Charlie Wu

Charlie Wu
Scorpia Rising
Anthony Horowitz
Action
Just Right
Page: 150

1. I am currently reading Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz. I am currently at the end of chapter 8, where Alex just finished taking out the people who attacked his school. This book is about 15 'year old spy Alex Rider who became enemies with a criminal organization called Scorpia. Alex beat them twice in the past, and now Scorpia attacked his school for revenge. Scorpia's goal is to blackmail the British Government into returning some museum artifacts to Greece, because they were paid to do so by their client. Alex then chases after them on his bike through London, and manages to hear the attacker say "It was fine. Mission accomplished." Alex then sees the man about to leave on a helicopter. He then gets a crazy idea, and by pulling back on an antenna, launches a fire extinguisher at the helicopter and kills the people inside.

2. So far, I am enjoying the book. In the beginning, I felt the book was kind of slow, but eventually things sped up. The topic in the beginning was Scorpia, and it's plans. I'm only about one-third into the book, and i'm itching to read more. I feel like things are starting to take shape, and Alex's mission will start soon. I don't like the characters very much however. Most of the characters so far, with exceptions to a few, are very negative and evil.

3. I think one of the themes in this book is cruelty. While Alex is not cruel, the antagonists are very cruel. Scorpia is a criminal organization, and Razim in particular is very cruel. He wants to make a scale that measures pain. He also proxy murders his immediate family, for absolutely no reason. He worked with Saddam Hussein, and then joined Scorpia. Other members of Scorpia have also shown cruelty. One prime example is when the leader of Scorpia, Zeljan Kurst decides to kill some people because he needed to escape quickly, without a second thought.

4. My favorite character is Alex. Alex is the only character that the reader learns a lot about, and he is kind, unlike Scorpia who is very cruel and evil. He is also very smart and resourceful, like when he took down the helicopter with a method most people would not even think about. He also is very determined. An example of this is after the attack at the school, Alex got on his bike, and folowed the attacker all the way across London.

5. My least favorite character is probably Razim, who is a senior member of Scorpia. He is emotionless, and also very cruel. One of his ambitions is to make a scale that measures pain, and then name the units after himself. He tortures people, and measures their reactions, something I find sickening. He also recorded a conversation his parents held about overthrowing Saddam Hussein. He then took it to a local police department, and showed them the recording. His parents and sister were killed, and Razim did it without a second thought.

6. I think that soon, Alex will take matters into his own hands, and decide to attack Scorpia. Another possibility is that Alex will receive a mission to go spy on Scorpia. I feel like Alex will face Scorpia soon, but I think its possible that Alex might not survive, because this is the last book in the series.