Page/Link:Page URL:HTML link:The Free Library. Retrieved Sep 27 2019 fromStormbreakerAnthony HorowitzPhilomel204 $17.99After Ian Rider dies in a car accident, fourteen-year-old AlexRider discovers that his secretive uncle was not in fact a bank manager,as he'd always said, but a spy who died while on a mission. Alex isrecruited by MI6-not quite willingly-to take over where his uncle leftoff, trying to uncover the evil schemes of a billionaire philanthropistwhose plans to benefit England's schoolchildren smell fishy.Stormbreaker is a sort of James Bond adventure for the 9-12 set.There's a version of 'Q,' for instance-the man behindBond's clever gadgets: Smithers equips Alex with a number ofhelpful goodies, including a pimped-out Nintendo GameBoy Color. The badguy's an evil genius whose henchmen have inventive ways ofdisposing of enemies.
When MI6 recognizes his potential, Alex Rider is armed with secret gadgets and sent on his first mission. But the teenage spy soon finds himself in mortal danger. Read a chapter. Listen to a chapter. I defy anyone to stop at book one. Sam, aged 11, lovereadingforkids.co.uk.
And the villain also enjoys one of those Bond-ian,spill-all moments near the book's end, when he explains his masterplan right before the hero's imminent death. (I love the fact thatthe madman's father is described as a 'failed oralhgienist.' )Stormbreaker is the first book in Anthony Horowitz'sbestselling Alex Rider series. (The book was made into a 2006 filmstarring Robbie Coltrane and Alex Pettyfer.) I can understand theseries' success.
It's a good read, filled with action anddecent writing. I would argue that a couple scenes in the book havecredibility problems, but I wasn't too bothered by it. I'dcertainly be willing to suspend my disbelief for as long as it takes toread the next installment.Debra Hamel, Reviewerhttp://www.book-blog.com.