Rating: 
Summary: A Specious Book
Review: The story contained within the book is a thriller. The one problem I encountered though, was the non-existence of Robert Langdon at the Harvard University website. The author alleges that Robert Langdon, the protangonist, is a professor at Harvard. This leads me to believe that the book, albeit interesting, is one big falsehood.
Rating: 
Summary: an ok book but with three major flaws
Review: This was a good read that I had trouble putting down. However, I was disapointed by three big flaws that made the book much less enjoyable.
First is the length of the book and explanations. The forays into religious theology got preachy and repetitive as time went on. You kept finding that what was explained before was merely a lie fabricated by the enemy, but by the umpteenth explanation you ceased to care. Also, the trail of codes was way to long and had many steps that did not build the excitement or add to the plot. For example, the charachters, after working and thinking as hard as they can to unlock the codex they find only another codex inside! this shows the tone of the entire book
The second flaw may not bother some, but it did me. This is the fact that the author treats religion as a tool used by leaders to gain power, that they manipulate and rewrite as they please. You get the feeling that the author does not really believe in God, or not enough to introduce the possibility that the religious people in the world are following something real, not just the changing stories of leaders.
Finally, the information is too obscure to have any effect on most people. Many of the symbols and conections the characters use in solving crucial mysteries were completely unknown to me. I have only the author's word that they even exist, and this is a fiction book. I like mysteries if i can think and solve along with the heroes, and that just isn't possible when the mystery is built on ancient sybols of fertility goddes worship.
As a final gripe, the ending is highly implausible and unsatisfying, and the character development leaves a lot to be desired.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read!
Review: I cannot sufficiently describe how fascinating I found this book. I bought it because I enjoy a good mystery, but it is so much more! Not only is it a fast-paced novel of suspense full of twists and turns, but it is also packed full of fascinating facts about history, art, science, and religion. Nearly every time I turned a page, I discovered a new fact that made my jaw drop. Given how surprised I was by a lot of the information in the book, I did a bit of superficial research on the web and discovered that his facts and theories are well-supported by many others, as well. I dare say I learned more interesting information from reading this novel than in any science, history, or art class I took in college ... and definitely more than I ever learned from my church. Never before has a work of fiction sparked an academic curiosity in me until "The Da Vinci Code." As a result of reading this book, I bought several resources regarding the religious history and theories researched by Dan Brown -- something I never thought I would be interested in -- and I can't wait to learn more. I have also shared this book with every member of my family, who all also loved it, including my father, who generally only reads non-fiction. If you buy only one book this year, make it this one!
Rating:
Summary: An absolute riveting read!
Review: Apart from being well written, this fascinating book presents a lot of information on the ancient classics. Brown does an excellent job weaving his plot: a Harvard professor of symbology and a French police criminologist are on a mad pursuit to discover who killed the criminologist's grandfather, the prominent curator of the Louvre. The fact that the Harvard professor is the prime suspect adds further intensity to the plot. In a race against time to find the curator's murderer, astonishing facts surface about the curator. In the process of melding the plotline, Brown presents a fascinating array of true documented evidence on the Holy Grail, biblical and ecclesiastical history, secret societies, art symbology, and more. I had never heard of most of this evidence - I was fascinated to learn that such theories, and societies, existed. Apart from the historical interest, however, this is just a plain great mystery read - Brown's style flows and is effortless. He also presents his plots in pieces and jumps around to different scenes frequently - this means you don't have time to get bored. And not without coincidence, this means you have to just keep reading if you are interested in a particular plot but keep being interrupted. No unnecessary embellishments or pedantry in his writing style at all - a good clean mystery that guarantees to please!
Rating:
Summary: It's Good! And It's Accurate!!
Review: Sub line (As far as we know).
Two secret and covert groups have been squaring off since the time of Jesus. One's the Catholic Church, the other, a group of knights who don't want the Church to let the world know that Jesus was a real man who lived an earthly life more than they're telling us.
This story is great from the get-go. And even better, as far as I can tell, it's pretty accurate. If you've ever read Holy Blood Holy Grail, The Templar Revelation, The Hiram Key or any other of the "nonfiction" books out there about this subject, then here's a nail-biter of a narrative, and you know what's going on the whole time.
If you haven't studied these other selections, than this is just the primer to do so. My wife always asks why I read all this conspiracy stuff, but after this book, she's hooked, too.
If you like historical fiction, you can't do better than this!
