Stormbreaker
by

Antony Horowitz

Review of Book

"Meet Alex Ryder, the reluctant teenage spy…. When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, the 14-yr old finds his world turned upside down. Within days he's gone from schoolboy to superspy. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training exercises. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission…" - so says the book's back cover.

And in this James Bond-style adventure for kids, there's plenty of tense action throughout. Alex finds himself in many far-fetched and improbable (to adult readers at least) situations - just the kind of thing to enthral younger readers, especially with Nat doing the reading.

Although some of the MI6 characters do seem rather dated in today's world, there are several references to bullying at school, which is still very much a current problem.

Review of Nat's Reading

In keeping with the content of the story and its target audience, he uses a steady and consistent style with a serious edge, that suits the content perfectly.

Among his accents are German and Lebanese, and the highlight is his wonderful characterisation of 'Smithers' - MI6's gadgets and gizmos man - on whom he bestows an elderly, plummy voice that has shades of Prince Charles about it.

And Nat's 'Prime Minister' also has a very uncanny resemblance to Tony Blair!

Published by
Chivers Children's Audiobooks

ISBN 0754065421 on CD

0754052524 on Cassette

September 2001

Complete and Unabridged

Running time 4hrs 34mins approx