imo cherub has better character arcs and missions. It's a bit more realistic as well, with less gadgets and longer, harsher training. I also like James more than Alex, even though he's more flawed.
as someone who recently read cherub my main takeaways were "wow, everyone in this book should be about 5 years older than they actually are" and "wow, that's a slur"
Thanks for turning me on to CHERUB. Pretty cool series so far (read THE RECRUIT -- Book 1 gonna read Book 2: THE DEALER right now). Yeah the agents are like 11-14. Remember that the age of majority is 16
I always found it funny how Alex goes from playing an N64 to a PS3 within the space of less than a year because of the timeline of when the books came out
I was assigned Stormbreaker in high school. I always thought it was weird how the villain just hates kids because he was bullied. That's just, his entire motivation.
Alex RIder; now that's a name I haven't heard in a very long time. I didn't know there was a series. I'll have to check it out. But yeah; these books were James Bond for kids but that's what I liked about them.
I liked this series compared to the cherubs series cuz Alex rider didn't glorify spy work he got hurt and injured and had major ptsd and was sometimes left fpr dead and used Heck in one book he is assassinated
I think that both series have different aims tbh. Alex Rider is more about the spy plots and action focused stories where as Cherub is more character focused. The missions are usually a lot smaller stakes wise and it's less interested in spectacle compared to watching James and co grow as people over the course of the series.
The smitherd reveal almost redeemed the last book for me tbh. It's the right combination of completely silly and kind of clever. I mean in a weird way it's not a bad plan, wear a fat suit all the time so people think that's what you look like, no one would ever think to look for you after you've taken it off
I find it fascinating how many series are just adult storys that got remade in a more kids friendly way and thrown onto the market I still remember reading the first of a book series from my local library that was basicly the last Samurai but for Kids Edit: a quick Google search suggests it was Samurai by Chris Bradford
@@RFEM520 don't know Shogun but I watched the last samurai back than for the first time and I clearly remember the first book hitting many of the same points as the movie did. I can't remember what happened later in the series tho
I’ve been reading the books since the first run of the first book. I still have it. Written by an Aussie too. I was travelling outside of Canberra and found out Araluen (crap can’t remember how to spell it atm) is a real place and that’s where he got the name.
Russian Roulette ruined Alex Rider for me because Yassen was just all-round a superior protagonist. After that, I couldn't go back to the normal series, Alex was just so whiney. I still have Russian Roulette on my bookshelf, but got rid of the rest of the series years ago.
I felt like the series got more "mature" as it progressed, as James mentioned Scorpia Rising is arguably the darkest of the lot Then Russian Roulette went even further with some of the things Yassen has to go through at a young age - after that, going back to Stormbreaker wasn't the same
@@thaddeus3931 man the scene at the end (SPOILERS) where he loads 5 bullets in a revolver and shoots himself, survives, and then shoots the man who made his youth hell?? Fucking insane
I've read the series YEARS ago, and I still remember how awesome Yassen was. His book was the best in the series imo. Mind you I was in middle school when I read this so I might be rose-tinted goggled.
I honestly forgot Razim even existed He's got what might be the single most brutal death in the entire series, including that guy who got melted by radioactive steam.
@@gunnargunnarsson5963 The POV character for the start of Croc Tears. The charity fraud guy hired him to plant a bomb on a nuclear reactor to cause steam to escape and thus engineer a disaster he could respond to while also embezzling millions. Thing is the bomb was set to explode as soon as it turned on, causing the steam leak while the hired guy was still right next to it.
There are a few moments in this series that I will still remember, for whatever reason even as I grow old. I remember one moment where Alex pretends to be impaled with a spear and fake dies to fool some guards, and I remember another scene in skeleton key where his companions are implied to have been horribly speared to death by an underwater death trap. I don't know why those two moments in particular stand out in such detail to me, and why I still remember them all this time later.
The ones that stood out to me were the darker scenes : when Alex gets shot and hallucinates his parents, his interactions with Ash later on, leading up to Ash's confession and death, him having to kill Julius in the end
I just remember the scene where he’s weightless in space and beats the bad guy by throwing his shoe in the opposite direction so he can float to the thing he needs. I always though that was pretty cool
@@n00dle69 Oh yeah! Crocodile Tears, right? The one where the charity fraud guy has Alex push the big red "evil plan finishes here" button for no reason, then blow up a dam after abandoning an Indian Intelligence officer?
There’s actually a reason why the author gave Mrs Jones that first name. In the books, she herself hates the name tulip, her parents were gardeners so they named her after a flower.
I finished reading at Scorpia, as I was growing out of the books around then, and I actually thought that made for a good satisfying conclusion. Him being gunned down by a stray agent of the organisation he thwarted felt somehow thematically appropriate. I didn't need any more. Sure it would have been a dark note to end on, but the series wasn't a "love conquers all" story like Harry Potter. Alex was doing thankless tasks for an organisation happy to exploit him - - and then ignore him when he asks for help - - doing a job that had already claimed other close family members.
@@aperson4287 idk about you but growing up this series always felt like "child soldier bad" the entire plot is Alex being forced to work for MI6. I stopped reading I think around Crocodile Tears as a kid, and that one ends with Alex finally standing his ground and telling MI6 to shove it because Jack died, and they just kinda ditch him. It's always been about a reluctant protagonist suffering as a result of an oppressive abusive system. I will say that I havent read anything new and I think it's being milked at this point tho
I was fucking obsessed with this book series in middle school, but I have no idea what book I stopped reading at. I only remember reading the first book and that’s it.
My guess on the Lebanon/Egypt thing is that Lebanon has a large Christian population and the American publishing industry wanted to cash in on that sweet sweet Islamophobia for profit.
That makes me wonder why someone would be called Herod. Then again, there's a surprising amount of people called Delilah, considering her role in The Bible.
"The only thing missing is the gratuitous amount of sex" - and on top of that, the misogyny. Ian Fleming was *not okay,* man. The way he thought about women and depicted them in his books is insane, and kind of horrific at times.
Anthony Horowitz also has a detective series called the Diamond Brothers or something. They were very good. Don't know if they'd hold up tho, haven't read them in ages
This is so weird, I knew Alex Rider was a thing but never read them, and didn't know Anthony Horowitz wrote them. The name looked familiar, and what the heck, he wrote Midsummer Murders and Foyle's War (plus other British crime dramas)! He really gets around doing stuff...
