The Fifth Marauder

i am the type of person who is never contented with what i have. i would want something, and sometimes if the fates allow and i do get it, i won't still be happy about it because i do not want it anymore. i am a slave of the green-eyed monster. yes it is a character flaw.

usually what i want are material things. i may want a lot of those, but it is ok for me whether i get them or not. but what pains me is seeing 4th year students and college freshman. why? because their lives are just starting. because they haven't made a mess of their lives like i did with mine. because they have certain opportunities that i had, but did not put into good use. because unlike me, they have the chance to be the masters of their own destinies. because they still have the happy power to be anything that they want to be.

so if you are a high school senior, bound for college, or an incoming one in june, and you are reading this, i am beggin you please, please do not make the same mistake that i did. just because some of your classmates are lazy, that doesn't mean that you can be too. party hard, but make sure that your studies are in order before you do, or if you prefer to party first and study later, make sure that you can survive.

i do not mean to sound like a parent or something, but believe me, you will appreciate my advice someday.

beware spoilers abound!


dan brown is a friggin genius. he actually didn't need to write this book, nor even angels and demons to prove to the world that he is indeed a genius, because the da vinci code is enough proof, even if it ruffled some opus dei feathers. hehe.

anyway, this book is pure genius. when i read the first 2 "brown" books, it seemed like i was the last person to read them. people around me kept on talking about it, and though they were careful not to give away the big ending, i already had a faint idea who the culprit was. so i wasn't really in awe or anything when i finished it.

but this one is not as popular as the code nor angels, so quite a handful of people has read it. i have said it before and i will say it again, dan brown is a genius. as expected with dan brown works, there would always be interesting facts about the are where the story revolves around. the characters aren't actually the stars in the book, it was the technology or the piece of history mentioned. deception point revolved around various intelligence agencies in america and the white house.

dan brown showed in the book how dirty politics can be. the underhanded bribes, the conspiracies, it's crazy! but the most fascinating stuff mentioned in the book is the military technology. i loved the microbot the delta force used, the black chopper that flew silently and its "umbrella" that incapacitates the target to call for help because it kills any form of communication at the surrounding area, and the guns that uses raw material such as sand and snow as its ammunitions. there are other weapons discussed in the book, but i won't mention it here because i wouldn't want to ruin the story for the person who stumbles upon this journal entry.

but that was not why i call dan brown a genius. it was how he manipulated the characters. how he made the president, his opposition, and their senior campaign assistants seemed bad that you do not know which side to be on, so you opt to feel bad for this person who gets ambushed in his car. i have to admit. i indeed felt bad when the delta force made william pickering's car explode. only it turns out that he is the criminal and deception mastermind and marjorie tench, the president's senior assistant ends up dying in the explosion instead. not that i felt sorry for her because she is a biatch too. i have to admit, when i was at the middle of the book, i peeked through the very last page of the book, but i never thought that william pickering is the bad guy.

oops i already ruined the big ending didn't i? hehe

anyhow, brown created so many bad characters that it was really confusing who the protagonists are. although it was given at the back cover of the book that rachel sexton and michael tolland will be the only ones standing at the end, still you couldn't help but admire or loathe the other characters in the story.

and lastly, i loved gabrielle ashe. i dunno why.

since i am not really a writer or anything, i can't really describe this book well enough. believe me, my recent rambling does not do justice in praising deception point.