Good Series For Quarantine: Post 5
Hey everyone! (Blogger wouldn't let me put an image in 😔) Welcome back to Good Series For Quarantine! This time, we are going to be looking at the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
This is series is very long, with 13 books, so if you're looking for something that you can read for a while, this is a good choice, as long as you like spy stories. I, unfortunately, have not been able to read all 13, because of a few missing books in the beginning and end, but I can fill in most of what happened in those books by reading the ones after (although if you are going to try to read this series, I do recommend that you read the whole series straight through because they will often link together. The series's main character is, unsurprisingly, Alex Rider. He is an ordinary, average 14-year-old boy with a normal uncle... or so he thought until his uncle was killed in a car supposedly because he was not wearing a seatbelt. After some sneaking around, Alex uncovers that his uncle was a spy all along. Alex gets, to use the technical term, snoitched by MI6 before he can do anything else, and is blackmailed into being trained as a spy. They then send him on a mission to spy on Darius Sayle and determine why his uncle said that the Stormbreakers, the computers that Sayle has developed to send to schools who need them. As he sneaks around, he discovers that the computers hide a deadly secret and that they have already been spread across the country. Alex manages to get into the plane they are traveling in and stop Sayle from executing his plan.
Throughout the series, Alex goes on many other missions, almost always against his will, facing some very intimidating and daunting enemies, yet always emerging victorious. He even has to fight an enormous criminal network and organization called Scorpia. Alex faces many close calls and intense pressure situations but always manages to get through and keep fighting. I really like this series because it is really long, but also because they are actually good books, and I enjoy reading them. This is series is similar in some ways to the H.I.V.E. series that I talked about in my first post, except inverted. There are a lot of plot twists and surprises that you don't expect when you are reading (and some that are sometimes obvious), which I found really grabbed my attention, and made me want to keep reading. Some people have referred to this series as a young James Bond series, and while I feel that this is an okay comparison, I would argue that a better comparison is the less known Jason Bourne movie series, because neither of them actually end up wanting to be spies (plus, Bourne is cooler and better anyway, you should take a look at that too). I think that people who are fans of the movies that I have mentioned will like these books, especially since they relate more to us kids. I hope that this post has been useful for you to get two recommendations actually (isn't that radical). See you next time with something new!
-David
The series sounds really interesting! I like your brief summary of the series and the main idea behind all the books. Especially since the series is so long, it sounds like the books could get a bit repetitive (although I could be wrong). The plot of the book sounds pretty interesting, and I might try reading the first few books if I have the time.
ReplyDeleteThis series sounds really interesting. I think I've read one of the books in this series, but almost certainly out of order which was probably why it didn't make much sense haha...
ReplyDeleteYou illustrate the series really interesting and I think I'll consider reading the first few books. The only problem that I find about this series is when you mention that he "always [emerges] victorious". I think that this could be one of the things that would be potentially dull about the series, but I might be wrong.
This was an excellent post; I remember reading some of these books a while back, and I'd definitely recommend them as well. I'd also agree that the books have a much more Jason Bourne vibe to them, especially in regards to the fact that Alex doesn't have that James Bond-esque charm.
ReplyDeleteAlso, James Bond is better and cooler than Jason Bourne.
This book series seems very interesting. I've never really explored spy books but maybe I'll check this out in the future. I think you did really well on this post and it looks like you put some thought into writing it, all in all good job!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Sounds like an interesting book series to read. I just recently rewatched all of the James Bond movies and Jason Bourne movies, so sounds like this book series would be right up my alley. There was also a spy series I loved to read as a child. Would be fun to read some more spy books.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool how this series manages to stay entertaining even though it's so long. It does seem to utilize a few common spy tropes, but that isn't a deal breaker. I like spy moves, so I might check it out.
ReplyDelete