The Story of an Assassin (Alex Rider) - Russian Roulette

I really did not enjoy this book. I kept thinking that this was a horrible ending to my favorite series that happened to be all about Alex Rider.... and in this book he appears in one part. I loved the first nine books and found this a huge disappointment. I would recommend reading this series but be prepared for a awful final book.

My son and I have thoroughly enjoyed the Alex Rider series for some years, so I was happy to purchase Russian Roulette as soon as it came out. The story chronicles the life of the Russian assassin Yassen Gregorvich, who appears in the Alex Rider series. It charts how, as a child, he escaped from the attack that left his family and friends dead, survived on the streets of Moscow and ultimately came to the attention of Scorpia.

The writing is interesting, but does not have the pace of the Alex Rider series, nor the ability to draw you into the story. It seems at times to be a little predictable, which I think tends to be a trait of 'back-written' in-fill stories. There is some information about how Yassen connects with John Rider, but the scope is limited.

On balance, I would say this is a story worth reading. However, it is not a de facto Alex Rider story at all, and intending purchasers should be well aware of that at the beginning.

My son and I have thoroughly enjoyed the Alex Rider series for some years, so I was happy to purchase Russian Roulette as soon as it came out. The story chronicles the life of the Russian assassin Yassen Gregorvich, who appears in the Alex Rider series. It charts how, as a child, he escaped from the attack that left his family and friends dead, survived on the streets of Moscow and ultimately came to the attention of Scorpia.

The writing is interesting, but does not have the pace of the Alex Rider series, nor the ability to draw you into the story. It seems at times to be a little predictable, which I think tends to be a trait of 'back-written' in-fill stories. There is some information about how Yassen connects with John Rider, but the scope is limited.

On balance, I would say this is a story worth reading. However, it is not a de facto Alex Rider story at all, and intending purchasers should be well aware of that at the beginning.

My favorite person in Alex rider book. Was Yassen Gregorovich. If someone asked me like 'Why you like killer?' My answer is I am not, like him because his a killer. But I am not talking about who his is. I mean there is connection with my favorite person in another book. It is call The 39clues you may heard . She name is Irena sparsky the Russian killer wow maybe I like killer. It is all killer however am not. Why I like them is they die to save or in case Yassen he didn't kill Alex people keep telling him do. Because his father John rider. He save his life and die. Irena too. She die because she save Dan and Amy. Anyway people is different insider and outside Yassen isn't that evil. That's wh I like him.
I was sad when he die. He die too fast.
I enjoy this all day. I love this book.

I bought this one yesterday while perusing through my local Barnes and Noble, and I was intrigued by the prospect of having a book written entirely about Yassen. I finished it this afternoon, and I was certainly engaged with it. But it just didn't have that same Alex Rider thriller feel that we've all come to love. The book came off as a biography, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Alex Rider until the very end. His backstory was interesting, with all of the connections and everything, but it was all a bit predictable, but that's how a lot of these backstories work. Most of us were familiar with Yassen, and how it was supposed to end, but I'm surprised about just how much time was dedicated to his childhood. It just seemed so unnecessary for me, when I read an Alex Rider book, I expect to be kept on the edge of my seat as I read through the plot twists and drama and action, and there was next to none of that in here. I also didn't quite understand the ending, and why the author chose to end it at that particular juncture. It would have made a lot more sense to me to end it with Yassen's death, to help run the whole story full circle, and give a lot more opportunity to make the whole thing more interesting. Compared with the other extremely detailed parts of the book, the ending came off as rushed to me, and I wish the author had actually taken the time to weave it more into the plot of his other stories.Overall it was interesting, but it was lacking that same sense of adventure I've loved with all of the other Alex Rider books.

