Fun little spy story. A 14 year old is recruited by MI6 to find out why someone killed his uncle. Lots of action, not quite unbelievable, and entertaining. ( )

"And the next time they ask you, say no. Killing is for grown-ups and you're still a child."

What an adventure of a book! This story hits the ground running and never lets up. Alex is an amazing kid. He was raised with all the correct steps and training to be the perfect agent, embodied in a young boy. and his first assignment just might kill him.

I hadn't expected to like this book - I thought it would be a little boring and unrealistic. But, it just zooms through and you really find yourself rooting Alex on. And the gadgets were really cool.

all in all, a nice short fun read. ( )

The Alex Rider series is interesting to me because it has a lot of different action moments in it, which are pretty cool. I would recommend this book to you because the plot is suspenseful, and the author does a good job of keeping you on your toes.
Henry, 2022 ( )

{My thoughts} – My son has been raving about these books for some time. It is apparent that he thinks highly of them and wants other people to read them as well. Every time some of his friends are over he tries to get them to read at least the first book.

I decided to read the series since he has been making such a big deal about it.

The Review – Alex Rider is a fourteen year old boy that has been well trained for life. His Uncle had made sure of it from the time he’d gained guardianship of him. When the book begins he finds out that his Uncle had died. It however, doesn’t sit right with him how he is told he died. So, naturally he starts trying to figure things out for himself.

Alex gets himself noticed by his Uncle’s previous employers and they decide the boy could be of some use to them. They first ask him to join them and then they threaten him when He declines, which then compels him to join.

Once he joins he learns his Uncle was a MI6 operative and how he actually died (as opposed to the story the police told). He is then set on the same course his Uncle was set on in an attempt to find out what was going on and what had led to his Uncles death.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to continuing the series. In my opinion it is written like a teenage version of James Bond. Ironically, James Bond is mentioned within the pages of this book.

I do believe that any child that likes a bit of Mystery, suspense and spy/detective like books will enjoy reading this book as much as I did. ( )

{My thoughts} – My son has been raving about these books for some time. It is apparent that he thinks highly of them and wants other people to read them as well. Every time some of his friends are over he tries to get them to read at least the first book.

I decided to read the series since he has been making such a big deal about it.

The Review – Alex Rider is a fourteen year old boy that has been well trained for life. His Uncle had made sure of it from the time he’d gained guardianship of him. When the book begins he finds out that his Uncle had died. It however, doesn’t sit right with him how he is told he died. So, naturally he starts trying to figure things out for himself.

Alex gets himself noticed by his Uncle’s previous employers and they decide the boy could be of some use to them. They first ask him to join them and then they threaten him when He declines, which then compels him to join.

Once he joins he learns his Uncle was a MI6 operative and how he actually died (as opposed to the story the police told). He is then set on the same course his Uncle was set on in an attempt to find out what was going on and what had led to his Uncles death.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to continuing the series. In my opinion it is written like a teenage version of James Bond. Ironically, James Bond is mentioned within the pages of this book.

I do believe that any child that likes a bit of Mystery, suspense and spy/detective like books will enjoy reading this book as much as I did. ( )

As a spy story for teen readers, Alex Rider goes the James Bond way: over the top and megalomaniac villains with diabolic plans, the hero being captured, a desperate escape just in time... It's all action, with little room for development of the characters. Entertaining enough, but I found myself missing the more down-to-earth and realistic approach of the CHERUB series. ( )

this was a fun family read that got a little harder and harder to suspend disbelief as we went on. but still from beginning to end every time we stopped reading for the night the 12 year old would say "you can't stop there!" so that's a really good sign. i think that the holes that definitely exist in overall plot and story aren't ones that would really matter to a younger reader so for my rating i can ignore them since the rest of this was so fun. ( )

A daring and exiting read. Filled with interesting twists and turns, high action and clever writing. A must read. ( )

Sometimes a little bit too much boom, clatsh, zing, but nice thought provoking idea at the end which makes it a good read for my students.

The extra story at the end is nice btw. ( )

First book in a really good young adult spy series. You can't, put it down!

