Russian Roulette: The Story of an Assassin (Alex Rider Adventure)

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This book was everything and more! I absolutely love the Alex Rider series and although I can't really say it's because it was 'my childhood series' (because I started reading them at 13 years old and finished at 15 last year) they are as close as it gets to that. Therefore I have such a strong attachment to this series and these characters and strangely as this is a companion novel following a very minor character from the Alex Rider series, who definitely is not a hero within that series, I found myself so emotionally invested in this book and in his story. I really wish that Yassen could have changed his ways or something before he died. I wish there could have been more closure for his character. I feel like he deserved so much more. He never even wanted to become an assassin in the first place and then he just died 😭 But Yassen did not reveal John to his superiors for two reasons - one, John had saved his life. Two, although he worked for them, Yassen hated Scorpia, and didn't care what happened to them. This is book number 10 in the Alex Rider series but in actuality it recounts events which happen before the series even begins. This is the story of one of the bad guys from Alex's adventures, his name is Yassen Gregorovitch. Everyone knows the story of Alex and how he was badgered into becoming a spy, but no one knows how Yassen ended up in his line of work - a hired killer - and their stories are not too far apart from one another. I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Anthony Horowitz. This started with his Alex Rider series, of course, and so naturally, I couldn’t help myself when I found out that he’d written a short story about one of his side characters. I didn’t really have a lot of expectations for this, of course, since it has firstly been a great deal of time since I read the series but also because the character this story is about was never one that I was particularly attached to. Still, I was curious enough to feel that it was worth reading.

So, what do you do with this new perspective on Alex Rider’s nemesis? Go and re-read the series from the beginning, obviously.

The Story of an Assassin

The final book in the #1 bestselling Alex Rider series with over 6 million copies sold in the U.S. alone! Fourteen year old Yasha Gregororvich is set on a life changing journey when his childhood home is destroyed by a powerful criminal. As Yasha grows into a man, he is bullied, mistreated, and must fight to survive, all the while being pulled into a world of evil and death he has no desire for, but won't let him go. In the end, it will be the pull of a trigger, and not his own choice, which decides his fate... Don't even gets me started on the actual 'Russian Roulette' game because I don't think I can talk about it. It was so awful. I would like to apologise for the ridiculously long time it took me to read this. It is in no way a reflection of how much I enjoyed it because damn, this book was good.

I have SO MANY FEELINGS about Yassen Gregorovich. Here is this kid, who loses not only his entire family but his ENTIRE VILLAGE when he's fourteen years old. He's just trying to survive and has to learn how to steal things, but then crosses the wrong man and gets trapped as a slave for three years. When Ian Rider died at the hands of the assassin Yassen Gregorovich, Alex, ready or not, was thrust into the world of international espionage—the world’s only teenage spy. Alex vowed revenge against Yassen and the two have battled ever since.Yet, years ago, it was none other than Alex’s own father who trained and mentored Yassen, turning him into the killer he would eventually become. And the title. Russian Roulette. It's perfect. It makes me think as much as the complex moral and philosophical questions this book raised. And he meets John Rider. And John, or Hunter, is like "you're not cut out for this life. You should use your new skills to hide from Scorpia and start a new life". Yassen very nearly does this. YASSEN ALMOST IS NOT AN ASSASSIN.But that begs a new question, even as I correct my false claim. When Yassen dies in "Eagle Strike," why does he encourage Alex to work for Scorpia? Why does he did he seem to have such respect for Alex's father? "He was a killer like me..." What? Now Yassen is proud of himself?