The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for next one
Review: I was standing on the beach last summer talking to a friend when she recommended this book. I enjoyed it so much that after reading it, I went on to read every other book that Dan Brown has written, and I loved them all. Several times during the reading of this book I had to go to the Internet to look up items involved in the story, and felt that I ended up with a book that not only entertained me, but enriched me from a cultural standpoint. However, there's an even bigger story out there. What if Jesus returned and everyone missed it? "A Thief in the Night" by William Sears tells the story of his personal search for the answer to this question, and I'm hoping Dan Brown will pick up on it someday and turn it into another best seller.

Rating:
Summary: makes the reader think alongside the characters
Review: The Da Vinci Code starts with a murder in the famed Louvre in Paris. Curator Jacques Sauniere has a mere 15 minutes to leave when he leaves a coded message for whomever finds him. It unfortunately looks like he is accusing Robert Langdon, a famed American symbologist he has never met but with whom he was to have a meeting that evening.

His estranged granddaughter Sophie is a cryptologist and can crack the meaning of her grandfather's cryptic message. But it is far from over --- like a scavenger hunt, each cracked code leads to another coded message, for Sophie and Langdon are now the guardians of the most prized secrets of an ancient secret society.

This is a rare book that challenges the reader as they try to crack the codes alongside the characters, as in the end, they are so simple that nobody sees them!!! I found myself thinking back on what I learned about European history, art and literature, particularly where Da Vinci was concerned, as did Sophie and Langdon as they pursued their mission barely one step ahead of the French police.

This is an amazing book and it twists and turns as who, precisely, the villainous party and the actual murderer is until almost the very end. Truly amazing.

Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: "The Da Vinci Code" is about a man and a woman who meet at a murder scene and stumble across one of the biggest secrets in history. It is the secret of the Holy Grail. Throughout the novel these two must solve puzzles and work together brilliantly to solve this riddle that comes to them. Along the way they must beat a group of religious men to the Holy Grail.
This book had many amazing aspects thrown in. One of these was the puzzles and riddles that were in it. At the beginning of the novel both characters must solve a series of riddles and puzzles. The whole book is filled with amazing puzzles that must be solved to unlock the secret of the Holy Grail. These puzzles stretch your brain with thought. Another amazing aspect was they way it was told. The chapters were all short. The point of view usually switched from character to character every chapter. This gave a great variety of the characters and the problems they go through. One last amazing part of the story was what was actually in the story. Some parts of the book must have taken immense research. There is no way that the average person could write this. Dan Brown is a Genius, Brown for President. There were no bad parts of this book.
In Conclusion I would recommend this book to almost anyone. Any age from 5th grade up could read this book. It is an amazing novel and I guarantee it will be one of the best books you ever read. If you are currently reading another book, stick a bookmark in it, put it on your dresser, go get The Da Vinci Code, and begin reading. This book has priority over any book in the world right now.

Rating:
Summary: An Edge of Your Seat Thriller
Review: This thriller starts off fast from the beginning and never slows. From the opening pages this suspense filled novel makes you grip your seat tensely awaiting the next encapsulating event. Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon has no idea what he has gotten himself into when he submits a rough copy of a book to his editor for review. The book, holding many links to ancient pagan religions and references catches the eye of one Jacques Sauniere, renowned for his position as curator of the Louvre museum in Paris. When Robert is aroused out of bed by the French police to investigate the murder of Jacques Sauniere, he ends up in a precarious situation. Wanted for a murder that he did not commit, Robert, with the help of French symbologist Sophie Neveu, eludes the French police while helping to discover a secret in danger of being lost forever. Taking many different perilous and deceiving paths and solving riddle after riddle throughout the book, this duo inches closer every moment to discovering something capable of changing history. This book keeps you guessing until the final pages, leaving you stunned with its amazing ideas and raw brilliance.
This book holds so much for every reader to be amazed by that it is hard to pick certain points that you liked about it. One of the best things about this novel is the ingenious riddles that fill the pages. The mind games located throughout The Da Vinci Code consume you and keep you guessing with every new puzzle. Also, suspense is present from the very first paragraphs, making the book that much more unbearable to put down. Geography buffs and people familiar with certain parts of England as well as France can get an extra dimension out to this book because of the real life places the story takes place in. It is hard to name all the pros regarding this novel, this is sure to be a classic in years to come.
Though The Da Vinci Code is seeping with good moments all the way through, it is not impervious to several minute flaws. One small problem with a character in this novel name Bezu Fache near the end of his role causes the reader to have to change their view of the person entirely. This sudden character change effects how you think of the start of the story and takes a slight edge, if possible, off of a part in the novel. Also, the description regarding another person's motions and positions towards the end of the novel lacks fluency. More detail is needed to totally convince the book's audience of several events that occur near the end of the book. With these two minor book foibles perfected, this novel would have been near perfect.
It is clear after reading The Da Vinci Code that this book should be broadly recommended everywhere. Though known as fiction, the story makes you think what the world would have been like if history had been recorded differently or through different opinions. With very few errors, it is hard to put down this novel in any way. You will be on the edge of your seat for the majority of the story and will be amazed by the riddles and supposed ancient secrets that you discover. In conclusion, this thrilling mystery is a must read for all, grasping the minds of thousands with its secrets, twists, and turns.

