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!!!
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Monday, 6 June 2011
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...
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!
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!
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 20: Raw Deal
Man I am so sorry you guys! I don't know what happened with the time! Promise it won't happen again! Unless I'm away or something.
Before I even read this chapter I was worried - if you remember Alex was left hanging over the crocodiles with absolutely no hope of survival. I looked at the title of this chapter, saw the word "Raw" and was very, very worried. I knew he couldn't die - unless the next book is just a really long funeral - but I still couldn't see how he'd escape unless MI6 miraculously found him.
Well. Myra Bennett is taunting him, waiting for him to drop when suddenly she stops. She opens her mouth to letblodd gush out of it, pitches forward and falls into the crocodiles. Have to confess I didn't see that one coming.
But it's not MI6 behind her. It's a man Alex recognises from a while back: it's none other than the man who rescued him, Sabina and her father after they fell in the loch. Wow. He's like some kind of guardian angel! He's close enough so that Alex can let go with one hand and grab this man's.
I felt so bad for Alex at this point, he hardly has any strength left and they have to get away from this place in case McCain comes back for Alex and finds his fiance dead... wouldn't want to be around for that.
The man introduces himself as Rahim, part of India's Secret Service, and he's been snet to kill McCain. I've noticed throughout these books that Alex has a great aversion to killing people himself, but he is constantly mixing with those who are cool with it. Yassen Gregorovitch, although originally Alex's enemy, became kind of close to Alex, and he's worked with various people in Scorpia, with MI6/SAS and the CIA who kill all the time. What kind of place is that for a 14 year old? Alan Blunt must have been seriously twisted to consider getting Alex to come and work for them.
McCain isn't a nice man. At all. And the world might be a better place without him. But I don't personally think he should be killed, and I'm not sure Alex does either. Whatever happens to McCain is not going to stop the plague that's steadily transforming the wheat into lethal poison, and Alex points this out to Rahim. There's relatively little they can do though, as all Rahim has is a bomb which he intends to use to blow up McCain's plane when he leaves.
On Alex's flight with Bennett he noticed there was a huge dam and suggests they blow that up to flood the fields and therefore drown the poisonous spores, and Rahim says there's little they can do, unless they can blow up one of the pipes. All they have is one small bomb and Alex's pen explosive which Smithers gave him for his 'school trip' to Greenfields. However, Rahim is not well, he has some kind of fever and passes out, leaving Alex to work out what to do. Luckily he's able to contact MI6 but doesn't know when or if they'll get the message, and after that it's up to him to save the world. Again.
Surely this must work. Alex has never failed at a mission before, and I don't want him to, but it would be interesting if he did. I don't want loads of peopleto die but luckily this is only fiction, and it would be very interesting to see how Alex responded to it. He would have done all he could, but I bet he'd be horrified and disgusted with himself for not doing more. He's like Harry, he has this 'hero complex' thing: he has to save the day no matter what it costs him, and if something goes wrong he shoulders the blame entirely. I don't want him to have to deal with that sort of grief and disgust but hey, it would be very good character development. And maybe MI6 would stop using him.
Before I even read this chapter I was worried - if you remember Alex was left hanging over the crocodiles with absolutely no hope of survival. I looked at the title of this chapter, saw the word "Raw" and was very, very worried. I knew he couldn't die - unless the next book is just a really long funeral - but I still couldn't see how he'd escape unless MI6 miraculously found him.
Well. Myra Bennett is taunting him, waiting for him to drop when suddenly she stops. She opens her mouth to letblodd gush out of it, pitches forward and falls into the crocodiles. Have to confess I didn't see that one coming.
But it's not MI6 behind her. It's a man Alex recognises from a while back: it's none other than the man who rescued him, Sabina and her father after they fell in the loch. Wow. He's like some kind of guardian angel! He's close enough so that Alex can let go with one hand and grab this man's.
I felt so bad for Alex at this point, he hardly has any strength left and they have to get away from this place in case McCain comes back for Alex and finds his fiance dead... wouldn't want to be around for that.