FROM AMAZON: They said his uncle Ian died in a car accident. Alex Rider knows that's a lie, and the bullet holes in his uncle's car confirm the truth. But nothing can prepare him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for Britain's top-secret intelligence agency.
Enlisted to find his uncle's killers and complete Ian's final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, with no way out. ( )

Alex Rider was super popular when I was a kid. It was all everybody talked about, so I figured I'd give it a read and dive into it!

Quick Review:
I can see why it was so popular and I'm quite surprised it's not talked about much anymore. It's super cheesy but a great thrilling read. This kid is a spy on a mission and is determined to do his best. He comes across many challenges along the way, and it gives a child-like Mission Impossible or James Bond vibe.

If you're looking for a thriller YA book, grab this book! It's a great throwback to the early 2000s as well, so you're in for a treat! ( )

Alex Rider is a fourteen year old reluctant teenage James Bond. When his uncle dies, Alex finds himself recruited into the shady world of spies and espionage. M16 jump at the chance to blackmail him - if he agrees to be a spy, his caretaker and the only family he has left, Jack, won't be deported. It's a choice that's no choice at all.

But the hits just keep on coming. Worse is finding that his uncle was not only a spy but had been training him his whole life - his early years filled with language lessons, martial arts classes, rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, lock picking and anything else you could imagine. Worse is being sworn to secrecy and given no mental support (seriously that drives me insane). Worse is being sent into constant danger with various gadgets but no real weapons. Worse is being lied to and manipulated and screwed over so many times it's painful to read.

I love Alex, but I'm also surprised he doesn't have a ton more issues than he does. Each novel is fast paced and action packed. There are daring stunts and lucky saves and many near misses. Reluctant readers will find themselves intrigued. Avid readers will find themselves consumed.

I loved Alex Rider as a kid. I must have read the first five books like fifty million times. Since I'm in the middle of a Cherub reread I thought I'd come back to Alex. It's kind of funny reading them now - I don't quite remember them being so depressing. Alex is a lot more jaded than I ever remember him being. It's also warranted but yeah. MI6 and Alan Blunt and Mrs Jones are horrendous people. Poor Alex gets screwed way too often.

I also remember Alex being a lot more talented than he is. But to my adult eyes, it seems like he's getting by more on luck than pure ability. Still they're great books with lots of action and a reluctant teen spy you can't help but root for.

Everything changes for Alex when his uncle dies in a car accident. But something doesn't add up and Alex is compelled to find out what. Unfortunately he finds more than he bargains when he meets Alan Blunt and Mrs Jones - colleagues of his uncle at M16 and his new legal guardians.

I feel sorry for Alex. How could his uncle not have provided better for him? To have made M16 his legal guardian is cruel. Isn't it bad enough he has no family and Ian's been training him his whole life in between being absent? Spy and risk death or we'll take away the only person left, the only house you've ever known, the friends and school you're used to and put you in an institution - what kind of choice is that? It's just wrong.

And so blackmailed into spying, Alex's first mission is to go undercover as Felix Lester - a computer whizz who won a competition to be the first person to use Stormbreaker - a new cutting edge computer designed by Herod Sayle. To all appearances, Herod Sayle looks like a saint, willing to donate thousands of these new computers to schools all across England. But Ian Rider was investigating him and now Ian Rider is dead, forced off the road as he was due to report his progress to M16.

Armed with a few gadgets a fourteen year old boy would have - zit cream that will disintegrate metal, a yoyo with unbreakable string that can hold his entire weight and a Nintendo with games that can find hidden bugs, xray vision, amplify audio and can fax and scan documents - Alex is left to his own devices. (And what's the deal with no guns? I mean - you're sending a teenager into certain danger but the gun is too far?) Snooping around he soon finds what Herod is up to (each computer has a genetically modified version of smallpox that will activate as soon as the Prime Minister presses the on button and kill all the children (or at least a lot) in London.) - and why. Cause the Prime Minister bullied him as a kid and he wants revenge. Lol nice reasoning.