One thing that I found interesting about the books was how Horowitz wrote criticisms of government into the stories. They definitely weren’t very complex, but for children’s books they did encourage me to think about more complex moral & political issues
Nah, this is really not a fair comparison. Action thrives on its own merits. A well-thrown punch or gunshot is good regardless of who’s throwing it or shooting. But in romance, the entire point is character. You need to like the people who are self-inserts and they need to be at least slightly well-rounded. In a self-insert spy thriller you just need to be able to pretend like you’re the one shooting. In a romance you need to believe that the people you’re reading about are good enough to be projected onto. In the same way that action doesn’t need deep characters, romance doesn’t (necessarily) need great plots. A romance can thrive on the merits of its characters alone, but those characters need to be good. In the same vein, action can thrive on its plot alone, but that plot needs to be good.
I was obsessed with this series as a kid, and actually got me and a friend suspended from school for acting it out during recess. 🤣 First book I ever read was Scorpia. I have the newest book but I haven’t touched it yet. 💀
I thought these were good books at first but by the time I'd read about 5 of them and realised how repetitive they were structurally I just couldn't pay attention to them anymore. And since the CHERUB series and its spinoffs exist I'd never recommend Alex Rider over them, and just tell people to read CHERUB instead. I was exactly the target audience and Alex Rider still couldn't keep me invested
The most recent four books (Russian Roulette, Never Say Die, Secret Weapon and Nightshade) are pretty good, although Secret Weapon is a collection of short stories and Never Say Die basically makes Scorpia Rising pointless. Nightshade is pretty good, though. It feels like the author had a far more original idea (the book features MI6 being shut down, leaving Alex on his own). Russian Roulette is about Yassen.
I remember reading the one where Alex gets shot when I was like 9 and it was the first time I remember being genuinely distraught at a character death. Mostly because I thought the book series was over and that isn't how book series are supposed to end! But then the next one came and then I read other stuff
Great video so far, such a blast to the past. Would love to know if you read any of the Cherub series and your opinions on them. They were some of my favourite books as a kid
Now that I think about it, I can never seem to remember what even happened in Crocodile Tears other than the start where the car was under the water. For Scorpia Rising, I always hated the premise of Clone Alex. Like you said, he kinda just showed up after being introduced in Point Blanc.
If you like british teenage spies might I suggest looking at CHERUB, it's like Alex Rider except scaled way the fuck up. I always enjoyed it a little more as the characters felt somewhat more interesting and far more believable.
Funnily, I'd say it's scaled way up in some ways but way down in others, the villains are far less James Bond-esque if I remember correctly, more grounded in reality
Skeleton key was my absolute favorite, it was more psychological more hard hitting. Alex for once has adults with him, and they want to do the bulk of danger parts, eventually they warm up to him, And then they die. The bad guy General Alexei Sarov takes in(captues) Alex inteding on adopting him , as this is his own twisted way of getting back his dead son. The Moment that Absolutely shook me, was when he had the scanner that could detect hearbeats on it. Sarov puts it near Alexs head after his escape attempt, and Alex is Scared he knows that theres a really high chance Sarov will kill him, and Alex hears his heartbeat echoing from the scanner. And then Sarov removes the scanner, and the silence leads Alex to his knees.And the end? Jfc did thAT hit hard. Like they made the villain personal, personal to Alex. Eagle Strike was my second fav because of Yassen and Scorpia my 3rd fav because it goes into Alex history, also his friend Tom was cool. Like don't bring back the stupid clone, bring back Yassen!! Keep the action and over the top villains, but bring in that human element.
Thanks for reviewing my childhood. And yes, I'm still completely pissed about what happened in Crocodile Tears. Edit: Woopse, it happened in "Scorpia Rising". I guess I was just so pissed I completely blocked that entire book out of my mind.
I really like your videos but I think they would greatly benefit from some visuals, maybe animations, text etc to engage us more when watching. Right now it feels like this could be a podcast, so some more visual elements would be cool. Just a suggestion, I still really like your content and the points you bring up in these types of videos.
I remember reading Skeleton Key as a child, I never read that much otherwise. Got totally stuck, then read the first two books followed by book #4, #5 and maybe #6. James Bond was, aside from all the films with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, my favorite movies as a child. Then the movie came out and I was so hyped. The movie wasn't any great though, and I hated the color palette of that movie (mostly yellow and grey). I believe I stopped reading shortly after the movie came out (it had nothing to do with the movie though). Wish you had talked more about Skeleton Key in this video, since I don't remember what happened in it. Great video by the way! Thank you!
Never really got into Alex Rider, but I do remember reading and enjoying Horowitz's other series, the Power of Five. It was a while ago so I have no clue whether it stands up, but I have good memories of it Also did a double take when you said AR books are still being released. Wow
"Alex detonates the bomb early so it doesn't do any damage, it does kill you, though." Hmm... I didn't know I was in this book til I was dead... Sorry, terrible dad joke haha 😅
I was waiting for Alex Rider to get covered on this channel, it was a pretty big chunk of my childhood and I remember being very excited for the release of the final book (at the time). I remember most of them being pretty good, although that could have been my 13 year old brain finding everything enjoyable.
Hearing that an evil villain wants to send a tsunami to the west coast of Australia, as an Australian on the east coast, is bloody hilarious to me! There's nothing there to destroy?!? Haha I mean there is _technically..._ but, if u wanted a coast to hit that would cripple the country, they picked the wrong one!!
Rereading this as an adult is insane. Like the series is for ten year olds and so dark! Remember when voldemort threatened to harvest Harry's organs alive and sell them!! Or when Harry killed like thirty people? NO!! Because that would be so weird.
Alex rider was at its peak in scorpion and than it was just always the same boring stuff. This became obvious to me when Alex was caught in snakehead. Unlike you I realy disliked snakehead. The beginning of snakehead was okayish but it dropped directly after that.Than the series ended but the author wanted to make money again and wrote another book that changed something very important in a stupid way.
Hey, James. I had a recommendation for a children's books series to cover. It's called "Conspiracy 365" and is written by Gabrielle Lord. I really enjoyed it after re-reading the series this year, and thought you might enjoy it. It has a decent plot, well rounded characters, and some actually good suspense and emotion.
I’m going to finish this video eventually but I loved it because it got me the summaries that I wanted for each of the books so I could continue where I left off. Thank youuuu
Have you read the Gallagher Girls series? I loved it way more than Alex Rider, because AR was so predictable that it was hard to read the books back to back without a long break in between books. GG though has a weird scene in book 1 though so it’s a good thing I started with book 3. Also GG grew with its audience so that was nice.
@@dabisbadbegim4680 The girls stalked Cammie's boyfriend because they thought he might have been planted there as part of the covert-operations class (but that seemed like a flimsy reason because the class session ended that day so why would they think that? She could have just not dated him, seemed like that would have been less risky).
I actually started re reading these recently, and I still liked them with some small bad writing issues. As for dip in quality I think there was kind of one especially in the last 2 as I'm discounting Crocodile tears Snakehead even now I found boring despite the villain being one of my favourites and Scopia rising was saved by Razim
Man Skullduggery was the shit for the first few books. Then he just milked it for all it was worth. Shame since it was just Harry Potter but way darker.
