A new children’s novel by Anthony Horowitz revolves around a plot to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. Unfortunately, it appears that those in favour of return are cast as the bad guys in this particular version of the story…
From:
BBC News [1]
Book Review: Alex Rider – Scorpia Rising
Last Updated: Wednesday June 08 2011 10:57 GMTAuthor
Anthony HorowitzThe story
This book is different from all the other Alex Rider books as it explains the villain’s plot right at the beginning, whereas most other Alex Rider books you have to work out what the villain is up to.In this book, Scorpia are hired to return some statues called the Elgin Marbles in the British museum to Greece. To do this they plan to blackmail MI6 by showing the world that MI6 have been using a teenager to do all their work.
The charactersThe main character is of course orphan Alex Rider, a teenage spy who is looked after by his carer Jack Starbright.
All the MI6 characters also make an appearance at some point in the story. The criminal organisation Scorpia also reappears in this book (hence the title).
Highlights
The highlights of this book are the unexpected twists and character development. The descriptions of the cities are also excellent and the book has a very strong start.
Any weak bits?
This is the last in the Alex Rider books and we felt the ending was good for a single book, but not for the end of the series.
It isn’t dreadful and could just be a matter of personal taste, so see what you think about it. But before you start on this book, we’d recommend reading all the other eight books before this one.
Unputdownable?
This is one of the best Alex Rider books. You don’t really notice how good it is until you finish and you take in all that happened.
We thought this was our second favourite Alex Rider book, after Scorpia.
Hit or Miss?
Hit.