Working with him are Nadia Vole, a stern German woman; Mr Grin - an ironically named man with no tongue and vicious scars that mimic a grin and Yassen Gregorovich - the assassin who murdered his uncle Yassen! . Soon Alex is in a race against time to prevent the Stormbreakers from going online. And it's pretty epic how he does. He commandeers a plane, then parachutes into the building and proceeds to shoot the Prime Minister in the hand as he goes to press the button, shoots up the button, shoots up the power socket and shoots Herod Sayle.

Alex draws you in and doesn't let you go until the very end. This one isn't quite as good as I remember it being - Alex is just so jaded and the way he continually gets screwed over is kind of depressing - but it's still pretty good. I'd rate this a 4 now, maybe 4.5 but back in the day this was an easy 5 stars, so 5 stars it will remain.



Action packed, fast paced, a riveting spy thriller. 5 stars. ( )

A student highly recommended this to me, so of course I had to read it. Fast paced Bondish (if Bond was a 14 year old boy) adventure of spy in the making. Found it odd that the author felt compelled to go into great detail about the cars in the story, perhaps that's part of writing for boys that this girl just doesn't get. ( )

Three stars for the very competent writing. There's a dark atmosphere dogging Alex, the MC in that he's coerced mercilessly into the role of spy and even when he completes the assignment, there's no release. Although I'm not the _target audience, the story has been structured like a frenetic action movie which too often requires the reader to suspend belief. Overall, the YA crowd who isn't sophisticated in their expectations will probably think the adventure worth following because the story is certainly gripping. A narrative like this one does not appeal to me at all. ( )

Stormbreaker (2000) (Alex Rider #1) by Anthony Horowitz. I was intrigued by this book just by the name of the author. I have enjoyed his work, from Midsomer Murders to Foyle’s War, and his various Murder books as well as his forays into the world of Sherlock Holmes. I thought it was high time to see what the fuss of Alex Rider was all about.
First off, the Rider books are aimed at a teenaged/young adult audience. Not to say older audiences can’t enjoy them, you’ll just have to suspend some of your preconceived notions as to what government agencies can and can not do.
When his uncle dies, his only living relative, suspicions arise within the 14 year-old Rider’s mind. He investigates the “accidental crash” that killed the older man and discovers bullet holes in the car. From there on he is involved in a series of even more dire scenarios, all of which he survives. Fortunately for him, Alex’s uncle Ian has had him involved in high-level confidence activities throughout his young life. Martial arts, surfing, name any type of outdoor, physically demanding activity and Alex has probably not only been opened to it but mastered it. And when MI6, British Intelligence, comes calling, Alex soon realizes they hadn’t been on vacation so much as training for his future in the spy game. A game he want’s no part of but reluctantly agrees to be used by MI6 to get his uncle’s killer.
The is a nefarious evil mastermind millionaire who is determined to kill England’s children. And he has an evil, disfigured assistant called Mr. Grin. I dare you to guess why.
The reason for the evil strike at the heart of England is fully explained, and any bullied youth can agree to the actions that are being taken, to a degree. But through a series of daring action scenes that rapidly pile one upon the other, young Mr. Rider manages to outsmart the adults and save the day, and no, I’m not giving anything away,
For its intended market, this is the start to a series of thrilling adventure tales that leaves reality behind and more than makes up for it with force of personality and the ability of any teen to imagine they are the hero. Like Bond before him, Alex Rider is totally unbelievable, no matter how mech we might wish to be him.
This is a fine introduction to this Devil-may-care series and Alex makes a nice hero. But you might have second thoughts about the addition of product placements and so much male-oriented details about cars, motorbikes and so forth. That the book imperials the youthful hero in every chapter has to be overlooked as being merely fiction and not a call to arms that can actually get young do-gooders into series trouble.
And you might not like the hero’s superior attitude, but that is an aspect of his character that is appealing to the reader.
I can understand why this is a favorite read for the younger set and, if you are looking for adventure you could do worse than this series. ( )

Alex Rider is told that his uncle, Ian, has been killed in a car crash, but Alex doesn't believe it. When he finds the car that was supposedly wrecked at a local junkyard, the only thing wrong with it are the bullet holes in the windshield. After he is almost crushed in the car, Alex meets Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones who tell him that his father didn't work for a bank. He was an MI6 agent, and they want Alex to take his place. When Alex refuses, they threaten to send his caregiver, Jack, back to America and send him to an institution. Alex has no choice but to do what they ask.

