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julesdaniels's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
razreads's review against another edition
5.0
Complete review available: Nightshade
I honestly thought I would finish it the very day I started it was that engaging. Work and real-life got in the way, but that didn't stop it being an enjoyable read.
I honestly thought I would finish it the very day I started it was that engaging. Work and real-life got in the way, but that didn't stop it being an enjoyable read.
sarahgaelsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Dive back into the world of Alex Rider, with the beginning of a brand-new adventure.
I love Alex Rider. I have always enjoyed Alex Rider and this new addition did not let me down. You would think that after 12 books one would have had enough of a series, but it's not so with this one.
Anthony Horowitz successfully takes us along on another adventure with Alex, through different European countries and finishing in London. Full with more thrills and new bad guys it's all an Alex Rider fan could want. And it leaves us with new questions that need answering making you want more!
I can't wait for whatever comes next!
I love Alex Rider. I have always enjoyed Alex Rider and this new addition did not let me down. You would think that after 12 books one would have had enough of a series, but it's not so with this one.
Anthony Horowitz successfully takes us along on another adventure with Alex, through different European countries and finishing in London. Full with more thrills and new bad guys it's all an Alex Rider fan could want. And it leaves us with new questions that need answering making you want more!
I can't wait for whatever comes next!
ailsaod's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
After being pretty underwhelmed at the previous entry to the series I read this one mostly because I was under the impression that it was the last book in the series and I was curious about how Horowitz would wrap things up (I was correct but missing the detail that it is the last book in the series so far).
The book took a while to get going (and as it was doing so Horowitz dropped some astonishingly incorrect 'factoids' that had me speechless). Like I understand that Horowitz was never a Girl Guide but while it is one organisation it operates differently in different countries and what he described was American Guides in England! He also calls a slip knot a reef knot, which come on those are like the two most basic knots (besides tying your shoelaces) and they are verydifferent! There is also an offhand remark about there being no Adidas sold in Brazil which is just so out there I don't know how to deal with it. Does this man not know how popular football is in Brazil? Does he think it's just solid Favellas?? I would like to remind Mr Horowitz that having a highly detailed writing style means you have to ensure the details you put in are correct or maybe don't write like that?
Small but glaring inaccuracies aside, once Alex became involved in the story things became pretty fun! This book is much less flashy than other entries in the series with Alex cut off from his usual wacky gadgets as well as any outside help so it was interesting to see him only able to rely on himself. There is one particular situation Alex gets landed in that was extremely tense and exciting.
The villains introduced in this book are effectively a Scorpia replacement - but possibly more ominous - and I enjoyed the unusual cult angle taken (as opposed to the 'be careful who you bully in school - they might become famous and then try to kill every child in the country decades later in retaliation' type motives that the series is more accustomed to. It was nice to have a villain that was just nasty with no attempts at moralising and I really felt for the Nightshade operatives and wondered what was to become of them.
informalprogress9's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Interesting change in dynamic from usual Alex Rider books
Interesting change in dynamic from usual Alex Rider books
zach_ryder's review against another edition
2.0
SPOILERS.
To best describe this novel in one word; lazy. The over-the-top antics and set pieces that defined this book series has been replaced with nonsensical and unimaginative set pieces. Horowitz recycles not one but two things from Stormbreaker. Both the something unexpected happening in an aeroplane with Alex Rider having to step-up and save the fellow parachutist in trouble, as well as parachuting onto an iconic London landmark without being seen at all.
It seems that Horowitz wasted a method on how to escape a very secure compound by going over its high walls in his short story 'Spy Trap' and was now forced to come up with this completely ludicrous method involving an office chair capable of speeding up to a speed able to propel two teenagers an incredibly long distance into the air having only one slant of a roof to gain that much momentum.
Whilst previous Alex Rider novels had Alex faceoff against extravagant challenges and using his cunning to find his way out of it, none of the happenings of this book are particularly new or if so then aren't creative at all.
Also far too many convenient occurrences happen in favour of Alex in order to move the plot along. A key that Julius left behind that just so happens to open multiple doors in a maximum security prison... really? Nightshade's headquarters having multiple guards present but not a single one inside its main building?
Alex's fingerprint copier made of sugar and water magically not melting in the "intensely hot" Mediterranean Sun or disintegrating or simply smudging in Alex's pocket? Remember when Damian Cray needed a very sophisticated, high-tech, very expensive glove to get the US president's fingerprints, and even then Cray needed to clasp the president's hand in a handshake for an exceedingly long time in order to get it to work properly? Nah, Nightshade Alex needs two ingredients and latex gloves (which are notorious for being as sticky as duct tape the way it is capable of holding a fingerprint on it for many hours) to be able to fool a fingerprint scanner, in a world where getting one's finger slightly wet doesn't activate a fingerprint scanner but Alex's water-sugar solution does, MacGyver is blushing at how ridiculous this is.
