Product Description

When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider finds his world turned upside down. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training exercises. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission to Cornwall, where Middle-Eastern multi-billionaire Herod Sayle is producing his state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers. Sayle has offered to give one free to every school in the country - but there's more to the gift than meets the eye.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #905 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Spies are great currency for exciting storylines, but few authors manage to successfully concoct realistic scenarios for a willing readership expecting chases, gunshots and thrills aplenty. In the first of what could easily become his most memorable series of novels to date, Anthony Horowitz has added a tongue-in-cheek quality to Stormbreaker that lifts it above several others in the same genre.

Horowitz knows that his main character, 14-year-old Alex Rider, is a normal teenager and he never forgets this when he thrusts his young hero into the thick of several truly edge-of-seat scenarios. There is humour alongside the action too--some great characters and cutting one-liners--that helps to ensure that entertainment is high on the agenda throughout.

Orphan Alex thought he knew his Uncle Ian Rider--until the elusive banker is killed in a tragic car accident. Immediately, Alex's life starts to get stranger by the day as his guardian's friends and colleagues start showing up and contradicting everything Alex thought he knew about the man he'd called Dad for so long. Maybe Ian Rider was not a banker after all? Surely the bullet holes in his Uncle's totalled car reveal that he had not died in an accident, but was murdered? Everything is explained when Alex decides to track down Ian Rider's real employers, but Alex is in for a surprise when they decide to contact him. The truth is hard to take, but maybe by following in his uncle's secret footsteps he might get the chance for revenge.

Apart from a slightly over-the-top finale involving a helicopter and the roof of London's Science Museum, Stormbreaker is a refreshingly energetic yarn that is required reading for fans of the contemporary thriller. --John McLay

About the Author
Anthony Horowitz is a popular and prolific children's writer, whose books now sell in more than a dozen countries around the world. He has won numerous prizes for his books which include "Point Blanc" (shortlisted for the 2001 Children's Book Award), "Skeleton Key" (Winner of the Red House Children's Book Award) and "Scorpia". Anthony also writes extensively for TV. He lives in north London.

Customer Reviews

A parent's review (contains plot spoilers)
I am coming late to the Alex Rider series as my oldest son is only seven. This is the second Alex Rider book that I've read, for the purpose of understanding when my spy-obsessed son might be old enough to start reading the series.

I enjoyed reading this book. It obviously lacks the complexity and depth of a book written for adults, but it is still a fast paced and enjoyable thriller that borrows heavily on the James Bond and Mission Impossible franchises. Alex Rider makes a likeable hero who is brave, tenacious and resourceful.

I would feel comfortable giving it to my son to read when he's a little older - my gut feel is 9-10 years would be about right. He still needs to strengthen his reading skills (words like interrogation, hyperventilating, cloying, claustrophobic and exquisite are typical), but also to develop the maturity to cope with a plot that involves a fair amount of violence (the book opens with the death of Alex's uncle and bad guys get shot on a regular basis).

Here are some things that parents may like to know about this book:
- The storyline is reasonably simple and the bad guy/good guy lines are clearly drawn.
- Violence is not described in overly graphic detail, but it does occur throughout the book. Alex fires a gun twice and hits a bad guy on one occasion. He also causes the death of another villain by causing a plane crash.
- There is no swearing or bad language.
- There is a noticeable absence of positive female characters (unless you count the housekeeper who barely appears). There is a reference by the MI5 into female agents being of use if you need someone to slip in as a secretary or receptionist.

Buy this and you won't be disappointed
Stormbreaker

Alex Rider is a teenage spy. Something many of us would love to be I know. Not that he really wants to be (what an idiot). But he needs to find out the mystery of his Uncles death, who he finds out was a spy (big shocker). But quickly equipped with high tech gadgets, then put through tough training he’s ready to jump into the world of MI6. He’s put straight into action to test out a new computer being developed by Herod Sayle, a millionaire, who MI6 believe to be up to no good (paranoid freaks). So he’s sent off right away, but immediately gets into trouble, big trouble and it doesn’t look like there is a way out for him at all!

Stormbreaker is a truly wicked book that I would recommend to teenagers mostly. It’s full of action packed adventure with a little bit of comedy situations included. As soon as you pick up the book you are Alex Rider and you will feel his every move as if you are him. Excellent work by Anthony Horowitz and well worth a read.

Not just another Teen James Bond.
This was a really fun book that I will recommend on to many readers, young and old alike. I had heard many good things about Anthony Horowitz and I was not to be disappointed. His pace of storyline is excellent and his characters are wonderfully developed. The villains are as colourful as any created by Ian Fleming and the background for the evil plot was well thought out. The actual diabolic plan and described results were in fact highly unrealistic, but that did not matter one iota to this gold nugget of a story. I read the entire book in about three and a half hours and will be quick to go and find the subsequent volumes in the series.

Where the story of Alex Rider differs hugely from the run of the mill James Bond stories is the distinct lack of female characters. Given Alex's tender age, this is not a criticism, more of an observation and keeping the book to the boy hero conquering adult villains against all odds storyline was an excellent path to tread. The story was undoubtedly aimed at the young male audience, but I have a feeling that there will be a lot of Tom boys out there amongst the girls who will enjoy this every bit as much.