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Description:
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When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider finds his world turned upside down. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training exercises. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission to Cornwall, where Middle-Eastern multi-billionaire Herod Sayle is producing his state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers. Sayle has offered to give one free to every school in the country – but there's more to the gift than meets the eye.
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Customer Reviews:Alex Rider Stormbreaker (1)
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The Kid Spy: Alex Rider!
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By Shweta Shah, 9/14/2013 7:53:32 AM
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I have read a few male pubescent protagonist who feature in series: the whiz-kid Artemis Fowl, the wizard Harry Potter, the demigod Percy Jackson and now, for the first time, the spy Alex Rider. Okay, I am done bragging. Let’s move on.
After his uncle Ian Rider dies, Alex is blackmailed by MI6 and he goes on his first mission reluctantly. As we read the book, we get to know that his uncle had trained him all his life for becoming a spy.
Horowitz shows us the inhumane side of the bosses at MI6, in the way they coerce Alex Rider. Whereas the humane(almost) side of the antagonist Herod Sayle is brought forth when we get to know his past. It reminds me of the opening line from Iron Man 3:
We create our own demons.
Horowitz has written an afterword, where he mentions that James Bond (novels and films) have been a great influence on him. The afterword was published in 2010 -10 years after the book was first published. I wonder, was it because of some allegations of ‘inspiration’, that he needed to take a stance? Well, we all know that William Wordsworth wrote the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads to defend his style. What was Horowitz clarifying? And like Horowitz, I will never forget the opening line of the book/series:
When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news.
I don't think I would have enjoyed watching this story on screen. It would be too action-packed(incidents and co-incidents): last minute escapes and chase and hanging by thread(literally) from a plane. The characters on screen might come across as sketchy and unbelievable. That’s where the power of written word comes into play. There is a sprinkling of word-play and irony in the book that made me chuckle. Also, it was fun to imagine the sequence in my head. I bet it would be a thrill ride for an adolescent.
I have always wondered why people are so taken with espionage fiction? I know it’s stupid but the credulity is hard to come by because I have never met spies in real life. Like Dragons. Someday!
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Reviews posted for Alex Rider Stormbreaker (1)
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