Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
The final novel in the Alex Rider series does not disappoint. I was a little worried when I bought this one because I was less than impressed with the previous two novels, but I HAD to know how it ended. After all I started this series when I was 15.
Alex is once again recruited by MI6 and has to head to Cairo, hoping to discover what evil plot Scorpia is planning. Little does he know (that we disover in the first few pages) that Scorpia are purposfully drawing Alex in. The plot was really intriguing. Horowitz expertly weaves it around and takes it in interesting directions. It was also considerably darker than the other novels, as the real danger of working for a secret service in reavealed. The only thing that stopped me from giving it a 5 was the ending. It all wrapped up very quickly, which was sad when you know that you are never going to read about those characters again.
Overall, I really enjoyed the ride and was glad to see Alex's story come to a close. It has been a great series filled with great childhood memories.
Thanks Alex.
Alex is once again recruited by MI6 and has to head to Cairo, hoping to discover what evil plot Scorpia is planning. Little does he know (that we disover in the first few pages) that Scorpia are purposfully drawing Alex in. The plot was really intriguing. Horowitz expertly weaves it around and takes it in interesting directions. It was also considerably darker than the other novels, as the real danger of working for a secret service in reavealed. The only thing that stopped me from giving it a 5 was the ending. It all wrapped up very quickly, which was sad when you know that you are never going to read about those characters again.
Overall, I really enjoyed the ride and was glad to see Alex's story come to a close. It has been a great series filled with great childhood memories.
Thanks Alex.
I agree with other reviewers and Horowitz himself that this book is different to all the other Alex Rider adventures. But for me it was a good kind of different. Maybe it seemed more grown up, much like Alex himself, maybe the semi-reversed plot made it more exciting, either way I really enjoyed this.
Scorpia Rising sees Alex up against the terrorist group Scorpia for the third time. The main difference between this book and the 8 before it is that it begins with the enemy. We know the basis of Scorpia's plan before it's carried out. But the element of surprise and suspense is not lost as we aren't told everything and we're soon in the same boat as Alex - seeing their plans unravel and hoping they can be stopped.
I must admit I smiled a lot every time Horowitz reminded us that this would be Alex's last mission. But I'm glad there are more. As long as he wants to write them, I would LOVE to read them.
Scorpia Rising sees Alex up against the terrorist group Scorpia for the third time. The main difference between this book and the 8 before it is that it begins with the enemy. We know the basis of Scorpia's plan before it's carried out. But the element of surprise and suspense is not lost as we aren't told everything and we're soon in the same boat as Alex - seeing their plans unravel and hoping they can be stopped.
I must admit I smiled a lot every time Horowitz reminded us that this would be Alex's last mission. But I'm glad there are more. As long as he wants to write them, I would LOVE to read them.
I want you to know that if I could give this book 10 stars, I would do so. I have been reading these novels for a couple months now and I feel torn apart by this book. It was wonderful, heartbreaking, and a thrill ride. The beginning was so well done, with seeing the inside of Scorpia. Who knew that Julius Grief was still alive? Using him as a central character in Scorpia Rising was genius. He is such a malevolent character, that all his interactions gave me goosebumps. Anthony Horowitz, hats off to you for thinking of that! The second part of the novel was even better. This is probably the BEST book in the entire Alex Rider series. It was so well thought out. There was suspense, and tears and just plain amazingness. And then there was the ending. I honestly thought Jack Starbright was not dead. I read that part of the novel about three times before it sank in. And then I thought- "She's not dead! Of course she's still alive! They'll bring her back for a happy ending." Boy, was I wrong. I cried tears of pain when I read that final chapter. Alex is broken, but he is healing.
such a good ending to the series i can't say more than that with out giving spoilers on to the prequel i go
Guys.
The Alex Rider series is over.
It's actually, seriously, "legitly", over .
*retreats into mourning mode*
AAAH, I NEED MY ALEX.
Okay, so fangirl hysterics aside, where do I even begin? The plot? The characters? The action? The transformation that Alex's gone through throughout NINE books? The fact that it's the last AR book EVER?
Yeah, I'm not going to get over that anytime soon.
