For a moment he stood silently, half hidden in the shadow, looking out. His hair, cut short apart from two thick strands hanging over his forehead, was fair. Alex was fourteen, already well built, with the body of an athlete. The moonlight spilled onto his chest and shoulders. He rolled out of bed and walked over to the open window, his bare feet pressing down the carpet pile. There was a rattle as someone slid the security chain off the front door. The bell rang a second time, and he looked at the alarm clock glowing beside him. He heard a bedroom door open and a creak of wood as somebody went downstairs. His eyes flickered open, but for a moment he stayed completely still in his bed, lying on his back with his head resting on the pillow. When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news.Īlex Rider was woken by the first chime. Many great graphic novels are.Great Opening Lines to Hook Young Readers
#Alex rider books stormbreaker series#
Don’t be put off by the series ostensibly being marketed at younger teenagers. It’s spawned three graphic novel sequels to date, continuing with Point Blanc. While originality rests solely in the concept of a teenage MI6 agent, this is nonetheless very sprightly and enjoyable old tosh re-contextualising the tropes of the spy thriller with a knowing wink at the audience. Backgrounds are minimal, but their characterisation is impressive, and their action sequences well choreographed. Sisters Kanako Damerum and Yuzuru Takasaki collaborate to deliver manga style art tempered for those used to Western storytelling methods.
It’s sort of what we’re for.” Suffice to say that lack of trust is warranted, and Alex, kitted out with an impressive array of gadgets, heads to Sayle’s company headquarters in Cornwall. When Alex asks why he’s required to masquerade as a teenage computer geek to infiltrate Sayle’s organisation he’s told “We don’t trust him.” Not satisfied, Alex persists to hear “Well, we don’t trust anyone. “Ones who normally get their way” is the stony response.ĭarius Sayle (“Killing rare animals is one of my hobbies”) is a computer billionaire on the eve of donating one of his state of the art Stormbreaker models to every school in the UK. When Uncle Ian dies, officially via not wearing his seat belt, Alex is co-opted into MI6 via the threat of deporting the American housekeeper who looks after him. Uncle Ian, though, has a job protecting the nation, and it would seem all those adventure holidays he’s taken fourteen year old Alex on, the self-defence training and the language courses have an ulterior purpose. Adapter Antony Johnston takes his cue from the original novel rather than the simultaneously released film, and delivers a sympathetic reworking, supplying the thrills, the invention and the best lines from the book.Īlex Rider is an orphan who lives with his Uncle Ian, strangely absent for periods more prolonged than might be expected for a banking specialist. Horowitz adroitly scaled down James Bond to a teenager for his novels, and it’s a concept that’s worked when adapted to film and this graphic novel. “ He’s not a child, he’s a lethal weapon”, expostulates one character early in this adaptation of the opening volume of Anthony Horowitz’s mega-successful child spy thriller, as Alex Rider is sent to train with the SAS.
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