Book Review: 'Snakehead' by Anthony Horowitz. - Thanks Jack!

A book I have read and enjoyed recently is 'Snakehead' by Anthony Horowitz. the book is the seventh in the Alex Rider series, and follows Alex as he is recruited by the Australian Secret Service to track down the leader of the criminal underworld of South-East Asia: the Snakehead. The book also sees him trying to find out the truth about his parents' death by finding his father's best friend, Ash. I enjoyed this book because it has an excellent plot, interesting characters, and also because I like the author, Anthony Horowitz.

The book deals with a few different themes, including family, crime and terrorism. In particular, the theme of family is explored really well because all through the series Alex has been looking for the truth about his family and in this book he finally gets it from his father's best friend. Crime and terrorism are also dealt with well because the schemes of the Snakehead are very well thought out and elaborate, and are made more realistic and believable because, in theory, they could actually be carried out and happen, which makes the book much better, in my opinion, because when you're reading it you don't have to imagine a far-fetched scheme that could never happen.

The book has many interesting characters, especially the main character, Alex. Despite the normal image of a spy, tough, smart and fearless, Alex is shy, vulnerable and hates the fact that he's a spy and just wants to go home and have a normal life. Also, because he is a fourteen-year-old boy, I found it quite easy to realte to Alex because he's not that much older than me. Alex is different from the stereotypical image associated with spies because he's only fourteen, which, in my opinion, makes him a more interesting character.

The book begins with Alex being sent to Australia to work with the Australian secret Service to help catch criminals in South-East Asia. Alex is partnered with ash, an old friend of his father's, a secret agent with the key to unlock the mystery of Alex's past. Alex travels with Ash to Bangkok, where they are discovered as spies and captured. Alex learns of the head of the Snakehead's plot to create a tsunami using an underwater bomb, which would wipe out the entire north of Australiaand the surrounding islands. Alex escapes the Snakehead leader's grasp and informs MI6 of his plot. The SAS are called in and the terrorist plot is foiled in a cliched way, just in the nick of time. The book ends with Alex ending his relationship with MI6 and settling for the first time into the life of a normal teenager.

In conclusion, the book 'Snakehead' is a thoroughly enjoyable read and is a good book in almost every way. I would fully recommend this book to anyone, as I had a good time reading it and I'm sure lots of other people would too.

Alex Rider online

The Story Behind Nursery Rhymes - thanks Jordan!

Day to day children sing nursery rhymes and learn nursery rhymes but never think of the story behind them. We don’t know how long ago nursery rhymes began but believe it was a way of people speaking out towards leaders when they didn’t have freedom of speech, this led to children and adults passing them on to friends and family even the simplest of nursery rhymes have meaning behind them lessons in a play of words, the rhymes cover every subject a child is interested in chasing games, counting games, bridges they have crossed and the activities that go around them and these are just some examples of day to day nursery rhymes that have a lot of meaning behind them.

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty Maids all in a row.

This poem refers to Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic; “Mary Mary quite contrary” is adverting towards bloody Mary being quite crazy. The garden referred to in the story is an allusion to the graveyards where all who dared to continue with the protestant faith were buried. “With silver bells and cockle shells” is referring to the instruments of tortures, silver bells were two bits of metal where the suspected protestant placed his fingers between and watched them get crushed on by one, and the cockle shells were believed to be for the genitals!

“And pretty maids all in a row” The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head; the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire. Ironically, Lord Morton fell from favour and was the first to experience the Maiden in Scotland!

Therefore nursery rhymes and children’s songs are not what they are put out to be in this day and age, and some have very interesting serious stories behind them!