Stormbreaker (Horowitz) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Stormbreaker:

1. What makes Alex suspicious of the official explanation given for his uncle's death? Trace the steps that eventually involve the reluctant 14-year-old in the dangerous undercover world that Ian inhabited.

2. Talk about the rigorous preparation Alex undergoes to become an M-16 agent.

3. Which of Alex's spy tools do you like the most?

4. What is the secret behind Herod Sayles donation of computers to Britain's schools.

5. Discuss the book's characters. How does the author portray them—as complex human beings with rich inner-lives, or as more one-dimensional characters, lined up on a spectrum of good vs. evil?

6. How did you find the book—suspenseful or predictable? If suspenseful, how does Horowitz, as a writer, create suspense? What techniques does he use? If predictable, how so? Were there points in the story that you felt manipulated, where events were overly contrived? Did any of that detract from your enjoyment of the book?

7. Considering both the cool "spy toys" and Alex's riveting adventures, in what way does Horowitz play into the wish-fulfillment of young people (and older folks)? Is this what's made the book (and the series) so successful?

8. Would you recommend Stormbreaker to others? Are you inspired to read the rest of the Alex Rider series?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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