I really did enjoy the different times that this book was set from him escaping from his childhood home to joining scorpia and everything else in between. This book is perhaps one of the finest YA prequels I have read. It has the neat, precise style of the other novels in the world of Alex Rider but turns everything around to focus on Yassen Gregorovich, the assassin whose mysterious past links in with Alex Rider's. Yassen is by far one of the more intriguing characters in the series - an assassin with an antihero complex who makes complex moral choices for a YA character. In fact I believe it is the moral choices made in these books that make them so fascinating to read as part of an overall series. They are far from perfect, but they are oh so fascinating.

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. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR 'EAGLE STRIKE' THE FOURTH ALEX RIDER BOOK AND MILD SPOILERS FOR SCORPIA RISING THE NINETH BOOK IN THE ALEX RIDER SERIES. The main character in this novel is Yassen Gregorovich. He is characterized physically as a very active, adventurous and fit type of person, however he can be very caring about others. For example he did not want himself to take an antidote (the only one) to a biochemical weapon and instead wanted his parents to take it. His dialogue portrays him as very independent person. 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.

Why should we adults be given rubbish written by Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer etc. when children are given pearls like this?

But when he finally escapes being a slave, it's only because an assassin made a mistake. And then Yassen finds himself caught up in that world and still, it seems to be the only thing he can do to survive, right? Obviously, once you're in too deep, you can't just 'leave' an organisation like Scorpia... The last thing I would like to say is a thank you to Anthony Horowitz for creating this character. Yassen Gregorovich is not perfect by any means, but he is intricate and complicated and compelling.If you have already read through Alex Rider series then, chances are that you have finished this too, if not then remedy that and then just keep on reading. Spoiler alert.Now, there is a plot hole in this story, but I feel compelled to correct a mistake I made in an earlier review. I falsely stated that Yassen felt no loyalty to John Rider after discovering he was an agent for MI6. I reread the book, however, and saw what I had, eh, skipped. 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? 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.

And what if that 14 year-old boy was Alex Rider, one of the best-loved heroes of children’s literature? 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... 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. Yes, Yassen does, as I just said, figure out his mentor, Hunter, John Rider, the father of Alex Rider, was sent to infiltrate Scoria. The betrayal scars Yassen, and actually becomes the final domino in his journey as a killer.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. So, what do you do with this new perspective on Alex Rider’s nemesis? Go and re-read the series from the beginning, obviously.

I don't like spoilers, so won't get too specific, but I assume the reader is familiar with Yassen from Stormbreaker, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, and Snakehead. In this book, Yassen and John Rider's relationship and their time with Scorpia simply isn't in sync with the other books, especially with Snakehead and the story Alex's godfather Ash tells about Malta. Conclusion: While everything that happens to Yassen leads to his becoming an assassin, it really isn't until the very end that we see what major event truly made him turn. And it is perhaps the most depressing moment in the whole book. It's also the most satisfying; the entire time, I really wanted Yassen to be able to get his revenge against Sharkovsky. We're not disappointed. I was thrilled with Russian Roulette. My favorite character finally got his own book! And it was amazing! It made me love his character more than ever, and it explained a lot about him and about John Rider. I wasn't expecting it to be so emotional, but it was, and it really couldn't have been any other way. All in all, the book was very good, giving us a very different picture of the seemingly bloodthirsty killer from "Strormbreaker" and "Eagle Strike". Yassen feels as though he was never given a chance to be anything but an assassin, and, in sympathetic understanding, tries to give Alex the shot for freedom he never had in a cool rewriting of the last scene in "Strombreaker," when Yassen kills Sayle.

The Story of an Assassin

This book was really different because even though this book is set in the same world it follows a different character a main character who is a villain. This novella is focused on Yassen Gregorovich and it follows his life from when he was younger right up until the time he became the assassin that we know from the main series. All that sadness. All that anger. It is the smoke that gets into your eyes. If you do not blow it away, how can you hope to see? The final book in the #1 bestselling Alex Rider series with over 6 million copies sold in the U.S. alone!