Not bad, but not that great either.
Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
Fourteen-year old Alex Rider knows something bad has happened when the doorbell rings in the middle of the night. He soon learns that his caretaker uncle, Ian Rider, was killed in an automobile accident on his way home. A banker who works for Royal & General, Alex's uncle was a fine man who wasn't home much--but he's still devastated by his death. Except the appearance of some strange people who claim to be his uncle's co-workers, a gun-toting man at his uncle's funeral, and the findings of his uncle's bullet-ridden car make Alex think that there's more than meets the eye to the "automobile accident" story.
Alex soons find out that his Uncle Ian's life, at least where he himself was concerned, was based on a lie. Ian Rider was a spy, employed by the Special Operations Divison of MI6. And the last case he was working on, concerning multi-millionaire Herod Sayle, was a case that got Ian Rider killed. Now Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones, head of SOD, want Alex to pick up where his uncle, their operative, left off--infiltrate the compound where Herod Sayle is building his new Stormbreaker computers, and find out what Ian Rider had to die for.
What follows is an action-packed story of danger, bullets, viruses, and out-and-out excitement. At fourteen, Alex is savvy, trained in martial arts, can speak multiple languages, and is, in fact, a truly bliddy good spy!
Anthony Horowitz has devised a real winner with Alex Rider and his new career (although he was actually forced into working for MI6), and I can't wait to read the next book in the series and see what mission Alex will be sent on next!
Fourteen-year old Alex Rider knows something bad has happened when the doorbell rings in the middle of the night. He soon learns that his caretaker uncle, Ian Rider, was killed in an automobile accident on his way home. A banker who works for Royal & General, Alex's uncle was a fine man who wasn't home much--but he's still devastated by his death. Except the appearance of some strange people who claim to be his uncle's co-workers, a gun-toting man at his uncle's funeral, and the findings of his uncle's bullet-ridden car make Alex think that there's more than meets the eye to the "automobile accident" story.
Alex soons find out that his Uncle Ian's life, at least where he himself was concerned, was based on a lie. Ian Rider was a spy, employed by the Special Operations Divison of MI6. And the last case he was working on, concerning multi-millionaire Herod Sayle, was a case that got Ian Rider killed. Now Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones, head of SOD, want Alex to pick up where his uncle, their operative, left off--infiltrate the compound where Herod Sayle is building his new Stormbreaker computers, and find out what Ian Rider had to die for.
What follows is an action-packed story of danger, bullets, viruses, and out-and-out excitement. At fourteen, Alex is savvy, trained in martial arts, can speak multiple languages, and is, in fact, a truly bliddy good spy!
Anthony Horowitz has devised a real winner with Alex Rider and his new career (although he was actually forced into working for MI6), and I can't wait to read the next book in the series and see what mission Alex will be sent on next!
Starts out slow but once it gets going, it really ratchets up the action quickly. I liked 14 year old Alex Rider. He has a great attitude even when he was forced to become a spy for MI6. His learning curve is extremely quick and rather unbelieveable. If you can forget that he's 14, it's a good adventure but a totally impossible situation for one so young. His further adventures (as he matures) should be fun. I like this kind of story but not so great with a teenage protagonist - no romance and no sexual tension. IMHO a young teenage boy would love this series.
