STORM: The Infinity Code [Paperback]

Emma Young (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Storm

STORM is a gadget-packed, high-adrenaline adventure— a middle-grade spy novel sure to leave readers white-knuckled and breathless. It’s also the name of the ambitious organization formed by the story’s three brainiac kids: Will, the loner and creator of cutting-edge gadgets; Andrew, the software whiz kid and millionaire; and Gaia, the brilliant and mysterious teen chemist. Will first scoffs at STORM’s grand plans to combat global strife. But when the group uncovers a plot to create a deadly revolutionary weapon, they race from England to Russia, determined not only to find and dismantle the weapon, but to confront the psychopathic scientist behind it all.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7–10—STORM: Science and Technology to Over-Rule Misery is an organization founded in London by 14-year-old genius Andrew, a software millionaire who wants to change the world for the better. He has recruited Will, Gaia, and Caspian, also prodigies, to help him with his endeavor. After one successful mission, though, things start to go awry. Caspian's father, Vassily Baraban, a famous astrophysicist, has been kidnapped, and his son is willing to do whatever it takes to save him, even if that means breaking away from STORM and joining a group that might destroy it. This is a great novel for aficionados of Anthony Horowitz's "Alex Rider" books (Philomel), but it's a lot more technical. (An author's note describes the gadgets and the actual research and inventions on which they are based.) Sure to be checked out by those who love SF/spy novels.—Heather Scribner, Lawrenceburg Community Schools, IN
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Will, a teen who invents ingenious spy gadgets, has felt off-kilter ever since his father was killed and his mother left, supposedly to visit her mother in St. Petersburg, after dropping Will off with a friend in London. Soon Will is recruited by STORM (“Science and Technology to Over-Rule Misery”), a small group of young geniuses who start out with a vague intention of doing good and end up with a mission to save the world from a mad, evil plot. Will makes a sympathetic hero, thrown off balance by his family’s disintegration and unsure of whom to trust. Subplots wind into and out of the main story, to be resolved in the final exciting scenes when STORM infiltrates a compound near St. Petersburg. Readers intrigued by the main characters will be glad to know that sequels are in the pipeline. Alex Rider fans hungry for more will find this a satisfying novel filled with espionage, danger, and cool paraphernalia. Grades 5-8. --Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Puffin; Reprint edition (January 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142413690
• ISBN-13: 978-0142413692
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,990,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YA Spy Action With A Science Twist, April 26, 2009

By 

Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: STORM: The Infinity Code (Storm (Hardback)) (Hardcover)

Storm: The Infinity Code is the first book in a cool new spy series for young readers. Although the heroes, Will, Gaia, and Andrew, aren't spies in the normal sense of the word, their adventures are definitely espionage based. In addition to cutting edge technology, international chases, and really bad guys, there also cut off and operating independently in a dangerous world.

I got pulled into the novel immediately by Will when he start experimenting with his new gadgets. One of the best things about this book is that the gadgets all have basis in reality. The designs are all being worked with for military applications by several different developers around the globe. Spy stories just aren't spy stories without these gadgets, and this book has a ton of them - including a flying insect drone and a remote-controlled rat.

Most kids are going to find someone among our three heroes they can empathize with. Personally, I really enjoyed Will because he was very sympathetic after losing his parents. He's the real loner among them and doesn't want to hook up with anyone, especially after he finds out what Andrew intends to do with all his millions and specialized knowledge.

Gaia is the perfect heroine for girls because she can be fantastically sarcastic when she needs to be, and she's smarter than the boys at times. She's independent, funny, and intelligent, yet at the same time she is a nurturer and caretaker.

Andrew is probably the least likely for readers to look up to. He's a good character, but he has his faults. He's driven and he has his own idea about how things should be. Also, if he feels compelled to, he will interfere in the lives of others and snoop through their things. STORM (Science and Technology Over-Rule Misery) was his brainchild and he wants to help the world be a better place to live.

None of the three have a happy home life. Will's father was killed and his mother has virtually abandoned him (though as readers will find out in this first novel, there's a lot of mystery about those things!), Gaia's father is an alcoholic, and Andrew's father is absent.