As someone who still lurks in the AR fandom (and was active up until a little while ago) I'm very interested to see what this video has in store! I only read the books very recently compared to most (two years ago, iirc) because my teacher recommended them to me. The books are trash, the fanfic is golden, the fandom (from what I've seen) is at least a little deranged, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Edit: After watching, I pretty much agree with mostly everything you said. I think the books got a _little_ darker at some points than you mentioned, like how Sarov shoots himself in front of Alex in Skeleton Key and how, when Alex shoots Julius in the head, it's described as him loosing a part of himself as well because of how similar they look + the whole Jack ordeal. Although those moments don't have too much of an impact on the series, which. weird. but it's a spy thriller for kids and Horowitz probably wasn't allowed to write his main character with horrific PTSD from all of the child-soldiering. (That's what the fanfic's for! /hj) (Then again, he spent the entire third book of the PO5 series torturing one of the main cast and he's _definitely_ not a-okay in the next book, so that's...strange. Maybe PO5 was darker from the get-go and that's why he did it? I mean, Matt was nearly sacrificed by a cult in the first book, and Pedro lost his entire family because of a flash flood, so the series definitely wasn't set up to be a fun light action series like Alex Rider was.) And while characters other than Alex aren't all that important, I still think Jack was likeable enough for me to be saddened by her death, even if it's just because Alex cares about her. And Yassen and Russian Roulette are a whole other can of worms that is...admittedly very fun to play around with in fanfic but cause a whole truckload of problems in the actual series (as much as I love RR and Yassen, it...definitely didn't do the series that many favors. I mean, if Yassen knew John was a double-agent, why in the world did he send Alex to Scorpia? Maybe it was in the haze of dying, but Yassen seemed rather clear-headed despite the, uh, everything.) (And that "I loved your father, Alex, and in a way I love you too" line - paraphrasing here but I think that's how it went - definitely puts some VERY gay vibes onto Yassen if we look at him and John but puts into question a *lot* of his interactions with Alex if the love Yassen is talking about is the same for both of them, which is VERY EW but y'know. Though the "in a way" part seems to say that no it's definitely not the same, which is much better. But this is a completely different topic, my bad.) Though I definitely agree the entire series went downhill after Snakehead (minus Ark Angel that one was terrible) and I think that's the general consensus of the fandom? And learning at least a tiny bit more about Ben in Snakehead was fun. (And then Horowitz went and confused Fox and Wolf's code names in NSD but anything after SR we don't talk about 💀.) I'd say if I had to choose a favorite in the series I'd probably say Point Blanc or Snakehead, to be honest. I still loved the series (and, in a way, still love it in the present) when I read it though, mostly because the whole "a single kid against the entire world" feeling was...definitely relatable at the time (would be lying if I said it wasn't now.) Honestly, even despite all of it's frankly very very obvious flaws, it's still such a fun thing to go back to every once in a while. And if I want serious Alex Rider content, I can just go and read Devil and the Deep Blue Sea or Madness and Mammals again. (Speaking of, I really need to catch up to that last one.) Wish we could've gotten more about Tom in the books. Or any fo the other kids, really. Great video though, I loved it!
I think the problem with these series is more the industry. The author wants to end it, but the publisher wants them to keep going because it's popular. So the author has to keep contriving situations for them to get in or create a new villain, and they've already basically hit the limits of the world. even if they left some things vague and open to exploration, how're you going to match the stakes? Like we go from having to stop something in space to talking about a pipe being sabotaged in Azerbaijan
As someone who have not read the book but saw the 3 season of the show, I am even more impress by the show because the books seem all over the place and weird but the show seem grounded and realistic.
Back in the 90s, McDonalds made a bunch of happy meal toys that looked like McDonalds food but you'd get, like, a thing of fries that turned into a phone, or a pack of McNuggets that turned into a camera. Alex's devices always reminded me of those.
Hmmm, "led to a drop in quality". Not that anyone cares, but I like ranking/classifying stuff, lets explore that. Stormbreaker - 6/10. Solid action and story, bit short and villain is v poor. Point Blanc - 7/10. Brilliant setting. Action pretty good. Better villain but not amazing. Skeleton Key - 10/10 - (Ranking is relative, 10/10 is in terms of Alex Rider books) My fav book. Not really sure why, but amazing villain, very good action and solid setting. Eagle Strike - 9/10 - Underrated by the community for me. Great set up, good story. Good villain with an interesting plan. Action is decent. Scorpia - 9/10 - Overrated by the community. Very good, great characters and interesting plot, but feels to drag a bit at times. Action is very good but lacking. Ark Angel - 7/10 - Not a bad book at all, probably worse than Point Blanc. Again drags at times, action isn't the best. Also I can't even remember the villains name. But the setting and story is very good. Snakehead - 9.5/10 - Love this book. Probably better than Skeleton Key, but Skeleton key holds a special place in my heart. Amazing story, fun villain, well paced and some great twists. Honestly it is the best book but Skeleton Key is my fav. Croc Tears - 5/10 - It was just a bit dull really. V good villain I must say, but kinda boring at times. Enjoyed the Kayak escape and the whole prison hospital part, but apart from that...meh. Scorpia Rising - 7/10 The set up is just...dull. 2nd half of the book is much better. Decent ending but nothing to shout about. I was fairly happy when I read it. Edit; Wrote this before I watched so lets see where we agree/disagree. Edit 2.0; Did they think American kids wouldn't know Lebanon is a country? 100% they thought that. Edit 3.0; Omg yes I hated Voldemort's death.
Skeleton Key is probably the best YA book I've ever read. And ja, Scorpia was overrated, Eagle Strike was legitimately good (Especially Smithers' sense of humor), I can't remember the name of the guy from Ark Angel or Croc Tears either, and I've never read Snakehead cos my library didn't have it.
Skeleton Key is ironically one of the ones I remember the least and I think it just flew over my head a bit at that age. Probably the same reason why I never really remembered the quality of the series dipping and enjoyed it throughout. Which hey, that’s not so bad either.
The smithers reveal was the stupidest thing I've ever read. "turns out he's not fat" is such a weird way to end off his arc, and the fact that he was in disguise the whole time just makes the time you spent with him feel really fake and dissatisfying. Scorpia rising gets worse every time i re-read it, but i think that one scene just breaks it for me. I actually really liked Jack's death, and i disagree, I think you get a lot of her in eagle strike, and a decent amount in snakehead and ark angel too, i think save maybe for Sabina or Tom, her death is the one that makes the most sense and hit hardest (and although I'm glad she didn't die, the cop out in never say die felt pretty cheap). She was yet another parental figure snatched from him. Probably the most including his parents and uncle. That moment haunted me for a while until i realised how crap the rest of the book actually was. Also the actual climax felt so rushed. Really enjoyed your analysis overall though, and i want to echo the sentiment in the comments that Russian Roulette is probably the best book in the series, and it's not even about Alex. Yassen is such an interesting protagonist, and i like his portrayal in the amazon series a lot (also jack and tom being more prominent is also a refreshing change of pace) I have subscribed 😊 looking forward to checking out more of your work!
