Scorpia Rising - Chapter 2: Measure of Pain

This is the first book in this series in which Horowitz has really strayed from the normal structure. This is the first time that the second chapter in a row is not about Alex, and indeed the first eight or so chapters will not be: it says in the contents that this is 'Part 1: Scorpia' and the next will be 'Part 2: Alex'. I wonder why Horowitz has done it like this. I suppose he had a lot of back story which he needed to convey for this story to work, and rather than interject them at different points in the story like usual, he's going to bunch them together. The question is, will this all take place before Alex's part starts or will they overlap? The latter might be quite interesting, though I don't know how exactly he'd do it. It's interesting to find out more about Scorpia and into the minds of those who control it. I can only assume this will come in highly important in the coming events...

Before I get into what happens in this chapter, I just want to talk about the synopsis - if you can call it that. It has got me thinking a lot. This is what it says:

Alex Rider wants his life back. But when you're the world's most successful spy, there's only one way out. Alex's final mission will be the deadliest of all.

One bullet. One life. The end starts here.

Ok, great, that really makes Alex's situation sound promising doesn't it? Let's break it down shall we?

• "Alex Rider wants his life back" - sooo maybe he really is being left alone by MI6 but the damage done by his previous missions is taking their toll and he can't cope well in the normal world. That would be heartbreaking, because all he ever wanted was to be a normal school boy.
• "...there's only one way out" - well that just sounds like death doesn't it? How else can that be interpreted?? Unless it's kill every enemy he's EVER made! Which brings us to the next point...
• "One bullet. One life. The end starts here" - aside from that being the coolest line in the history of everything except Harry Potter (because, let's face it, Harry Potter is on another level to everything else) - this sounds INCREDIBLY ominous. I mean, "One bullet" - is that a bullet to kill Alex or a bullet for Alex to kill with? "One life" - Alex's, or someone else's?

This brings up the interesting topic of whether Alex will actually be able to kill. We went through it in Scorpia and at that point therewas no real way he could kill. Now though, he has been through so much more, seen horrors most of us can't even imagine, and has been damaged maybe beyond repair. Has he changed enough to be able to kill? I wonder what that would mean for the series? He started off as a boy who's uncle had just died, and will he really end up a killer? Not to mention the message Horowitz is sending to his readers. Of course, he wouldn't be making murder ok, but he'd be turning their hero, the one who always stands up for what he believes in and saves the world rather than turn over and ignore everything, into a cold killer. He'd be turning him into Alan Blunt. And I don't know who could recover from that.



Moving into chapter two then. This chapter tells us about Razim, the man who has been assigned the project of taking the Elgin Marbles from England, and it is clear instantly that there is something seriously wrong with him. Born in Iraq he knew he was different from a young age, as his terrible tantrums and violent attacks drove three Nannys away. He soon realised that he was different because he felt absolutely no emotion. To test this, he strangled his dog.

This is an eight year old child.



That is just wrong.

So he does amazingly at school, but then Saddam Hussein takes over and his parents host a secret meeting to decide how to get rid of him. Razim records the meeting. He hands it over to the police. They shoot his parents.


This is some seriously twisted stuff here, probably far worse than Horowitz has ever gone before.

When Razim is being thanked by the police chief it is noted that, "he had the face of waxwork, eyes that could have been made out of glass. There was no warmth or curiosity. There was nothing at all." He is sent to a foster family and does well in everything, goes to university and then gets asked to join Iraq's terrifying secret service. Following comes a slowly expanding picture of this man and his hideous rise to power. He has allegiance with no one, cares for nothing and is completely and utterly ruthless. I think I can safely say that he could be Alex's most dangerous enemy, one that he might not even escape from.

Some men have found it difficult to comprehend fighting a teenage boy, but I am 100% sure that Razim wouldn't hesitate to kill a baby, and therefore I'm taking what the synopsis says as completely true: this really does seem like it will be Alex's deadliest mission yet.

But oh, wait, don't worry, Horowitz is not finished - he's just preparing to write something that will no doubt give me nightmares for years to come.