Blurb/Summary/Premise/Synopsis/Whatever-ya-supposed-to-call-it: In one word: Scorpia. But here's the thing. The book jacket makes it seem like Alex's mission is to bring Scorpia down once and for all and epic stuff like that, but that isn't the case. In fact, if my memory serves me right (hey, it took me a while for all the AR feels to die down and for me to get coherent enough to write a review...somewhat), Alex and the M16 aren't even remotely aware they're dealing with Scorpia until like halfway through the book. Before that revelation, we had sit and read and get increasingly frustrated as the British intelligence forces fall right into Scorpia's trap. They send Alex to Egypt to attend this elite school to investigate this shady security guy (I know, I'm overusing the word "to", but bear with me here), but Scorpia had this all planned . Gasp! Well, not really, we readers knew that from the first chapter, so when we read this, we all probably wanted to jump into the book and be like, "Mr. Blunt! SCORPIA IS TRICKING YOU. ALEX IS GOING TO DIE!" So Alex is at some college in Cairo, but his involvement in Egypt is just one small figment of this huge plan that Scorpia contrived, (it's Scorpia, they always go ridiculously overboard and ridiculously violent with something that can be completed quite simply), and the whole book is about Alex falling into the trap, and then figuring out that Scorpia tricked them, and then bringing them DOWN. There.
But, as you've probably noticed, the basic plots for AR novels are essentially all the same—Alex meet bad guy, bad guy go bye-bye. But what makes these books phenomenal is that details, the things that Alex do, the people that Alex encounters, enroute to killing the villain.
In Scorpia Rising, the creepy, sadistic, downright evil guy is Razim. Razim is heartless. Seriously. It's as if someone took a human, and wrenched out all those messy but wonderful things—feelings, emotions, SOUL. What's left, is this brilliant but extremely stoic and very disturbing man by the name of Razim. But this time, the villain has a cohort. Minion? Counterpart? Accomplice? You get what mean. And this "side-kick" would be Julius Grief. Grief...now where oh where does that name sound familiar?
Flashback to seven books back. Point Blanc. Bam. Dr. Grief and his twisted clones. Alex masquerading as an Alex Friend. Him and his carbon-copy double facing it off. Yeah, that double? HE NEVER DIED.
And he's back. And he's just as...EVIL as Razim, but he feels. He has the feels. The feelings of hatred, loathing, contempt, and revenge.
All of which, happen to be directed toward Alex Rider.
We all subconsciously knew that Alex was going to live...BUT, this time around, it seemed simply IMPOSSIBLE for Alex to get away. But, Horowitz worked some of his Horowitz-y magic, and we have an epic finale book AND Alex lives.
Oh, spoilers.
The format of Scorpia Rising was unlike any other AR book. The first portion was not about Alex. Alex does not appear until about 1/3 of the way in. Instead, we read about all the people and events that Alex with encounter later on in the back, basically the build-up/background. And, it was really quite ingenious. Horowitz starts out with a bunch of loose ends/seemingly irrelevant plot threads—the meeting at the museum about the Elgin marbles, Razim's history, Julius's escape from the prison—and ties them all together in the end. It was slightly off-putting at first, but then you quickly grow accustomed to it.
And speaking of tying loose ends together, that's one of the reasons I LOVE concluding novels so much. Everything is really "wrapped-up" and the way the author does it is always something to look forward to. It signifies that the end is near...For instance, you really realize this near a part in the end where Alex holds a gun in his hands and silently laughs at the irony of it...the M16 has always refused to supply him with a lethal weapon, but now here he is. Holding a gun, and ready to kill.
And he does. Julius Grief, his sadistic "twin" who's genetically identical to him, dies at his own hands. But...I didn't really care about his death. He seriously deserved to die.
But what I cared about was what it signified. Alex...he's changed. His innocence, that blessed innocence and purity that comes with youth, is gone. In fact, when you think about it, this series is all about that. It's REALLY dark. Alex, who started out as this innocent BOY, is now a MAN who's seen way too much, gone through way too much, to be psychologically healthy. Throughout the year (and 9 novels), Alex's basically been dragged through hell. And, that scars you. Both the physical scar from various injuries such as the chest one from where a sniper tried to shoot him, and more importantly, the psychological damage. Even Blunt and Jones see it. And they realize how much they've hurt him, exploited him, and how Alex has basically lost faith in all of humanity. He's seen how truly evil people are capable of being, and he's just a TEENAGER.
At one point, Blunt reflects about how this will be the final mission with Alex, because he's seen many full-grown men go as agents and come back in bodybags, but he don't know how he'll handle it if he sees a half-size or child-size bodybag among them...
The damage that's been done on Alex is permanent. Our hearts give out to him. And then, of course, Horowitz had to put him through more pain. In a cruel way to "seal the deal",
Jack Starbright dies.
And her way of demise is just so chillingly cruel . When Julius showed Alex the live streaming of Jack attempting to escape, and at the same moment, Alex and us realize what's going to happen...no. No. They can't do it. They just can't. Please Horowitz, give us some hope for humanity.
