Stormbreaker

I can not state how much I hate this book. The thing is though, it's not a bad book. But that's when its read by it's target audience, 10 year old boys, not a bunch of 16 year olds.

I had to read this in school and listen to my teacher drone on about how sophisticated the writing is and how well developed the characters are. The whole class was confused; were we reading the same book as her? The sentences are pretty simple and Alex Rider is written as a god; no literally, he's perfect. He can do EVERYTHING. He speaks like seven different languages, is trained in martial arts, can drive cars and quad bikes and stuff like that, knows a ton about computers and basically everything. He doesn't even get acne! EVERYONE gets acne, but not Alex Rider apparently. To be honest, we were all hoping for Alex to die at the end, but of course that didn't happen.

I had a few issues with this book. The main character is just so boring. He's like a walking, talking cardboard cut-out with no emotions. Like an android.

And the plot. He's stuck in a tunnell with water, how does he get through? Oh look, it just so happens his Uncle left a suit. He's stuck in a tank of water? Oh look, magical cream that gets him out. He's looking for a way to take down a plane? Oh, just so happens he left a Nintendo Cartridge that blows up. Seriously? This whole thing was all too convenient. It's like Rider had no challenge at all, the whole thing was just laid out on a plate for him to follow. The kid never makes a mistake! Also, the explanations for when, how things happen. The plane blowing up, for example. It's only mentioned Rider places the Explosive Nintendo Cartridge a couple of minutes after he placed it. It's like the author suddely though, “Crap, I need a way to blow this plane up” a few minutes after Rider had already left the plane, so he adds a little sentence about playing an explosive thing in there. Pretty damn convenient. Like everything else that happens in this story.

Saying all of the above though, I can imagine kids liking it. Spies, explosions, violence, all fun for kids. Just not so fun for adults, who can't stand the bad plot.

This book required the sort of willing suspension of disbelief that I do not naturally possess. While an interesting premise, and not badly executed, the plot really left something to be desired in terms of believable details. There is a great deal of standard trope here, with pretty much the entire plot forecast from the beginning. It's perfectly readable though, and I can understand why it would be so popular among its target audience.