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A review by yulinkosmos
Russian Roulette: The Story of an Assassin by Anthony Horowitz
5.0
Before I started the series I knew that I wanted to read this book most and after finishing reading it I realised that I was right and I have to say that I enjoyed this one most. Not only did I enjoy it but I actually had tears in my eyes at one specific point...
This is the story of the Russian assassin in the Alex rider books. Yassen Gregorvich, whose name is actually Yasha (which as a Russian I can tell you that it's not actually a full name but only a nickname that comes from the name Yakov but anyways...).
The actual time line of the book is during Alex's first mission and so it takes place during their first meeting and the stormbraker events. Although most of the book is not during the "present" but rather Yassen thinking about his life.
***** MILD SPOILERS *****
I just found it so much fun looking at Russian culture from the perspective of a foreigner. It was just so interesting to read about how he (the author) tries to explain our school marking system (which has nothing to do with stars...just saying) and the way the children dressed and how the villages looked... And I think that the reason that I really liked this book was mostly because I could relate to the situations and picture the environments since they were something I knew (at least a little bit since most of it was quite old...)
Which is why this book is probably not going to be enjoyed by a lot of foreigners, because honestly looking back at it right now I don't think I would have understood most of what was going on without my knowledge of Russian culture... Also pronunciation would have been kinda hard...
***** SERIOUS SPOILERS *****
So that moment that I actually cried in was when he returned to that house in the silver forest and had that chat with Sharkovsky... I just couldn't not shed a couple silent tears when he said "I am what you made me". I mean first of all that's just an emotional line but like mostly I think that it got to me because it's kinda a reference to the mortal instruments... Is that a spoiler? Lol .. I'm spoiling a book in the review of a different book. But basically that line is connected to a very emotional part in the life of a different character and like that tied the two together for me and then I was even sadder and I just ... I had to like wait a second before I could keep reading...
All in all I very much enjoyed this book, it was awesome and sad (I believe the word is melancholy) because while I really wanted to know more about his life, I knew it wasn't going to have a happy ending... So Ye I feel like I could rant about this guy forever so I'm gonna end it here... End of rant.
This is the story of the Russian assassin in the Alex rider books. Yassen Gregorvich, whose name is actually Yasha (which as a Russian I can tell you that it's not actually a full name but only a nickname that comes from the name Yakov but anyways...).
The actual time line of the book is during Alex's first mission and so it takes place during their first meeting and the stormbraker events. Although most of the book is not during the "present" but rather Yassen thinking about his life.
***** MILD SPOILERS *****
I just found it so much fun looking at Russian culture from the perspective of a foreigner. It was just so interesting to read about how he (the author) tries to explain our school marking system (which has nothing to do with stars...just saying) and the way the children dressed and how the villages looked... And I think that the reason that I really liked this book was mostly because I could relate to the situations and picture the environments since they were something I knew (at least a little bit since most of it was quite old...)
Which is why this book is probably not going to be enjoyed by a lot of foreigners, because honestly looking back at it right now I don't think I would have understood most of what was going on without my knowledge of Russian culture... Also pronunciation would have been kinda hard...
***** SERIOUS SPOILERS *****
So that moment that I actually cried in was when he returned to that house in the silver forest and had that chat with Sharkovsky... I just couldn't not shed a couple silent tears when he said "I am what you made me". I mean first of all that's just an emotional line but like mostly I think that it got to me because it's kinda a reference to the mortal instruments... Is that a spoiler? Lol .. I'm spoiling a book in the review of a different book. But basically that line is connected to a very emotional part in the life of a different character and like that tied the two together for me and then I was even sadder and I just ... I had to like wait a second before I could keep reading...
All in all I very much enjoyed this book, it was awesome and sad (I believe the word is melancholy) because while I really wanted to know more about his life, I knew it wasn't going to have a happy ending... So Ye I feel like I could rant about this guy forever so I'm gonna end it here... End of rant.