We go back to the present-day Razim, a man hidden away from his enemies in a desert fort, hiding a terrible secret. In a room which used to be a chapel he has some kind of lab with computers and scientific equipment. In the middle of the room is a man strapped to a chair. This man, we are told, is a French spy who came a step too close to finding out where Razim is hiding. Razim explains to the man that he's always wanted to invent something. He says that there is a measurement for nearly everything: temperature, pressure, weight, watts etc; and he has realised that there is no measurement for pain.

Oh great.

The thing is, everyone reacts differently to pain because everyone is slightly different, but wouldn't it be much easier if you could go to a doctor and give them a specific amount of pain you're experiencing so they can help you better?  But of course, Razim needs to do tests. And that's what he's going to do on this poor man. As he's getting his tools ready he thinks how he really should test this on a woman to make sure he doesn't leav anything out. And of course, if one comes his way, a teenager.

Crap.

SCORPIA RISING - Chapter 1: Stolen Gods

It's finally here! The final book of the terrifyingly suspenseful Alex Rider series. I'm going to have to savour this moment, because soon I will know all! Not that there seem to be that many secrets in this series, unlike Harry Potter, but I will bet my broomstick that there will be some twists on the way!

Let's talk about the title shall we? So we know that Alex pretty much decimated Scorpia in books 5 and 7 (Scorpia and Snakehead), making them look like idiots to be beated by a fourteen-year-old. The thing we've learnt about them in the past is that they NEVER fail. And to have failed twice in one year is humiliating enough even without the knowledge that their downfall was caused by a boy. Soooo I'm guessing that the title is saying that this novel is about their redeeming act: something that they do now is suppoesed to re-boot their reputation and see them shoot back up to being the 'Master of Crime' type thing. Which if course is definitely NOT good.

Chapter one, Stolen Gods, is not from Alex's point of view. I suppose I should have been expecting this as most of the books start with someone different, but I was so eager to find out what's happening there that I was a bit disappointed. At first. Because then Horowitz reminded me why I like his writing and his books so much.

It opens on Zeljan Kurst (how do you say that btw? Is it Zel-yan??), the new chief exec. of Scorpia *booooohiss*. He's getting off a plane and doesn't know that he's being watched. At first, before they mentioned the whole Scorpia thing, I thought he'd be another murder victim, as we've had in so many of these books, who ges killed by the bad guy and we don't find out the significance till later. But no, definitely not. We are told that he is being followed by MI6, that they could have killed him straight away in the airport but "it had been decided, at the very highest level, to follow him and see where he went". So that means Mr Blunt. Does this mean is job's secure? Or is this event possibly overlapping the last book and the Dam disaster hasn't happened yet? Interesting.

His taxi pulls up outside the British Museum (a pretty awesome museum in my opinion) and the MI6 operatives following him get worried because it's going to be difficult to find him inside and they can't confront him in such a public place because there's no knowing what he might do. As they call for reinforcements we follow him through the museum. He walks past all the artifacts in the museum, the statues of Greek gods, the Turkish temple, the lions and exotic animals, and I was thinking that it doesn't seem very British does it? They call it the British Museum and yet it's filled with things from other countries. I've been there various times and seen the Egyptian Mummies and pieces from the Greek Parthenon and Roman statues and all this stuff, and so little is from Britain. I guess it dates back to the Victorian era when there was a surge in colonialisation and the British ventured to so many different countries and took souveniers back which they never returned. It does seem quite selfish.

That leads on very nicely to the man Kurst is going to meet. He's a man called Yannis Ariston Xenopolos, and he's very ill. He's waiting in the room containing the Elgin Marbles. I googled these and it said on the British Museum's website that they're relics taken by Lord Elgin between 1801-5 from the Parthenon in Athens. They were then bought by the government and presented to the British Museum. I'll get back to that later. So Kurst and Xenopolos greet each other, and it's evident that the latter is slowly dying. He's in a wheelchair and has an oxygen mask and I predict that he'll die by the end of the book (don't laugh if I'm wrong!!)