Smithers is the dude with all these inventions based on being deceptive tools disguised as ordinary objects, so I guess the idea is the big reveal is he himself was carrying a deceptive appearance the entire time
I should point out that my understanding of James Bond is that originally (as in, in the books) Bond is quite literally just a dude who works for MI6 that finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right man in the wrong place, wouldn't you say, Mr. Freeman?).
I enjoyed these books, and while they weren’t amazing, they were tons of fun. However I found Eagle Strike was my least favorite, nothing the villain does really adds up
@@gonb5434 agreed, I recall even Horowitz acknowledging that Cray was "sadly, insane", to the point of thinking nuking millions would save the world from drugs
One of the things is when a gun is pointed at alex he goes "a sub-compact semi automatic pistol" or whatever. If most 14 year olds had a gun at their heads I don't think they would say "Subcompact semi autoamatic pistol". They'd probably go "shit big gun." Also the fuck was Horowtiz thinking bringing jack back from the dead. It makes no sense not just becuase of what it does to alex's character but also becuase It's tickier to do, and makes no difference.
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No I haven't read CHERUB, you can stop asking.
imo cherub has better character arcs and missions. It's a bit more realistic as well, with less gadgets and longer, harsher training. I also like James more than Alex, even though he's more flawed.
22:54 SCORPIA has obtained the Deathnote.
@@scoobysnax9294 that’s not an opinion, CHERUB is better written in literally every aspect, but the drugs sex and language made it less marketable.
as someone who recently read cherub my main takeaways were "wow, everyone in this book should be about 5 years older than they actually are" and "wow, that's a slur"
Thanks for turning me on to CHERUB. Pretty cool series so far (read THE RECRUIT -- Book 1 gonna read Book 2: THE DEALER right now). Yeah the agents are like 11-14. Remember that the age of majority is 16
I don't think I noticed this while reading them, but naming Alex's uncle Ian is almost certainly a nod to Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.
Ooh
I always found it funny how Alex goes from playing an N64 to a PS3 within the space of less than a year because of the timeline of when the books came out
Imagine how the video game industry would collapse if that was the actual case.
I think it was DS to ps3, which makes more sense
@@mechashadow Everything would just be pc games. Technology would be so advanced.
actually I only had a N64 until I bought a Xbox 360 when COD: Advanced warfare came out
I think theres pokemon Go in one of the latest books despite him being 15 16 if we go from the first books it wouldnt exist
"I can excuse hating the English, but leave the Scots and Irish alone."
And just like that James became the greatest voice of our generation.
I can get behind that
And wales?
@@marocat4749 Trick question, nobody cares about Wales
@@thrownswordpommel7393 I wrote tah before james mat that joke .
What’s going to happen when Americans learn Scots consider themselves Bri’ish?
I was assigned Stormbreaker in high school. I always thought it was weird how the villain just hates kids because he was bullied. That's just, his entire motivation.
Sounds like school shooter logic to me.
@@ano_nym Instead of being a shooter the bullied kid became an author.
That wasn't his motivation iirc. It was to kill a load of children to ruin the image of the PM, who he hates. The children were collateral dsmage
IIRC, it was about getting back at the PM, with an entire country's worth of kids as collateral damage.
“Because drugs are bad…”
Say it, say it, say it
“Mmkay?”
"Say hi Bob."
Alex RIder; now that's a name I haven't heard in a very long time. I didn't know there was a series. I'll have to check it out. But yeah; these books were James Bond for kids but that's what I liked about them.
I liked this series compared to the cherubs series cuz Alex rider didn't glorify spy work he got hurt and injured and had major ptsd and was sometimes left fpr dead and used
Heck in one book he is assassinated
I think that both series have different aims tbh. Alex Rider is more about the spy plots and action focused stories where as Cherub is more character focused. The missions are usually a lot smaller stakes wise and it's less interested in spectacle compared to watching James and co grow as people over the course of the series.
The smitherd reveal almost redeemed the last book for me tbh. It's the right combination of completely silly and kind of clever. I mean in a weird way it's not a bad plan, wear a fat suit all the time so people think that's what you look like, no one would ever think to look for you after you've taken it off
I find it fascinating how many series are just adult storys that got remade in a more kids friendly way and thrown onto the market I still remember reading the first of a book series from my local library that was basicly the last Samurai but for Kids
Edit: a quick Google search suggests it was Samurai by Chris Bradford
Young Samurai, fun series.
Yo I remember reading that. It was a lot of fun. I always wished I read the rest of it
@@RandomGuy-qo9jf same here but I fear that's one of those series you grow out of one day
More like Shogun for kids in all honesty.
@@RFEM520 don't know Shogun but I watched the last samurai back than for the first time and I clearly remember the first book hitting many of the same points as the movie did.
I can't remember what happened later in the series tho
“The rangers apprentice”
Holy shit james should talk about that series, my cousin used to fucking love that series
Timestamp for that. I missed it.
i used to love that series, until i couldn't find out what the next book was going to be and autism brain found new interest
I’ve been reading the books since the first run of the first book. I still have it. Written by an Aussie too.
I was travelling outside of Canberra and found out Araluen (crap can’t remember how to spell it atm) is a real place and that’s where he got the name.
He's been teasing that for ages iirc. It'll happen one day
@@dudelamak you didn't miss anything, he just listed it as an example of series that introduce a new villain at the last minute
I genuinely think the author just HATES British schoolchildren.
He is partly responsible for the anti-Polish bigotry in England
@@teslashark wait what
@@teslashark what?
@Rhia Aurora Old accusation from Somethingawful or somewhere, I can't remember
@Rhia Aurora Old accusation from Somethingawful or somewhere, I can't remember
Russian Roulette ruined Alex Rider for me because Yassen was just all-round a superior protagonist. After that, I couldn't go back to the normal series, Alex was just so whiney. I still have Russian Roulette on my bookshelf, but got rid of the rest of the series years ago.
Man since so many comments are talking about it I think I need to read it.
I felt like the series got more "mature" as it progressed, as James mentioned Scorpia Rising is arguably the darkest of the lot
Then Russian Roulette went even further with some of the things Yassen has to go through at a young age - after that, going back to Stormbreaker wasn't the same
@@thaddeus3931 man the scene at the end (SPOILERS) where he loads 5 bullets in a revolver and shoots himself, survives, and then shoots the man who made his youth hell?? Fucking insane
@@ziyad1809 That might be the single greatest scene in the entire franchise.