Nope, he's merciless. Just like pretty much everyone else in the series.
Julius pressed the button. And gloats, he GLOATS about it.
And Alex watches Jack, the one person he still loves, die before his very eyes, in a world she should've never involved herself in in the first place.
The pain.
Oh my goodness. When I read that, my mind didn't process it the first time. How can, how can, Jack, be dead? I was in denial for the next five chapters or so.
But then the M16 find Alex kneeling beside the remains of a burned out car.
The impact of that scene is just so, overwhelming. I've said it before, and I've said it again, our hearts go out to Alex Rider. He absolutely deserves that fresh start in America, but we know he'll never be the same again.
Oh my. It's really over. For us, and for Alex.
Horowitz does not glorify espionage, he does not make being a spy seem glamorous. He gets to the nitty-gritty, and many times, there have been scenes that I can't help but wince at.
Who cares if it's unrealistic?
It's powerful.
It's epic.
It's Alex Rider.
Amazing conclusion to a phenomenal series. Five stars.
The Alex Rider series is over.
It's actually, seriously, "legitly", over .
*retreats into mourning mode*
AAAH, I NEED MY ALEX.
Okay, so fangirl hysterics aside, where do I even begin? The plot? The characters? The action? The transformation that Alex's gone through throughout NINE books? The fact that it's the last AR book EVER?
Yeah, I'm not going to get over that anytime soon.
Blurb/Summary/Premise/Synopsis/Whatever-ya-supposed-to-call-it: In one word: Scorpia. But here's the thing. The book jacket makes it seem like Alex's mission is to bring Scorpia down once and for all and epic stuff like that, but that isn't the case. In fact, if my memory serves me right (hey, it took me a while for all the AR feels to die down and for me to get coherent enough to write a review...somewhat), Alex and the M16 aren't even remotely aware they're dealing with Scorpia until like halfway through the book. Before that revelation, we had sit and read and get increasingly frustrated as the British intelligence forces fall right into Scorpia's trap. They send Alex to Egypt to attend this elite school to investigate this shady security guy (I know, I'm overusing the word "to", but bear with me here), but Scorpia had this all planned . Gasp! Well, not really, we readers knew that from the first chapter, so when we read this, we all probably wanted to jump into the book and be like, "Mr. Blunt! SCORPIA IS TRICKING YOU. ALEX IS GOING TO DIE!" So Alex is at some college in Cairo, but his involvement in Egypt is just one small figment of this huge plan that Scorpia contrived, (it's Scorpia, they always go ridiculously overboard and ridiculously violent with something that can be completed quite simply), and the whole book is about Alex falling into the trap, and then figuring out that Scorpia tricked them, and then bringing them DOWN. There.
But, as you've probably noticed, the basic plots for AR novels are essentially all the same—Alex meet bad guy, bad guy go bye-bye. But what makes these books phenomenal is that details, the things that Alex do, the people that Alex encounters, enroute to killing the villain.
In Scorpia Rising, the creepy, sadistic, downright evil guy is Razim. Razim is heartless. Seriously. It's as if someone took a human, and wrenched out all those messy but wonderful things—feelings, emotions, SOUL. What's left, is this brilliant but extremely stoic and very disturbing man by the name of Razim. But this time, the villain has a cohort. Minion? Counterpart? Accomplice? You get what mean. And this "side-kick" would be Julius Grief. Grief...now where oh where does that name sound familiar?
Flashback to seven books back. Point Blanc. Bam. Dr. Grief and his twisted clones. Alex masquerading as an Alex Friend. Him and his carbon-copy double facing it off. Yeah, that double? HE NEVER DIED.
And he's back. And he's just as...EVIL as Razim, but he feels. He has the feels. The feelings of hatred, loathing, contempt, and revenge.
All of which, happen to be directed toward Alex Rider.
We all subconsciously knew that Alex was going to live...BUT, this time around, it seemed simply IMPOSSIBLE for Alex to get away. But, Horowitz worked some of his Horowitz-y magic, and we have an epic finale book AND Alex lives.
Oh, spoilers.
The format of Scorpia Rising was unlike any other AR book. The first portion was not about Alex. Alex does not appear until about 1/3 of the way in. Instead, we read about all the people and events that Alex with encounter later on in the back, basically the build-up/background. And, it was really quite ingenious. Horowitz starts out with a bunch of loose ends/seemingly irrelevant plot threads—the meeting at the museum about the Elgin marbles, Razim's history, Julius's escape from the prison—and ties them all together in the end. It was slightly off-putting at first, but then you quickly grow accustomed to it.