He remarks to Kurst the beauty and magnitude of these works of art, lamenting Greece's loss. He tells how they were stolen from Greece, how the country begged to have them back but were refused every time. It was evident that he wanted Scorpia to return the Marbles to their rightful country, adn to be honest I agreed with him. What right to we have to keep them? They're not ours, never have been and belong in Greece, so why have they been in our country for over two hundred years? Don't get me wrong, it's wondeful to have them here but surely if Greece want them they should get them right? For once I'm actually agreeing with who I'm assuming is the villain (well, one of). Unfortunately Kurst points out that if Scorpia steal them and give them to Greece, Britain will likely demand them back and suggests blackmail, to which Xenopolos replies, "You can kill half the population of this loathsome country if it will achieve what I want".

Too far Xeno, too far.

May have lost a lot of sympathy for him there.

Xenopolos then reveals that he knows of Scorpia's humiliations recently (though not about Alex) and wasn't prepared to pay more than £10 million. But Kurst says how they have re-grouped, taken on new people and are "stronger than ever". Greeeeat. They agree on more and part. This is where things start to go wrong for MI6.

On Kurst's way out he is confronted with a young, inexperienced MI6 agent who gives the game away and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. A load of people who were mentioned in passing earlier in the chapter turn out to be Scorpia people in disguise. I suppose I should have guessed - Scorpia never do anything by halves and we know from earlier books that they're masters of camouflage and disguise. As more and more Scorpia/MI6 people work out what's happening they begin to shoot at each other, terrorising the public and allowing Kurst to escape. As he jumped into his taxi unscathed my heart sank. It seemed a dead cert from the beginning of this chapter that by the end he would be, well, dead, and I didn't expect MI6 to fluff it.

That's something I've been noticing very gradually throughout the series. At first, and for a while they ran tightly, efficiently and left without a trace. But more and more MI6 have slipped up, betrayed themselves and got things wrong. It started in Eagle Strike when Alex was onto Damien Cray but Blunt refused to listen. Then because of the way they'd treated him he tried to join Scorpia, nearly resulting in the death of Mrs Jones. In Snakehead someone who they thought was on their side ended up betraying them, and in the last book they barely managed to stop a famine that shouldn't even have nearly happened. Most importantly though is the fact that they're relying more and more on the instincts and luck of Alex Rider, a teenager, who should have nothing to do with them. As Blunt said at the end of Scorpia, "there's something seriously wrong with the security of a country if they have to rely on a teenage boy". What the Prime Minister said about getting rid of Mr Blunt, although I had my reservations, I now see may actually not be the worst thing that could happen. Obviously I don't know if anyone can fill his shoes, but he does seem to be losing his touch. At the beginning he was so cold, like a corpse, and now he's made grave mistakes. The only thing I can think of that's changed is his 'fondness' (or whatever you can call it) for Alex. You don't think that could be the factor that has caused all this could it? (Rhetorical question, don't say if you know!)

CROCODILE TEARS, THE FINAL CHAPTER: Chapter 24 - Soft Centre

Woooah this chapter was insanely short! Not at all what I'd expected. Like I said yesterday, I thought there'd at least be some kind of de-briefing from MI6, but there was nothing of the sort. Not that we witness anyway.

The whole thing is from Jack's point of view and is of when she goes to visit Alex in hospital back in England. She meets Mrs Jones outside his room and for the umpteenth time tells her that Alex cannot be treated like this any more. This involvement has GOT to stop. She must feel so useless: she knows she has no power over MI6, that they have few qualms about using Alex again and again, and Jones outright says that she can't guarantee that Alex won't be used. She does give the assurance that she hopes he never is used again, but we know from past books that her reservations have never stopped Blunt. In the past he has used Alex against Mrs Jones's will, but now I'm wondering if he will do this again. That one admission earlier in the book that he wanted Alex safe is, I feel, very significant. This man hardly ever shows concern for anything and for him to say that he's worried about Alex seems to be his way of saying that he is perhaps fond of him. So now I wonder if he will be prepared to leave Alex alone.

Jack gets Alex's room number and is told that it's the same room as the one he was in at the beginning of Ark Angel. She is about to enter the room when she recognises the nurse leaving it as the same one from Ark Angel. I'm still trying to work out the significance of these details. Is it a kind of foreshadowing for the plot of the final book? Is one of the charcter from a previous mission (namely the one in AA) going to return? Or is it some way of suggesting that working in MI6 is like running in a circle: you always end up in the same place. In this case it's hospital, and maybe it's saying that if Alex doesn't get out soon, he could end up in a much worse condition. I don't know, but I'm sure this is more than coincidence - Blunt said in one of the books that, "I don't believe in coincidence", so now I'm suspicious...