I've read the series YEARS ago, and I still remember how awesome Yassen was. His book was the best in the series imo. Mind you I was in middle school when I read this so I might be rose-tinted goggled.
Doctor: how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1-10?
Razeem: you’ll live to regret this.
i swear,his death is the most gruesome out of all the villains,guy literally got salted to death
I honestly forgot Razim even existed
He's got what might be the single most brutal death in the entire series, including that guy who got melted by radioactive steam.
Attaxalotl who?
@@gunnargunnarsson5963 The POV character for the start of Croc Tears. The charity fraud guy hired him to plant a bomb on a nuclear reactor to cause steam to escape and thus engineer a disaster he could respond to while also embezzling millions. Thing is the bomb was set to explode as soon as it turned on, causing the steam leak while the hired guy was still right next to it.
@@Attaxalotl oh yeah, that poor guy
There are a few moments in this series that I will still remember, for whatever reason even as I grow old. I remember one moment where Alex pretends to be impaled with a spear and fake dies to fool some guards, and I remember another scene in skeleton key where his companions are implied to have been horribly speared to death by an underwater death trap.
I don't know why those two moments in particular stand out in such detail to me, and why I still remember them all this time later.
The ones that stood out to me were the darker scenes :
when Alex gets shot and hallucinates his parents,
his interactions with Ash later on, leading up to Ash's confession and death,
him having to kill Julius in the end
the one where he fucking is DRUGGED AND PULLED THROUGH AN AIRPORT AS A SPECIAL NEEDS KID??
I just remember the scene where he’s weightless in space and beats the bad guy by throwing his shoe in the opposite direction so he can float to the thing he needs. I always though that was pretty cool
Skeleton Key was my favorite
@@n00dle69 Oh yeah! Crocodile Tears, right?
The one where the charity fraud guy has Alex push the big red "evil plan finishes here" button for no reason, then blow up a dam after abandoning an Indian Intelligence officer?
There’s actually a reason why the author gave Mrs Jones that first name. In the books, she herself hates the name tulip, her parents were gardeners so they named her after a flower.
I finished reading at Scorpia, as I was growing out of the books around then, and I actually thought that made for a good satisfying conclusion. Him being gunned down by a stray agent of the organisation he thwarted felt somehow thematically appropriate. I didn't need any more.
Sure it would have been a dark note to end on, but the series wasn't a "love conquers all" story like Harry Potter. Alex was doing thankless tasks for an organisation happy to exploit him - - and then ignore him when he asks for help - - doing a job that had already claimed other close family members.
This was a series I read for fun and loved it. Look back at it with nostalgia even if it wasn’t the best written.
It did what it wanted to, the problem is books that try to be well written but arent
Not books that know theyre poorly written and ride the wave
So
Alex Rider is just a child soldier, in a book marketed to children
Ugh this is Animorphs all over again
I mean they basically add a few lines in the first books that say *Child soldier bad* but still didn't age so well.
Animorphs but less aliens and more government gaslighting
@@aperson4287 idk about you but growing up this series always felt like "child soldier bad" the entire plot is Alex being forced to work for MI6. I stopped reading I think around Crocodile Tears as a kid, and that one ends with Alex finally standing his ground and telling MI6 to shove it because Jack died, and they just kinda ditch him. It's always been about a reluctant protagonist suffering as a result of an oppressive abusive system. I will say that I havent read anything new and I think it's being milked at this point tho
@@ElliottR0seUmmm Jack died in Scorpia Rising
The new books, scorpia rising, never say die, are some of the darkest and best in the series in my opinion
"Complete with dyeing their skin to appear darker".
The 2000s were wild
More like the 2000's were normal, these days are insane.
Which would’ve been totally unnecessary since the majority of Afghans aren’t much darker than a lot of Europeans!
@@MerkhVision Alex Rider is English though, they are a lot darker than that.
@@ano_nym Still kinda racist though.
@@fullmetaltheorist No, not at all. How would they otherwise disguise as Afghans?
I was fucking obsessed with this book series in middle school, but I have no idea what book I stopped reading at. I only remember reading the first book and that’s it.
The last one I read was Russian Roulette. I remember it being pretty good. It also has a very satisfying ending.
The ending is the same ending as stormbreaker
My guess on the Lebanon/Egypt thing is that Lebanon has a large Christian population and the American publishing industry wanted to cash in on that sweet sweet Islamophobia for profit.
Back in the post-9/11 years of the 2000s. Society has improved so much since then
Fuckin hell that's wild
@Damiano Truzzi I feel like henry was making a joke
Fun fact, Herod Sayle is meant to reference King Herod of the bible, wanting to massacre a bunch of children and such.
That makes me wonder why someone would be called Herod. Then again, there's a surprising amount of people called Delilah, considering her role in The Bible.
“To hit the west coat of Australia”
Good, no one will miss western Australia
I dont think most people know wa exists
East coast makes more sense 😆
@@Weezerand... that's actually mentioned, the villain goes 'bro who's gonna miss western australia, it's just caught in the crossfire'
I don’t think even people living in Western Australia will miss Western Australia.
Man, I read the hell out of these books as a kid but I'm just now realizing that I don't remember *any* characters' names except for Alex.
I remember Alex, Yassin Gregorovitch, Jack, and of course, the only actually pretty good YA villain I've read, General Alexei Sarov
Has anyone else read Yassen's prequel book? I really enjoyed it and wonder what James would think.
Yes, it's amazing
read it years ago and still think about it sometimes. Liked it way more than the originaĺ series
I'd say it's the best out of the lot
"The only thing missing is the gratuitous amount of sex" - and on top of that, the misogyny. Ian Fleming was *not okay,* man. The way he thought about women and depicted them in his books is insane, and kind of horrific at times.
Don’t forget the racism. You can never forget the racism
Not to mention the alcohol and cigarettes
@@thaddeus3931 alcohol and cigarettes are cool and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise
@@sunriseparrabellum5505 they're no good for you, but they're cool as hell.
@@edvinsebastian1290 as most cool things are unfortunately
Can you do ranger’s apprentice? It’s a fantastic series and I haven’t seen many people, if any, talk about it. 👀
I read all the way up to the fifth book. As a teen I loved the mongol vs Viking battle they had
@@mizanulhaque8476 the sequel series is good too it’s from the perspective of some Vikings
@@fireyros3349 Erik Starseeker right? Now that I look back at his character the Vikings or sea wolves weren’t good people lol.
@@fireyros3349 ehhhh they dont hold up well for me at least if you read them past the age of like 14
As a Scottish person, I thank you for your mercy, my friend.
The ending of this series still has me emotionally satisfied
I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on Anthony Horowitz's Gatekeepers/Power of Five series.
