jojoreads89's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
In reviewing this book I changed my rating from 3.75 to 4/5.
I picked up this book because I am a fan of Alex rider so the plot line intrigued me.
The plot is pretty basic, not necessarily in a bad way; I love the "young kid somehow gets dragged into a "war" of sorts and saves the day story." I think the way the story is told, the writing and the characters Are what make or break that story and unfortunately in my opinion, the writing wasn't all that great. I probably would have given it another half star if it weren't for the almost constant Repetitiveness of certain phrases or sentences. The biggest one that bothered me was "..this all took a few seconds" or "it only took a few seconds.." It's incredibly hard to believe it only took a few seconds.
The characters were actually fairly good. I felt most of them had some good depth, especially our protagonist, he is very mature for his age ( Very refreshing since most characters around that age are incredibly selfish, stupid and annoying).
It was really nice to see family and friends being so supportive in spite of everything instead of creating another dramatic event to draw the book out. And just FYI, I think my favorite character is the karate teacher.
One of the topics I love that was brought up was freedom and the Constitution; I am a firm believer in both of those especially now When our government is trying to take those away. ( Don't like that opinion? Cool, you have a right to your own, but don't fuck with my freedom to express mine). Also, the topic wasn't dragged out as if the author was trying to explain his own beliefs and why.
My favorite topic brought up though is God and religion. I am a firm believer in God.. Not So much the religion part but it is incredibly refreshing to read about a younger person, in this case a 17 - 18 year old, being a soldier in God and more so that God had a presence throughout it without the topic becoming overwhelming for the readers.
The way Andrew Klavin wrote about these topics came out sincere, open minded and unapologetic about his beliefs in my opinion and I loved it.
As good as it was I feel that it is not a book that I will ever pick up again.
I picked up this book because I am a fan of Alex rider so the plot line intrigued me.
The plot is pretty basic, not necessarily in a bad way; I love the "young kid somehow gets dragged into a "war" of sorts and saves the day story." I think the way the story is told, the writing and the characters Are what make or break that story and unfortunately in my opinion, the writing wasn't all that great. I probably would have given it another half star if it weren't for the almost constant Repetitiveness of certain phrases or sentences. The biggest one that bothered me was "..this all took a few seconds" or "it only took a few seconds.." It's incredibly hard to believe it only took a few seconds.
The characters were actually fairly good. I felt most of them had some good depth, especially our protagonist, he is very mature for his age ( Very refreshing since most characters around that age are incredibly selfish, stupid and annoying).
It was really nice to see family and friends being so supportive in spite of everything instead of creating another dramatic event to draw the book out. And just FYI, I think my favorite character is the karate teacher.
One of the topics I love that was brought up was freedom and the Constitution; I am a firm believer in both of those especially now When our government is trying to take those away. ( Don't like that opinion? Cool, you have a right to your own, but don't fuck with my freedom to express mine). Also, the topic wasn't dragged out as if the author was trying to explain his own beliefs and why.
My favorite topic brought up though is God and religion. I am a firm believer in God.. Not So much the religion part but it is incredibly refreshing to read about a younger person, in this case a 17 - 18 year old, being a soldier in God and more so that God had a presence throughout it without the topic becoming overwhelming for the readers.
The way Andrew Klavin wrote about these topics came out sincere, open minded and unapologetic about his beliefs in my opinion and I loved it.
As good as it was I feel that it is not a book that I will ever pick up again.
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