When Jack sees Alex she can tell he's in a terrible state. Although he's awake and sitting up, his burns are bad and he's been taken off painkillers so that he doesn't get addicted. They talk and I was pleased to see that Jack wasn't cross with him: she knows that none of this is Alex's fault but sometimes she gets cross because she's so worried. Alex really needs her full support now, and we can tell how badly damaged he is on the inside. I don't think he's ever going to recover.

Jack then reminds Alex of something that made me slightly worried. She reminds him that it's his birthday next week - something he'd completely forgotten - and he's going to be fifteen. Now, I once read an interview with Horowitz saying that to finish the series Alex would either die or turn fifteen. So obviously he's fifteen in a few days, so if Horowitz stuck to his guns Alex's final mission will take place in the next few days... which could be seriously damaging for him because of his fragile state; but I am now worried that he may actually have a very real chance of dying here. This really is the last book and what's to stop Horowitz doing the 'easy' thing and killing him? JK Rowling once said that by bringing Harry back to life in Deathly Hallows she was making him to the harder, more heroic thing: he;d faced death, then had the chance to go on to exist peacefully but instead went back to the pain and uncertainty of living. He had to rebuild his and others' lives and live with the horrors of what he had seen and the guilt of all those people dying for him. That has to be the harder, more heroic option.

Crocodile Tears  ends here, and with only one book to go I really don't know what is going to happen. The next book is called Scorpia Rising and this is evidently the worst thing that could happen because Scorpia are terrifyingly ruthless and awful and have Alex as Undesirable Number 1.

What I do know however is that I LOVE THESE BOOKS and I really need to savour this last one, because it's not this often that I get to read a series as thrilling and captivating as this for the first time.

(Extra note: I may not have time to do a poston wednesday because I have to go to Uni to sort out the house I'm living in next year and it takes ages to get there and back and I won't have internet, but I'll do my best!!)

Crocodile Tears - Chapter 24: Unhappy Landing

I just realised that I didn't do a review for Chapter 22 - I obviously read it and never reviewed it! I don't know how many of you have read the book already and know what happens, but basically Alex leaves Rahim, taking his bomb and planning to put it at the base of this huge dam in the hope of the leaking water flooding the infected field. He then is cornered by a load of McCain's men who want to kill him, and that's where Chapter 23 started.

But this post is for Chapter 24 and I can safely say I was not expecting this. I assumed that because there were only two chapters left we would see Alex back in London being debriefed by Blunt and Jones, see him with Jack and see her being worried about the damage done to him by his latest mission and then there would be some kind of concluding thing that leads up to the next, and final, book.

Was I wrong or was I wrong???

I never imagined that things would still be bursting out at me like the water from the exploded dam, but oh yeah, they are. I can imagine Anthony Horowitz sitting back in his chair right now, cackling evilly at my state of innocence. Yes, right now, because of course he knows exactly when I am reading his book. Sort of. Anyway, yeah, pretty much terrified and worked up by this chapter.

Again we start almost exactly where we left off, Alex is in the plane with Rahim having just climbed up the rope, using the very last scraps of strength left. I'll say it again, but I really admire him for his strength and determination and the fact that he never gives up and forces himself to go on (yes, I know he's a fictional character, just go with it). Horowitz tells us how much pain Alex is in and you just want to wrap him up in bubblewrap and feed him hot chocolate :((

Rahim begins to land the plane in an ordinary airstrip which is occupied by a few tourists etc, and at this point my main concern was their reaction to these two people who must look like they've been beaten up - but how very wrong I was. Rahim begins to shout at Alex for the damage he's done, by being stupid and not thinking through his actions (btw I swear all adults seem to blame Alex when things go wrong... links back to what I was saying yesterday about the relationship between child and adult: they just don't seem to be able to accept that maybe he was right all along.) Admittedly Alex has done a lot of damage which will likely have huge ramifications on the Kenyan and British governments, but I can't see this affecting the final book. Anyway, just as Rahim is shouting at Alex there's this huge bamg and he is shot. Looking past the spattering of blood, Alex spots Desmond McCain.

