Spring 2005 Review:

The book Scorpia, by Anthony Horowitz, is about a teenage spy named Alex Rider who is vacationing in Venice when he becomes involved with things much bigger than him. The story begins with Alex relaxing with a friend but the book leads you through several adventures Alex gets caught up in; from taking down thieves with birdseed and then chasing a mysterious boat through the numerous twists and turns of Venice. The story then takes you to a costume party where Alex searches a cavernous palace and then gets attacked by a Siberian Tiger and a martial arts master named Nile.

He wakes up to find himself in a room filled with water and he swims through the floor and nearly dies in the process. He then parachutes onto the roof of a company named Consanto. Inside he meets up with Nile who then kills a man and takes Alex with him right before a programmed bomb that destroys the building. Alex then finds himself dining with a woman named Mrs. Rotham who shows a video that shows his father being murdered. Alex then decides to join the criminal group called Scorpia that Mrs. Rotham heads.

The story continues with Alex training at the group’s secret camp. He is then sent to kill the woman who was supposedly responsible for his father’s death. But he fails the mission and is captured by MI6 the British secret intelligence service. The story ends with Alex battling Nile over London atop a platform that was carrying a weapon that could kill thousands of English school children. Alex destroys the devices and Nile falls of the platform doused in burning gas 1000 feet to his death. A strange thing happens at the end of the book but I won’t spoil it for you.

        The characters in the book were very believable and you can identify with Alex’s situations. My favorite part in the book was when Alex fought Nile atop the platform. The book was very suspenseful but it was easy to read and understand. The action keeps on coming all the way up to the end. I recommend this book for 8^th grade through 10^th graders. If you like the book you should read the others in the series, their titles are Storm Breaker, Point Blank, Skeleton Key, and Eagle Strike.

~ Abel Ayana, grade 9, Liberty High School