Nightshade (Alex Rider) Paperback – April 1, 2021

My 10 year old son loves these books very much. He reads them at the speed of 1 book in 2 days!

Amazing! Can't wait to read more of Alex rider! I pray the author A.H. continues to write Alex Rider books forever. Perhaps even some adult adventures someday!

As a long, LONG time fan of this series since the very first book came out, I have been keeping up with the reboot of the series almost reluctantly. Enjoying myself, no doubt, but finding myself disappointed as my hands-down favorite book series seemingly dried up (like a lot of franchises do) with the disappointing and forgettable “Never say die” and the far flawed and cheesy “Secret weapon.” I planned on getting nightshade hoping that, at best, it would be better than the two previous installments. Not only was I not disappointed by this book, but it exceeded my expectations to become one of the favorite books in the entire series (surprising for a reboot, I know)*SPOILER REVIEW*Nightshade follows what I would like to call the Scorpia plot of Alex rider stories. Or indeed, never say die officially tied that story up and Nightshade focuses on Alex rider picking up the pieces after what you could call the main plot of the series if officially finished. It does this in a way that isn’t forced or reluctant, but rather brilliant in that it takes all the remaining loose ends from Scorpia (Julius griefs death and Alan blunts retirement, mostly) and uses those to craft a new story that doesn’t feel forced in the slightest. A new threat appears, and mrs Jones being the new head of MI6 has to fight it, along with establishing her presence among the other secret services of Britain, and uses Alex under the cover of a recently deceased Julius to do it. None of those points were created in this book, and that’s my point exactly. This story wasn’t created, it feasibly was going to happen anyways.Seeing Alex pretend to be Julius was an absolute delight and completely turned the tables in a very entertaining way. This book fleshed out Gibraltar and let us long time fans learn more about a very interesting location from the old series, even keeping faithful to the minor details that only a minority of people would notice. Overall I enjoyed that segment a lot.Let’s talk about nightshade.Early on in the book, the term ”more evil than Scorpia” was tossed around and I found myself quite annoyed at that. Scorpia is built as the most dangerous villain corps in all the book series and I didn’t enjoy Hearing it brushed aside. I found however that this statement was quite true the more I thought about it, they aren’t brushing Scorpia aside, nightshade is just a brilliant reimagining of The same principal, Scorpia had a large council and no beliefs, while nightshade is four villains who we will learn more about and they are manipulating kids to be, in a sense, evil without even knowing it. I can definitely understand why people would dislike them more. Scorpia is arguably a more well written enemy, but I am very excited to follow up on Alex defeating nightshade in a similar story beat, and I’m very glad that this book took the time to established it, rather than just having Alex completely destroy them in the end. Needless to say the “cliffhanger” has me very excited!I give this book five stars. My list so far is as follows:1.Snakehead2.Scorpia rising3.Nightshade4.Arc angel5.Scorpia6.Point blank7.Never say die8.Stormbreaker9.Eagle strike10.Crocodile tears11.Sketon key12. Secret weapon

Disclaimer: personal opinion only! Please take it with a pinch of salt. The only reason for me to leave this comment is hopefully Mr Horowitz could notice it and take into consideration for his future Alex Rider books.I’m really glad that Nightshade, following the footsteps of Scorpia Rising and Never Say Die, continues its departure from the “traditional” “Alex Rider formula” which are prevalent from Book 1 to Book 7.I believe what is particularly remarkable about this book is that this book was written like a movie script; rather than a sequential narrative, it has clear scene cuts and built-ups, and with a very clear Three Act Structure (and interesting Bible reference!). Also, it is dynamic in the sense that this book is no longer just about Alex, but we see more character developments of Mrs Jones, Mr Crawley and various other characters. Traditionally, those characters are on the sidelines, and only Alex and his antagonists are the focus. I personally like this way of story-telling – more dimensions, as compared to the linear story telling of Stormbreaker and a few other books.It is also interesting to see how Alex improvise along the way without his usual gadgets. Gadgets may make things too easy for him. We want to see more of Alex rise to the occasion and make the most out of whatever is available to him.Just some minor remark on what I think could be the areas of improvement here. I will try to make this as vague as possible in order not to spoil the plot, but I believe readers may understand after reading the entire book. There are certain elements of similarity between Stormbreaker (Third Act), Scorpia (around First to Second Act) and this book. It is my sincere hope that future books could break out of this pattern – to give readers more surprises! :) Also, there is a certain action scene that bears the resemblance of that of a certain 2007 movie. But I believe this is purely coincidental!Overall, great book! Maybe one day there is going to be a TV series about it!

I have loved reading the Alex Rider series since I was a freshman in high school. Nightshade further developed a certain character and had its fair share of surprises. I finished the book on April 8, the day after it came out, and it held my attention the same way every other Alex Rider series does. However, I can not give this book a five-star rating like some of the earlier books in the series. Part of the intrigue that once kept me thinking about Alex Rider is now gone from the series. For example, we are missing the amazing gadgets that Alex once had when Smithers was working for MI6. We are also no longer discovering new things about Alex and his past. Areas of the books that once kept me scrambling to find the sequels are no longer existent. It feels as if there are no more mysteries for us to solve, just more missions for Alex Rider to save the world. Perhaps this is why Nightshade's mysteries were created to be solved fairly easily by the reader. At least two of the most essential mysteries to the premise of the novel, I had solved before I had completed half of the book. Is this Anthony Horowitz's new way of keeping us drawn in? To have us solve certain mysteries before Alex Rider and MI6? I would much rather learn there are more dimensions to the world that Alex Rider lives in that we are still not aware of.

this book was the best alex rider book yet!! I read this book in less than 12 hours it was so good. the story was great. the characters were amazing and the longer length was great! I highly recommend this book!

Best book to read when relaxingGood thriller

Bought the book as a gift. Thicker than I thought it would be. Definitely is a book.

Eine tolle und spannende Fortsetzung der Alex Rider Bücher. Ein neuer Gegenspieler, der es dem jungen Spion nicht einfach machen wird.Ich bin gespannt wie es weitergeht...Dieses Buch ist in Englisch und es ist einfach zu lesen.Ich habe es förmlich verschlungen.

Can you believe its has been 20 yrs since the first Alex Rider book (Stormbreaker) was published and the series is still going strong.In this new instalment Alex is just returning from a trip with Jack and is looking forward to getting back to school now that he is no longer working for MI6, however on the other side of the world (in Rio) a agent of MI6 is investigating a terrorist organisation known as Nightshade who are planning a attack that is going to take place in London however he is murdered (by two teenage assassins) while he his delivering the message to MI6. However the secret service were able to capture one of the teenagers and bring him in for questioning (however they are unable to learn anything )With Mrs Jones under pressure by the ministry of defensive (who has learnt about Alex's previous cases) and who seems to have a personal connection to this case will she be able to persuade Alex to do one more mission by going into the prison where the assassin is being held, befriend him so he can learn about the attack and prevent it from happening.This is other action pack novel which has a brilliant climax (which looks like a scene from the latest Mission Impossible movie).I grow up with the Alex Rider novels and although I am no longer the target audience (now being an adult) I'm still a big fan and fully enjoy this series.Fans of the series will not be disappointment and will be carving for the next instalment.I would recommend reading some of the series past books meanly Point Blanc and Scorpia to refresh yourselves as the events of those books are covered in this book.Fully recommend this book and the series.

When my life gets too stressed I always like a good fast-paced read to chill out. Alex Rider did that for me!Very intriguing and enjoyable. Also well written, as Horowitz's books are. I enjoy this book at 80. I don't know if it was designed for teenagers like the hero, Alex.