Book Review

 

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

The novel Stormbreaker, written by Anthony Horowitz is an adventure book based on the adventures of a fourteen year old boy. As the main character is a young teenager, this book is well suited to the young teen/ ‘tween’ target audience; that being around the ages of 10-13. The structure and language present throughout the novel is designed to be an easy read for the shortened attention span and limited vocabulary of a young teenager. 

Stormbreaker revolves around the general plot of a teenage spy who is thrown out of his ordinary life and into the world of espionage. The novel begins with the tragic loss of Alex Rider’s uncle and guardian, Ian Rider, who was reported to have died in a car crash. The death of Ian Rider seemed to be too suspicious, as Alex always saw his uncle as a cautious man. Alex decides to investigate what truly happened and soon finds his uncle’s car at a junkyard covered in bullet holes and splattered with blood all over the seats, proving that his suspicions were correct.  His investigation to uncover the person responsible for the murder leads him to Alan Blunt, the spymaster for Britain’s M16 espionage agency who blackmails him into becoming a spy for the agency. It is here that Alex’s world is completely turned upside down as he discovers the truth behind his uncle’s death as a spy while he was investigating Herod Sayles and his donation of Stormbreaker, a super-advanced computer, to every school in Britain. It is here where the plot thickens as Alex is sent out to complete the mission his uncle started; to find the truth behind the plans of Herod Sayles. The central theme in Stormbreaker is not just about spying, but something more complex that young teenagers can associate with; adapting to new situations. This particular theme of displacement is appealing to young teens as they will be experiencing changes in their lives; primary to secondary school, etc.

Stormbreaker uses simple and casual language to appeal to its younger target audience as their vocabulary at their age is naturally restricted to simple and colloquial language. This can be shown through the quote, “That was your bliddy fault,” where it uses the word ‘bliddy’ to replace ‘bloody’ in the slang phrase. The novel also uses a fair share of onomatopoeia, so that young readers can understand the sounds which are being made; “Eeerg!”.  The structure of the novel is also well designed for a young viewer as it takes into consideration the short attention spans of young children. To compensate for this, the book is structured into short chapters ranging between 10-20 pages at maximum. This, also combined with the short, sharp sentences near the climax, helps create a fast paced and more suspenseful book which is able to keep the reader interested constantly; “He already decided not to stay there. It was too dangerous. He would find somewhere to hide out.” Alex Rider, being a fourteen year old boy in a peculiar situation, is appealing to its target audience because young teens will know exactly how he feels; with they’re shift into high school. 

Anthony Horowitz’s, Stormbreaker, is a highly entertaining adventurer novel which is surely to get the reader’s attention as it incorporates a familiar theme that its target audience of young teens around the age of twelve can easily adapt to. This book does not require an extensive knowledge of literacy to understand and is for these reasons that I find this book a good read for any teenager who are looking to escape from reality for a bit.