I know this is rambly but I just need to talk about John for a minute. John is a spy, deep undercover in Scorpia as an agent. He gets teamed up with a new recruit and realises that this kid does not have the heart for killing people. Yes, part of him is surely like 'undermine Scorpia by ruining their new recruit's confidence'. BUT DO NOT EVEN TRY TO TELL ME that a big part of it is not just John trying to help out Yassen. Horowitz's writing style is perfect for teenagers (and even for elderly readers like me). He is never patronising. He resists the temptation to which so many other writers for children (and even adults) give in to lecture and educate. He just tells a story beautifully and grippingly. 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. 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 also really wish (and this is a spoiler for EAGLE STRIKE so if you haven't read that, then um... lol why did you read this one?)

The story of Yassen begins in Russia and his life is fairly regular to start off. He has a mother and father, lives in a small town, and he has friends he spends his days with. He's a rather unremarkable young boy, but suddenly one day things change for him, and everything that he thought was his life is severely tested. He's thrown into a whirlwind of events that are out of his control, and it's not hard to see why he ended up as he did. I think this recap is just what the series needed, and it's an excellent companion story for the Rider books. 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. 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.The Alex Rider novels have always fascinated me with their pulpy thriller writing. It's much like reading Matthew Reilly (without the expletives and really high-stakes escapes) and I definitely believe there is a place for this type of fiction in the market. Some may look at it and go: 'does it teach anything? Does it uplift at all?' Interestingly, this is a book that certainly for all the thrill and racing plot, does have a moral lesson. It is a book about good and evil being existent in the choices made by individuals. The character I fell the most sympathy for is also Yassen Gregorovich as his friend, parents and grandmother died when he was young. Also he worked as a slave in Russia, Moscow for around 3 years. What's impressive about Anthony Horowitz's new book, `Russian Roulette', is that, for me, the answer to all those questions is yes. Horowitz has created a powerful and original story in which the bad guy is not only the `hero', but also someone you wish you could save. 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 believe that Yassen was only doing a lot of his things to try and save people that he really cared about even though the way he did them wasn't really the right way i can see why and how he did things.

The interesting thing is that although we know what Yassen will become, we continue to root for him as he fights the intense external and internal pressures to kill. And the great irony is that the person who tries hardest to save Yassen from this cold heartless fate, is the one whose actions finally push Yassen to kill.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. Some may question the morality of a children's book that makes young readers empathise so strongly with a contract killer, but I found Horowitz's exploration of what might cause a child to grow up to become a deadly assassin to be sensitively handled and one of the reasons why, for me, this is the best book he's written.

I think it’d be interesting to return to the original series just to see where the connection actually does exist. Ultimately, The White Carnation is a rather fascinating psychological look into the personality of the assassin and the experience that shaped him and his mind for his actions in the Alex Rider novels. It’s small and definitely isn’t a necessary read for anyone, but it’s still something I found quite cool to be able to read. Of course, I was excited for the other Alex books, but I was still waiting and waiting for this, and it's finally here! 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. 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.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.