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: An entertaining read. I bought it as a friend had recommended it and it was also ranked No. 1 at Amazon.
The author tries and does a good job to popularize the theory that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. There are some very entertaining passages in the book when he discusses the mortality of Jesus and how the Church came about. The book also goes into various tangents that are intelligent but not related to the subject. Well, my brain can only take so much useless information.

Rating:
Summary: Disgustingly overrated
Review: Dan Brown's _The Da Vinci Code_ is essentially the Hershey's of brain candy: tastes sort of like the real thing, but is filled with a disturbing quantity of rat turds. In essence, this is Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_ for stupid people. If you thought Eco's book was too hard, and couldn't keep track of the references, and you didn't really get that the point was that maniacs will make connections between any two objects no matter how distant, and didn't understand that all the mad theories _are_ mad distortions of whatever historical data present themselves, then this book is for you. Want to believe a load of old cobblers about the Holy Grail and goddesses? Found _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_ a little too taxing and academic for you? This is this book you should read. Don't worry, it won't be all that challenging, even for you, and anything that's too hard will be explained within two pages, so if you get stuck, there's always a crib sheet provided. For the rest of us, that great punk album title had it best: Never mind the bollocks, here are the Sex Pistols. And this book could indeed use a little Sid Vicious.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, preposterous plot
Review: There is no question Dan Brown does his homework when researching a book. I checked much of his data in "The Da Vinci Code" and found it solid. The groundwork is compelling and thought-provoking.

What is less compelling is a plot that dodges and weaves incoherently. It covers enough ground to span a year but purports to be a day in the life of shallow, unbelievable characters. Brown's cliche-ridden writing is tedious and predictable.

As the plot begins to unravel--and "unravel" is the right word--it becomes apparent there will be no satisfactory resolution in this feeble struggle to retell the Grail quest. In the final chapters, the pace quickens in a frantic attempt to tie up all the loose ends. Brown seems to have decided that he had filled his obligatory 400 pages and needed to put an abrupt end to the unsatisfying foolishness he had set up.

As a starting point for investigating the many puzzles of history, the Church and its machinations, "The Da Vinci Code" is a good primer. As literature, it is an abysmal flop.

Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is an amazing novel. The book begins with Robert Langdon, a Harvard symologist, in his hotel room in Paris. In the middle of the night a detective comes to his hotel room and takes him to the Louvre, where a Louvre curator has been murdered. When Langdon arrives at the Louvre he find the dead mans body and a baffling cipher around the body. Langdon and cryptologist, Sophie Neveu have to decipher the code. Langdon soon finds out that the dead curator was part of the Priory of Sion-a real secret society that included such people as Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, and Victor Hugo. Langdon suspects that they are on a hunt for the most sought after article ever. During a race around Paris, all odds seem against the two. They are also facing against a faceless powerbroker that follows and knows their every move. They must find the article or else the truth and power of it may be lost forever.
I loved the novel The Da Vinci Code. I thought it was an extremely exciting and interesting book that kept me on my toes throughout the book. The beginning of the book might seem boring, but after the first 60 pages or so the book becomes an amazing novel. The twists in the book lead you through it on the edge of your seat. The twists may seem to be big parts of the book that completely change around the whole ideal of the book, but the end shocked me completely. The only thing bad I can write about this book is that it had a slow beginning, besides that the book was truly amazing.
I would strongly recommend reading this book. It is a book that everyone can enjoy and have fun with.

Rating:
Summary: The DaVinci Code- Excellent!
Review: I recently finished the DaVinci Code. It is incredible! It is so incredible how forshadowing with small, seemingly insignificant details, become the key to figuring out the code. Everything is intertwined. I was awake one night untill 1 in the morning, because I was so enthralled. I have talked to friends ranging in age from 13 on up; all raved endlessly about The DaVinci Code. If you can read any book, spend you money on this one!

Rating:
Summary: Pseudo-Intellectual Pulp Fiction
Review: From what I surmise, Dan Brown has an intense interest in the early roots of Christianity. I guess that he had a number of interesting theories supported by specious but tantalizing evidence that couldn't stand up to the scrutiny of non-fiction writing. Instead, he turns his theories into the background for a rather pedestrian murder mystery that Agatha Christie could have churned out between lunch and tea.

The plot twists are outrageous, the settings are your typical tourist site backdrops, with standard conspiracy theory thrown in for flavoring. The puzzles for which the book has become famous are far too easy. On the one hand, the two-dimensional characters are incredibly knowledgeable, but on the other it takes them forever to solve puzzles that any one who paid attention in high school world history could solve. The popularity of this novel will inevitably lead to a screenplay, which is well suited for canned Hollywood blockbusters.

I gave this book two stars because it is a fairly pleasant read, despite the poor plot and character development. The historical theorizing are also interesting. If Dan Brown had been able to write an entire book just on the anti-feminism of the early church, he would have had a great work. However, it seems that he recognized his scholarship was too shallow for academic scrutiny, so he tried to convey his ideas through rather trite pulp fiction.

I sugggest he take all the money he's made from this book and devote his career to plumbing the depths of his theories. He may have something to write about some day.