Rating: 
Summary: TV mentality thriller with an axe to grind
Review: I was very disappointed in the barely veiled attack on Christians, especially Catholics, in the book. Every few pages is an insight passed off as fact, or research. Among the his "insights" is that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were sexual, and that "The Church" crushed this fact. And that there are "other gospels other than the "few" in the bible." That feminism was the truth that the Church eliminated. The "well-searched" book actually describes "Wicca" as an ancient religion. It was made up from the writings of Aliester Crowley within the last century. Those who believe Kwanzaa is an African holiday, will believe that Wicca is an ancient religion. The author has stated in interviews: "was she [Magdalene] Jesus' wife, partner, confidante, beloved disciple, the "apostle to the apostles"? All this and more, says "Code" author Dan Brown. "I was skeptical, but after a year and a half of research, I became a believer," says Brown. "As soon as people understand that the few Gospels included in the Bible are not the only version of the Christ story, they begin to sense contradictions. Magdalene is most obvious." Written with that breathless style that gets one believing that the CIA killed Kennedy, or that the Air Force is suppressing UFO information. Ignorance gives free speech an advantage. Lies get around the world four times before the truth gets its boot laced.
Rating:
Summary: A masterful thriller
Review: Dan Brown knows how to write a thriller. The pages of this book know how to turn, almost by themselves. He also has a wonderful knack for blurring the line between fact and fiction but this is very much fiction, however it is depicted. In the beginning of the novel our hero, Robert Langdon, is called by the French police to help understand some strange symbology in the death of a curator at the Louvre. This starts a breathtaking journey through art and religion, Paris and London as he searches, with the aid of a young French woman and an eccentric English gentleman, for clues leading to ancient secrets. In the background hovers "The Teacher", a mysterious figure who seems to be almost one step ahead of them at each turn. His disciple (or henchman!), Silas, is pursuing them with equal vigor thus setting the scene for this very suspenseful thriller. The puzzles were well thought out and, better still, solvable by the casual reader which always gives a sense of satisfaction. My only real quibble was with the motivations of one of the minor characters - a bank manager - and when that's the biggest problem with a novel, it must be good. There are obviously a large, vocal contingent who dislike this book on religious grounds. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but, for my view, it is still a work of fiction that some historical factual input. The weaving of the two is what provided much of the interest for me. I have since read Angels & Demons. If you enjoyed that novel, you will find much to enjoy here too. There are certainly a lot of similarities in the construction of the books but both stand on their own and both are highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A detective story for the TV viewer mentality
Review: Written with a screen-writer's sensitivity for pacing and disregard for the audience's intelligence, this book attempts to be a page turner - but keeps putting speed bumps in the way. A nice opening set of chapters, where a wee-hours murder in a museum gets all the main players introduced, and two mysterious secret societies revealed. Then the author's shallow understanding of Christian and pagan symbolism start getting ini the way. Or was his use of Robert Bly or Anthony Campbell as "research?" He wishes to pit "ancient goddess worship" against Christian history. Then he tosses in lines about "Isis, Wicca, Venus, and other ancient traditions..." Wicca was invented within our lifetimes (lifted whole cloth from Aleister Crowley), not withstanding the popular and uncritical acceptance of this hoax by popular culture.) The author has the "scholar" discussing the "perfect" pentagon that the planet Venus is supposed to draw in the sky every four years. The church stamped this knowledge out, too? I found myself wanting to toss this book across the room every chapter or two, for the silly "historical" notions that are introduced as fact. One could almost hear the author's thinking, "People don't know about this stuff, let's leave it in!" Just the way TV directors might leave in scenes with telephone wires in the background during a Western. "People won't notice, it is only on screen for 5 seconds, and everyone is half-asleep anyway. It's only TV." Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The good news and the bad news
Review: The good news:
It is a riveting, fast-paced thriller, that is hard to put down before one has read it to the end. The bad news:
The book is littered with factual faults. This is obvious to anyone having a rudimentary knowledge of: science, religious-history, geography, Paris, Europe, symbolism, computers, architecture, cars, world-history, aviation, banks etc. The author uses widespread name-dropping in every area instead of doing a more thorough research. Two small examples: How do you put a car with a manual transmission in "Park"? It doesn't make sense. How do you use a computer to calculate a ten digit access code for a bank account? You can't. You have to be narrow-minded to thoroughly enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: Outside of a night's sleep, some digressions to check Brown's facts against my copy of Chadwick's "Early Church" and some Google searches, I completed "The Davinci Code" straight through. The author took a fringe conjecture on the life of Christ and spun off a wonderful tale of suspense and international intrigue. While I was completely absorbed by the backdrop of this story - theology, history, cryptology, Da Vinci's eccentricity, scheming Vatican, and secret societies - the foreground of this story was Good, but, in the end, wound up too neatly to be Great. It was as self-contained as a weekly TV drama series. Regardless, I highly recommend for anyone enjoying history of modern religions, conspiracy theory, and in need of escape.
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