Anthony Horowitz does it again. Whilst I am more of a fan of his Power of 5 series, I have always had a soft spot for Alex Rider. I feel like I've grown up with him and I love his adventures and this one is no exception.

Having first read Alex Rider as a child, now in my mid 20's I still love these.

Full of action, fast paced, and that delicious spy novel feeling that I had all those years ago reading Stormbreaker.

It's the first book I read featuring Alex Rider even if I'm a fan of Anthony Horowitz. I watched the Tv series but this book was more than I expected.
It's fast paced, action packed, and Horowitz storytelling is as good as usual.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I started reading Alex Rider books as an 11 year old when Stormbreaker first came out, and I’ve loved everyone single one of them. Now in my 30s, I was still so excited to get my hands on the latest instalment. I might have aged 20 years since his adventures began, but for Alex its only been a handful of years!

Yet again this is such a fun read. It might be meant for a YA audience, but its still a great read for an adult. The action is non stop, with a fun plot line that isn’t too complex – it makes a nice change.

Its not clear if this is the last Alex Rider book, but if it is, it’s a great way for the teenage spy to go out.

My 12yo son is a huge fan of the Alex Rider books. He gets completely swept up in the adventure and can talk about so many details.
We really enjoyed this one together.

The sequel to Nightshade, and another exciting and entertaining read. This is pure escapism with plenty of action and twists. This series never disappoints.

You know what you are going to get when reading an Alex Rider book. Some high-octane action, moral dilemmas and a book that is aimed at younger readers predominantly, which considering the books have been going for over 2 decades, is understandable. But in this novel, there were times you could tell that Horowitz had thrown in some aspects that were for the older readers who have been with the series since the start. (Now I haven't been here since 2000, but 2005 and Eagle Strike was my first book!). But I appreciated the way in which the book was written for this reason.

As for the plot, the book is a direct sequel to its predecessor Nightshade, and that book introduced us to an interesting idea of a group who were aware of the uses of teenagers in espionage and made use of them in order commit crimes created a sense of intrigue for the audience as we tried to figure out if it was possible for Alex to be successful in his attempts at foiling Nightshades plot with all of our favourite previous characters appearing, this was a great book. I am sad to see what I believe is the conclusion of the series, but I think it has ended in a good way and that Alex has had a great run, and that Horowitz deserves great praise for being able to keep our attention over the years. I am giving the book 4/5 stars, as it was an enjoyable read, easy to get through, (I read it in 2 days), and the slightly more mature themes / conflict resolution is something that I think was needed for this series and I hope we get to see the TV series run long enough for some of this book to get adapted.

Wow, I did not think I would be so badly disappointed by a book I've waited so long for. When I read Nightshade (the book right before this one), I was captivated by the way the author had set up the entire plot and characters. Nightshade was so different from the formula of the other books in the series, built on psychology, nuanced interactions and having a strong personal flavour instead of the routine gadgets, stereotypical villains, etc. It felt darker and more mature in a good way, and made me very eager for the next volume, especially to see how Alex's relationship with Freddy and Sofia would develop.

However, Nightshade Revenge goes back to the pre-Nightshade formula and feels very cliche. The deep personal feelings and nuances of Nightshade are missing. While it's nice to see old characters like Smithers and Ben Daniels, their roles could have been better tied into the fight against Nightshade. As another reviewer has commented below, I was also surprised by the numerous inconsistencies between Nightshade Revenge and Nightshade, and felt cheated due to how little "screen time" Nightshade actually got (didn't appear until around 2/3 of the book was over!). The focus of the book was on the Eden Fall virtual reality game, which was an interesting idea but so many of the plot points were directly copied from the Alex Rider TV show that it felt very obviously unoriginal. Tom being more knowledgeable about the game than Alex, the whole haptic suit torture business, Alex finagling an invitation thanks to the help of a connection from Mr Pleasure...the similarities are more than a bit on the nose.

