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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Book Name: Stormbreaker
Author/s: Anthony Horowitz
Language English
Original Title: Stormbreaker
Publisher, year: Puffin, 2006
Page total: 256
Date Read: june 17 2010
Genre/s: spies, fiction, thriller, YA, adventure
First line of Book:"When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news."
Review:Imagine you'd been lied to all your life.
Alex Rider knows that something's not right when the police comes to his home telling him his uncle died in a car accident because he didn't put his seatbelt. Ian Rider always put his seatbelt.
Alex is not your ordinary fourteen year old boy: he's black belt in karate, can speak French, German and Spanish fluently and, since he's been in a lot of places, has done some great things.
Ian Rider was a spy.
He'd been training Alex to replace him all his life.
But when he dies, the MI6 is not sure if he is ready to continue Ian's latest mission, finding out if a multimillionaire has gone rogue.
Is he?
There were some things in this book I loved, like the spy-kid and gadget things, there were some things that made it more realistic, like the mistakes he made during the mission and there were some things I absolutely hated, like MI6 making him work for them. That was just disgusting.
Rating: 4/5
Quotes from book:
"You're never too young to die."
Author/s: Anthony Horowitz
Language English
Original Title: Stormbreaker
Publisher, year: Puffin, 2006
Page total: 256
Date Read: june 17 2010
Genre/s: spies, fiction, thriller, YA, adventure
First line of Book:"When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news."
Review:Imagine you'd been lied to all your life.
Alex Rider knows that something's not right when the police comes to his home telling him his uncle died in a car accident because he didn't put his seatbelt. Ian Rider always put his seatbelt.
Alex is not your ordinary fourteen year old boy: he's black belt in karate, can speak French, German and Spanish fluently and, since he's been in a lot of places, has done some great things.
Ian Rider was a spy.
He'd been training Alex to replace him all his life.
But when he dies, the MI6 is not sure if he is ready to continue Ian's latest mission, finding out if a multimillionaire has gone rogue.
Is he?
There were some things in this book I loved, like the spy-kid and gadget things, there were some things that made it more realistic, like the mistakes he made during the mission and there were some things I absolutely hated, like MI6 making him work for them. That was just disgusting.
Rating: 4/5
Quotes from book:
"You're never too young to die."
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Over all good book. I read these all in grade school and this one was a good jump back into the series , something fun to read with a good plot.
I read this series in junior high after watching the Stormbreaker movie (which I love). The books are so different than the movie I had a hard time with it. But it was still an enjoyable read.
Cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, and the chapters are pretty short. I would call it "James Bond by way of James Patterson for children."
Alex Rider is a courageous young boy, who embarks on a journey to find out how his uncle really got killed and to stop the stormbreaker, a deadly virus, from being unleashed on Britain.
I really enjoyed this book, especially as the story made me constantly want to read more due to the suspense. I look forward to watching the movie, but like people always say, books are usually better than the movie.
Review by Yusuf (age 9)
I really enjoyed this book, especially as the story made me constantly want to read more due to the suspense. I look forward to watching the movie, but like people always say, books are usually better than the movie.
Review by Yusuf (age 9)
I read this book for a book club hosted at one of the schools that my library serves.
I was expecting more from the book as it was/is so popular with younger boys and this first book spawned a whole series as well as a movie (though I do know that the movie bombed).
I just found the book to be boring and predictable. It was hard for the group to come up with something to discuss during our meetings because the book is totally plot driven. There's not much wrong with being a plot driven thriller, but that doesn't really work well for discussion.
The other big problem I had with the book is that the main character seems so emotionless. Anyone -- teen or adult -- should have an emotional response when they find out that the only adult in their life has died mysteriously. Alex Rider seems more interested in finding out why his uncle didn't buckle his seat belt than he is in having a real emotion. For that reason, I find it hard to cling to anything real in the book. If I can't care for the main character, do I really worry when he's in jeopardy? Not really. Because I know that when we're this divorced from reality there is no chance of Rider pulling off his James Bond stunts with nary a scratch.
I was expecting more from the book as it was/is so popular with younger boys and this first book spawned a whole series as well as a movie (though I do know that the movie bombed).
I just found the book to be boring and predictable. It was hard for the group to come up with something to discuss during our meetings because the book is totally plot driven. There's not much wrong with being a plot driven thriller, but that doesn't really work well for discussion.
The other big problem I had with the book is that the main character seems so emotionless. Anyone -- teen or adult -- should have an emotional response when they find out that the only adult in their life has died mysteriously. Alex Rider seems more interested in finding out why his uncle didn't buckle his seat belt than he is in having a real emotion. For that reason, I find it hard to cling to anything real in the book. If I can't care for the main character, do I really worry when he's in jeopardy? Not really. Because I know that when we're this divorced from reality there is no chance of Rider pulling off his James Bond stunts with nary a scratch.
This book read like a bad action movie. Alex Rider is only fourteen, nearly four years younger than I am, yet he's a total ass-kicking super spy. When reading a book like this you don't expect realism at all, so I didn't mind the spying part. However it was just... uninteresting. Alex Rider was hardly a developed character. The only thing I remember about him was that he liked soccer. Which isn't unusual for a teenage boy in England.
