Customer Reviews

Soldier X

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In his native Germany, he's 16-year-old Erik Brandt, but when he's sent to the eastern front in the desperate waning days of WWII, Erik's bilingual upringing (one set of grandparents is Russian) allows him to become Aleksandr Dukhanov. The problem? With the front shifting weekly due to offenses and counteroffenses, Erik/Aleksandr finds himself confronted one moment with one side, one moment with another, as he is torn loose as a refuge after graphically-described attacks.

Interesting? You bet. As a war writer, Wulffson has done his homework. The tale of a boy forced to be a man is common enough in this genre, but this particular boy (who adopts X as a nickname) is an especially compelling case, and Wulfsson's afterword tells us it was based on a real case. Certainly the history he cites is accurate, and the descriptions of trench warfare are eerily realistic as well.

Eventually this war story morphs into a war/love story with the introduction of Tamara, whom X works beside in a makeshift Russian hospital. But the spirit of the book remains with the war, and the theme is deeply entrenched in the ironies of a soldier who can not only fight equally and reasonably for BOTH sides, but can befriend citizens and fighters for both sides as well. The enemy, then, is war itself -- war and the hell it unleashes.

This book has little profanity but much violence. Still, it is well-written, and reluctant readers (especially boys) who are interested in history and war will quickly become spellbound by the narrative. The novel can be enjoyed by adults as well as teens. A real winner, X marks the spot -- and if you had any misconceptions about war being a romantic and exciting thing, SOLDIER X will strike it out of you forever.

The book soldier x is about a 15 year old half russian half german boy named Erik, who was forced to join the german army. During the war towards the end of the book he gets his arm blown off. I recomend this book with five stars. The book is action filled and each wound that Erik gets is gory and well decribed. The background was easy to see because of the detail,such as when they are in an army truck going to a town they are attacked by four russian planes and a boy sitting in front of Erik gets shot in the face and Erik is sprayed in the face with brain juice. Another time when he and his girlfrind are in a russian town American soldiers mistake them for german soldiers and shoot the girls in the head and Erik in the elbow and mouth, that is when they have to amputate his arm. This is one of the best books I have ever read and anyone that says that it is a bad book is insane, at least if they like war books.

Soldier X is a powerful and gripping tale of the hard times of a boy named Erik Brandt who is drafted in Hitler's army and is aboard a train with about a dozen other young men on their way to war. The train is bombarded in a Russian air attack, in which several of the German platoon members are killed. Later, when they arrive at the barracks, they face another attack by the Russians in which more of the platoon members are killed. Then, out on the battlefield, in foggy weather blinding all those who tried to fight, the Russians come at them again with tanks and other weapons that end up killing even more of the few remaining soldiers in Erik's platoon. Under the influence of extreme fright and confusion, Erik ends up behind enemy lines and has to scavenge the uniform of a dead Russian boy to avoid getting killed when the other Russians looked for German survivors. He was recognized as a wounded Russian and was taken to a hospital where he fell in love with the nurse: Tamara. Then the hospital gets attacked by Germans who force all those inside to evacuate, including Erik and Tamara. They run away from attacks in different countries, until they find a German woman who takes care of them for a while before they end up in an American hospital. Erik ends up getting one arm amputated and marrying Tamara.

Overall, this is a great book to read whether you're looking for a complex story to keep you enticed for hours, or you want a book that portrays a real life situation in full drama. Highly recommended.

Erik Brandt, having barely turned 16 and is half German half Russian, has to go to war for Germany. In his desperate attempts to survive Russian attacks, he steals a dead Russian's uniform and goes undercover as a Russian soldier and is later on nicknamed Soldier X...

In his wild adventure Soldier X is under cover as a Russian and falls in love with the Russian nurse Timara. He meets a girl Tamara in all the time spent in the hospital; ward because of a massive head injury. The author Dont Wulffson creates a dash of suspense and touch of mystery in this epic World War II adventure. From beginning to end, you can follow him as Erik or Soldier X as he infiltrates enemy lines, charades and escapes as the war come to a stop. This book was very good and is at grade level for kids ages 10-14

Soldier x is about a fifteen year old named Eric who is a half russian half german. He is a german officer in a german army. He got wounded and had to take a russian soldier's clothing so he would not be killed.He has to go to a russian hospitil to stay alive and get healty again. I really truly with all my heart recemmend this book. Soldier x is a very, very violent book. Just reading this book makes me fell horrendus amounts of pain. Thousands of people died in this book then even more died. This book has so much violence that it make alot of violent book seem like two three yearolds playing together (cute).This is a good book that a person sould read if you want to learn a little about War War 2.

