Alex Rider

[Alice Moonflowyr]

 

The Alex Rider series is a series by Anthony Horowitz, with its debut book Stormbreaker published in 2000. The nine-book series concentrates on Alex Rider, a boy who becomes a teenage spy after his uncle Ian is killed in the line of work. Early on, MI6 uses blackmail to get Alex to do work for them, and later Alex just does it.

 

There are nine books in the Alex Rider series. Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel, Snakehead, Crocodile Tears, and Scorpia Rising. They each have different antagonists with different reasons to destroy/rule the world in different ways. Alex foils all their plans, with some difficulty.

 

In a series like Alex Rider, the plot doesnt matter as much as the characters, and Horowitz nails this. The characters are all incredibly three-dimensional and real, and the development is also very well done. The plotlines are also done quite well, with the challenges Alex overcomes being different every time.

 

While we only get maybe one or two other characters that get as much depth as Alex, including Herod Sayle, the antagonist of Stormbreaker, and General Alexei Sarov, the main antagonist of Skeleton Key, the other characters get enough development so we can form solid opinions on them, and either care about or detest them.

 

My personal favorite book of the series is the final one, Scorpia Rising. The best book of the series however is Scorpia by a long shot.

 

I give this series a 4/5 rating. Only reason it doesnt get a 5/5 is that the general plotlines get repetitive and boring, but the more intricate plot of Scorpia, combined with the good antagonists, save it.

 

[Deathdwarf]

The quality of the books differ a lot - While Stormbreaker is a 10/10, Gemini-Project (or Point Blanc) is a 7/10 and the lamest of the books along with Arc Angel, I guess. But I agree on the Scorpia part - the ninth part was awesome again. I never regretted reading those, even though books 2, 3 and 6 aren't on Anthony Horowitz' level by far.

 

I give the whole series a 9/10. Always fun and never complicated to read.