The man introduces himself as Rahim, part of India's Secret Service, and he's been snet to kill McCain. I've noticed throughout these books that Alex has a great aversion to killing people himself, but he is constantly mixing with those who are cool with it. Yassen Gregorovitch, although originally Alex's enemy, became kind of close to Alex, and he's worked with various people in Scorpia, with MI6/SAS and the CIA who kill all the time. What kind of place is that for a 14 year old? Alan Blunt must have been seriously twisted to consider getting Alex to come and work for them.
McCain isn't a nice man. At all. And the world might be a better place without him. But I don't personally think he should be killed, and I'm not sure Alex does either. Whatever happens to McCain is not going to stop the plague that's steadily transforming the wheat into lethal poison, and Alex points this out to Rahim. There's relatively little they can do though, as all Rahim has is a bomb which he intends to use to blow up McCain's plane when he leaves.
On Alex's flight with Bennett he noticed there was a huge dam and suggests they blow that up to flood the fields and therefore drown the poisonous spores, and Rahim says there's little they can do, unless they can blow up one of the pipes. All they have is one small bomb and Alex's pen explosive which Smithers gave him for his 'school trip' to Greenfields. However, Rahim is not well, he has some kind of fever and passes out, leaving Alex to work out what to do. Luckily he's able to contact MI6 but doesn't know when or if they'll get the message, and after that it's up to him to save the world. Again.
Surely this must work. Alex has never failed at a mission before, and I don't want him to, but it would be interesting if he did. I don't want loads of peopleto die but luckily this is only fiction, and it would be very interesting to see how Alex responded to it. He would have done all he could, but I bet he'd be horrified and disgusted with himself for not doing more. He's like Harry, he has this 'hero complex' thing: he has to save the day no matter what it costs him, and if something goes wrong he shoulders the blame entirely. I don't want him to have to deal with that sort of grief and disgust but hey, it would be very good character development. And maybe MI6 would stop using him.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 18: Pure Torture
Just reading this chapter name was horrible. I was full of anticipation for this chapter - I didn't know what would possibly happen and even though what happened wasn't a 'traditional' type of torture, it was still horrible and nightmarish and almost unimaginable.
McCain said he would torture Alex because he didn't believe that Alex would tell him the truth about MI6 if he didn't. That's the worst part, because we know that Alex would have told him. Alex doesn't have much sympathy for MI6 anymore, and he knows that they know nothing so telling McCain wouldn't be detrimental to them anyway. But still McCain, sadistic as he is, thinks it will be fun to punish Alex again for something that shouldn't have anything to do with him.
Alex is got up in the morning after a night of no sleep. Can you imagine spending a night knowing that the next day you'll be tortured horrifically and there's nothing you can do about it? I remember reading about Torture chambers in castles and stuff, and I remember thinking that I would always tell them whatever they wanted to know before they did anything horrible to me if I was unofrtunate enough to be in that situation. Hey, I'm not that brave. I certainly wouldn't be in Gryffindor. But the point is, Alex doesn't even have a chance to prevent this torture, and the fact that he doesn't really know what MI6 have done about McCain doesn't help: he can't give much information.
When Alex asked "what's for breakfast" and was told that he was going to be, I was naturally very worried. That's not really something you want to hear when you're walking to your own torture is it? He's led by Bennett to the shore of the river and sees a tall ladder leading up to a pole that is hanging high above the edge of the water. He quickly works out that he's going to have to hang off the pole, like on monkey bars in play parks - but a lot more dangerous. Because there are Crocodiles in that river. Flipping crocodiles.
And now I understand the title. Alex notes that supposedly crocodiles weep when they kill their prey.
This cannot be good.
Two enormous crocodiles emerge and swim towards Alex, who is forced to climb the ladder. McCain and Bennett mount a viewing platform, about a meter away from this pole: they're going to watch as he slowly lets go and drops to his doom. When he gets to the top, Alex realises that he's highg enough that if he falls he'll break a leg, preventing him from running away as the crocodiles tear him apart and fight for the pieces.
This is certainly a very imaginative torture. And it's so horrible because McCain isn't actually doing anything to Alex: if Alex lets go it will be his own doing, his arms giving in to the weight of his body and letting him fall to his death.
McCain, tantalisingly slowly, starts to ask Alex questions. When Alex reveals that MI6 knew nothing about McCain, only Straik, McCain seems quite pleased and I wondered if he might let Alex off. Then Alex tells him that he told MI6 he saw McCain with Straik, and that pretty much does it. He decides he believes Alex, and he had earlier promised to shot at the crocodiles if he though Alex was telling the truth. But no. He's changed his mind. He thinks Alex is a rude little boy, and thanks to him his name is know known to MI6. Also he tried to kill him once: in Scotland. It failed then but this time it won't.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHWHY?