That being said the Mrs. Jones segments of this novel are great and satisfactorily answers questions that have been lingering ever since Scorpia and Horowitz elaborating on Alan saying Jones' children were "taken from her" by having it be revealed 7 sequels later that he meant it in a literal manner, was a stroke of genius.
Nightshade pales in comparison to Scorpia in members, name, techniques, gimmicks, dialogue, agenda, tools and overall flair as the new 'big bad' as not even its leaders physical attributes are stated and with their dialogue being the exact same matter-of-fact, "I'm obviously hiding something from you" style makes them all completely indistinguishable. I'm already bored of the idea of them returning in a subsequent novel and the thought of it happening is tempting me to consider skipping that future entry into this series if it were to occur.
Tom getting a larger role in this novel was a welcome surprise and he really ought to play a larger role in these novels because wow, Freddy (great name by the way) having completely flat and matter-of-fact dialogue didn't deserve to play such a large role in this novel without some entertaining interactions or growth with Alex. Simply because he and everyone else in the Nighshade organisation are supposed to have deliberately stilted and unemotional dialogue doesn't mean they all have to be a lifeless shells of a characters.
Also congratulations Nightshade, you've completely ruined all future Alex Rider novels... How is he supposed to be a spy and still be an ordinary schoolboy in Brookland now that his face has been seen by almost the entire population of the United Kingdom? Remember when Alex was extremely lucky that the Science Museum broadcast feed of the launch of the Stormbreaker computers was cut just before it could get a glimpse of Alex, thereby maintaining his secret identity? Well in the age of social media (with Alex being shown to have a Facebook account in Scorpia Rising), it'll easily take less than 20 minutes before for his true identity is revealed to the world as an alleged armed, wanted terrorist still on-the-run.
Also really? The bad guys release Alex in order to cause a distraction in the early afternoon when the event he's supposed to divert the police and intelligence services away from is only taking place after dusk? How does that make any lick of sense whatsoever? Also if Nightshade leaves their greatest threat completely unguarded only a two-hour-long train ride away from the location of their mission, in a country Alex has lived in his whole life, and almost a quarter of a day's leeway available to him in order to thwart their plan... Nightshade is a complete joke.
Oh and two more things, the psychiatrist Dr. Flint refers to Alex by his real name in the presence of Freddy and it isn't acknowledged at all. Additionally, "make Britain great again"... brilliant writing there Horowitz... The "again" part makes perfect sense because as we all know the British government being run by old people has only been a recent development. Makes absolute perfect sense to me.
2,1 stars. If it wasn't for my attachment to these characters it'd somehow be a lower score. You know you don't have a great book on your hands when a chapter involving breaking into a locked car outside a school is the most creative and engaging action scene in the entire teen spy novel. This entire novel entirely consists of the reader thinking "been there", "done that", "that's dumb", "I genuinely can't tell these characters apart other than by their names" and with the actually interesting Mrs. Jones backstory segments sprinkled in there.
Please bring back Smithers, I know he left before Never Say Die, but office chairs, sugar water, magic keys that unlock certain areas of the map aren't adequate replacements for Smithers in these novels. Also please have Mr. Someone return as either a villain or anti-hero, at least he (despite only having one simple goal of escaping prison) actually had a personality.
To best describe this novel in one word; lazy. The over-the-top antics and set pieces that defined this book series has been replaced with nonsensical and unimaginative set pieces. Horowitz recycles not one but two things from Stormbreaker. Both the something unexpected happening in an aeroplane with Alex Rider having to step-up and save the fellow parachutist in trouble, as well as parachuting onto an iconic London landmark without being seen at all.
It seems that Horowitz wasted a method on how to escape a very secure compound by going over its high walls in his short story 'Spy Trap' and was now forced to come up with this completely ludicrous method involving an office chair capable of speeding up to a speed able to propel two teenagers an incredibly long distance into the air having only one slant of a roof to gain that much momentum.
Whilst previous Alex Rider novels had Alex faceoff against extravagant challenges and using his cunning to find his way out of it, none of the happenings of this book are particularly new or if so then aren't creative at all.