There are a great many inexplicable logical flaws in this book. First of all, the Teachers already know that Freddy has been compromised. They already figured this out in Nightshade when Freddy disobeyed them by not leaving Alex behind in Gibraltar and hiding his childhood toy under his bed -- and that was only after a few days of knowing Alex! In Nightshade, it was suggested that the Teachers were only going to keep Freddy for the Leap of Faith mission, then kill him as he was no longer useful. Now after many more months of MI6 custody and therapy, surely Freddy would be a completely different person from the Number Nine he used to be? And yet the Teachers want him back and allow him to rejoin Nightshade fully again? Why would Brother Mike tell Freddy the exact name of their destination (El Dorado) so quickly, even before testing him to make sure he was still reliable? We know from Nightshade that they kept the Numbers in the dark when it came to their geographic location, and Freddy probably learned the name "Vai" because he accidentally overheard it from one of the Nightshade employees. The Teachers aren't that dumb! Also, during the final showdown, why would the Teachers be so stupid as to hand Freddy and Alex lethal weapons that they could turn against the Teachers instead of against each other? Why would the Teachers be standing in an unprotected place where they themselves were easy targets?

Then there is the issue of how Freddy and Alex convinced William, who convinced the other Numbers, that the Teachers were evil. We saw before that William was one of the toughest, most hostile, arrogant Numbers, not a gentle one like his sister Sofia. So how is it possible that after just one conversation with Freddy, William called Freddy by his real name, and after just one conversation with Alex and seeing one childhood photo, he became so convinced that he managed to persuade ALL the other Numbers in less than a day? It is far too unrealistic in the established context of how badly these children were brainwashed and how long it should take to gradually de-programme them. A far better and easier solution would have been for Smithers to provide the technology to hijack Nightshade's communication system and allow Alex to transmit a message to all the Numbers as though it were coming directly from the Creator, telling them that the Teachers are evil and must be overthrown. That would truly give the Teachers a taste of their own medicine while being a credible method of convincing the Numbers (perhaps not the most ethical one but such situations require extreme measures), since the Numbers are trained to accept the voices in their heads as the voice of God and would never question it.

Finally, the ending -- I really don't know what to say. Nightshade raised my hopes so high for a developing friendship between Alex, Freddy and Sofia, but now all that is taken away. Freddy bleeding to death and the ambulance being called so late made no sense at all. Why didn't the other Numbers provide emergency medical aid for his bullet wound? They all had the training to do so, as stated in Nightshade! Didn't Alex get shot much more lethally by a sniper before and survive? Freddy wasn't as badly wounded as Alex because he was still able to stay conscious and move around for a long time afterwards. What did the author gain by killing off this child? Why didn't we get to see any more nuanced interactions between him and Sofia, his best friend/partner? Why was Alex denied the opportunity to have a true friend at last who had a similar background and skills like himself? Freddy's last scene even felt like a heavy dose of "queerbaiting", as I've heard teenagers often say -- the poor kid confessing how deeply he felt about Alex, how Alex made his life worthwhile and was the only friend he had...before succumbing to his wound and snuffing out readers' hopes of a closer friendship. Why did Sabina Pleasure have to return to London and become Alex's love interest again? Alex could have had something beautiful in a non-romantic way with Freddy, but no, he has to be straightened out and hooked up with Sabina again, despite the fact that he was her adoptive brother just a few months ago. There seems to be little hope of Alex becoming closer to William and Sofia, and his goodbye scene with Mrs Jones had so many missed opportunities -- why wouldn't she ask Alex (or he offer) to visit her kids regularly as he visited Freddy? At the end of Nightshade, Alex expressed genuine liking for Sofia and William, but Nightshade Revenge fails to build on that and move it in a promising future direction. The description of Tom and Jack laughing together at the end as though everything were fine made me so angry...Tom wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Freddy!

I simply cannot recommend this illogical, unsatisfying, hackneyed mess of a sequel. Nightshade set up so much potential for growth and discovery and connections, but Nightshade Revenge didn't deliver on any of that. The whole book bit off more than it could chew, with a length similar to that of the shortest books in the series, where it needed at least the length of Nightshade to fully develop any original ideas. It lacked the focus and cohesion of Nightshade and relied on superficial, poorly-planned tactics rather than deeper psychological methods as in Nightshade. I don't know if Walker Books shares these reviews with the author, but if he sees this, I hope he decides to plan the next book in this series (if there will be more) better than this one.

