series in general is more art heavy and the books themselves are works of art. I love how much artwork we get now, and we are spoiled rotten. We get so much detail and shading too. I love it so much, her artwork is a big part of what makes these books so special and its so peak in this one. I have been feeling though that these books 'need more WORDS'. I wish these books were longer, I know they are kids books and probably just the right size, but I wish I had more 😭😭 i want both worlds!!