I HATE YOU DESMOND McCAIN.
McCain leaves Alex there, his muscles screaming, at the mercy of the crocodiles and Myra Bennett who apparently likes to watch this kind of thing.
The only way of escape I can think of is if MI6 come in a helicopter now and save him.
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?????
McCain said he would torture Alex because he didn't believe that Alex would tell him the truth about MI6 if he didn't. That's the worst part, because we know that Alex would have told him. Alex doesn't have much sympathy for MI6 anymore, and he knows that they know nothing so telling McCain wouldn't be detrimental to them anyway. But still McCain, sadistic as he is, thinks it will be fun to punish Alex again for something that shouldn't have anything to do with him.
Alex is got up in the morning after a night of no sleep. Can you imagine spending a night knowing that the next day you'll be tortured horrifically and there's nothing you can do about it? I remember reading about Torture chambers in castles and stuff, and I remember thinking that I would always tell them whatever they wanted to know before they did anything horrible to me if I was unofrtunate enough to be in that situation. Hey, I'm not that brave. I certainly wouldn't be in Gryffindor. But the point is, Alex doesn't even have a chance to prevent this torture, and the fact that he doesn't really know what MI6 have done about McCain doesn't help: he can't give much information.
When Alex asked "what's for breakfast" and was told that he was going to be, I was naturally very worried. That's not really something you want to hear when you're walking to your own torture is it? He's led by Bennett to the shore of the river and sees a tall ladder leading up to a pole that is hanging high above the edge of the water. He quickly works out that he's going to have to hang off the pole, like on monkey bars in play parks - but a lot more dangerous. Because there are Crocodiles in that river. Flipping crocodiles.
And now I understand the title. Alex notes that supposedly crocodiles weep when they kill their prey.
This cannot be good.
Two enormous crocodiles emerge and swim towards Alex, who is forced to climb the ladder. McCain and Bennett mount a viewing platform, about a meter away from this pole: they're going to watch as he slowly lets go and drops to his doom. When he gets to the top, Alex realises that he's highg enough that if he falls he'll break a leg, preventing him from running away as the crocodiles tear him apart and fight for the pieces.
This is certainly a very imaginative torture. And it's so horrible because McCain isn't actually doing anything to Alex: if Alex lets go it will be his own doing, his arms giving in to the weight of his body and letting him fall to his death.
McCain, tantalisingly slowly, starts to ask Alex questions. When Alex reveals that MI6 knew nothing about McCain, only Straik, McCain seems quite pleased and I wondered if he might let Alex off. Then Alex tells him that he told MI6 he saw McCain with Straik, and that pretty much does it. He decides he believes Alex, and he had earlier promised to shot at the crocodiles if he though Alex was telling the truth. But no. He's changed his mind. He thinks Alex is a rude little boy, and thanks to him his name is know known to MI6. Also he tried to kill him once: in Scotland. It failed then but this time it won't.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHWHY?
I HATE YOU DESMOND McCAIN.
McCain leaves Alex there, his muscles screaming, at the mercy of the crocodiles and Myra Bennett who apparently likes to watch this kind of thing.
The only way of escape I can think of is if MI6 come in a helicopter now and save him.
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?????
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 18: All For Charity
I am actually dying having to wait so long to read the next chapter. Hey, let's hope the world doesn't end before I do! This chapter was more exposition from McCain, explaining exactly what he was going to do. I know loads of people have said this, but is there a kind of 'bad guy syndrome' which makes all the bad guys explain what they're doing to the one person who could likely destroy them? Because seriously, all of them do it. I know it's necessary to move the plot on, but I'm ignoring that because that's boring. I know Alex is going to survive, that McCain won't kill him, because I know there's another book. Obviously it's a mistake telling him all this when there's the slightest chance he might escape and undo all McCain's work. Oh well, it's good for Alex.
