Alex Rider is James Bond for teenagers. With an exciting story line, awesome gadgets, and a hero that is part fearless, part normal teen boy, Stormbreaker delivers! Boys love these books, and it’s easy to see why. The story reads like a thrilling spy movie, but the guy who saves the day is only fourteen. He has all the insecurities an adolescent feels, but he’s also trained to do an exciting, dangerous job, and he does it well. Alex is smart, fit, and resourceful. What boy wouldn’t love to imagine himself in Alex’s shoes?

Anthony Horowitz has tapped into something big here–a series of spy thrillers that entertain and excite without the suggestible content we see in the Bond novels. I commend him for his integrity.  There are eight books in the series and I’ll recommend every one of them to any young man who is under the delusion that reading is boring!

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  2 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore:  A person is reported to have been killed in a car accident; a character examines the car from the accident and finds blood stains; in an extended scene (4 pgs), a character is caught in a car crusher and narrowly escapes with minor injuries; a character delivers a karate kick to a person’s abdomen with minor injuries; a character is knocked out by a tazer; a character is cut and bruised in a fall; a character is shoved by another person and is caught in an explosion in a training exercise; a person is shot and killed with no detail; in an extended scene (6 pgs), a character is chased by people who intend to kill him; a person is electrocuted with few details; a person flies off a cliff and is drowned with no details; a person is known to have committed suicide; a person is punched in the face and knocked out; a character is threatened and cut by a knife; in an extended scene (6 pgs), a character is held captive and threatened with death; a character is hit in the face; a character is thrown into a small tank with a man-o-war jellyfish; a different character is killed by a man-o-war jellyfish with some detail; property is destroyed by explosions; a character threatens a person with a gun; a plane crashes and explodes, killing one passenger; a character shoots at several people, hitting two with minor injuries; a person is killed by an assassin with few details.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Assassination, political intrigue.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None