Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars for plot, but left me wanting a bit more
Review: Not sure what I can say that has not already been said by the hundreds of reviewers who have weighed in on the subject. But anyway, I will... I found the plot very fast-paced and a good page turner. However, I was a bit dismayed at the lack of depth in the historical backing of many of the details. If you are interested in this type of fiction, I would recommend Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, which I still reread from time to time.
I thought Brown laid a good foundation utilizing Opus Dei as one of the main antagonists in the book, but so much more could have been done developing this facet of the book, and moreover the last few chapters really had me asking for more.
Nevertheless, Brown has made a good effort, and if you want a book that you can read over the course of a rainy weekend, then this is one for you. I enjoyed it, but would have liked to see Brown develop the plot just a bit more.
Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant story, impressive research
Review: I read 'The Da Vinci Code' from cover to cover in two days - it was absolutely riveting! Beside being an exciting story, I also loved the details on ancient symbolisms, religious overtones, mathematical tidbits (e.g. phi) and settings in one of my favourite cities, Paris.Kudos to Dan Brown!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: I had trouble staying with this book at first, but when I got into it, I could not put it down. I love the information presented about Leonardo Da Vinci - I now see him in a different light - and reading about the "secret" behind Mona Lisa's smile and some of his other religious paintings. This book presents some pretty startling answers to questions I have held for awhile about Christianity and the Catholic faith. It helped open my mind to some things while making others more clear to me. Although it is a work of fiction, there is much factual historical information contained in the book, which I found fascinating. Absolutely one of the best books I've read in a very good while!
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating subject
Review: Mr Brown has really done some fantastic research and he raises some wonderfully perplexing questions about the Christian faith. I found that it made me study more on those questions and look up information about the Knights Templar and the gospel according to Thomas. The downside to this book was that it did not hold my attention as far as the story was concerned. I found it not up to par with many similar books.
Rating:
Summary: Gutsy...Educational...Exciting!!! Who could ask for more?
Review: Wow! I really enjoyed this novel. Not only did it appeal to my interest in ancient symbolism, but it kept me riveted the entire time I read it. Brown is a masterful story teller who clearly intends to educate readers on the origins of "the mysteries" while fully engaging our attention. I personally love books that have meaningful depth and character, and am impressed that his references are so accurate and well researched. Well done! I highly recommed this one!
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I've read in a long time.
Review: The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that I thought Angels and Demons was better. I figured out a lot of the plot before I was supposed to, but all in all, this book was exciting, intelligent, and has made me think about all the things we take on faith. I finished it 4 days ago and I am still thinking about the story every day. I am a Christian, but I realize that even if we know the Bible, it is not the complete story. It can't be.
In fact, I like the idea of Jeasus holding the female sacred a lot better than the current idea of women as second class citizens. Kudos to Dan Brown on his excellent research and wonderful story.
Rating: 
Summary: Story based on poor scholarship
Review: Brown relies on the theories presented in the book Holy Blood Holy Grail, a work of of very shoddy scholarship. It makes huge leaps in logic and ignores many of it's cited sources. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas actually presents Jesus as a male chauvist not someone who repsects the "sacred feminine." In it he says women will only enter heaven when they "become like men." It is interesting to note that the UC at Berkely (not exactly a pro-Christian institution) has a course on recognizing bad logic, and Holy Blood (Brown's basis for this novel)is required reading. Check out the university website and see for yourself. There are also many mistakes related to Leonardo and his works; a big one being the portrayal in the novel of the Madonna of the Rocks being on canvas (it was painted on wood). None of this would matter if Brown had not claimed to have researched his facts in order to write this story.
Rating:
Summary: The DaVinci Code
Review: I read this fabulous book about a week before I went to Paris and felt compelled to go to Saint-Sulpice and look for the Rose Line. I figure i was just being a big dork, but then I noticed three of couple searching the floor of the church. I studied then for a while and then said, "Davinci Code?" To which they all began to laugh and responsed with a yes.
Dan Brown has the most amazing ability to weave an ancient legend into a modern day tale, and DaVinci Code isn't the only one.
One of the couples scanning the floor of the church informed me that they had just been in Rome and while there they followed the quest in Angels and Demons, another Dan Brown book, through the city.
After reading I can't wait for two things...1) Another Dan Brown book, 2) To return to Rome so I can join in on another quest.
Rating:
Summary: Fun read, but for the ¿Albino¿ monk
Review: For the most part, I enjoyed this book; and you can read many other helpful reviews that supply more detail about this book than I will in this review. The main purpose for my review is to point out what I consider to be Brown's almost "hate-literature"-like portrayal of a person with albinism. In his character Silas, the Opus Dei monk who is also an assassin, Brown perpetuates a long-standing literary stereotype of albinism as associated with evil. (Please look up Luna Eterna's Albinism in Literature web page.) Brown describes this character with a visually demoniac appearance, endowing him with the rarer red-eyed form of albinism. Real people with this form of albinism do not, in fact, look demonic at all. (Please see the work of photographer Rick Guidotti and his Positive Exposure project which originally ran in Life Magazine a few years ago and has now grown into a movement to encourage the acceptance of difference. You can find out more on the web,) Brown also seems not to have done his homework: people with albinism connot see well enough to shoot a gun accurately and the vast majority cannot drive a car. This is because, as a direct result of the pigment disorder, there is not enough pigment in the retinas of the eyes; therefore people with albinism have severely limited eyesight that cannot be corrected. I found I had a very hard time suspending my disbelief when, for example, at the beginning of the book in the Louvre, Silas was able to shoot the museum's curator at a distance of 15 feet and hit his target with pinpoint accuracy. So, I give this book only 3 stars because of the way Brown mistreated the archetype of albinism and because I feel that since he took so much care to research art history, the history of secret societies and of religion and symbolism, he really ought to have researched albinism as well. I hope that when they make the film adaptation of this book that they will rewrite Silas' character entirely, and rely on some other back-story device, rather than albinism, to explain his violent madness.
Rating:
Summary: Good, Interesting, Not accurate
Review: That's about it. There are too many other reviews here for me to feel it necessary to continue. I liked the book, its quite interesting and well written. I'm an academic student of religious history, and his connections are liberal and speculative yet presented as fact.
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