Product Description

The world's largest urban warfare training compound stands in the desert near Las Vegas. Forty British commandos are being hunted by an entire American battalion.

But their commander has an ace up his sleeve: he plans to smuggle in ten CHERUB agents, and fight the best war game ever.

CHERUB agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that kids are spying on them.

For official purposes, these children do not exist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2361 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
Praise for books in the CHERUB series: 'Punchy, exciting, glamorous and, what's more, you'll completely wish it was true.' (The Sunday Express )

'An excellent start to a promising series. It is every boy's wish to be a spy, and this book will enthrall every single one of them.' (The Bookseller )

'An exciting, swiftly moving tale' (School Librarian )

'A fast-paced action thriller, which should turn into a fantastic series - if James manages to live that long.' (Young Post )

About the Author
Robert Muchamore was born in Islington in 1972 and spent thirteen years working as a private investigator. He was inspired to create the CHERUB series by his nephews` complaints about the lack of anything for them to read!

Customer Reviews

Muchamore flying high!
CHERUB: The General follows the main CHERUB agents to Las Vegas in America, where they take part in one of the biggest war games ever. As always Muchamore is on top form, and the characters are well developed, plots are more action packed, and comical as ever.

We find out more about Kazakov, a Ukrainian training instructor whose brutal tactics and war expertise come right into play when he's asked to head an insurgency against an entire American battalion. As battle begins in the world's largest urban training com, James Adams and his fellow CHERUB agents are on the front line, deploying Kazakov's tactics against the troops. Kazakov thinks he'll have the troops, on the ground and begging for mercy before day two ends; but will it be so easy?

With CHERUB: The General, Muchamore brings forward a new breed of spy book. A book which doesn't need super-human skills, or stunts which are near impossible. Alex Rider bites the dust with a novel which is more realistic than ever before, a gripping and thrilling read which announces Muchamore's arrival onto the number one bestsellers lists and proves that he is a writer who can make teenagers (especially boys) want to read again!

Please don't think that CHERUB is like any other book. It isn't. It's original, it's realistic and it's my favourite!

Much ado about Nothing
Robert Muchamore is an author who always delivers - until now!

The first in the Cherub series, The Recruit, had me hooked from the start on the adventures of child spy James Adams and his sister, Lauren. No other spy books - Alex Rider, Young James Bond, Jimmy Coates etc - could touch Cherub for quality, excitement or pure enjoyment.

However, I feel very let down by The General. Much of Muchamore's talent comes from creating believable and likeable characters, characters you invest your emotions in - characters you come to care about. In The General, however, he dwells less on the people and more on the action. His characters become cartoon-like, one-dimensional - with no real depth to them.

The story within The General is also sadly lacking. Although the book enjoys a tense and exciting opening chapter, it rapidly descends into a fiasco of plot, involving plans to rob a Las Vegas casino using MI5 spying equipment and "fighting dirty" in a tedious training exercise. Like another reviewer said, the series really does jump the shark here.

The success of the Cherub series, for me, was that you could 'just about' believe that a spy school for orphan kids was plausible - as crooks would certainly be less wary of kids than adults. However, I found much of the plot of The General - especially that of a teacher plotting with James to commit theft on a grand scale - just too ridiculous to swallow. Perhaps Muchamore is running out of ideas, perhaps he was working to a tight deadline and had to rush things. Whatever the problem, this book is certainly the weakest link in the Cherub chain.

I expected much, much more of Muchamore - but the hype surrounding the release of this book turned out to be much ado about nothing!

Amazing book
This book is very good and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, I would recommend it to young adults and adults alike. Before this I thought that The Recruit, the first book in the CHERUB series, was the best one, but I think The General outdid even that.

A truly astounding book and one that every young adult should own. 5 out of 5.