And speaking of tying loose ends together, that's one of the reasons I LOVE concluding novels so much. Everything is really "wrapped-up" and the way the author does it is always something to look forward to. It signifies that the end is near...For instance, you really realize this near a part in the end where Alex holds a gun in his hands and silently laughs at the irony of it...the M16 has always refused to supply him with a lethal weapon, but now here he is. Holding a gun, and ready to kill.
And he does. Julius Grief, his sadistic "twin" who's genetically identical to him, dies at his own hands. But...I didn't really care about his death. He seriously deserved to die.
But what I cared about was what it signified. Alex...he's changed. His innocence, that blessed innocence and purity that comes with youth, is gone. In fact, when you think about it, this series is all about that. It's REALLY dark. Alex, who started out as this innocent BOY, is now a MAN who's seen way too much, gone through way too much, to be psychologically healthy. Throughout the year (and 9 novels), Alex's basically been dragged through hell. And, that scars you. Both the physical scar from various injuries such as the chest one from where a sniper tried to shoot him, and more importantly, the psychological damage. Even Blunt and Jones see it. And they realize how much they've hurt him, exploited him, and how Alex has basically lost faith in all of humanity. He's seen how truly evil people are capable of being, and he's just a TEENAGER.
At one point, Blunt reflects about how this will be the final mission with Alex, because he's seen many full-grown men go as agents and come back in bodybags, but he don't know how he'll handle it if he sees a half-size or child-size bodybag among them...
The damage that's been done on Alex is permanent. Our hearts give out to him. And then, of course, Horowitz had to put him through more pain. In a cruel way to "seal the deal",
Jack Starbright dies.
And her way of demise is just so chillingly cruel . When Julius showed Alex the live streaming of Jack attempting to escape, and at the same moment, Alex and us realize what's going to happen...no. No. They can't do it. They just can't. Please Horowitz, give us some hope for humanity.
Nope, he's merciless. Just like pretty much everyone else in the series.
Julius pressed the button. And gloats, he GLOATS about it.
And Alex watches Jack, the one person he still loves, die before his very eyes, in a world she should've never involved herself in in the first place.
The pain.
Oh my goodness. When I read that, my mind didn't process it the first time. How can, how can, Jack, be dead? I was in denial for the next five chapters or so.
But then the M16 find Alex kneeling beside the remains of a burned out car.
The impact of that scene is just so, overwhelming. I've said it before, and I've said it again, our hearts go out to Alex Rider. He absolutely deserves that fresh start in America, but we know he'll never be the same again.
Oh my. It's really over. For us, and for Alex.
Horowitz does not glorify espionage, he does not make being a spy seem glamorous. He gets to the nitty-gritty, and many times, there have been scenes that I can't help but wince at.
Who cares if it's unrealistic?
It's powerful.
It's epic.
It's Alex Rider.
Amazing conclusion to a phenomenal series. Five stars.
I've been re-reading all of the Alex Rider books so I can pick up where I left off as a teenager and read the new releases. The Alex Rider books are ones I enjoyed as a young teen, my first foray into this genre at the time, and they're still great! I found Crocodile Tears a bit slow but I got through Scorpia Rising pretty quickly.
Scorpia Rising is where we see a little more grit in Alex, he's starting to see life for what it really is and pushes back against MI6 a lot more. He's still manipulated and sent off on a mission but after the ending, I think it'll be really interesting to see how Anthony Horowitz approaches his return for the following books!
Scorpia Rising is where we see a little more grit in Alex, he's starting to see life for what it really is and pushes back against MI6 a lot more. He's still manipulated and sent off on a mission but after the ending, I think it'll be really interesting to see how Anthony Horowitz approaches his return for the following books!
This time, the mountains of suspense ended with an unpredictable ending. Yet, a good ending.
Again, the author preferred detailing the action and equipment used than focusing on the mind of a teenager - which is fine. It's what defines this book. But this time, many emotions arise - almost unbelievable.
All the action keeps you turning the pages for more, until you realize you have finished in a very short amount of time.
The author did well with smoothing things over; I understand and am satisfied with the ending of this ever-suspenseful series.
Very well written.
Again, the author preferred detailing the action and equipment used than focusing on the mind of a teenager - which is fine. It's what defines this book. But this time, many emotions arise - almost unbelievable.
All the action keeps you turning the pages for more, until you realize you have finished in a very short amount of time.
The author did well with smoothing things over; I understand and am satisfied with the ending of this ever-suspenseful series.
Very well written.
This book is officially AMAZING! It was full of surprises, and although some may say that it wasn't "action-packed," I still loved it. First of all, the first 6 chapters are pure Scorpia, so u know what's going on....