Scorpia Rising: Alex Rider's Ultimate and Concluding Mission

Apr 13, 2011
Thomas Drake

Scorpion - Alex Rider Scorpia Rising - Matt Reinbold

As the final Alex Rider, Scorpia Rising, is put on the shelves, it is time to say goodbye to our teenage spy, who has surely become a national treasure.

There are few series of books which capture the imagination in such an individual way that they keep a whole generation gripped. We have been fortunate that J. K. Rowling and Philip Pullman have produced their masterpieces in recent years, but Anthony Horowitz, writing in a different genre completely, has developed something just as spectacular.

Alex Rider represents the dream all teenage boys conceive, the ambitions they all once had. He is the superspy people would give anything to become, defying all odds to keep himself and his country from harm. The adrenaline rush, knowing that unless you succeeded, nothing would be quite the same again. But he does all this with a heavy heart, not desiring to be placed in a world of danger and deceit, but to be a normal schoolboy once more. Will he at last get his chance?

Alex Rider and MI6

The situations Alex Rider has been put in seem mind-blowing. As every reader has to constantly remind themselves, he is just fourteen and already undertaken extreme tasks which appear impossible in every sense of the word. He has beaten a South African cloning scientist and his body building assistant, a Russian General wishing to take power, a famous British singer hoping to start nuclear war and almost wiped out the terrorist organisation Scorpia as they attempted to kill London’s children. It is with Scorpia that we find ourselves again in Alex Rider’s final mission.

MI6 have been the real catalyst in all these assignments, directly or indirectly. Alex’s reluctance to be involved makes his achievements all the more thrilling and impressive. It just seems that Alan Blunt, the head of MI6, relied upon him more than any other agent.

Scorpia Rising

The last installment of Alex Rider is a culmination of everything he has faced since MI6 first forced him to work for them. It brings back enemies from more than one previous book so that Alex really does face his toughest task yet. Scorpia have revitalized themselves and their latest scheme involves Alex himself, who they attempt to manipulate, is at the centre of the web of lies and evil they are spinning. Expect revelations involving many of the main characters, Jack (his housekeeper) and Smithers (a Horowitz version of Q) included. In a novel containing not only MI6, but the CIA and the Egyptian Secret Service too, can Alex Rider survive his deadliest challenge of all?

It is worth saying that the Alex Rider series will always be compared to others, such as Harry Potter, just because they are two of the greats in the modern era. But their differences help to define just how special each one is. Horowitz inserts no playful magical element and uses technical and sophisticated language to develop his own reader as they series continue. Another interesting feature of Horowitz storytelling is how Alex never gets much older, even though his audience naturally will. The way he has managed to keep the same stock of readers as they get ten years older, even when his character defies time to stay a teenager, is remarkable. Thumbs up to Anthony Horowitz. His stories will be read for generations to come, and just as Rowling, he should be considered an author who has taken children’s writing to a completely new level.