Stormbreaker is the action packed first book in the Alex Rider series. Right away we learn that Alex has skills that Ian taught him preparing him for whatever might come, so he isn't completely unskilled. What we don't learn much about is Alex's personality. There isn't much time for Alex to show grief or for his character to be developed. Also none of the other characters in the story are well developed either. Even though, this story packs a punch with the amount of action and adventure squashed into a small number of pages, some of it is over the top and difficult to believe. Overall, however, Stormbreaker is a fun adventure and terrific beginning to this series. 3 1/2 stars. ( )

This book required the sort of willing suspension of disbelief that I do not naturally possess. While an interesting premise, and not badly executed, the plot really left something to be desired in terms of believable details. There is a great deal of standard trope here, with pretty much the entire plot forecast from the beginning. It's perfectly readable though, and I can understand why it would be so popular among its _target audience. ( )

Stormbreaker is about an ordinary 14-year old boy who turns into a super spy. It’s like James Bond for kids. The plot is amazing. It’s super fast-paced and suspenseful. It’s a great book for children (elementary/middle school), and it is sure to keep action-lovers reading for a while. The story begins when Alex’s unce is killed in a “car accident,” but there are bullet holes in his car. Alex knows something is up with the story. He soon finds out that his uncle was working with the British intelligence agency, MI6. MI6 takes Alex in to pick up where his uncle left off in a mission. The only issue I had with this book is that Alex got way too lucky way too often, and it made it pretty unbelievable; however, for the _target audience this will likely not matter. ( )

Alex Rider is basically like that 90's cartoon series "James Bond Jr." There's lots of action and it's fun to see undercover secret agent stories unfold from a kid's perspective. An easy read and one I recommend for middle school aged children that will also keep the parents attention. ( )

Thoroughly implausible and fun. ( )

The first and in my opinion best Alex Rider book. This is teh start of teh story, now there are 12 books in the series, it's easily as good as the Jason Steed series and its better than the CHERUB series.

This book follows the life of Alex Rider - ordinary 14 year old school boy with an ordinary life. Then one day he's told his Uncle - Ian Rider - has died in a dreadful car crash... But something just isn't quite right. If it was a car crash that killed Ian Rider, why are there bullet holes in his car ( )

14-year old Alex Rider's uncle Ian supposedly died in a car accident. Then Alex finds the car riddled with bullets at a junkyard. Alex is then shanghaied by MI-6 to take up where his uncle failed -- discovering what nefarious plot is contained in an Eqpytian immigrant's donation of a new generation computer to every school in England. Fast paced, better than Six of Hearts. ( )

{First of 12 in Alex Rider series; children's/ YA, action-adventure, spy} (2000/ 2020)

Alex Rider's parents died when he was a baby so he has grown up with his uncle, Ian Rider. The story opens as the doorbell rings in the middle of the night to let fourteen year old Alex know that his uncle has been killed in a car crash on the way home from one of his many business trips. But then Alex finds out that his uncle was actually a spy and was killed while on a mission to investigate the billionaire, Herod Sayle, who has donated free computers, named Stormbreaker, to every school in Britain including Alex's own comprehensive (Ian Rider thought it would be 'more of a challenge' than any of the smart private schools around Chelsea). The computers are soon to be distributed to the schools and will be activated by the Prime Minister in a ceremony on the 1st of April. Ian Rider must have found something, but was killed before he could pass on the information. Someone needs to finish the mission - and so MI6 calls Alex in, whether he wants to or not, to take the place of another boy who won a competition to be the first to try out a Stormbreaker before they are distributed from Sayle's headquarters. It's a good thing that his uncle seems to have been training him to be a spy since he was a baby.

I read the 20th anniversary edition which was published in 2020 and I don't know if it was updated in any way. Stormbreakers are very advanced computers - they boot instantly, for one thing - which may seem like every-day ordinary technology now but would have been ahead of cutting edge in 2000. Remember when connecting to the internet would give you the 'boing boing crrrrr' sound effect and then you'd have to wait for the connection? So, although it has dated slightly (but not too noticeably), it still works.

