Customer Reviews

The Alex Rider Collection (3 Books) (Alex Rider Adventure)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this collection for my son, who is 9, and we have enjoyed reading through these books together. They are distinctly targeted at a preteen (or perhaps a teenage) audience but have enough intrigue and humor to capture my attention as well. He is the first kid in his school to hear of Alex Rider, but with the first movie coming out in the Spring I think the novels will find new life. Don't wait! Read them now!

The Alex Rider stories are perfect for anyone (really) interested in spy adventure. I listen to them being read on a British radio station--BBC 7--and I have gone out out and bought every one of Anthony Horowitz' novels.
Give them a try, I think you'll love them!

I read the reviews here and purchased the 3-volume set for my son (11). I guess I hadn't understood what the reviews were telling me: this is literally James Bond in a 14-year old body.

The stories each have a unidimensional (and unrealistic) plot, whose purpose is to act as the rope upon which to string a non-stop series of escape scenes, one more fantastic than the next.

You remember how the Hardy Boys books end each chapter with a suspenseful line to get you going to the next chapter? Alex Rider ends every paragraph that way. Do you think I'm exaggerating? Here's a sample from just one section of one book:

No sooner does the boy wake up after a nighttime ride in an armored truck full of bioterrorism vials than he is attacked in a field (for no clear reason) by a pair of ATVs wielding guns, fishing wire, and flame-throwers (I think). He escapes with an ATV and enough energy to get to the library to pick up a secret map of the underground mines, through which he makes his way in a wetsuit, holding his breath and a rope (will he survive?!) to find the secret hiding place. Where he is shot at by guards. He escapes only to have knives thrown at him before being thrown into a tank with a deadly jellyfish. Fortunately, he gets out of the tank (accidentally killing one of the villains) and climbs into an airplane -- in flight, from the outside -- from which he parachutes down into the Prime Minister's press event, saving the world with half a second to spare. Oh, he could have called for help from M16 (British secret service), but it never seems quite the right moment.

Spare me.

Yes, the books are page-turners. But there is little actual plot, and literally no characterization. After reading three books, I can tell you nothing about this boy's personality (well, other than that he seems pretty reckless. Climbing out a 15th-story window to leap from sill to flagpole to sill just to satisfy his curiosity as to what's in the next office?). There is not a single relationship, no personal challenge to be overcome.

These books will leave you breathless, but with nothing else to take along with you. If you have a boy who only likes action flicks and you're trying to get him to read something -- anything! please! -- than these are the books for you. If not, then you'll want to go find some other great books for boys with a little more meat to them.

A disappointment. One of the few books I've bought in a lifetime of reading that I'll try to sell.

I first heard of this book in 2001, while previewing a Scholastic Book Fair video with my fifth-grade students. I bought the book and read it aloud to them. I'm sure there was not one disappointed boy or girl in the whole class! Since then, I have read it aloud to my students every year, and I have taught sixth and now fourth grade. The reaction has been the same everytime.
A great advantage for reading this book aloud in a classroom setting is that I don't have to time it so that I'll end at a cliffhanger; each paragraph, not each chapter, leaves them wanting more. This makes it an ideal choice for classroom use because sometimes I may only have 2 minutes before a transition.
Yes, it is a book packed with action and spy adventures, however if it's not a genre you would normally read, please don't let that label deter you. Had it not been for the book fair video, I would never have otherwise read the book, and I would have missed out on a great opportunity to introduce hundreds of students to a new author, new book, new series, and over-the-top active reading experience.
Boys and girls alike have voted this as one of their top favorites every year, and I read aloud to them every single day, so it has some steep competition.

Books were shipped and received quickly. All three books are held in a sturdy case that is very attractive. My 11 yr-old dove right into the first book and LOVED it. He told me that I HAD to read it when he was done. He quickly finished it and picked up the next one in the series. I highly recommend this product.

Anthony Horowitz is a great author, I hope he write another Alex rider series, these have been fantastic, fun and enjoyable.
Alex rider is far btter than Young James Bond, as good a Jason Steed and he is more real life than Jimmy Coates. Its better for younger children than twilight, I think that is a little too scary for 11 yr olds.

I bought this for my grandson. He is a sheltered 11 years old and has enjoyed the Alex Rider series very much. ...anything to get them off the computer and into a book!

This is a great introduction to Alex Rider. Something of a James Bond but for a younger audience. Horrowitz creates an imaginative set of adventures with colorful characters and wonderful gadgets (couldn't have spies without gadgets!).

It's important that a writer gets your attention early and Anthony Horrowitz manages just that. Alex himself is a wonderful lead character and naturally draws readers to him. The usual cliches and superlatives are appropriate: engaging, exciting, gripping, page turner etc

Point Blanc is possibly the best of the 3 stories in this collection having a slightly more sinister feel than the first installment, which builds the excitement.

Other great teen books:


Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chosen Ones (Aedyn Chronicles, The)

Stormbreaker starts when 14 year old Alex Rider. learns that his uncle Ian Rider died in a car accident. He soon discovers that a guy named Yassen Gregorovich killed his uncle and that the car crash was just a cover up. Alex becomes the youngest member of Britain's elite M16 spying agency. He goes
on a mission to stop one of Yassen's people, Herod Sayle.

Point Blank has Alex back at school after his his last adventure but M16 has plans for Alex. He is shipped off to Point Blanc Academy and about to face a dangerous foe, Dr. Grief - the academy director. Alex has to figure out what is going on - before he becomes the latest subject in Project Gemini.

Skeleton Key continues the story about Alex Rider, reluctant spy. Once again, he's got to save the world. His new assignment is working with two agents from the CIA to explore a mansion on Skeleton Key island, owned by a retired Soviet general. It involves uranium and an atomic bomb.

Logically, the plots and action boggles the mind, rather goofy if you try to examine it, but good reads. My son and I haven't had this much fun reading a series since Stanek's Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches.

My son is 12 and really enjoyed this book. He likes action and intelligent characters and this has both.