Know what? In the chaos of the last couple of chapters I had forgotten about him completely. I knew he wasn't dead, but I just forgot that he would be a tad peeved at Alex for messing up his *super evil plan*... Well done Horowitz, well played. Erm so McCain is obviously crazy, and he demands that Alex come down from the plane, KNEEL infront of him and let him shoot him.

There's something about the fact that he wants him to kneel down that is so awful. Obviously there's the whole power thing: Alex, this young boy has beated Desmond McCain, one of the most powerful men in Britian (and the world?), and to be able to look down, to physically stand above him would be satisfying. But also, I thought that this act of being above him kind of puts him in the position of God. We know that McCain is a converted Christian so religious imagery is very important to him, and I imagine he'd relish the chance to play God. Of course, this idea combined with the act of killing a child is some kind of perverse twist and just highlights the madness within him. Finally, Alex's kneeling position mirrors that of when a person prays, and this is probably seen by McCain as a prayer for mercy, begging McCain not to kill him, which only makes the whole set-up more humiliating because we know that Alex would never grovel to a man like this.

Can you tell I'm an English student..?

Onward! Alex manages to distract McCain by spraying something in his face, then jumps out of the plane, landing badly and twisting his ankle. PLEASE ALEX COULD YOU JUST BE A BIT MORE CAREFUL I AM ALMOST CRYING IN SUSPENSE HERE!!! He hobbles off to hide behind some fuel tanks, but McCain is following. Alex knocks one over and slowly rolls it toward McCain who stops it with his foot. At this point I knew that Alex was unable to run away and knew that he was weak, but couldn't understand why he just stood there and watched McCain. And then the explosion went off.


Horowitx points out that Alex's stuck his last remaining gadget from Smithers, the pen, WHICH I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT - BRAVO - to the side of the fuel tank. Petrol is highly flammable, obvs, so when the pen exploded the petrol did too, taking McCain with it.

The description of him catching fire is particularly haunting and fitting:

"One moment McCain was taking aim, the next he had disappeared in a pillar of flame that roared into the sky. It really was like a judgement from Heaven."

Need I say more about the religious imagery there?

Alex runs from the explosion, though catches fire as he's still too close. That was something I've always hated (people being burned alive) and I'm very glad that Horowitz didn't let it go further than that, or I would have had nightmares for a week. Alex is passing out from exhaustion but registers being picked up and put on a stretcher, so he's FINALLY being taken care of, and the chapter ends.

Final chapter tomorrow guys!!

SORRY AGAIN! And Crocodile Tears: Chapter 23 - The Third Day

Wow. I am so sorry. If anybody is still reading this and not given up hope!! I don't really have an excuse, I went on holiday and had lots of work, but recently I've not been doing much and I guess I've been getting lazy and haven't been bothered. BUT never fear, I'm back with gusto and ready to FINISH CROCODILE TEARS!! There are only three chapters left, but next is the final book in the Alex Rider series, so very excited for that one!

Ok, so heeeere we go...

Obviously, after that mahoosive break I didn't have the plot fresh in my mind, so it was like a bomb had dropped on me the minute I started reading. Some planes from the British govt. have been sent to bomb the fields containing the poisonous spores and we know from a few chapters ago that there is a likely chance that this will simply blow the spores into the air so they drift over to another field and the danger is still imminent. Horowitz's portrayal of authority (and a great many adult characters, for that matter) throughout the series has never been a positive one. I've often wondered if he's conveying some kind of anti-establishment sentiments, and then I was reading someone else's blog earlier today - someone who's reading The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (http://markreads.net/reviews/) - and they were talking about how those books realy highlight that moment when children realise that adults lie. A lot. Sometimes it's genuinely for their own good, other times for malicious intent. The child realises that adults aren't all-knowing, that they do make mistakes and that they're not always good. Does this series highlight this as well? We all know how much MI6 have lied to Alex in the past to make him work for them, and now I'm thinking that Horowitz is more focusing on the relationship or comparison between child and adult rather than commenting on the corrupt workings of government.

