Of course I love all the other ones and i loved reading this one, i think mainly because the evil character in this one is so different and scary sounding and the way Major Yu dies is so gruesome! That is the set-up of the book, but due to their plans constantly going wrong Alex actually spends VERY little time actively pretending to be a refugee (and thank god for that).

Snakehead - Anthony Horowitz - Google Books Snakehead - Anthony Horowitz - Google Books

The author tried to make it personal by bringing Ash into the mix but I don't think that really added anything-Horowitz needs to go in a new direction with Alex. This edition had the bonus chapter 'Coda' telling us how 'it' happened. Although it did flesh out the As usual, quite an unbelievable story. Wierd, hard to grab at places, obvious and childish at others. And setting mind to work, as always xD. What goes up must come down, and when we last saw Alex Rider, he was as up as can be—in outer space. When he crash lands off the coast of Australia, the Australian Secret Service recruits him to infiltrate one of the ruthless gangs operating across South East Asia. Known as snakeheads, the gangs smuggle drugs, weapons, and worst of all, people. Alex accepts the assignment, in part for the chance to work with his godfather and learn more about his parents. What he uncovers, however, is a secret that will make this his darkest and most dangerous mission yet . . . and that his old nemesis, Scorpia, is anything but out of his life.Alex seemed to be coming around to MI6. I really thought he was warming to the idea of becoming a full-time operative-he was anxious about returning to school (a place he OBVIOUSLY doesn't belong). The author undoes this good work at the end of the book as he enjoys school once more. Snakehead follows Alex Rider has he tries to take down a human smuggling ring... disguised as an Afghan refugee child. Complete with painting his entire body and fake rotting teeth. So pretty early on you realize you're in for an uncomfortable reading experience.

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz | Waterstones

This is kinda a weird complaint to add on here, but they are told that they don't need to worry about the body paint (ugh) washing off unless they bathe (and obviously refugees never wash, at least not in the Alex Rider universe, so that's not a problem...), but they specifically end up soaking wet multiple times. Alex swims through a river, ends up drenched in rain, and I understand that it's not the same as scrubbing yourself with soap, but you would think that at some point he worries about it washing off and at least tries to look himself in a mirror? No, it's never brought up. It's just poor writing. I really enjoyed this novel. I was always on the edge of my seat, it was hard to put down. It was full of action and suspense, and I was never bored reading it. There was almost never a time when there was a dull moment, it was always interesting. I give it five out of five stars. There's a particular scene near the end that really grossed me out, but I won't say what because it's a spoiler. This poor kid. These government figures really mess around with him and play these mind games with him and THEY DON'T EVEN PAY HIM. In Australia, Ethan Brooke, head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), coerces Alex into helping him by pairing him with agent Ash, who was his godfather and once his father's best friend, to investigate the powerful Snakehead Ring under Winston Yu, after two failed attempts to infiltrate the organization. Alex then travels to Bangkok, Thailand where he meets Ash. He explains that he and Alex will take on the identities of Afghan refugees who have paid the Snakehead to smuggle them into Australia. Throughout their journey they are to identify key members of the Snakehead and find out their operations. The seventh novel in the Alex Rider series begins just seconds after the end of book 6, Ark Angel. Alex soon finds himself in Australia and is given the option of working with the Australian Secret Service. Due to his previous outings with MI6 and the CIA, he is very much against the idea. But when he finds out he would be working with the man who was his father’s best friend and who was there at his death, the chance to learn the details of what happened is just too much for Alex to pass up.Alex finally got his hands on a gun, which was refreshing. But..guess what? He missed, lol. Not that it sonds unlikely. A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands…. I was an astoundingly large, round child…." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution. Definitely the worst book in the series so far. This should have stayed in the drafts. Mostly because of how uncomfortably racist it is. sentence that described the scene a little, it didn't really tell us anything already stated or implied in the original sentence, except perhaps add a little ambiguity to certain things. The eighth book is entitled 'Yassen' and revolves around the life of this esteemed assassin. Theories are that he's still alive-in my opinion that's the only twist that could make it worth reading, otherwise it would just be a history of his life-yawn.

Anthony Horowitz Books | Waterstones Anthony Horowitz Books | Waterstones

My thoughts about the Alex Rider series changed with every book I read. The first book, Stormbreaker, gave me shivers and totaly amazed me. The second book, Point Blanc, was interesting and I felt weird while I read it, although the end was very good. The third book, Skeleton Key, didn't have much action, but the end was a very cool part. The fourth book, Eagle Strike, was a favorite in the Alex Rider series, and I enjoyed how things played out through the end. The fifth book, Scorpia, was had lots of mystery in it and Alex did some things that were very stupid and I didn't like most of the beginning. But, in the end, it turned out to be a cool book. The sixth book, Arch Angel was alright, not one of the best ones. It was really cheesey and not one of the better ones.Meanwhile, the criminal organization SCORPIA, as part of their mission to assassinate eight celebrities due to host a conference to rival the G8 summit on Reef Island, an island off the north-west coast of Australia, breaks into a Ministry of Defense weapons research centre and steals a prototype bomb code-named "Royal Blue", known to be more powerful and devastating than the daisy cutter.

Alex Rider 7 - Snakehead - Weebly Alex Rider 7 - Snakehead - Weebly

I was a bit uncomfortable with some of the themes in this one (particularly where Alex dressed up as an Afghan refugee for a mission), but it really showcased the time when this book was published. Anthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as "The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century." (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009. Snakehead is the seventh book in the Alex Rider series written by Anthony Horowitz. It stars Alexander "Alex" Rider, who is a teenaged MI6 agent. I don't pretend to have any idea as to how spec ops operate, but: a delicate mission like this and they build a crew of the most experienced 20-yer-olds?? Knives only?? I mean, come on! Surely there are some crossbows, army-issued pneumatic guns, what not. It seemed that everything was building up to 'Scorpia' and after its cataclysmic ending there just had to be a wrap-up book-but Snakehead... kinda boring.I also think that this one had some good commentary happening surrounding government and some other issues in relation with the government. The highly successful Alex Rider novels include Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Skeleton Key, and the recent Eagle Strike. We also learn in this one that Alex has a god father who was his fathers best friend and they are soon put on a mission together. I was really hoping things would look up for Alex and he would finally have a good family member who he could trust and actually have to be in his life boy was i wrong. Ash who like Alex was working with MI6 turns out to be a double agent and in fact working for scorpia. Just please can something go right for Alex? can we have someone come into his life who's not trying to kill him for once just once please. Snakehead is the seventh novel in the Alex Rider series written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in Australia on 28 September 2007, in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2007, and in the US on 13 November 2007. The title comes from the name given to Asian gangs involved in people smuggling illegal passports, visas, weapons, and more. Snakehead takes place directly after the events of Ark Angel, with Alex finding himself in Australian waters where he landed at the end of that story.