I love the Alex Rider books, I think that they are a great series which is very exhilarating and enjoyable to read through and I love the characters and plots of each book. This book feels like a follow on rather than a prequel because it does recount things which happen within the Rider books, but it also feels like an older and more mature storyline than that of Alex. I'm not going to lie, I didn't realise this was a prequel until I actually started reading it. Usually I intensively study a blurb before I read the actual book, but in this case I didn't bother since either way I was going to read it - it's Alex Rider so, obviously. So yeah, I was pretty surprised when it was suddenly in first person from the perspective of Yassen Gregorovich at age 14 - before Alex was even born. Conclusion: While everything that happens to Yassen leads to his becoming an assassin, it really isn't until the very end that we see what major event truly made him turn. And it is perhaps the most depressing moment in the whole book. It's also the most satisfying; the entire time, I really wanted Yassen to be able to get his revenge against Sharkovsky. We're not disappointed. I was thrilled with Russian Roulette. My favorite character finally got his own book! And it was amazing! It made me love his character more than ever, and it explained a lot about him and about John Rider. I wasn't expecting it to be so emotional, but it was, and it really couldn't have been any other way.

But Yassen did not reveal John to his superiors for two reasons - one, John had saved his life. Two, although he worked for them, Yassen hated Scorpia, and didn't care what happened to them. Why should we adults be given rubbish written by Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer etc. when children are given pearls like this? I don't like spoilers, so won't get too specific, but I assume the reader is familiar with Yassen from Stormbreaker, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, and Snakehead. In this book, Yassen and John Rider's relationship and their time with Scorpia simply isn't in sync with the other books, especially with Snakehead and the story Alex's godfather Ash tells about Malta. This book was everything and more! I absolutely love the Alex Rider series and although I can't really say it's because it was 'my childhood series' (because I started reading them at 13 years old and finished at 15 last year) they are as close as it gets to that. Therefore I have such a strong attachment to this series and these characters and strangely as this is a companion novel following a very minor character from the Alex Rider series, who definitely is not a hero within that series, I found myself so emotionally invested in this book and in his story. This is book number 10 in the Alex Rider series but in actuality it recounts events which happen before the series even begins. This is the story of one of the bad guys from Alex's adventures, his name is Yassen Gregorovitch. Everyone knows the story of Alex and how he was badgered into becoming a spy, but no one knows how Yassen ended up in his line of work - a hired killer - and their stories are not too far apart from one another.

The Story of an Assassin

Believability: No complaints, except one: Yassen's narration is supposed to be his journal, and his journal is written in Russian; yet he defines Russian words several times. Why would he do that in his own private journal when Russian is his native language? When Ian Rider died at the hands of the assassin Yassen Gregorovich, Alex, ready or not, was thrust into the world of international espionage--the world's only teenage spy. Alex vowed revenge against Yassen and the two have battled ever since. Yet, years ago, it was none other than Alex's own father who trained and mentored Yassen, turning him into the killer he would eventually become. What's impressive about Anthony Horowitz's new book, `Russian Roulette', is that, for me, the answer to all those questions is yes. Horowitz has created a powerful and original story in which the bad guy is not only the `hero', but also someone you wish you could save. And the title. Russian Roulette. It's perfect. It makes me think as much as the complex moral and philosophical questions this book raised.

In fact, Malta is completely ignored in this book. I've made allowances in the past with the other books when a few small details don't match up between them, but this one I can't. Mdina is such an integral part of canon. Yassen and John are supposed to be partners, all the way until their assignment in Malta 'goes bad'. It's the motive behind Ash's actions in Snakehead, the motive in Eagle Strike for Yassen telling Alex about Scorpia in the first place. It makes the chapter 'Power Plus' in this book simply hard to accept. But when he finally escapes being a slave, it's only because an assassin made a mistake. And then Yassen finds himself caught up in that world and still, it seems to be the only thing he can do to survive, right? Obviously, once you're in too deep, you can't just 'leave' an organisation like Scorpia... This is technically book 10 in the Alex Rider series, although it follows the story of Yassen Gregorovich - an assassin who works for Scorpia.I know this is rambly but I just need to talk about John for a minute. John is a spy, deep undercover in Scorpia as an agent. He gets teamed up with a new recruit and realises that this kid does not have the heart for killing people. Yes, part of him is surely like 'undermine Scorpia by ruining their new recruit's confidence'. BUT DO NOT EVEN TRY TO TELL ME that a big part of it is not just John trying to help out Yassen. Don't even gets me started on the actual 'Russian Roulette' game because I don't think I can talk about it. It was so awful.

The character I fell the most sympathy for is also Yassen Gregorovich as his friend, parents and grandmother died when he was young. Also he worked as a slave in Russia, Moscow for around 3 years.Some may question the morality of a children's book that makes young readers empathise so strongly with a contract killer, but I found Horowitz's exploration of what might cause a child to grow up to become a deadly assassin to be sensitively handled and one of the reasons why, for me, this is the best book he's written. And what if that 14 year-old boy was Alex Rider, one of the best-loved heroes of children’s literature? The story of Yassen begins in Russia and his life is fairly regular to start off. He has a mother and father, lives in a small town, and he has friends he spends his days with. He's a rather unremarkable young boy, but suddenly one day things change for him, and everything that he thought was his life is severely tested. He's thrown into a whirlwind of events that are out of his control, and it's not hard to see why he ended up as he did. I think this recap is just what the series needed, and it's an excellent companion story for the Rider books. I highly recommend this to everyone who's read the other 9 books of the series, and even for those who haven't, it's the perfect place to start! the series comes fully circle. This is the beginning of Alex's journey as well, since it involves his father somewhat Of course, I was excited for the other Alex books, but I was still waiting and waiting for this, and it's finally here!

Could anyone else have made a paid assassin into a sympathetic character for young readers? I doubt it. But Horowitz pulls it off. We follow the young Yassen on his journey through life, from the disaster which destroys everything he knows, including his parents, his best friend and his grandmother, to his becoming one of the most successful killers in the world. And that journey is appalling. But, somehow, Yassen retains his humanity through most of it.All that sadness. All that anger. It is the smoke that gets into your eyes. If you do not blow it away, how can you hope to see? The Alex Rider novels have always fascinated me with their pulpy thriller writing. It's much like reading Matthew Reilly (without the expletives and really high-stakes escapes) and I definitely believe there is a place for this type of fiction in the market. Some may look at it and go: 'does it teach anything? Does it uplift at all?' Interestingly, this is a book that certainly for all the thrill and racing plot, does have a moral lesson. It is a book about good and evil being existent in the choices made by individuals. The style is slightly different from the rest of the series as most of it is written in first person instead of third person, but it's still a really enjoyable read! This book was really different because even though this book is set in the same world it follows a different character a main character who is a villain. This novella is focused on Yassen Gregorovich and it follows his life from when he was younger right up until the time he became the assassin that we know from the main series.