Review Detail

Okay, so, Alex is a normal fourteen year old. He goes to school, and does completely normal stuff. At least, until his Uncle Ian is reported dead, from a car accident. They say he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, which just doesn't make sense because Ian was always CRAZY about seatbelts. So Alex Rider goes to investigate, and discovers the police were lying. Bullet holes spray the side of the car. After nearly getting crushed, he meets MI6, and discovers that his Uncle wasn't actually a banker, in fact, he was a spy.

I didn't really like how the MI6 blackmailed him into joining them, but I guess if they hadn't, Alex wouldn't have got to do all the fun stuff that happens later in the book. I mean, why would he pass up the chance of being a spy? I definitely wouldn't, but I suppose there's all the killing to consider...

So anyway, after joining the MI6, after 11 days of grueling training, he is sent on a mission (I know right, send a fourteen year old on something that adults usually spend years training for) to investigate on a project called Stormbreaker. It's basically where this guy called Herod Sayle is about to release hundreds of awesome computers to schools all around England, for FREE. Sounds too good to be true, right? Alex discovers that it is, and gets all tangled up in an evil plot where he nearly gets run over by a quad bike, has his tongue cut out by a terrifyingly hideous man, killed by a jellyfish, falls off a cliff, gets shot, gets killed by viruses, and mashed up by an airplane (the key word here is NEARLY)

I think Alex could have been a bit more developed. Sure, you got to know that he was athletic, good at snooker and karate, parentless, and claustrophobic. But still. I would have liked it if Anthony Horowitz just made him a little more 3D.

Neverthless, this is an awesome book about thrilling mystery, action, fighting, spies and the rest of it. Definitely something that you should try. I definitely recommend it, but maybe don't read it if you are put off by the whole shooting/killing/horrible guys who have disgusting scars.