I've been a fan of Horowitz's Alex Rider series ever since the first novel, Stormbreaker, was published in 2000. I lost track of the latest books in the series once I began university and was immersed in books for adults, but recently I have caught up with all of Alex's adventures. He should really be thirty-something now but has only aged two years in two decades! Anyhow, I was excited to be given the opportunity to read the new instalment. I will note that you need to have read the previous book, Nightshade, because Revenge follows on from it. Ideally you'll have read most, or all, of the series, because this would not be the one to start with.

As with all books in this series, this one is packed with clever twists, action scenes, international locations, smart dialogue and villains worthy of Bond films. Alex is known as the reluctant teenage spy but this time, he is acting of his free will because not only are the lives of thousands of people at risk from the terrorist organisation called Nightshade, there is a personal element drawing him in. He must be the luckiest character I have ever known in fiction - he is often described as being lucky - as he cheats death by a whisker many times in each book. Of course it is improbable and you need to suspend your disbelief, but there are a lot of plausible details too about security, technology and current affairs.

In summary, Nightshade Revenge might possibly be the best in the series yet. I hope it won't be the last - after all, Horowitz did say that book 10, Russian Roulette (a brilliant prequel) was the last, and here we are at book 14, which I'll certainly be buying in paperback to add to my collection.

[Review posted on my blog 4th September]

I’ve long been a fan of the Alex Rider novels and when I heard Antony Horowitz had picked up his pen again to write a new one I was delighted.

Nightshade Revenge is the 13th in the series and follows directly on from the previous one (you do need to have read at least the previous book to get the most out of this one!) This one starts with Alex’s best friend Tom being kidnapped off the streets of London and what follows is Alex having to put all he has learnt from MI6 into practice to rescue him.

It was fast paced with lots of drama, action and twists and turns - lots of dramatic moments kept me turning the pages and Alex continues to grow and develop in himself as each book progresses.

It wasn’t my favourite in the series - I found at times there was too much detail in unimportant parts (lengthy descriptions of skateboarding manoeuvres for example) and some of the things Alex managed to do were a little unbelievable (smuggle a gun into a high security prison) but overall a great book that will appeal to lots of readers.

Everyone has heard of teenage spy Alex Rider and to me, it is so incredibly exciting that this book series is still going! The first book came out in 2000 when I was 8 and so this is a series I have been reading since I was a child and I have a serious amount of love for it. I did have to read a little recap of some of the later books before I dove into Nightshade Revenge as it had been a little while since I’d read any Alex Rider books. However, I needn’t have worried as I was immediately thrown back into the world of super spies, teenage assassins, gadgets and all around thrilling missions!

The plot surrounding the new video gaming system is obviously one that many children will get behind - VR is cool and exciting and this felt eerily reminiscent of one of the earlier books with similar levels of technology. Alex can never really trust what’s going on around him. Returning faces of Smithers and Sabina will be familiar to readers of the Alex Rider series and newer characters such as Mrs Jones’ children and Freddy from Nightshade add extra depth to Alex’s moral choices in dire situations.

A fun return to a high octane spy thriller with some seriously fast paced writing. 5 out of 5 stars.

Alex Rider should leave Nightshade to someone else. He’s given enough to MI6 and the various villains that have tried to wreak havoc on the world. However, revenge is hard to resist especially when they target your friend. Alex has unfinished business, and he’s not going to stop until Nightshade is not only stopped but obliterated.

Horowitz is a master storyteller, luring the reader into Alex’s explosive world where death, destruction and mayhem lurks not only in the shadows but hidden in plain sight. It takes real skill to not only entertain readers on a consistent basis, but to keep them returning to a series such as this. Spy stories will never go out of fashion when they are of this high quality.

It's overflowing with thrills!

Coming on the back of the TV Series currently streaming, fans of Alex Rider will be pleased to see a new story from their favourite teenage spy.

Of course, as with any series of books, the characters change and develop. It, perhaps, doesn’t have the charm of Stormbreaker or Point Blanc. However, it has all the key ingredients we have come to know and love - gadgets, action and the brotherly relationship between Alex and Tom.

The novel centres around an Augmented Reality computer game - Pokémon Go eat your heart out, this game is way more realistic - and vicious. Kids are dying and Alex wants to find out why.