I LOVED this book! It was amazing! Every Alex Rider fan needs this book! Total necessity. Even so, there are some plot errors. Some small. Some huge. For example, the dialouge doesn't match up completely with the first Alex Rider book. That's ok, but I would expect more from Anthony Horowitz. Also, what about Malta and Ash? What about the time where M16 tries to capture John Rider and get him out of Scorpia and Yassen gives Ash [Alex's godfather, for those of you who didn't read or pay attention in Snakehead] his scar WHILE HUNTER [aka John Rider] IS STILL MENTORING COSSACK [aka Yassen Gregovovich]?!?!? That's not included!!!!!!!!! WTF! If that's not a major plot event that was left out I don't know what is! Also, Yassen is NOT supposed to know that John R worked for M16, otherwise, he would NOT have told Alex to "Go to Venice. Find Scorpia. There you will find your destiny." in Eagle Strike. He owes loyalty to no one, so he wouldn't had said that unless he truly had believed that John R had been part of Scorpia. DUH!!!!! This is a great book, but now i don't know what's true and what's not. Did Ash lie to Alex about what happened in Malta? If so, where did he get his scar and why does he hate Yassen Gregorovich? Or was this just a plot mistake made by Anthony Horowitz? I don't know any more! This is a great book, but you will have to make up some of the story yourself to get the series to match up. Have fun filing in the blanks, but it's a great book either way. Read it, or I will hire an asassin..... JK! But seriously, this is an AMAZING, TOTALLY AWESOME book.

As a prequel, Russian Roulette falls victim to many of the problems that all prequels fall into; namely, we have a general idea of what's going to happen from the previous books, so the tension is reduced considerably. But even with this issue, RR is as good as any other book in the Horowitz series, and I've like these books since I first started reading them four years ago.

The book has everything you would expect out of the series, plenty of action, fun side characters, and even a few gadgets towards the end of the book. The story is a quite a bit darker than the average book, but I enjoyed it immensely. Any fan of this series should definitely put this on their bookshelf.

The book started out semi decent. The first page seemed promising enough but as I progressed through the next pages, you could see what was going to happen next, just like you could see the obvious creative failure of the book from the start. Just too many stereotypes for me; i.e. Russian children pretty much breastfed vodka, boy scout turned satan's mistress assassin. Just another sad installment in Alex Rider; a series of hardly half-decent books, that even 7 year olds would find cheesy and predictable.

I have read all the Alex Rider novels before this one, and although I have enjoyed reading them, I was never exactly awed by Horowitz's storytelling.
Russian Roulette completely changed my mind. Not only does it connect perfectly with the other books of the series even though it talks about a whole other character, it is extremely descriptive and believable (yes, even the assassin school near Venice).
When reading this book, I could perfectly picture Yassen's world in my mind, thanks to Horowitz's short but precise descriptions of Russia, Venice, France and New York.
The story itself is also very captivating: you cannot help but get attached to young Yasha Gregorovich when reading about how his life deteriorates after the Estrov incident.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in stories about hardship, tragedy, spy and criminal activites.
Also, if you didn't like the other Alex Rider novels, don't let that affect your decision to start reading Russian Roulette, as it is completely different from the usual Alex Rider formula.

Dear Anthony Horowitz,

Alex. Used to be carefree, happy, and his biggest worries being making an “A” on his homework. I’m reading Alex Rider: Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz. The world of spies and secrets has turned him into a sullen, blank-faced zombie. His feelings eradicated to nothing and sent on countless missions where a teen shouldn’t be. I find myself constantly urging Alex on to destroy the wicked plots of the ruthless men and women he has faced.I like the way you write because it reminds me of myself in the way that you take risk in your writing. I have read the whole series twice and have never fallen asleep once. It is truly a suspenseful series filled with moments of pure terror for Alex. I’ve enjoyed reading all nine books in the series., and hope you make a book that tops it.

Yours Truly,
Malcolm Morton

This was my first Anthony Horowitz book. I was recommended it by my father who often has similar taste in reading to me (Wilbur Smith, Lee Child i.e. good action novels). However, I was rather dissapointed and actually stopped reading three quarters of the way through. The story wasn't terrible - it just wasn't gripping enough to bother finishing after I got back from holiday with a chunk left to read. I won't give up on Horowitz just yet, but this book isn't on my highly recommended list.