McCain says that he decided to set up a charity because it was an easy way for him to make money. I'm not sure how on earth he gets away with it but somehow whenever people give to charity after some natural disaster he takes a huge load of that money for himself. How twisted is that? Using other people's desperate situations for your own advantage. I may have problems with McCain in relation to other 'baddies', but I definitely think he's evil.
But not only is he prepared to scrounge money those who need it, McCain has started creating his own disasters. He mentions the Nuclear Plant from chapter one, and now we know that Ravi was blowing the station up just to make a greedy man more money. And now he's setting up something else: a plague that will sweep over Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, affecting millions. Now, because he knows that these disasters are going to happen, he can send people from his charity there almost instantaneously without any questions asked, therefore being the first charity to appeal for help and the charity to get the most money. Good grief, he is not a nice guy.
All the things that didn't make sense earlier are now fitting together. The scene that Alex stumbled across earlier in that film studio is for an appeal video which McCain will release way before the other charities have even got to Kenya, and no one will know the difference.
And then, as I worked out last chapter, McCain tells Alex that by pulling the lever in the aeroplane he started of the plague. Remember Leonard Straik from Greenfields? He invented this gene thing which alters a single gene of a plant, making it potentially lethal. What Alex sprayed on the field was some kind of mushroom thing which, once out in the sun for a while, changes one of its genes and becomes lethal. The wind will blow its spores over to the next field, and the next, and the next etc, gradually touching nearly every field in these three countries.
Oh, and by the way, McCain casually drops into the convo that he killed Straik. By shoving a poisonous snail down his throat. Well that's nice.
So McCain is basically evil, and reminds Alex that, rather than ask him nicely what Alex knows and what MI6 know, he's going to torture it out of him. Tomorrow. And I really can't see how Alex is going to get out of this one.
McCain says that he decided to set up a charity because it was an easy way for him to make money. I'm not sure how on earth he gets away with it but somehow whenever people give to charity after some natural disaster he takes a huge load of that money for himself. How twisted is that? Using other people's desperate situations for your own advantage. I may have problems with McCain in relation to other 'baddies', but I definitely think he's evil.
But not only is he prepared to scrounge money those who need it, McCain has started creating his own disasters. He mentions the Nuclear Plant from chapter one, and now we know that Ravi was blowing the station up just to make a greedy man more money. And now he's setting up something else: a plague that will sweep over Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, affecting millions. Now, because he knows that these disasters are going to happen, he can send people from his charity there almost instantaneously without any questions asked, therefore being the first charity to appeal for help and the charity to get the most money. Good grief, he is not a nice guy.
All the things that didn't make sense earlier are now fitting together. The scene that Alex stumbled across earlier in that film studio is for an appeal video which McCain will release way before the other charities have even got to Kenya, and no one will know the difference.
And then, as I worked out last chapter, McCain tells Alex that by pulling the lever in the aeroplane he started of the plague. Remember Leonard Straik from Greenfields? He invented this gene thing which alters a single gene of a plant, making it potentially lethal. What Alex sprayed on the field was some kind of mushroom thing which, once out in the sun for a while, changes one of its genes and becomes lethal. The wind will blow its spores over to the next field, and the next, and the next etc, gradually touching nearly every field in these three countries.
Oh, and by the way, McCain casually drops into the convo that he killed Straik. By shoving a poisonous snail down his throat. Well that's nice.
So McCain is basically evil, and reminds Alex that, rather than ask him nicely what Alex knows and what MI6 know, he's going to torture it out of him. Tomorrow. And I really can't see how Alex is going to get out of this one.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 17: Wolf Moon
Yeesh this was an intense chapter. This is when Alex is invited to have supper with Desmond McCain and it is revealed that he is definitely not the perfect, charity-giving man he is presented as.
Something I have to say before I get on to that bit though: when Alex is taken out his tent and guided to dinner, the place around him sounds EXACTLY like a place I went to a couple off years ago - and I mean EXACTLY. It was a safari camp in Kenya, and seriously, every description is the same, every building in the same place as described, and the landscape identical. Now that would be so cool if it was based on the same place!
Onward! We are told that Myra Bennett will not be joining them to eat - something she seems very annoyed about, and given the fact revealed later that she and McCain have "planned" to get married later, I'm not surprised. Blimey. What would that marriage be like? Oo-er.
