Dulwich Despatch
Page 30
Book Reviews
Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz Russian Roulette takes a very different approach in the Alex Rider adventure, spy novel series in which 14 year old Alex goes undercover as a secret agent saving the world for MI6, in amazing, shockingly close to reality stories. On Alex’s adventures he often encounters a man who goes by the name of ‘Yassen Gregorovitch’ and this stunning novel is mainly about him. This is a fast paced, action packed thriller prequel to the series. It begins with Yassen Gregorovitch, an international contract killer, sitting in his study where he is given his next assignment
from SCORPIA (a multi-billion pound criminal organization which is defeated multiple times by Alex in the series). His mission is: KILL ALEX RIDER. Alex is wanted dead for one reason - he is the son of John Rider who nearly brought an end to SCORPIA. Alex is young; Yassen is young; what does it take to kill? Sitting at his desk Yassen Gregorovitch ponders this question while looking back at his tragic autobiography, his ghastly childhood, and his horrific life, the shocking, engrossing adventure of his torturous life all the way to SCORPIA, the mission to Alex and what it takes to kill. Those who read this book will have many opinions on Yassen, many mixed emotions about the story and many hours of reading well spent. I
spent my weekend engrossed in this book wondering how Yassen Gregorovitch (Yasha) survives his constant bombardment of hell. It also brought me to wondering, what does it take to write such a book? I have to admit, above all the greatness of the beginning it was a poor ending. If it had not had this slightly disappointing ending I would have given it 4*. Anthony Horowitz has written it in such a way so that you know what will happen but not how. I think the ending could have been made clearer. A great book worth all your time. Great for 10—13 year olds. I really recommend Russian Roulette , but make sure you have read the others first—-this is number 10 in the Alex Rider series! Aiken Furlong. 7E I have just finished reading ShadowWave which is the twelfth and final C.H.E.R.U.B book of series one. The C.H.E.R.U.B books are an amazing series about a British Secret Service which uses young children aged about 9 to 17 to infiltrate various groups and gangs because no one suspects a child. The books follow a boy called James making his way up through the ranks of C.H.E.R.U.B. The books are: The Recruit, Class A , Maximum Security, The Killing, Divine Madness ,Man vs Beast, The Fall, Mad Dogs ,The Sleepwalker ,The General, Brigands MC and Shadow Wave . Mad Dogs is my favourite because there is a lot of action and it keeps you hooked. Even though they can be quite explicit they are well worth reading because they deal with some current social problems. For example Mad Dogs looks at gang wars and what causes them. ShadowWave looks at an environmental issue—a fishing village on the coast of ******** Shadow Wave by Robert Muchamore
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