Reader’s Response 1

Scorpia Rising

Anthony Horowitz

P.1-p.324

2hrs.

Rating: N/A

                Scorpia Rising is the 9^th and last book in the Alex Rider series. So far, most of the Alex Rider books have used the same good formula: Alex is reluctantly drafted by the MI6 to go on a mission against impossible odds, Alex defeats the villain(s) using his unorthodox techniques and gadgets. The villain(s) get mad because they get beat by a 13 year old boy and come back to take him in, but they always lose. The most frequent of these enemies is SCORPIA. This formula works, and 8 wonderful novels have been published. For the 9^th, Anthony Horowitz has outdone himself for a finale that easily met, and exceeded, my expectations, and my expectations for finales are very high. One book can make or break a series. It’s impossible to imagine Harry Potter without the Deathly Hallows, or Percy Jackson w/ out the Last Olympian. And at the moment, Alex Rider wouldn’t be Alex Rider without this great book.

The author keeps a lot the same, an old enemy in SCORPIA, the MI6 take Alex on another mission against his will, and of course, Smithers and his amazing gadgets. For those of you who haven’t read the book yet, his last gadget is INCREDIBLE! I won’t reveal it here because it would be a major spoiler. The one new thing is the newfound depth that is being put into the story.

 The first quarter of the book isn’t about Alex at all, just building up the plot in a dramatic fashion. Also, the personality and emotion in the characters is a pleasant surprise. Horowitz’s characters have always seemed somewhat clichéd, and…bland. That all changes here. The narration not only focuses on what’s happening with Alex and his care take, but goes into their feelings, unlike the other books. Plus, Razim, a villain whose back-story  is a whole chapter long, is one of the best villains ever encountered in a book. His past of indirectly murdering his family, killing his pets, terrorism, trying to create a unit of measure for pain by conducting “experiments”  is quite enthralling. By the way, he does all of this without feeling any emotion. It is his greatest strength/flaw. This book has been great so far, with an incredibly fast-moving and action packed plotline moving swiftly toward the climax. I look forward to reading more.