Alex sees a sharp knife on the table and while noone's there takes it, but I didn't expect this to work, and sure enough McCain notices and makes Alex put it back. Thing is though, I don'y know what Alex would use it for - we've seen in Scorpia that he's not prepared to kill anyone, and I don't see what else he'd use it for, unless escaping from something.
McCain starts his stereotypical "I'm a misunderstood evil guy speech", and Alex made me lol when he said, "I suppose you want to take over the world". He's so used to guys wanting to do this that it's just an unoriginal ambition now. Also kind of made me think of The Pinky and the Brain. Now that was annoying. McCain admits that he had his boxing competitor killed - buy a man called The Gentleman:I TOLD YOU SO, I SAID IT WAS THAT GUY! ASTUTE OR WHAT??? He goes on to say how tragic his past was, how he was bullied at school (Herod Sayle much?) blah blah.
Again, I don't want to criticise Horowitz because I think he's a fantastic author, but I mean the fact that this villain has reminded me of two previous villains from this series can't be a good thing. I said a while ago that I thought it must be some kind of trick on Horowitz's part, but now I'm not so sure. McCain's evidently up to something bad, and he's still too similar to bad guys we've seen before. Surely there's not enough time for there to be a huge twist.
McCain wanted to be rich from a young age, because this is one of the only ways you can gain respect, so this has been his life's work since boxing and getting out of prison. Now he reveals that he's planning something. Something that will kill millions. And what happens will be because of Alex.
njfewhkeqPIHQ
UGWKHGKLGDANKGADKJALKJE;HGRhgrjkgdk'graegjkgriragjkgf
What.
Last chapter when Bennett and Alex were in that aeroplane and they flew over the crop field, Bennett got Alex to pull a lever and it would spray the field. That must be it. Without realising he sprayed some kind of deadly poison onto the fields which loads of people will eat, right? McCain and Bennett know how to make Alex suffer: by making him do something awful to other people withou realising.
Seriously unprepared for this.
Something I have to say before I get on to that bit though: when Alex is taken out his tent and guided to dinner, the place around him sounds EXACTLY like a place I went to a couple off years ago - and I mean EXACTLY. It was a safari camp in Kenya, and seriously, every description is the same, every building in the same place as described, and the landscape identical. Now that would be so cool if it was based on the same place!
Onward! We are told that Myra Bennett will not be joining them to eat - something she seems very annoyed about, and given the fact revealed later that she and McCain have "planned" to get married later, I'm not surprised. Blimey. What would that marriage be like? Oo-er.
Alex sees a sharp knife on the table and while noone's there takes it, but I didn't expect this to work, and sure enough McCain notices and makes Alex put it back. Thing is though, I don'y know what Alex would use it for - we've seen in Scorpia that he's not prepared to kill anyone, and I don't see what else he'd use it for, unless escaping from something.
McCain starts his stereotypical "I'm a misunderstood evil guy speech", and Alex made me lol when he said, "I suppose you want to take over the world". He's so used to guys wanting to do this that it's just an unoriginal ambition now. Also kind of made me think of The Pinky and the Brain. Now that was annoying. McCain admits that he had his boxing competitor killed - buy a man called The Gentleman:I TOLD YOU SO, I SAID IT WAS THAT GUY! ASTUTE OR WHAT??? He goes on to say how tragic his past was, how he was bullied at school (Herod Sayle much?) blah blah.
Again, I don't want to criticise Horowitz because I think he's a fantastic author, but I mean the fact that this villain has reminded me of two previous villains from this series can't be a good thing. I said a while ago that I thought it must be some kind of trick on Horowitz's part, but now I'm not so sure. McCain's evidently up to something bad, and he's still too similar to bad guys we've seen before. Surely there's not enough time for there to be a huge twist.
McCain wanted to be rich from a young age, because this is one of the only ways you can gain respect, so this has been his life's work since boxing and getting out of prison. Now he reveals that he's planning something. Something that will kill millions. And what happens will be because of Alex.
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What.
Last chapter when Bennett and Alex were in that aeroplane and they flew over the crop field, Bennett got Alex to pull a lever and it would spray the field. That must be it. Without realising he sprayed some kind of deadly poison onto the fields which loads of people will eat, right? McCain and Bennett know how to make Alex suffer: by making him do something awful to other people withou realising.