I've enjoyed the Gallagher Girls novels, which deal with teenage spies, but at least those novels have enjoyable characters. Well even if you don't like those characters you get a sense of who they are. I just spent three hours reading a book about a boy and can tell you one fact about him. That's not a good sign for a book.
I've enjoyed the Gallagher Girls novels, which deal with teenage spies, but at least those novels have enjoyable characters. Well even if you don't like those characters you get a sense of who they are. I just spent three hours reading a book about a boy and can tell you one fact about him. That's not a good sign for a book.
This was a fantastic read! I have no idea why I thought as a kid that I wouldn’t enjoy this. I stormed through it (get it? Because it’s Stormbreaker! Haha I’m so funny) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
All the things that surprised me in this book:
1. The level of violence. I know, I know, it’s a teen spy book, what did I expect, right? Well, not what happened, that’s for sure!
Alex was:almost killed by 2 men on jeeps, almost drowned more than once, almost shot, had a gun pointed at him several times, was actually nicked by a knife and almost stung by a jellyfish, and much more. . As far as I can remember no teen spy book I read as a teen had that much near death experience in it! I actually loved all the action. It wasn’t edge of your seat stuff, sometimes it was blink and you miss it, but it was very thrilling.
2. How distant Alex seemed. Emotionally you don’t get to know much about him. Even when discussing his recently deceased uncle who practically raised him as a father he doesn’t emote enough to make you weepy. Maybe he’s just not very emotional but I would like to see more of his deep emotions in the future. I find it odd thatthe first time he speaks to Yassen Gregorovitch who killed his uncle, Alex doesn’t start screaming, he stays very calm and simply tells him he’s going to kill him one day. Maybe that’s a different emotion than I expected: quiet rage.
3. Alex’s moral dilemma. He’s forced into doing this and the whole time he doesn’t want to do it but in the end he sees it through because he doesn’t want to let people get hurt. It’s very unique to have a teen spy who doesn’t want to be a spy. Quite refreshing actually!
4. How smart and dumb Alex is at the same time. It’s not something I’m mad about, I actually found it really amusing to see how someone as smart as Alex clearly is can still trip up and make basic mistakes.
5. How well written this was. The descriptions were fantastic! I almost found myself taking notes it really was so well-written.
I’m really looking forward to reading about Alex’s next adventure in [b:Point Blank|224500|Point Blank (Alex Rider, #2)|Anthony Horowitz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375494413l/224500._SY75_.jpg|1275528] although I’m not sure how much of it I’ll enjoy considering I watched the first season of the show so I’ve most likely seen the majority of the plot of book 2...
All the things that surprised me in this book:
1. The level of violence. I know, I know, it’s a teen spy book, what did I expect, right? Well, not what happened, that’s for sure!
Alex was:
2. How distant Alex seemed. Emotionally you don’t get to know much about him. Even when discussing his recently deceased uncle who practically raised him as a father he doesn’t emote enough to make you weepy. Maybe he’s just not very emotional but I would like to see more of his deep emotions in the future. I find it odd that
3. Alex’s moral dilemma. He’s forced into doing this and the whole time he doesn’t want to do it but in the end he sees it through because he doesn’t want to let people get hurt. It’s very unique to have a teen spy who doesn’t want to be a spy. Quite refreshing actually!
4. How smart and dumb Alex is at the same time. It’s not something I’m mad about, I actually found it really amusing to see how someone as smart as Alex clearly is can still trip up and make basic mistakes.
5. How well written this was. The descriptions were fantastic! I almost found myself taking notes it really was so well-written.
I’m really looking forward to reading about Alex’s next adventure in [b:Point Blank|224500|Point Blank (Alex Rider, #2)|Anthony Horowitz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375494413l/224500._SY75_.jpg|1275528] although I’m not sure how much of it I’ll enjoy considering I watched the first season of the show so I’ve most likely seen the majority of the plot of book 2...
I loved this book when I first read it, so much so that I persuaded my Mum to let me buy the full series from the Scholastic books magazine - one of the best times of year for me whilst at school was any sort of book fair. Rereading it at 23 you can tell that it’s pitched younger than me, obviously that’s why I was reading it at 11, but it was still enjoyable in my opinion.
The plot is well paced and not overly convoluted with enough of a mystery that fits alongside the action. I am particularly impressed by the choice to position MI6 as morally ambiguous rather than the usual heroic fanfare that’s used when spies feature. Alex’s observations that in some ways they remind him of the villain introduce a nuance that isn’t always there in books aimed at children. Definitely a good read for upper KS2 or lower KS3 pupils who are looking for action and adventure. I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series.
The plot is well paced and not overly convoluted with enough of a mystery that fits alongside the action. I am particularly impressed by the choice to position MI6 as morally ambiguous rather than the usual heroic fanfare that’s used when spies feature. Alex’s observations that in some ways they remind him of the villain introduce a nuance that isn’t always there in books aimed at children. Definitely a good read for upper KS2 or lower KS3 pupils who are looking for action and adventure. I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series.