The Alex Rider Series
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The Alex Rider series has to be one of my absolute favourites. Earlier I never was a fan of the spy genre especially the ones that had overuse of gadgets. But like Independant rightly quoted, “This series has truly reinvented the spy genre.” From the snowy mountains to the blistering Egyptian sun, this book can take you on adventure miles away from the comfort of your reading nook.
First of all, I really loved the way Anthony Horowitz explains every single detail clearly. Everything seems to come alive to you even the planes and the cars. Believe it or not but the depiction of Egypt simply took me to Egypt where I could feel the surge of liveliness in the book, Scorpia Rising. That’s really something you don’t always see in a book. Moreover, this series needed a fantabulous amount of research something that was surely evident in the book. Even though you would be reading this series for pastime there’s a lot to learn from this book from intriguing science information to problems that one can surely imagine in today’s modern world.
Though I must accept, it was horrendous of Alan Blunt and Ms. Jones to hire Alex in the first place, I always thought to myself that this is slavery cause never was it mentioned that Alex was ever paid by them even though he has saved the British Intelligen
ce from a lot of shame. I enjoyed the way how amazingly the author has outlined the differences between American and British English that served two purposes, both of which were just simply inspiring.
And I must accept that the whole idea of Scorpia and Nightshade was simply mind-blowing. The way they set up their business and this whole artificial reality goggles sure has piqued the curiosity of many. I just loved how CIA set their bases where the abbreviation remained the same but they acronym was different. It was also cool how MI6 was headquartered at bank. Imaging going in there to check your savings account and have MI6 briefing their teen spy Alex Rider on his next mission.
But at the same they are some elements of the book that do not add up. For instance, the fact that Yassen Gregorovich knows that John Rider works for MI6 and yet he sends Alex to find his ‘destiny’ in Venice with Scorpia. Though I believe the reason for this is that Anthony Horowitz meant to end the series at Scorpia Rising and not wrote Russian Roulette at first.
But I must say the passing of Julius Grief and Freddy Gray surely touched my heart because it was not their fault that they were made to do the evil workings of Dr. Hugo and Nightshade respectively. The books Nightshade and Nightshade Revenge were superbly outlined especially the organized kidnapping, the new head of cover operations at CIA and how each kid was known by the name of numbers. It was outrageous of the Teachers to steal their life away. Even Mrs. Jones’s backstory was also very grievous, especially the fact that everything was taken away from her and it was surely sad to see her leave MI6.
Jack Starbright, Alex’s long caregiver has surely been so selfless leaving her job to protect Alex from the atrocities he is places in. Anthony Horowitz surely could not have ended the book with Jack dying cause it simply break too many hearts.
Ben Daniels is of course an amazing friend and character with the addition of Derek Smithers as well. But surely we have to look at the character of the star of the show-Alex Rider. He greatly detests working for MI6 as a spy but having an uncle and a dada who were both spies before they were murdered does not really help. Even though he has been trained by his uncle for such moments without him noticing, I always feel that deep down below he enjoys doing these mission even though it could mean death and nearing death is no stranger to him.
All the books in this series are a must read and will surely keep you one your toes. I really hope that Horowitz continues writing this series especially since how realistic and touching he made it. Not forgetting the many cliffhangers at the end of the book that just seem to make run out of patience to read the next book. But I do count myself lucky that all of these books were already published once I started this series because it would be absolute pain to have to wait for 2-3 years for the next book.
If there is one thing, I would like to take away from this book is:
1. If you are reading a Horowitz book always expect unexpected twists that come out of nowhere.
2. Never mess with Mr. Crawley especially since the next day you might find yourself in jail for something you do not remember doing.
It is surely sad to have finished with this series and I am surely going to reread some of the books, but after all there are still many books out there that too are deserving of the attention.
Anthony Horowitz
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Books in this series:
- Stormbreaker
- Point Blanc
- Skeleton Key
- Eagle Strike
- Scorpia
- Ark Angel
- Snakehead
- Crocodile Tears
- Scorpia Rising
- Russian Roulette
- Never Say Die
- Secret Weapon
- Nightshade
- Nightshade Revenge
To know more about the author visit https://anthonyhorowitz.com/
Also visit https://alexrider.com to know more about the series.
To see my book review of the first book in this line-up, visit https://ethansliteraryhaven.com/alex-rider-1-stormbreaker/
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Cover Image Credits: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collection-Anthony-Horowitz-Undercover-Secret/dp/9123975938
Do follow https://ethansliteraryhaven.com/ for more such writings.
