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A review by romanaromana
Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz
5.0
I would like to apologise for the ridiculously long time it took me to read this. It is in no way a reflection of how much I enjoyed it because damn, this book was good.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't realise this was a prequel until I actually started reading it. Usually I intensively study a blurb before I read the actual book, but in this case I didn't bother since either way I was going to read it - it's Alex Rider so, obviously. So yeah, I was pretty surprised when it was suddenly in first person from the perspective of Yassen Gregorovich at age 14 - before Alex was even born.
We are told the story of his life and how he became the assassin we first meet in Stormbreaker. Starting from his small town life in Russia, through various places around the world we see how different, yet how similar his life was/is to Alex's.
Now, once I realised we were not shifting out of young-Yassen-first-person narrative, I was kind of terrified. Did this mean I wouldn't see my beloved Alex for the entire 400ish pages?!?! The horror.
But I was very pleasantly surprised. I believe Horowitz's change of style was executed very well and I was impressed. Yassen's life was shocking but interesting and I found that I really liked him. He's not quite Alex but I feel like they could be friends you know? He still thinks and acts like a teenager, makes realistic observations and questions things whenever I do. Plus I loved the way Horowitz intertwined Yassen's story with things we've already learnt about through Alex's adventures.
This book is different to all the others, that's for sure. But good different. And, partially because my memory is too weak to remember the first 7 books in detail, I'd say this is my favourite so far. I'm shocked I've even said that actually. Sorry Alex, I feel like I'm betraying you. I can just hear your voice saying:
"9 books. 9 books we've been together. Then this guy strolls in and off you go. How could you?"
*sobbing* I'M SORRY OK?!
I'll probably go running straight back if the next one is as good as this though. Which reminds me - I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT TO READ IT OH MY GOSH.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't realise this was a prequel until I actually started reading it. Usually I intensively study a blurb before I read the actual book, but in this case I didn't bother since either way I was going to read it - it's Alex Rider so, obviously. So yeah, I was pretty surprised when it was suddenly in first person from the perspective of Yassen Gregorovich at age 14 - before Alex was even born.
We are told the story of his life and how he became the assassin we first meet in Stormbreaker. Starting from his small town life in Russia, through various places around the world we see how different, yet how similar his life was/is to Alex's.
Now, once I realised we were not shifting out of young-Yassen-first-person narrative, I was kind of terrified. Did this mean I wouldn't see my beloved Alex for the entire 400ish pages?!?! The horror.
But I was very pleasantly surprised. I believe Horowitz's change of style was executed very well and I was impressed. Yassen's life was shocking but interesting and I found that I really liked him. He's not quite Alex but I feel like they could be friends you know? He still thinks and acts like a teenager, makes realistic observations and questions things whenever I do. Plus I loved the way Horowitz intertwined Yassen's story with things we've already learnt about through Alex's adventures.
This book is different to all the others, that's for sure. But good different. And, partially because my memory is too weak to remember the first 7 books in detail, I'd say this is my favourite so far. I'm shocked I've even said that actually. Sorry Alex, I feel like I'm betraying you. I can just hear your voice saying:
"9 books. 9 books we've been together. Then this guy strolls in and off you go. How could you?"
*sobbing* I'M SORRY OK?!
I'll probably go running straight back if the next one is as good as this though. Which reminds me - I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT TO READ IT OH MY GOSH.