Dear Mr. Chase and John, Point Blank
I have continued to read the Alex Rider series based on that I liked the first book, and people have told me that the other books are “way better” then the first. I am finding the complete opposite. I am finding there to be just action. No anything else. I am a fan of fast-paced books but this is a little to fast for even me. I understand that action beginnings are great ways to start stories but this is going a little far. This is my summary of the beginning of Point Blank, “BOOM! BOOM! Explosion! Explosion! I’ve just been whizzed to a private school for mentally challenged rich kids in the middle of the Alps!” I can see why some 5th graders love this series. In the past I have known kids my age who don’t need any plot or good writing in the books they read. I do.
I am continuing to be unimpressed with the writing so I will probably abandon this book soon.
Happy Reading!
ZR
PS: John, don’t forget to comment on my blog or approve my comments on yours.
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November 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Dear Zev,
Yikes! That’s pretty critical writing. But, I can see that you’ve given it some thought and reflected on why it is that you are not enjoying the Alex Rider books. I’ve been reading many responses on these books lately from your classmates, and yours is the first truly negative one. However, I am always very weary of books in ’series’ since I think a writer must be extremely talented to pull it off.
That’s not to say that Anthony Horowitz isn’t talented (obviously he is), but for me, a good piece of fiction is as much about the characters as it is the plot. In fact, action is not really important to me if I don’t know or like the characters. There are many series that I simply cannot see reading because I don’t really like the characters on a personal level. The tragedy is that perhaps I would enjoy the books more if the characters were better developed, but alas, they are not. Also, I think that I (like you) have read some really earth-shattering, life changing books in which characters are so well crafted that we begin to learn from them and our lives are shaped from the actions of these fictional people. Once a reader experiences the power of such amazing writing, it’s hard to accept anything less.
We’ll talk more about this as we enter into a character analysis study in Readers Workshop.
Happy reading,
MR. CHASE
November 6th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Dear Zev, I haven’t read the Alex Rider series but I might want to. I have read one book by Anthony Horwitz, and I loved it. I read More Horewitz Horror. It was great. It didn’t have an action beggining, but the midd;e was good. I love action begginings and middles, and endings. I like action. I can see you like action but why are you going to abandon your book? You say you like it… but it has too much action so I’m going to leave my book. It’s kind of ;ike saying, I like this book, but I like it too much so I’m abandoning it. Anyway, I hope you don’t leave your amazing book and I do hope you read the rest of the series. bye bye
John Dawg Out!