Seriously unprepared for this.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 16: A Short Flight to Nowhere
Well hello again lovely people, I am back as I promised with a bit of a smaller workload and therefore more time to read and review! Aren't you pleased... Anyhoo I was just looking back at my last review and remembered how awful that chapter was!! It was seriously horrible! And really in this chapter Alex isn't much better off.
The chapter opens with Alex waking up from the terrible drug he'd been put under and slowly regaining consciousness. He begins to realise that he's in some kind of tent, obviously somewhere in Kenya, but it's like a posh tent rather than an actual tent tent... if you get what I mean. He could hear sounds of the African Bush around him and it's all very strange and isolated. I was remembering what happened to him last chapter, and thinking about what they did to him, and it's making me really worried about what they could potentially do to him now they've got him in this isolated place. See Alex gets up and walks outside to find his tent guarded by a man with a gun, which is never good, and makes it apparent that they don't care about shooting him.
He's told to remain in the tent, and while he's waiting he's thinking about how to get out. MI6 supplied him with an exploding pen when he went to Greenfields and very luckily he still has it, but that's his only weapon. He thinks about MI6 - as soon as they knew he was missing they would have pulled out all the stops to try and get him back, and would hopefully have all the security forces in the world looking out for him. Also, we know that Blunt is eager for Alex to work with them full time when he's older, and so that makes it more likely that he'll search for him.
Myra Bennett enters Alex's tent with another armed guard. She reveals that she invented that drug herself, making me hate her even more. A lot of the 'assisstants' of the evil guys in these books are just as bad, sometimes worse than the main evil person themselves and I'm starting to wonder if Myra might not be one of them too. She threatens Alex with various punishments should he try to escape and then takes hims out to a car (not before ordering a guard to shoot one of the monkeys whose noise was annoying her - pure.evil.). They drive to this aeroplane - like a seriously old one - which will only fit two people, and I assumed she was taking Alex somewhere else, maybe to cover their tracks even more, but actually she just flew the plane over to some huge fields, sprayed some crops with some stuff and returned. It's all very confusing. She wouldn't explain to Alex what she was doing either. Hmmm.
Then, after Alex says that he just wants to go home, Myra reveals that he can't because they're going to kill him, but first they're going to torture him to get information.
Well that's something to look forward to.
WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE TO HURT TEENAGERS SO MUCH???
The chapter opens with Alex waking up from the terrible drug he'd been put under and slowly regaining consciousness. He begins to realise that he's in some kind of tent, obviously somewhere in Kenya, but it's like a posh tent rather than an actual tent tent... if you get what I mean. He could hear sounds of the African Bush around him and it's all very strange and isolated. I was remembering what happened to him last chapter, and thinking about what they did to him, and it's making me really worried about what they could potentially do to him now they've got him in this isolated place. See Alex gets up and walks outside to find his tent guarded by a man with a gun, which is never good, and makes it apparent that they don't care about shooting him.
He's told to remain in the tent, and while he's waiting he's thinking about how to get out. MI6 supplied him with an exploding pen when he went to Greenfields and very luckily he still has it, but that's his only weapon. He thinks about MI6 - as soon as they knew he was missing they would have pulled out all the stops to try and get him back, and would hopefully have all the security forces in the world looking out for him. Also, we know that Blunt is eager for Alex to work with them full time when he's older, and so that makes it more likely that he'll search for him.
Myra Bennett enters Alex's tent with another armed guard. She reveals that she invented that drug herself, making me hate her even more. A lot of the 'assisstants' of the evil guys in these books are just as bad, sometimes worse than the main evil person themselves and I'm starting to wonder if Myra might not be one of them too. She threatens Alex with various punishments should he try to escape and then takes hims out to a car (not before ordering a guard to shoot one of the monkeys whose noise was annoying her - pure.evil.). They drive to this aeroplane - like a seriously old one - which will only fit two people, and I assumed she was taking Alex somewhere else, maybe to cover their tracks even more, but actually she just flew the plane over to some huge fields, sprayed some crops with some stuff and returned. It's all very confusing. She wouldn't explain to Alex what she was doing either. Hmmm.
Then, after Alex says that he just wants to go home, Myra reveals that he can't because they're going to kill him, but first they're going to torture him to get information.
Well that's something to look forward to.
WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE TO HURT TEENAGERS SO MUCH???
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