The Tristan Betrayal

I am reading The Tristan Betrayal, a book of acclaimed bestselling author, Robert Ludlum. It is about an American spy on his mission to deceive army commands of Adolf Hitler during World War II. To do this, he must give specially prepared documents about Red Army to his old time flame girlfriend, so she could pass it on to her German “boyfriend.” This is a hard thing to do. He must lie to her in order to convince her and agree to do it. He is putting her and her father in danger. He has to make a difficult choice between the love of his nation, and the love of his life.

The main character, Stephen Metcalfe is in love with his past time girlfriend, Lana. He is on a spy mission to Moscow during the winter of 1941. A short, “friendly” non-aggression pact between Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Third Reich is about to change. He receives an order to pass fake, secret documents to the Germans. The only way to do it is through his youth love, Svetlana. A beautiful Prima Ballerina is in a forced relationship with a German officer, who threatens to denounce her father. Metcalfe loves Lana, but in order to complete his mission, his love is questioned. He must either lie to her and use her or deny the mission.   The turn of the World War II depends on this mission. Despite that he tells her she is going to save Russia; he knows this would make Germany attack her country. Someone has to pay the price for saving Great Britain and the rest of the free World.

Once again a life and happiness of a person is thrown down for wellbeing of others. Metcalfe uses Lana for this reason, but he is used as well. They have to kill and sacrifice this love for “higher reasons.”

You may feel sorry for Lana. She is used in a very crooked way. She is risking everything and Metcalfe knows that. How dare he?!

Looking from the other side, he suffers even more. He knows exactly what he is putting her into and the possible consequences. He truly loves her and this makes things even worse.

Revenge of the Sith: The life of Anakin Skywalker

Releasing the Star Wars Saga in 3-D brought me back to the Revenge of the Sith. No, I’m not a nerd reading Star Wars. I wanted to see how it was as a book.

If any of you did see the star wars movies, you would know who Anakin is. Anakin is the main character in the first three movies of star wars. He was a jedi before he turned to the dark side. I was wondering why he did that and I think I found out why.

As a small boy, Anakin was a slave. He lived with his mother on a sandy planet called Tatooine. He was an unhappy boy and wanted freedom for himself and his mother. A Jedi Knight freed him but couldn’t free his mother. Anakin was very happy to be free but sad to leave his mother behind as a slave. When he grew up, love blinded him. A beautiful senator, Padme Amidala got in Anakin’s interest. Meanwhile, savage sand people killed his mom. He took revenge and killed them all. He never forgave himself that he couldn’t save his mother. Anger was growing inside of him.

More years past and he became a Jedi Knight. He was proud, risky and hot tempered. He was able to defeat Count Dooku, a Sith but the Jedi Council did not make him a Master. He felt under scored and left behind. Anakin was also frightened. He had dreams about Padme Amidala dying. He wanted to save her life. No one could help him except the chancellor. Even when he learned the chancellor was evil, he wanted to serve him for Padme’s life. He turned to the dark side and killed many jedi. Hatred flowed through him. Then he heard that Padme died giving childbirth. He was full of sorrow. Now he lost the two people he loved the most.

Anakin was not a bad person. His life was full of sorrow and unhappiness. He turned to the dark side hoping to change his destiny. He lost everything he had. He hated himself and deep inside was afraid of himself. He could not believe what he had become. Just before his death though, he saved his son, Luke Skywalker. That was one of the best choices he ever made.    

Ranger's Apprentice: Book 3 Reflection

I want to share my reflection about the Ranger’s Apprentice: The Icebound Land and found it very interesting. This is the third book in the series. This book takes place during the reign of kings and queens in a kingdom called Araluen. Rangers are a group of well trained people that are the king’s loyal guards. They carry out special quests and spread peace in the Kingdom. The story focuses on a Ranger’s apprentice, named Will. In the previous book, a battle takes place and Will gets captured along with the king’s daughter, Evanlyn. Now they are fighting for survival. Halt, Will’s master is trying to find Will, even if it means disobeying the king.

The Icebound Land has two perspectives: Will’s and Halt’s.  The style of the author, John Flanagan is very cool. On one chapter, it is Will’s perspective. Then at the end of the chapter, he stops at a suspenseful moment, making you to read more and find out what will happen next. However, when you go into the next chapter, narration shifts the view to Halt’s perspective. I think, I’ve finished this book in only two days because I had always read on, after the chapter ended with a suspenseful moment.  

Unexpectedly I found this book a little bit less interesting than the first two. Somehow I was often able to predict what may happen later, and usually, I was right. Although the third book in the series is more packed with action, overall it is not as good as the first one.

The “thing” that caught my attention is the absolute loyal, ready to sacrifice friendship of Halt. He is disobeying king’s orders to find Will and Evanlyn. The king is tied up with the enemies of his kingdom. To the king, the State is more important than family, but not for Halt. He is risking everything to save Will. Friendship doesn’t have a price. Are we ready to do something like this in the name of friendship? Are we brave enough to do it against all odds?