Absolutely
Oh shit, I'd forgotten that that was written by the same guy. Yeah, I remeber that series being pretty dark for kids books.
Anthony Horowitz also has a detective series called the Diamond Brothers or something. They were very good. Don't know if they'd hold up tho, haven't read them in ages
I had completely forgotten about these
power of five and diamond brothers were my absolute Jam
This is so weird, I knew Alex Rider was a thing but never read them, and didn't know Anthony Horowitz wrote them. The name looked familiar, and what the heck, he wrote Midsummer Murders and Foyle's War (plus other British crime dramas)! He really gets around doing stuff...
Holy crap, I never made that connection! I guess I always thought it was an Eren Hunter(s) Warrior Cats situation.
One thing that I found interesting about the books was how Horowitz wrote criticisms of government into the stories. They definitely weren’t very complex, but for children’s books they did encourage me to think about more complex moral & political issues
I find it interesting how action gets a pass for having weak characters but YA romance that is meant to be shallow self inserty doesn't.
Imo it's the sexism
Romance requires well rounded characters to be good
Action just needs to be cool
Nah, this is really not a fair comparison. Action thrives on its own merits. A well-thrown punch or gunshot is good regardless of who’s throwing it or shooting. But in romance, the entire point is character. You need to like the people who are self-inserts and they need to be at least slightly well-rounded. In a self-insert spy thriller you just need to be able to pretend like you’re the one shooting. In a romance you need to believe that the people you’re reading about are good enough to be projected onto. In the same way that action doesn’t need deep characters, romance doesn’t (necessarily) need great plots. A romance can thrive on the merits of its characters alone, but those characters need to be good. In the same vein, action can thrive on its plot alone, but that plot needs to be good.
I was obsessed with this series as a kid, and actually got me and a friend suspended from school for acting it out during recess. 🤣 First book I ever read was Scorpia. I have the newest book but I haven’t touched it yet. 💀
I thought these were good books at first but by the time I'd read about 5 of them and realised how repetitive they were structurally I just couldn't pay attention to them anymore. And since the CHERUB series and its spinoffs exist I'd never recommend Alex Rider over them, and just tell people to read CHERUB instead. I was exactly the target audience and Alex Rider still couldn't keep me invested
Cherub is what alex rider wishes it could be
Cherub was so much better in every way
god, cherub was so good, even the reboot with a new main character.
@@darkpixel1128 I just wish it could have gone on for longer, but it seems the new sequel format didn't have much steam
@@greg_mca apparently a tv show is in the works
I remember reading these books in middle school. Ridiculous yes, but they were hella entertaining.
The most recent four books (Russian Roulette, Never Say Die, Secret Weapon and Nightshade) are pretty good, although Secret Weapon is a collection of short stories and Never Say Die basically makes Scorpia Rising pointless. Nightshade is pretty good, though. It feels like the author had a far more original idea (the book features MI6 being shut down, leaving Alex on his own). Russian Roulette is about Yassen.
"Always edge your audience to satisfaction multiple times"
James what the fuck are you saying
I got confused with your "maximum ride" vid due to the "ride" bit
My favorite youtuber right now. Love your videos!
Never read these, I was a die hard warrior cats kid lol.
Alex Rider, Artemis Fowl, Percy Jackson. All my childhood book franchises have basically deteriorated. I'm sad now.
mortal engines?
@@testaccount4191 sorry, never read it. I don't think it's been rebooted though.
Percy Jackson deteriorated? Wat?
Last I checked, Magnus Chase & Heroes of Olympus was pretty good.
@@AetherKirin Trials of Apollo was just meh. Didn't really like Magnus Chase either.
@@chowyee5049 well they pulled a Artemis fowl with its movie.
I remember reading the one where Alex gets shot when I was like 9 and it was the first time I remember being genuinely distraught at a character death. Mostly because I thought the book series was over and that isn't how book series are supposed to end! But then the next one came and then I read other stuff
awesome video. thx for the trip down memory lane
MI6 would get involved because the target is a foreigner. There would be minor involvement of Mi5
How does the MI5/MI6 distinction work these days ? I'd imagine most security concerns would involve both citizens and foreign ties no?
@@thaddeus3931 MI5 Is equivalent to the FBI and MI6 is equivalent to the CIA.
Great video so far, such a blast to the past. Would love to know if you read any of the Cherub series and your opinions on them. They were some of my favourite books as a kid
I used to love these books as an kid, but it's fun to look back at the series flaws.
Yes!!! I’ve been wanting someone to talk about one of my favourite series
Now that I think about it, I can never seem to remember what even happened in Crocodile Tears other than the start where the car was under the water.
For Scorpia Rising, I always hated the premise of Clone Alex. Like you said, he kinda just showed up after being introduced in Point Blanc.
I feel like an important thing to mention is that at the end of Snakehead, Yu dies because the shockwaves literally shatter all his bones. No joke.
If you like british teenage spies might I suggest looking at CHERUB, it's like Alex Rider except scaled way the fuck up. I always enjoyed it a little more as the characters felt somewhat more interesting and far more believable.
Funnily, I'd say it's scaled way up in some ways but way down in others, the villains are far less James Bond-esque if I remember correctly, more grounded in reality
"And asks him to finish his uncle's work" what kind of backwards ass logic is that?
oh dam i didn’t even remember i read these books till i saw the youtube video thumbnail.
James Bond for children meets Harry Potter meets nostalgia. That's it.
-------
*CHANGE MY MIND*
Skeleton key was my absolute favorite, it was more psychological more hard hitting. Alex for once has adults with him, and they want to do the bulk of danger parts, eventually they warm up to him, And then they die. The bad guy General Alexei Sarov takes in(captues) Alex inteding on adopting him , as this is his own twisted way of getting back his dead son. The Moment that Absolutely shook me, was when he had the scanner that could detect hearbeats on it. Sarov puts it near Alexs head after his escape attempt, and Alex is Scared he knows that theres a really high chance Sarov will kill him, and Alex hears his heartbeat echoing from the scanner. And then Sarov removes the scanner, and the silence leads Alex to his knees.And the end? Jfc did thAT hit hard. Like they made the villain personal, personal to Alex. Eagle Strike was my second fav because of Yassen and Scorpia my 3rd fav because it goes into Alex history, also his friend Tom was cool. Like don't bring back the stupid clone, bring back Yassen!! Keep the action and over the top villains, but bring in that human element.
Sarov is most definitely my favorite YA villain, which would be kind of like being the tallest dwarf, if Sarov wasn't written amazingly well.
Oh yeah, this is the review I was looking for
Thanks for reviewing my childhood. And yes, I'm still completely pissed about what happened in Crocodile Tears.
Edit: Woopse, it happened in "Scorpia Rising". I guess I was just so pissed I completely blocked that entire book out of my mind.