The narrative skips quickly back to Alex, where we left him, climbing up a ladder after setting off a bomb that should destroy the dam and flood the field, hopefully killing all the spores. But of course, life is never simple for Alex Rider. As the Kikuyu tribesmn close in he has no way of escape and, again, I didn't know how he would get out of it. Dun dun duuuuun. And then he sees one climbing down the lader from above. So he's pretty much screwed. And then he thinks about his funeral and it doesn't bode well for him (despite the fact that I know there's another book to come...) Seriously things keep coming at him, it's like a neverending avalanche of awfulness that is threatening to engulf him and he's just managing to keep his head above it. Will things ever be good again???

When another Kikuyu man throws a spear at Alex he grabs it and throws it at the man climbing down the ladder, injuring him, and THEN his bomb goes off, ripping apart the foundations of the dam and giving way to the phenomenal amount of pressure from all that water. It smashes the men on the ground to pieces instantly, and the force of the explosion shakes the whole damn, leading the injured tribesman to fall to his death. Fortunately Alex manages to hang on, and slowly continues to climb to the top of the dam to safety. Thinking about everything Alex has been through it reaslly is amazing how he keeps up the strength to carry on. I mean, he spent the night barely sleeping in the anticipation of his looming torture, he was then suspended over some hungry crocodiles, after finally being rescued he has had to run three miles to the damn over rocky terrain, fix a bomb in the right place and THEN escape from this bunch of men trying to kill him. Makes me feel like the biggest slob on the planet when I get tired after one session in the gym...

So then the weakness to the dam the explosion caused means that it starts to collapse, letting more water spurt out violently, and Alex's safety is again put to question. Seriously, can one person's life be in danger this many times in one day?? So glad I'm not Alex right now! Then he sees an aeroplane flying towards him trailing a rope which he catches onto, realising the plane is being flown by his ally Rahim, and he is flown to safety. Phew!

What really interested me was the last page or so. The narrative switches from Alex back to the Prime Minister's office. It was said earlier that this is a new PM and he evident;y isn't very well informed about everything that Alex has done and doesn't understand the sacrifices he's made for them. This bit brings back what I said earlier about the contrast between children and adults in this series. Alex acts so much older than his age, and so often the adults act like petty children. We've seen so many political officials be so stubborn and arrogant that they just can't accept that Alex is an exceptional person. They have to believe that, in the words of Miss Trunchbull from Matilda, "I'm big and you're small, I'm right and you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

In this case the PM has recieved feedback from his planes, saying that they couldn't find any fields in the specified area, only a lake. A lake. They'd obviously got there too late and seen the effects of Alex's work. Now the Prime Minister believes that one of two things happened: either MI6's information was inaccurate, or Alex Rider was lying.

OH MY GOSH THESE PEOPLE INFURIATE ME SO MUCH!!!!

WHY CAN'T YOU JUST CURL UP IN YOUR SOCK DRAWER AND NEVER COME OUT AGAIN? Seriously? Why are these people so obtuse? ARRRRGH. No adult EVER believes Alex. It's NOT FAIR.

What the PM goes on to say after that is interesting though and I wonder how it will affect the final book. He's thinking about bringing Alan Blunt into question because he has concerns with his judgement, wondering whether they need a new Head of MI6. Now I don't like Alan Blunt, but I know that he is good at his job. Would anyone be able to do it better? I don't know, but for certain it could mean huge things for Alex: would they use him again? If they didn't maybe it would be a good thing, but if they did then we could be looking at someone doesn't appreciate what he's done, isn't prepared to protect him and thinks of him as disposable as a used tissue. Something we have learned in this book is that Blunt DEFINITELY does care for Alex and wants to keep him safe. He really appreciates what Alex has done and knows that they cannot use him again. He's really developed from the cold, grey statue we once knew him as, and I bet this will come to be significant in the final book.

That very lengthy review should hopefully make up for the long silence! I will review the penultimate chapter tomorrow!!

Crocodile Tears - Chapter 21: Margin of Error

Well hi there, fancy seeing you here... long time no see, sorry about that! Anyway we are fully back to Mr Rider and only have four chapters to go after this one! That's the funny thing, we're so close to the end of the book and yet I still have no idea how on earth Alex is going to get out of this one - especially after this chapter!

