Scorpia Rising Review (4.5/5)

Ten years. That's how long it has been since Anthony Horowitz's first Alex Rider novel, Stormbreaker, hit Britain- how time flies! Since then, the series has taken readers to the Alps, Venice, Australia and countless other iconic locations in its nine-book entirety, and now everything comes to a head with the epic finale Scorpia Rising. Fans should remember the Scorpia organisation from past entries as perhaps the protagonist's greatest enemies, who caused the deaths of his parents and manipulated their friends to become terrorists, so their return to see Mr. Rider off should feel only natural. A lot of speculation has surrounded the plot of the novel regarding the tagline 'One bullet. One life. The end starts here.', and I can confirm that there is a death of a series regular that immediately signals the franchise's climax- who is it that bites the dust, though? Mr Blunt, Mrs Jones, Smithers, Jack...Alex?? You honestly need to read this brilliant tale just to find out the answer to that question and see its shattering consequences on those affected. Horowitz has claimed that Scorpia Rising is his best book yet, and I'm inclined to agree- the author's writing is at its most complex, innovative and compelling here, and each and every strand of the storyline wills you to push on that much further (case in point: I read this book over the course of one night alone, and it's 450 pages long), making for a much more well-rounded read than Ark Angel, Snakehead or Crocodile Tears, and certainly the best read of the series as a whole. My only gripe with this epic climax is that the removal of key characters like Sabina from the narrative does cause a sense that depth has been lost from past outings and thus the rather groundbreaking events carry less weight and substance as a result since we can't see the reactions of the aforementioned allies. Other than that, Scorpia Rising is Alex Rider at its absolute best, a near-perfect ending that only suffers from its attempts to still appeal to the audience of young teenagers by keeping the number of pages somewhat slim. If you have ever liked this series, though, you won't be disappointed by the way it ends- tears will be shed...