I really like your videos but I think they would greatly benefit from some visuals, maybe animations, text etc to engage us more when watching. Right now it feels like this could be a podcast, so some more visual elements would be cool. Just a suggestion, I still really like your content and the points you bring up in these types of videos.
I remember reading Skeleton Key as a child, I never read that much otherwise. Got totally stuck, then read the first two books followed by book #4, #5 and maybe #6. James Bond was, aside from all the films with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, my favorite movies as a child. Then the movie came out and I was so hyped. The movie wasn't any great though, and I hated the color palette of that movie (mostly yellow and grey). I believe I stopped reading shortly after the movie came out (it had nothing to do with the movie though). Wish you had talked more about Skeleton Key in this video, since I don't remember what happened in it.
Great video by the way! Thank you!
Skeleton Key was the BEST book in the series.
I loved this series and Groosham Grange. Horowitz got me into writing.
Never clicked so fast on a video!!! You made my day! 😆
...When you haven't read the book series, yet can't resist watching a book series review :')
Never really got into Alex Rider, but I do remember reading and enjoying Horowitz's other series, the Power of Five. It was a while ago so I have no clue whether it stands up, but I have good memories of it
Also did a double take when you said AR books are still being released. Wow
"Alex detonates the bomb early so it doesn't do any damage, it does kill you, though."
Hmm... I didn't know I was in this book til I was dead...
Sorry, terrible dad joke haha 😅
I was waiting for Alex Rider to get covered on this channel, it was a pretty big chunk of my childhood and I remember being very excited for the release of the final book (at the time). I remember most of them being pretty good, although that could have been my 13 year old brain finding everything enjoyable.
This was an absolute nostalgia trip. Haven’t read these books since I was a kid but I absolutely loved them. Great video!
Hearing that an evil villain wants to send a tsunami to the west coast of Australia, as an Australian on the east coast, is bloody hilarious to me!
There's nothing there to destroy?!? Haha I mean there is _technically..._ but, if u wanted a coast to hit that would cripple the country, they picked the wrong one!!
I’m not Australian but I still thought the east coast would be better because Sydney is there lol
I was obsessed with these books in grade 7 lol. Now I feel like id have trouble taking them seriously but they do have a charm to them.
Rereading this as an adult is insane. Like the series is for ten year olds and so dark! Remember when voldemort threatened to harvest Harry's organs alive and sell them!! Or when Harry killed like thirty people? NO!! Because that would be so weird.
Alex rider was at its peak in scorpion and than it was just always the same boring stuff. This became obvious to me when Alex was caught in snakehead. Unlike you I realy disliked snakehead. The beginning of snakehead was okayish but it dropped directly after that.Than the series ended but the author wanted to make money again and wrote another book that changed something very important in a stupid way.
One of the rare books and series I’ve read completely and that I can use in comment sections of videos discussing them like all the other ones I see
Hey, James. I had a recommendation for a children's books series to cover. It's called "Conspiracy 365" and is written by Gabrielle Lord. I really enjoyed it after re-reading the series this year, and thought you might enjoy it. It has a decent plot, well rounded characters, and some actually good suspense and emotion.
11:39 James has earned my respect
What did the Welsh do to hurt you :')
It would be cool if there was a trilogy of books focusing on a larger arc
I’m going to finish this video eventually but I loved it because it got me the summaries that I wanted for each of the books so I could continue where I left off. Thank youuuu
"Complete with dyeing their skin to appear darker" they did what now
Whats wrong with that
You missed Russian Roulette, which was a spinoff about Yassen
Oi! Don’t lump us welsh people in with the English!
These are literally the books that introduced me to YAF novels
Have you read the Gallagher Girls series? I loved it way more than Alex Rider, because AR was so predictable that it was hard to read the books back to back without a long break in between books. GG though has a weird scene in book 1 though so it’s a good thing I started with book 3. Also GG grew with its audience so that was nice.
What was the weird scene?
@@dabisbadbegim4680 The girls stalked Cammie's boyfriend because they thought he might have been planted there as part of the covert-operations class (but that seemed like a flimsy reason because the class session ended that day so why would they think that? She could have just not dated him, seemed like that would have been less risky).
I actually started re reading these recently, and I still liked them with some small bad writing issues. As for dip in quality I think there was kind of one especially in the last 2 as I'm discounting Crocodile tears
Snakehead even now I found boring despite the villain being one of my favourites and Scopia rising was saved by Razim
Do you plan to do a video on skulduggery pleasant?
Man Skullduggery was the shit for the first few books. Then he just milked it for all it was worth. Shame since it was just Harry Potter but way darker.
As someone who still lurks in the AR fandom (and was active up until a little while ago) I'm very interested to see what this video has in store! I only read the books very recently compared to most (two years ago, iirc) because my teacher recommended them to me. The books are trash, the fanfic is golden, the fandom (from what I've seen) is at least a little deranged, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Edit: After watching, I pretty much agree with mostly everything you said. I think the books got a _little_ darker at some points than you mentioned, like how Sarov shoots himself in front of Alex in Skeleton Key and how, when Alex shoots Julius in the head, it's described as him loosing a part of himself as well because of how similar they look + the whole Jack ordeal. Although those moments don't have too much of an impact on the series, which. weird. but it's a spy thriller for kids and Horowitz probably wasn't allowed to write his main character with horrific PTSD from all of the child-soldiering. (That's what the fanfic's for! /hj)
(Then again, he spent the entire third book of the PO5 series torturing one of the main cast and he's _definitely_ not a-okay in the next book, so that's...strange. Maybe PO5 was darker from the get-go and that's why he did it? I mean, Matt was nearly sacrificed by a cult in the first book, and Pedro lost his entire family because of a flash flood, so the series definitely wasn't set up to be a fun light action series like Alex Rider was.)
And while characters other than Alex aren't all that important, I still think Jack was likeable enough for me to be saddened by her death, even if it's just because Alex cares about her. And Yassen and Russian Roulette are a whole other can of worms that is...admittedly very fun to play around with in fanfic but cause a whole truckload of problems in the actual series (as much as I love RR and Yassen, it...definitely didn't do the series that many favors. I mean, if Yassen knew John was a double-agent, why in the world did he send Alex to Scorpia? Maybe it was in the haze of dying, but Yassen seemed rather clear-headed despite the, uh, everything.)
(And that "I loved your father, Alex, and in a way I love you too" line - paraphrasing here but I think that's how it went - definitely puts some VERY gay vibes onto Yassen if we look at him and John but puts into question a *lot* of his interactions with Alex if the love Yassen is talking about is the same for both of them, which is VERY EW but y'know. Though the "in a way" part seems to say that no it's definitely not the same, which is much better. But this is a completely different topic, my bad.)