His journey leads him through the South of
France to a rather unlikely Wild West town in America - but this all adds colour and interest - not to mention fun!

A great one for fans of the genre.

Nightshade Revenge is a direct follow up to the previous Alex Rider adventure Nightshade. It sees Alex encounter the terrifying group of assassins know as Nightshade, from whom Alex had a narrow escape in the last book. Two years have now passed since Alex was first poached by MI6 to work undercover as a teenager and Alex has tried to get his life back on track several times. This time, his friend Tom is kidnapped, leading Alex back into dangerous circles but needing MI6 for help this time, rather than the other way around.
This is a welcome return to the Alex Rider world from Anthony Horowitz and as ever, it's full of action set pieces where Alex has to use his ingenuity and very little in the way of gadgetry. The action takes place in London, in other parts of England, in France and in and around San Francisco. It zips along at a fast pace and is a lot of fun to read.

The newest instalment in the Alex Rider series, Nightshade Revenge, continues from where we left off in Nightshade. The terrorist organisation known as Nightshade is nefarious as ever and planning to get their revenge on Alex. A plethora of fan-favourite characters make an appearance in this book including one which I never thought I would see again, to my delight. It is fast-paced, making it entertaining to read, however this also meant that the climax felt rushed with the villains making some very dumb mistakes. The conclusion neatly tied up all ends, so I won’t be surprised if this is the last Alex book we’ll get. If so, I’ll certainly miss this book series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Walker Books, for making this book available to me to review. All opinions are my own.

I once heard an interview where Anthony Horowitz said his goal for each book he writes is to make it better than the previous one. Unfortunately, he has failed to meet his goal with Nightshade Revenge. Make no mistake, I think that the Alex Rider series is one of the very best series for young readers out there and I will always recommend it alongside other popular teen series like Harry Potter. But this latest book feels made up of purely recycled material from the other books and the new TV show. Not only does it feel like the author is running out of new ideas, but it also deviates from the overall direction and ideas that were established in the preceding books (Nightshade, Never Say Die). Teens and even older readers who have grown up reading this series will feel sorely let down by this latest volume.

I give Nightshade Revenge one star for including a few exciting chase scenes, and another star for an interesting premise at the start (where Alex is blackmailed into helping Freddy return to Nightshade, and he's not sure whose side Freddy is truly on), but otherwise the rest of the book falls flat. I say this even more because the previous book (Nightshade) was an excellent, beyond-5-stars read, but this book was a total disappointment in contrast. A few things that made it so disappointing (without giving away big spoilers):

- Nightshade (the Teachers and Numbers) and their activities get very little time in this book. They are what made the previous book so interesting. We don't even find out the real names of any more of the Numbers or where they originally come from. Sofia Jones does not show up at all in this book! She was one of the most interesting characters in Nightshade and could have played an important role here.

-Most of this book feels like old material (gadgets from Crocodile Tears are re-used, the augmented reality game where Alex is hurt by the high pain settings in his suit comes straight from the TV show, Alex meets with one of Sabina's father's professional contacts to get insider information, etc.). The settings are even the same as in Never Say Die (South of France, California)!

-The communication system where the Numbers hear voices in their heads is completely ignored, as though it didn't exist! It was a major part of the brainwashing, the fake religion, and the main way the Teachers controlled the Numbers and listened in on all their conversations. The absence of the "Voices" and the Teachers' ability to constantly listen to the Numbers makes the whole plot far too easy and inconsistent.

-Sabina Pleasure is unnecessarily shoehorned in and re-established as Alex's love interest (she's even moving back to London!). When Alex was adopted by her family after Scorpia Rising, we know they basically became like brother and sister and were no longer dating. That is how things should have stayed. Sabina adjusted very well to life in America and her new friends, and she and Alex were far too different from each other to be dating each other. Unlike Tom who is an amazing and loyal friend to Alex, Sabina is not supportive and doesn't believe Alex, as demonstrated multiple times in past books (when he first tells her he's a spy, when he tells her Jack is alive, etc.). Yet in this book, Alex seems far too keen to ensure that Sabina isn't dating Blake (a guy from school) any more, so that he can claim her for himself again. Come on Alex (and Anthony Horowitz), please grow up and move on!