I really enjoyed how much the that novel moved around. It felt like a James Bond film or an Alex Rider spy novel as it sprinted through London's posh areas and estate manors. Then it ripped right through Europe as the trio journey to Saint Petersburg, Russia for the last confrontation.

The intriguing story is made even more exciting by the headlong rush of the pacing. E. L. Young obviously knows science and she knows a thing or two about young readers as well. This is one of those books that young minds will totally absorb and clean to until they're finished. Thankfully there are two other books in the series waiting in the wings.

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, April 19, 2010

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: STORM: The Infinity Code (Storm (Hardback)) (Hardcover)

Will Knight never intended to get mixed up in international crime and political intrigue.

When he first met Gaia, gifted chemistry student, and Andrew, child millionaire and software genius, and heard about their idea to start an organization named STORM which would help in desperate situations around the world, he declared them crazy and walked away. But he can't ignore Gaia when she tells him about a magnetic storm that's about to hit Earth. The group's efforts allow a plane that would otherwise have crashed to safely land, and Will discovers that saving lives makes him feel more alive than anything has since his father's death a few months ago.

Before long, STORM faces a new, far greater challenge. A brilliant scientist has been kidnapped, and his son, Andrew's friend, Caspian, has created an incredible weapon to fulfill the kidnappers' demands. When Will finds out, he knows they must act or risk global tragedy. He and his friends embark on a journey across the continent to stop Caspian and find out who is behind the scheme. Along the way, Will must face truths he'd rather not have known, and all three must learn to work together if they--and the planet--are going to survive.

STORM: THE INFINITY CODE is an exciting, fast-paced adventure that's sure to appeal to fans of spy stories and mysteries. The three main characters are enjoyable companions along the way, heroic but still human, doing as much as three fourteen-year-old teens can. There are many surprises along the way, and while the ending is satisfying, it's far from pat.

From the detailed explanations of Will's inventions to the stark descriptions of the dangers the group encounters, the book is more realism than fantasy, and is all the stronger for it. Highly recommended for readers who like their adventures grounded in the real world.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

5.0 out of 5 stars Will entrance lovers of the Alex Rider or Young James Bond books and make them wait anxiously for the second volume to hit books, August 11, 2008

By 

A Customer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: STORM: The Infinity Code (Storm (Hardback)) (Hardcover)

If the Alex Rider and Artemis Fowl books have taught us one thing, it's this: Science. Is. Cool. It's in a world of gadgets and gizmos where kids who might otherwise be dismissed as weird find their place and emerge as extraordinary. Empower them by placing them in a position of authority --- say, self-made spies on a mission to save the world --- and you have established all the necessary ingredients for a hit series. E. L. Young, a journalist for a British science magazine, taps into this popular genre, adding the unique touch that the gadgets she writes about are based on real objects, with her debut novel, STORM: THE INFINITY CODE.

STORM centers on three teens in London: Will, the loner inventor; Gaia, his multi-lingual classmate; and Andrew, the computer genius whose software earned him his first million dollars by the time he was 10. Andrew has used his considerable wealth to create an organization he calls STORM (Science and Technology to Over-Rule Misery), whose altruistic goal is to make the world a better placed with their combined, advanced skills. Will, still despondent over his father's death months earlier, initially resists the idea, but when the team is able to save a plane that nearly crashes as the result of a solar flare, he begins to warm to the idea of saving lives.

Their next mission proves much harder. The genius son of a kidnapped scientist gets involved with the design of a superweapon in a bid to negotiate his father's release. The STORM team hightails it from London to St. Petersburg, Russia, to stop the weapon from falling into the wrong hands. What follows is a fast-paced, gadget-laden story that will keep fans of the teen spy genre turning the pages at breakneck speed.

Young, whose background in science writing lends authority to the story, decorates her foray into middle-grade fiction with high-tech gizmos that either exist in real life or are in development (a handy section at the end of the book catalogs the genesis of each device). The narrative plays out with cinematic fervor, and it's easy to assume that we'll be seeing a film adaptation at the local Cineplex in short time. There is a lot here for readers drawn to action, and although the characters come off a little flat in this initial outing, we can hope to see them develop more in future installments.

STORM: THE INFINITY CODE will entrance lovers of the Alex Rider or Young James Bond books and make them wait anxiously for the second volume to hit bookshelves.

--- Reviewed by Brian Farrey