Alex Rider reading order

A plan for the whole series

13 volumes, 4,586 pages, about 85 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 4 months.

• From volume 2 on, the number of ratings falls most before volume 8, “Crocodile Tears” (by 27%).
• Readers scored volume 6, “Ark Angel”, below its predecessor (7.7 after 7.9). If you slow down there, that is on the book, not on you. From volume 9 the form returns.

Stages

6 stages, with 5 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around March 15, 2027, about 4 weeks later than in one go.

1. 1
   Stage 115 h20 daysby November 18, 2026

   • 1. Stormbreaker · 234 pages · 4 h
   • 2. Point Blanc2001 · 274 pages · 5 h
   • 3. Skeleton Key2002 · 327 pages · 6 h
2. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by November 22, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
3. 2
   Stage 219 habout 4 weeksby December 18, 2026

   • 4. Eagle Strike2003 · 328 pages · 6 h
   • 5. Scorpia2004 · 368 pages · 7 h
   • 6. Ark Angel2005 · 336 pages · 6 h
4. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by December 27, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
5. 3
   Stage 315 h19 daysby January 15, 2027

   • 7. Snakehead2007 · 406 pages · 7 h
   • 8. Crocodile Tears2009 · 388 pages · 7 h
6. Short breakThe Emperor's Soul · Brandon Sanderson · 96 pp. · score 8.82 h, by January 19, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
7. 4
   Stage 414 h19 daysby February 7, 2027

   • 9. Scorpia Rising2011 · 430 pages · 8 h
   • 10. Russian Roulette2013 · ≈ 353 pages · 6 h
8. Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.42 h, by February 11, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
9. 5
   Stage 513 h18 daysby February 28, 2027

   • 11. Never Say Die2017 · 368 pages · 7 h
   • 12. Secret Weapon2019 · ≈ 353 pages · 6 h
10. Short breakAnimal Farm · George Orwell · 128 pp. · score 8.32 h, by March 5, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
11. 6
    Stage 68 h10 daysby March 15, 2027

    • 13. Nightshade2020 · 421 pages · 8 h
12. The end of the series

    March 15, 2027

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

≈ next to a page count: a volume with no page count in our data is counted at this series’s average.

Does the series hold up

Shape of the series: uneven. Scores jump by 0.4 points with no clear direction.

Best volume: Scorpia (7.9, 201 ratings). Weakest: Stormbreaker (7.5). From volume 2 on, the biggest drop in the number of ratings is between volume 7 and 8: 27%. The series is complete; you can read it start to finish with no waiting. The last volume (7.9) scores close to the series average or above it.