Also far too many convenient occurrences happen in favour of Alex in order to move the plot along. A key that Julius left behind that just so happens to open multiple doors in a maximum security prison... really? Nightshade's headquarters having multiple guards present but not a single one inside its main building?
Alex's fingerprint copier made of sugar and water magically not melting in the "intensely hot" Mediterranean Sun or disintegrating or simply smudging in Alex's pocket? Remember when Damian Cray needed a very sophisticated, high-tech, very expensive glove to get the US president's fingerprints, and even then Cray needed to clasp the president's hand in a handshake for an exceedingly long time in order to get it to work properly? Nah, Nightshade Alex needs two ingredients and latex gloves (which are notorious for being as sticky as duct tape the way it is capable of holding a fingerprint on it for many hours) to be able to fool a fingerprint scanner, in a world where getting one's finger slightly wet doesn't activate a fingerprint scanner but Alex's water-sugar solution does, MacGyver is blushing at how ridiculous this is.
That being said the Mrs. Jones segments of this novel are great and satisfactorily answers questions that have been lingering ever since Scorpia and Horowitz elaborating on Alan saying Jones' children were "taken from her" by having it be revealed 7 sequels later that he meant it in a literal manner, was a stroke of genius.
Nightshade pales in comparison to Scorpia in members, name, techniques, gimmicks, dialogue, agenda, tools and overall flair as the new 'big bad' as not even its leaders physical attributes are stated and with their dialogue being the exact same matter-of-fact, "I'm obviously hiding something from you" style makes them all completely indistinguishable. I'm already bored of the idea of them returning in a subsequent novel and the thought of it happening is tempting me to consider skipping that future entry into this series if it were to occur.
Tom getting a larger role in this novel was a welcome surprise and he really ought to play a larger role in these novels because wow, Freddy (great name by the way) having completely flat and matter-of-fact dialogue didn't deserve to play such a large role in this novel without some entertaining interactions or growth with Alex. Simply because he and everyone else in the Nighshade organisation are supposed to have deliberately stilted and unemotional dialogue doesn't mean they all have to be a lifeless shells of a characters.
Also congratulations Nightshade, you've completely ruined all future Alex Rider novels... How is he supposed to be a spy and still be an ordinary schoolboy in Brookland now that his face has been seen by almost the entire population of the United Kingdom? Remember when Alex was extremely lucky that the Science Museum broadcast feed of the launch of the Stormbreaker computers was cut just before it could get a glimpse of Alex, thereby maintaining his secret identity? Well in the age of social media (with Alex being shown to have a Facebook account in Scorpia Rising), it'll easily take less than 20 minutes before for his true identity is revealed to the world as an alleged armed, wanted terrorist still on-the-run.
Also really? The bad guys release Alex in order to cause a distraction in the early afternoon when the event he's supposed to divert the police and intelligence services away from is only taking place after dusk? How does that make any lick of sense whatsoever? Also if Nightshade leaves their greatest threat completely unguarded only a two-hour-long train ride away from the location of their mission, in a country Alex has lived in his whole life, and almost a quarter of a day's leeway available to him in order to thwart their plan... Nightshade is a complete joke.
Oh and two more things, the psychiatrist Dr. Flint refers to Alex by his real name in the presence of Freddy and it isn't acknowledged at all. Additionally, "make Britain great again"... brilliant writing there Horowitz... The "again" part makes perfect sense because as we all know the British government being run by old people has only been a recent development. Makes absolute perfect sense to me.
2,1 stars. If it wasn't for my attachment to these characters it'd somehow be a lower score. You know you don't have a great book on your hands when a chapter involving breaking into a locked car outside a school is the most creative and engaging action scene in the entire teen spy novel. This entire novel entirely consists of the reader thinking "been there", "done that", "that's dumb", "I genuinely can't tell these characters apart other than by their names" and with the actually interesting Mrs. Jones backstory segments sprinkled in there.
Please bring back Smithers, I know he left before Never Say Die, but office chairs, sugar water, magic keys that unlock certain areas of the map aren't adequate replacements for Smithers in these novels. Also please have Mr. Someone return as either a villain or anti-hero, at least he (despite only having one simple goal of escaping prison) actually had a personality.
apandor99's review against another edition
5.0
This ending has already killed me im so excited for the next one,,, I just want all the kids to end up on Alex’s side gosh this was such a good adventure
charliski's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mberry9's review against another edition
5.0
Love love this series and this book is just as great as the rest. I’m really surprised that I’m not sick of them all by now but Horowitz does a great job of telling the story and still keeping them entertaining without being too predictable. I like his writing more and more with each book of his I read.