"If discovered, I would be killed. Even playing dead will not save me; even dead, once found, I would be skewered at the end of a bayonet," says Erik Brandt, in World War Two. This is a quote from Soldier X by Don Wulffson. Erik, also known as X and Aleksandr Dukhanov, starts off as a German translator. After an attack by the Russians, Erik finds himself, injured, behind enemy lines. When Erik pretends to lose his memory, he disguises himself as Aleksandr Dukhanov. At the hospital, Erik falls in love with Tamera, a Russian nurse. When the Germans attack, Erik finds himself with Tamera and some of his friends, lost in the forest. Will they find saftey? Will they die? Find out by reading the book.
Soldier X has many great descriptions and sensory images. There are many times in the book, where the author talks about battle fields in beautiful description. He talks about "broken, life-size rag dolls, laying dead on tanks." Wulffson also talks about many injured soldiers lying in a hospital. I recommend this book to anyone who is insterested in World War Two and war stories. I would expecially recommend this book to boys and girls ages 11 to 13. I hope you read Don Wulffson's Soldier X. Come join the adventure of a World War Two soldier!

Xciting,Xplorational,Xtreme
This book is about a soldier who is from Russia but his family immegrated illegaly to Germany. He becomes a German soldier and when he gets caught in a
Russian ofensive he canges close with a dead Russian soldier. He goes to the hospital and meets a nurse named Tamara ( who he realy likes ). They travel all over Germany,Russia, Czechoslovakia,and Ukrane,intell the war is over.

If discovered,I would be killed. Even playing dead would not save me; even , once found , I would be skewered on the end of a baynet .
I had only one chace, I knew , to save myself .
The dead eyes of the blond Russian boy seemed to be watching me. With my fingers, I closed the lids. Strange though it may seem, I did not want him looking at me and what I was about to do.
The people who would like this book would be people who like action.
I give this book five out of five stars.

"Soldier X" chronicles the experience of a young man, Erik Brandt, who, having barely turned 16 has been conscripted into the Nazi army in the last, frantic year of World War II. By this time, Germany is losing ground on both the Western and Eastern fronts, and Hitler and the Nazis are throwing whatever "manpower" they can into the war machine in order to try deny the inevitable.

As the officers remark, these are children being sent out as cannon fodder, ill-equipped, and barely trained to hold a weapon, much less go out to battle. The main goal for most of these kids is to try to get home alive, though everybody knows that there will be many, many who will never get to do that. Although it's illegal, Erik takes a chance to "blend in" as an Russian soldier -- thanks to the uniform of a dead Russian boy, and his proficiency in the Russian language due to his mother's family's influence.

This book made for a good read. The first part of it dealt with Erik's experiences as a Nazi conscript. As someone who has done a fair amount of reading on WWII, I know the situation there was desperate, but something in this part of the book rang a little bit hollow. Maybe it was the fact that in trying to mention all the horrors that were going on, it felt like instead of Erik exactly experiencing everything, it was more of an introduction to the many horrible things happening on the Eastern front for somebody who wouldn't know anything (or very little) about it. However, this was just a minor detraction.

The book really took off in part two, describing Erik's experience impersonating a wounded Russian soldier, and his and Tamara's journey westward across Europe in the final, insane days of the war.

Although billed as a work of fiction, the author claims that this novel is based on a true story, and that certain names and events were changed for the sake of the book. This story is certainly compelling enough that if it is true, it would be interesting to learn more about real story behind the book.

Soldier X is a very good world war two story telling about a German boy drafted into the Hitler Youth Group and was heading into a Russian battle field. He gets trapped behind enemy lines and makes a riskey move to stay alive.
This is a compelling and gratifying war book, that is so good you don't want to put it down. On a Scale of one to ten, ten being the best, I give this Don Wulffson novel a ten.

Imagine bullets flying past your head, machine gun shells hitting the ground, land mines going off at every second.
Erik Brandt, a young boy, half Russian and half German, trapped behind enemy lines wearing dead mans clothes, has experienced all thses things in the action packed book Soldier X by Don Wulffson.
Erik Brandt is fighting for Germany and he is on an old rusty train to go to World War Two. While on the train Erik hears high level bombers deep in the dust. The other soldiers on the train call him X when the train came to a stop and X jumped out. He was under heavy fire, later on after the battle X switches clothes with an enemy soldier, X is now trapped behind enemy lines. Can X get back alive?
This realistic-fiction novel, Soldier X, is an action packed war book full of excitment, for example one part in the book when X gets attacked by tanks and other enemy soldiers. X has nothing to do except throw grenades at tanks and shoot his rifle. The book has a lot of different and dangerous situations.
I liked this book a lot because it had action and a little suspense because you don't know if X is going to live or die. Its a really good book and it is not boring.
Soldier X is a great book, If you love action and a dash of suspence and a touch of mystery then Soldier X by Dont Wulffson is the book for you!-- By Matt