This chapter was set back in England between Blunt, Jones and the new Prime Minister. I like these kind of chapters because, aside from the fact that I sometimes feel like I need a break from Alex's wild rollercoaster-ride of a life, it tends to give us more information, and usually calms us in the knowledge that MI6 are definitely doing something to help. I say usually because this is not always the case. Sometimes the cold-blooded Mr Blunt refuses to help Alex, assuming that he'll get out of it himself, which is why this chapter particularly surprised me.

I'm just going to jump straight into the middle of this chapter. Basically the Prime Minister is not that keen on having Alex as a spy, worrying more about the diplomatic ramifications of sending planes in to destroy the fields than the lives of hundreds of people: including Alex. Blunt goes on to say something next which I never expected to hear him say: "I want to know he's safe".


...


This man has sent Alex into life-threatening situations numerous times and has never shown any remorse, concern or emotion about doing so. His cold-blooded attitude stops emotions from getting in the way of these missions, and he has watched as Alex has been beaten, injured, nearly killed, without turning a hair. I thought it was amazing that this boy, who he so evidently disliked at the beginning of this series has one the admiration of a man who never seems to admire or be worried about anyone. It's a testament to how well Alex has done, in spite of the blackmail from MI6, that Alan Blunt actually respects him and wants him to survive. I thought that was a pretty major piece of character development there, and Mrs Jones even notices the change.

Most of this chapter is just discussion about what to do. They have all recieved Alex's message about what McCain is doing in Kenya and are working out how to stop it. Horowitz has never portrayed politicians in a positive light. They never react well to the idea of Alex, and I think that's pretty realistic: an adult who has worked hard to be where they are and knows their intelligence is unlikely to like being proven wrong by a child. You see it all the time in children's fiction - most notably in Harry Potter, where the reactions of characters like Cornelius Fudge and Dolores Umbridge (both politicians...) are negative when it comes to Harry trying to tell them they are wrong. In the Alex Rider books they nearly always make the wrong decisions, leaving Alex to sort it out himself.

Here the Prime Minister decides to bomb the fields which have been sprayed, hoping to destroy them that way. They know that Alex may be in the area but in their opinion they have no other choice. Mrs Jones point out that by blowing it up theycould just be spreading the spores further, and the Prime Minister refuses to listen to the risks. He seems determined not to do anything MI6 want: they suggested using flame-throwers which would be more effective in destroying the spores and therefore seem a far better solution, but still he turns a lind eye and goes with what his own men are telling him. It just seems like he's being soiteful for no reason and this could cost Kenya thousands or millions of lives.

He did say something that I whole-heartedly agree with however: he ordered that this be Alex's last mission, that he must return to school. You'd think if the PM ordered this, MI6 would have to obey, but I know there's another book, so I wonder what goes wrong...

The final 2 pages change scene: back in Kenya, McCain has discovered Bennett's foot, left by the crocodiles. Surprisingly he sheds a tear which, although he was her fiance, does seem strange. I could never really picture the two of them together. Anyway he finds Alex's torn shirt but realises it has NO BLOOD on it and works out that he must have escaped. He sends his men out, and they're particularly good trackers and will catch up with Alex VERY SOON and it is VERY BAD and I DON'T KNOW HOW ALEX IS GOING TO PULL THIS ONE OFF!!!

Sorry!

Sorry sorry sorry! Kept meaning to update but haven't! I don't really have an excuse though.

Today I'm doing something very different. I've had a pretty... eventful (and not in a good way) few days and earlier I kind of rewrote it as a short story. It's pretty cheesy (in my opinion) but I thought I'd put it up here before I get back (finally!) to my chapter-by-chapter review thing of Crocodile Tears.

Ok here goes...

There once lived a lonely Princess locked, by law, at the top of a high, impenetrable tower. It was the law that every princess, once they turned eighteen, must be shut in this tower for one year, and all the unmarried princes of the land had to attempt to breach its walls and reach her in order to marry her. Many had managed it, and every princess had at some point been taken from the tower. Princess Leonie however had remained there for months. Many young princes had tried, and although she encouraged them at first, she quickly realised that none were right for her, and they had all failed.