I did think that the giant jellyfish got a bit of a raw deal. Alex has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth when talking to Sayle:

'I love to kill fish,' Sayle went on. But when I saw this specimen of Physalia physalis, I knew I had to capture it and keep it. You see, it reminds me of myself.'

'It's ninety-nine percent water. It has no brain, no guts and no anus.' Alex had dredged up the facts from somewhere and spoken them before he knew what he was doing.

The story takes place over two weeks and, since Alex is in the heart of the bad guy's territory, he gets thrown into the thick of the action. There were a few deus ex machina moments although Alex's training and Ian Rider's having run the mission previously did explain a lot of things convincingly.

As an adult reader there were one or two moments that made me pause but I think that it works very well for its _target audience (tweens and young teenagers); it still kept me reading. Horowitz wanted to write a book about a reluctant teenage James Bond and he's done it well - after all, this book is the first in a best-selling series.

March 2021
5 stars (for its age range) / 4 stars ( )

'Stormbreaker' was everything I expected it to be: a fast-paced, action-oriented, teen-spy adventure with operatically bad baddies, a megalomanic plot that the main evil baddy monologues to the captive, soon-to-die (yeah, like anyone who has seen a Bond movie expects that to happen) hero and lots of chases and exploding vehicles and a finale where our hero grandstands in an iconic London location.

I liked the start of the story best. Alex's investigation into his uncle's death and his encounters with the British Secret Service were fresh and engaging.

Alex's first assignment lacked any of that originality. It was a clone of a standard James Bond plot. It worked because it was done with a completely straight-face. A sort of, 'You didn't complain when Fleming did this, so give me a break' attitude that I liked. The plot becomes rapidly more and more absurd and lines more and more cheesy (my favourite was the evil assassin telling Alex, 'Killing is for grown-ups. You are just a boy.') but it worked because it had had 'Suspend Disbelief All Yea Who Enter Here' written at the top of every page. The reader is invited to relax and enjoy the ride.

Perhaps the most credible part of the plot was that the whole nation was put at risk by the ego of a Prime Minister who had been a bully at school, was still a bully now and had such a large majority that everyone felt obliged to laugh at his lame humour. There's realism for you.

A couple of things caught me by surprise:

• The good guys weren't very nice. Alex isn't recruited into spying for the British government, he's Shanghaied. I found this quite convincing. There's a sign of the times for you.
• It seemed odd to me that Alex Rider kept referring to his dead uncle by his full name, even in his thoughts. It made Alex seem a little cold-blooded, something that was reinforced by an absence of grief from the beginning..
• The persistence of a World War II German baddy stereotype who, although fluent in English, still uses the odd German phrase and introduces herself as 'Fraulein Vole'. Who does that? At any moment I expected her to say 'Hande hock, Englischer schweinhunde'.

'Stormbreaker' was a few hours of light, fast, fun with enough promise to make put the series on my 'comfort read' list. I'm told the plots get better. I hope that the speed and lightness of tone are maintained.

I recommend the audiobook version. I think Oliver Chris did a good job with the narration. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.


https://soundcloud.com/walkerbooks/sets/alex-rider-audio-extracts

( )

Fun and fast-paced!

When 14-year-old Alex Rider learns his uncle dies in a car accident, he just doesn’t buy it. A bit of snooping, and he learns the truth: his uncle was a spy for Britain’s secret intelligence agency. And now that same agency wants Alex to go undercover, find his uncle’s killer, and discover why his uncle was killed. Easier said than done.

What I liked: fun spy book with lots of action. Great villain -one the reader can have a tad of empathy for at first, but then he really is just evil. Great writing, it’s easy to visualize all the different settings and locales in the book. And, did I mention lots of action? So fun!

What I didn’t like: sometimes things just happened too fortunately for him. He’d get into a really tight spot, and -stroke of luck- there was a convenient way for him to get out. It is kind of reminiscent of James Bond, so I get it, but it was just a little too much. Also, Alex himself is rather stoic sometimes (14-year-old boys are usually a bit more…animated).

But all-in-all, a fun read, and great start to a series.

4 out of 5 stars ( )