Though I definitely agree the entire series went downhill after Snakehead (minus Ark Angel that one was terrible) and I think that's the general consensus of the fandom? And learning at least a tiny bit more about Ben in Snakehead was fun. (And then Horowitz went and confused Fox and Wolf's code names in NSD but anything after SR we don't talk about 💀.) I'd say if I had to choose a favorite in the series I'd probably say Point Blanc or Snakehead, to be honest.
I still loved the series (and, in a way, still love it in the present) when I read it though, mostly because the whole "a single kid against the entire world" feeling was...definitely relatable at the time (would be lying if I said it wasn't now.) Honestly, even despite all of it's frankly very very obvious flaws, it's still such a fun thing to go back to every once in a while. And if I want serious Alex Rider content, I can just go and read Devil and the Deep Blue Sea or Madness and Mammals again. (Speaking of, I really need to catch up to that last one.)
Wish we could've gotten more about Tom in the books. Or any fo the other kids, really. Great video though, I loved it!
I think the problem with these series is more the industry. The author wants to end it, but the publisher wants them to keep going because it's popular. So the author has to keep contriving situations for them to get in or create a new villain, and they've already basically hit the limits of the world.
even if they left some things vague and open to exploration, how're you going to match the stakes? Like we go from having to stop something in space to talking about a pipe being sabotaged in Azerbaijan
As someone who have not read the book but saw the 3 season of the show, I am even more impress by the show because the books seem all over the place and weird but the show seem grounded and realistic.
My main memory of this series is thinking that "SCorpIA" is one of the worst acronyms I'd ever heard
Back in the 90s, McDonalds made a bunch of happy meal toys that looked like McDonalds food but you'd get, like, a thing of fries that turned into a phone, or a pack of McNuggets that turned into a camera. Alex's devices always reminded me of those.
Also (spoiler???) I remember really liking the one where Alex gets shot because they took it so seriously.
This series was the shit when I was 13.
“Remember that scene in Tomorrowland-“ I’m going to stop you right there… no
Hmmm, "led to a drop in quality". Not that anyone cares, but I like ranking/classifying stuff, lets explore that.
Stormbreaker - 6/10. Solid action and story, bit short and villain is v poor.
Point Blanc - 7/10. Brilliant setting. Action pretty good. Better villain but not amazing.
Skeleton Key - 10/10 - (Ranking is relative, 10/10 is in terms of Alex Rider books) My fav book. Not really sure why, but amazing villain, very good action and solid setting.
Eagle Strike - 9/10 - Underrated by the community for me. Great set up, good story. Good villain with an interesting plan. Action is decent.
Scorpia - 9/10 - Overrated by the community. Very good, great characters and interesting plot, but feels to drag a bit at times. Action is very good but lacking.
Ark Angel - 7/10 - Not a bad book at all, probably worse than Point Blanc. Again drags at times, action isn't the best. Also I can't even remember the villains name. But the setting and story is very good.
Snakehead - 9.5/10 - Love this book. Probably better than Skeleton Key, but Skeleton key holds a special place in my heart. Amazing story, fun villain, well paced and some great twists. Honestly it is the best book but Skeleton Key is my fav.
Croc Tears - 5/10 - It was just a bit dull really. V good villain I must say, but kinda boring at times. Enjoyed the Kayak escape and the whole prison hospital part, but apart from that...meh.
Scorpia Rising - 7/10 The set up is just...dull. 2nd half of the book is much better. Decent ending but nothing to shout about. I was fairly happy when I read it.
Edit; Wrote this before I watched so lets see where we agree/disagree.
Edit 2.0; Did they think American kids wouldn't know Lebanon is a country? 100% they thought that.
Edit 3.0; Omg yes I hated Voldemort's death.
Skeleton Key is probably the best YA book I've ever read.
And ja, Scorpia was overrated, Eagle Strike was legitimately good (Especially Smithers' sense of humor), I can't remember the name of the guy from Ark Angel or Croc Tears either, and I've never read Snakehead cos my library didn't have it.
Skeleton Key is ironically one of the ones I remember the least and I think it just flew over my head a bit at that age. Probably the same reason why I never really remembered the quality of the series dipping and enjoyed it throughout. Which hey, that’s not so bad either.
Just watched (and enjoyed) the TV show and then remembered that I had this video in my bookmarks, so here I am :D
I still love the books if though it is very formulaic still very interesting to read
The smithers reveal was the stupidest thing I've ever read. "turns out he's not fat" is such a weird way to end off his arc, and the fact that he was in disguise the whole time just makes the time you spent with him feel really fake and dissatisfying. Scorpia rising gets worse every time i re-read it, but i think that one scene just breaks it for me. I actually really liked Jack's death, and i disagree, I think you get a lot of her in eagle strike, and a decent amount in snakehead and ark angel too, i think save maybe for Sabina or Tom, her death is the one that makes the most sense and hit hardest (and although I'm glad she didn't die, the cop out in never say die felt pretty cheap). She was yet another parental figure snatched from him. Probably the most including his parents and uncle. That moment haunted me for a while until i realised how crap the rest of the book actually was. Also the actual climax felt so rushed.
Really enjoyed your analysis overall though, and i want to echo the sentiment in the comments that Russian Roulette is probably the best book in the series, and it's not even about Alex. Yassen is such an interesting protagonist, and i like his portrayal in the amazon series a lot (also jack and tom being more prominent is also a refreshing change of pace)
I have subscribed 😊 looking forward to checking out more of your work!
Razim was *just... why...* for the sake of *just... why...*
I keep hearing REALLY good things about Snakehead
Smithers is the dude with all these inventions based on being deceptive tools disguised as ordinary objects, so I guess the idea is the big reveal is he himself was carrying a deceptive appearance the entire time
I should point out that my understanding of James Bond is that originally (as in, in the books) Bond is quite literally just a dude who works for MI6 that finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right man in the wrong place, wouldn't you say, Mr. Freeman?).
I enjoyed these books, and while they weren’t amazing, they were tons of fun. However I found Eagle Strike was my least favorite, nothing the villain does really adds up
What doesn’t add up?
He’s a pop star who wants to employ nuclear force to destroy the international drug trade
Specifically the bit in the beginning involving the new video game console, that didn’t seem to have any connection to his plot
@@gonb5434 agreed, I recall even Horowitz acknowledging that Cray was "sadly, insane", to the point of thinking nuking millions would save the world from drugs
@@gonb5434it makes perfect sense
One of the things is when a gun is pointed at alex he goes "a sub-compact semi automatic pistol" or whatever.
If most 14 year olds had a gun at their heads I don't think they would say "Subcompact semi autoamatic pistol". They'd probably go "shit big gun."
Also the fuck was Horowtiz thinking bringing jack back from the dead. It makes no sense not just becuase of what it does to alex's character but also becuase It's tickier to do, and makes no difference.