Now, once a month the princesses were allowed out of their tower to talk with their families, and Leonie was fast approaching her final talk before she embarked upon the last month of her confinement in the tower. She was looking forward to returning home, as she greatly missed her family, but she was still exceedingly sad. Although many princes had tried to rescue her, there was only one she wanted. Prince Alex, of a neighbouring kingdom, was different from the other, bragging princes. He was quiet and considerate and she had met him shortly before going into the tower. She had seen him every time she went home and, although she had never said anything, felt as though he might come and try to take her from the tower. Not once had she seen him. This being the final time before she returned to the tower, she had summoned all her resolve and decided to ask him to save her.

The second part of the law that decreed these princesses should be locked in the tower stated that if no prince had chosen them by the end of that yea,r they should not marry. Leonie was by no means unintelligent, ugly or boring, but something was preventing men from reaching her tower, and when she returned home her father was not happy. He knew there was relatively little she could do, but in his anger he made her promise that the next person who came close to her tower would be successful: she would encourage him and not lose interest, as she had in every previous occasion. Glumly she agreed, knowing that it was even more vital that she speak to Prince Alex.

Whilst walking in the gardens one day she saw a figure heading towards her from the castle. Feeling a lurch, she recognised it to be Prince Alex and, strengthening her resolve, prepared for what she knew she had to do. A woman telling a man her feelings was not encouraged in this kingdom, and she knew that what she was doing was risky, but it was her final chance. He smiled as he approached, seeming genuinely pleased to see her.

“I heard you were in this part of the garden and I came down to see you. It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages”

“Well it has been a month”, Leonie sighed, “and it won’t be long until I’m back for good.”

“And what a shame that will be to see you married.”

Leonie’s heart skipped a beat – he would be sorry to see her married. This must be a good enough sign for her to continue. “It might be a shame” she said, “but would you find it a shame if – if I was married to you?” The last words left her mouth in a rush, and feeling her cheeks warm up and a wash of burning heat engulf her body she didn’t dare meet his eyes.

“Oh.” He started, “I, um, didn’t realise – I mean –“

“Oh, I see, well don’t worry about it. I was – was just wondering – well. Never mind.” Leonie felt numb. She had to get away and forget everything she had just said. She just wanted to run and hide, forgetting all the hope she had had this past year, wiping blank all the memories of Alex, and most especially the excruciating one of tonight which was whipping around and around her mind like a conker spinning on a string.

She was returned to her tower later that night, and a fresh wave of men tried to climb and breach the walls. True to her word earlier that day she encouraged every one of them in an attempt to blot out the pain of earlier that evening, but she soon grew tired.

Falling asleep on the window ledge she began to dream. She dreamt of an old woman, a wise woman who was floating up to her window and setting her free. They glided down to the ground and she began to sing. It was a strange song – nothing that Leonie could recognise – but it filled her with a sense of hope and peace. “What does this song mean?” She cried.

“It is an ancient song” the old woman rasped, “sung by every woman at some point in her life. It is a song of sorrow and of happiness; anger and peace; and above all faith. Faith in the fact that one day, however far away or near it is, we will be perfectly happy. This does not have to mean married, or with children, or with lots of money or with lots of friends. It can do. But it can also mean that we will be perfectly happy in who we are. There may well come a day when we do not need someone, and that is the day when they are most likely to find us. This could be a friend, a relative or a lover, but as long as we can love them, then we are being true to ourselves.”

Leonie awoke with a strange feeling. She had not forgotten Alex, and she did not know how long it would take to forget him, but she did know that there would be others who loved her as she deserved, and that there already were – in her friends and family at home.

She remained there for the next month, and whether a Prince managed to climb the tower or not I do not know, however when she returned home she was happy. Her father, seeing the change in his daughter and regretting his anxiety at her marrying, revoked the law, and all future princesses were able to marry when they wanted – and it was later considered especially admirable if they asked the men themselves.

Yep, that was one humiliating experience that I hope not to go through again... but hey that's life! I will defo go through the next chapter tomorrow, so be warned!