-The climax and solution were reached far too quickly and easily. The timeline and method were highly unrealistic considering what was explained in the previous book about the sheer extent of the brainwashing the Numbers had undergone, and also the communication system as pointed out above. The solution felt like a cheap cop-out, as though a magic wand were waved and everyone's behaviour changed overnight.

-The tragedy at the end was completely unnecessary and unjustified. (What happened to the extensive training that the Numbers received in the particular area which could have prevented this? Why would they sit around and not take action or inform anyone until it was too late?) It was as though Anthony Horowitz had lost his mind and wanted to slam closed all the promising new doors he had opened in the last book. The last book, Nightshade, offered Alex a chance for a very unique, mutually beneficial type of connection as he leaves his past behind and moves forward with his life. To snatch away that golden opportunity in this book, and shove Alex back into the past and set him up with Sabina again, was nothing short of sheer idiocy and perversion.

I hate to say it, but it strongly feels like Anthony Horowitz didn't look back at his own work to ensure that this book would follow naturally from the previous one. He is a very busy author and perhaps he just doesn't have time for Alex Rider any more these days. Nightshade Revenge feels like some old ideas slapped together hastily with an overly simple, convenient resolution that makes a mockery of the ideas built up so cleverly and carefully in Nightshade. For no good reason, the absurdly pessimistic ending of Nightshade Revenge extinguishes the positive note of promise and hope that the absolutely perfect ending of Nightshade left readers with.

While I will certainly continue to recommend the books in the Alex Rider series up to Nightshade, I think I will suggest to young readers that they steer clear of Nightshade Revenge (or at least the second half of the book) and instead use their own creativity to come up with an appropriate resolution to the Nightshade plot -- a resolution that actually makes sense and doesn't sadistically negate the note of optimism and forward progress that should be present in all good children's books.

Rated: 3 1/2 stars.
I want to preface this by saying that I hold the Alex Rider books to an extremely high standard. I love these books so much; they are a part of my childhood/life. I feel like I have probably been quite harsh with my star rating.
I loved this book and devoured it (unfortunately, I had to go to work in the middle of reading which was very annoying) but I was a little disappointed.
First, I loved that Alex is still a consistently written character, even all these years on. I love that the Alex Rider formula is still consistent across the books and it feels very nostalgic and almost like a familiar hug. Horowitz delighted me by bringing back Tom, Sabina and Ben Daniels and giving them adequate page time. It did feel a little like a 'best bits of Alex Rider'.
Unfortunately, that's also where my disappointment came from. Some plot points felt like they had been stolen from previous books, most notably the Eagle Strike video game. The video game in Nightshade Revenge felt as if it had been copied across and updated to fit more modern technology and I wanted something more unique. It didn't stop me from enjoying it, just a little disappointing.
Overall, I did love it, I was just hoping for something more unique. I still feel like my star rating is a bit harsh, but in comparison to the other Alex Rider books, it wasn't the best.

I first read Stormbreaker about 20 years ago, and have since devoured every Alex Rider book, despite no longer being anywhere near the target age. I was thrilled to be able to read this new instalment early, and indeed would read 100 more Alex Rider books with delight. In this book, Alex is thrown back into the world of secrets and spies, when his best friend Tom Harris is kidnapped by Nightshade and he is given an ultimatum to save his friend. From the skateparks of London, to the villas of the south of France to the high-rises of the American dream, Alex must confront his old enemy and find out how the tech company Real Time are connected to some mysterious deaths. I raced through it in an afternoon, and am sad to have finished it. If you have enjoyed past books in the series, don’t hesitate to read this one.

I seldom give a harsh review but two pages in and I cannot stand this book. I know how we have to be woke and have a minority as a lead and I am Chinese by race but the way that the first two pages keep on hammering about the race of the lead just revolts me. I am sorry, I know "revolts" is a strong word. But honestly do you ever see a character's full name being constantly repeated in the first few pages and then later on only referred to with his family name so that everyone will know he is Chinese? What about the other characters in the book? A few pages in, they are referred to by their first name. But Steven Chan is never Steven. He is Chan or Steven Chan. So his race is the marketing point?