Rating: 
Summary: THE TRUTH AGAINST ROME
Review: There is more to THE DA VINCI CODE than meets the eye. Disguised
as a mystery-novel, THE DA VINCI CODE makes public the suppressed
history of the bloodline of The Holy Grail [The Desposyni]
persecuted down through their generations by a threatened
Imperial Rome & then by a threatened Church of Rome up to this
very day. I highly recommend this book for those in search of
THE TRUTH. Thank you Dan Brown for writing THE DA VINCI CODE!!!
Postscript: the PRIORY OF SION, composed of the REX DEUS-families whose Inner Circle is THE DESPOSYNI, is the forerunner
& parent order of THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS who are the guardians of
the bloodline of Jesus (Yeshua) & Mary Magdalene and its history.
--Gregory Thompson (MacTavish)
Rating: 
Summary: OVER-RATED
Review: The first half of the book progresses rather well. It is suspenseful and you might not put it down until well past your bedtime... but only the first night. It contains little tidbits of arcane knowledge, the kind of which you can show-off with. Like for example, the author points out that Leonardo was totally in touch with his feminine side, gay in fact, and also that he painted-in Mary Magdalene (Jesus' supposed wife) on Jesus' right-hand side in The Last Supper. Go ahead and look, there IS a female there! A master artist wouldn't make a mistake like that on accident. On page 4 you read of a mysterious killer shooting the curator of du musée du Louvre in the belly with one bullet. The killer tries to shoot him again but his gun is now empty. Why is it empty? Anyway he leaves the old man there to die and walks right out of the most famous museum in the world with no problem.
So the dying old man starts scrambling to leave clues about his secret before he croaks. The author tells us that it is very very important that the curator carry on his knowledge or else the old man's secret society will be no more. That's the bait. And so I read every chance I got, even though the book ran dry after the first hundred pages. Then on page 444, near the end, I read that another cult member says that the death of the leaders of Freemasonry is not a big deal because... "There are always those waiting to move up and rebuild" Well, you can imagine my disappointment after reading that! If there is no race against time to save the curator's secret then why was I made to feel anxious?!?
Rating: 
Summary: What Is the Big Deal?
Review: Yes, "The Code" is inventive. Yes, it is fast-paced. Yes, it goes on & on, twisting & turning with a new old twist around every corner. This is a summer read, not a read that breaks new ground.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth it
Review: I was really disappointed with this book. The story was exciting, but it was written so horribly that it was distracting. Also, the author has obviously never been to Paris or the Louvre. Many times when he is describing the buildings the characters are seeing, it is impossible from where they are supposed to be. Contrary to popular belief, you can't see the Eiffel Tower or Sacre Coeur from everywhere in Paris (as Brown would have you believe). And another thing - Is it mandatory that in every book with a male hero and a female hero that they get together at the end? Come on...they barely talked during the whole book, and then all of a sudden were like, "We solved the mystery! I love you!" Brown also seemed to enjoy his thesaurus at the beginning of the book. He was just throwing in random words that sounded smart. And yet the dialogue was so juvenile. "Hi. My name is Robert. What is your name? Do you want to help me find the Holy Grail?" All things considered though, this book will make an awesome movie (but don't bother reading it).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: As someone who has been interested in the sort of topics mentioned in the Da Vinci Code, I was happy to see that Dan Brown actually had a good idea of what he was talking about. There are definite truths in here - and there is also some speculative truth. There have been indications of what the Holy Grail might actually be, instead of what it has come to be for the public. Fundamentalist Christians, and those afraid of some challenges to the Christian faith, may not like this book at all. (I believe that is why some people rated this with one or two stars - emotional response, instead of using logic and researching the presented beliefs themselves.) No one can say for sure what happened - one can only follow the clues left behind. This is exactly as Dan Brown has done. A page-turner filled with historical and scientific fact that points to a certain conclusion... What more could you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: Remember, this book is fiction!
Review: Read a real history book if you want to know the truth. Anyone who knows history would think this book is trash.
Rating:
Summary: Needs better research on his background
Review: Mr. Brown is capable to telling a good tale and making it interesting and fun. The Da Vinci Code, while well written, is based on a set of premises too fantastic for anyone with any background on the subject to believe. I bought this book for my wife, thinking it would be a fun mystery. We were both very disappointed in that it seems Mr. Brown is more interested in advancing his bizzare view of history than entertaining the reader. Suspension of disbeliefe was impossible with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not "exhaustively researched" at all!
Review: By claiming historical accuracy in a short preface to the novel, Dan Brown's book is no longer "just fiction" but purports itself to be a historical study. As such, it would receive a failing grade in most college history courses. Brown blatantly ignores the careful research of legitimate ancient, medieval, and early-modern historians, theologians, and literary critics and chooses instead to rely upon reactionary, conspiracy-centered, non-scholarly studies from the 1980s. Publisher's Weekly admits its own ignorance by deeming the book "exhaustively researched": obvious factual errors, the absence of notation and bibliography, the mishandling and/or disregard of extant primary documents, and a tendancy to accept new theories without bothering to properly criticize the old ones; this is not "exhaustive research" at all. Other than the mere existence of Opus Dei, nearly every historical "fact" here can be or has already been challenged and proven false by historians (including every "authoritative" book that the character Teabing refers to). The author either knows this (and is thus intentionally spreading misinformation) or is completely ignorant (and therefore has not researched his topic "exhaustively"), but it is you, the readers, who are being misled while paying for the privledge.
Rating: 
Summary: The Trick to Reading Speculative History Fiction Books
Review: When reading this book one should always keep in mind that this genre of book is going to be frought with peril from a writing standpoint. Let's get to the point here. Mr. Brown clearly has a love for this topic. He has spent LOTS of time and energy seeking out knowledge about this. This book is a vehicle for him to express his ideas, concepts and theories in fiction form. True, the writing is contrived and clumsy. Also, his techniques for ramping up the drama and suspense are not very compelling. In addition, I would agree with several other reviewers that most of the dialogue sounds like a lecture series. Okay, the book has obvious weaknesses in terms of form and construction. That being said, Mr. Brown is giving us the fruits of his labors with regard to his research. That's what I love about speculative history fiction novels. The writer gives the reader a lifetime of investigation on a subject wrapped around some kind of half-way decent plotline. One learns a lot about something interesting without having to invest tons of time sifting through materials that may or may not shed any more light on the subject at hand. Oftentimes, these books introduce the reader to something facinating that the reader didn't even know existed before. I get the feeling that this is one of those books. Definitely, read this book and enjoy the exposition of Brown's theories. Hopefully, it will spur you on to look into this strange topic more closely on your own. Read, ponder, decide for youself.
Rating:
Summary: If you like creative books ....
Review: ....you will find that Dan Brown's "DaVinci Code" is brilliant. It weaves a wealth of facts and non-facts into a great fictional mystery novel. This is one of the few books I have ever seen with such an unusual presentation. But, if you allow me to say so, if you really do put great stock in creative presentations, you would probably also like Norman Thomas Remick's highly creative "West Point...Thomas Jefferson". I certainly recommend Dan Brown's bestselling "DaVinci Code" (and also the less known Remick book).
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