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Summary: Riveting story, not so the writing
Review: A riveting story and fascinating information about the Knights Templar, the Priory of Scion, Agnus Dei, and the Holy Grail. Some fun as you attempt to solve the puzzle clues along with the protagonists. But character development is mostly nonexistent, and the overuse of certain sentence structures (e.g., "Shedding his own suit coat and tie," "Reconsidering," and "Returning to the truck," - all in the same paragraph) eventually starts to grate. Just sloppy writing, and apparently sloppy editing, which unfortunately can distract the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tale Lost in the Telling
Review: Intriguing plot nicely complimented by interesting factual details. However, the prose peaked at mediocre and often descended into low juvenile.
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Summary: A great book inspite of the masses
Review: "The Da Vinci Code"by Dan Brown Seldom am I influenced by the masses, but I couldn't help stumbling upon this novel all over the high school where I teach. Many of my fellow teachers had a copy as well as a large portion of the student body. My interest was peaked. I had to join the informal book club. The story revolved around a Harvard symbologist named Robert Langdon. While in Paris giving lectures, Langdon was inadvertently drawn inside a mystery of biblical proportions. Langdon immediately hooked up with a female French cryptologist and soon embarked on a quest to decipher clues/secrets protected by an ancient sect called the Priory of Sion (a faction boasting past members such as Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and of course Leonardo Da Vinci). The pacing, story and plot were phenomenal. What are your images of the Holy Grail? What do you think about the possibility of Jesus fathering a child to Mary Magdalene? What if this mythical child could have formed a continual bloodline from God, to Old Testament descendants (Moses, Noah, etc.), to Jesus, to members of society currently alive on Earth today? What if a female was meant to lead the first church in order to pave the way for Christianity? What if Da Vinci's painting of the "Last Supper" depicted a mystery dinner guest in addition to the disciples? Sacrilegious? Sure, this book will probably anger strict Catholics and members of the sect Opus Dei, but overall, the script doesn't trespass into Christian deity on too grand of a scale. Perhaps the most intriguing aspects of this novel dealt with its amazing (and interesting) depiction of mathematics (Fibonacci Sequence), art (Da Vinci) and cryptology. I loved the mathematics especially! Another strength of the novel is its use of real organizations and factual descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and rituals. I guarantee that you will visit the Internet to check out Da Vinci's artwork (especially the "Mona Lisa" and the "Last Supper") upon reading pertinent plot points in this novel. Dan Brown is one of the most intelligent storytellers of this current era. Too bad he doesn't know how to develop characters real well. I never got to know what made Robert Langdon tick. If Mr. Brown improves this aspect of his storytelling, he will become the next must-read author for years to come. Look for the character of Robert Langdon to hit the multiplexes soon. My Grade A
Rating: 
Summary: SURPRISING IN EVERY WAY
Review: Well after finishing the book, a mere ten minutes ago, I am riveted. The only reading that I'm displeased with is what some, not all, but some of the other people have to say here on Amazon. If you were to ask me, there would be absolutely wrong with making up a bit of history to suit your readers. I have no idea as to whether Dan Brown has actually done this, but if he has, one must understand that this IS a work of fiction. I haven't heard one squabble over how Harry Potter doesn't have enough facts in...and why is this?...because it to is fiction. My honest advice, begin to read this book and then see if you can stop. I read the sample chapter online, bought the book the next day, and today, five days later, all 454 pages are complete. Ignore those who are obviously ignorant to a good novel, this is THE thriller of the year. This book would get 6 stars, but Amazon will only let me put 5 for now.
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Summary: Catholics, Beware of Fuzzy Theology
Review: Dan Brown's new entry to the Templar/Holy Grail genre deserves a 4.5 for the storyline, but a 1.5 for its historical and scientific claims. Beginning with the murder of a curator of the Louvre, who leaves a cryptic message designed to ensure the invlvement of his daughter Sophie Neuveau, a cryptologist for the French Judicial Police, and of Robert Langdon, a Harvard art professor specializing in religious symbology, the story draws the reader into the amusing and exciting quest to decipher the sequence of puzzles that lead to the secret of the Holy Grail. Unfortunately what starts out as an engaging story draws to a shaky, uncertain finish, losing momentum and closure. What's much more bothersome to me is the lack of any visible relation of the background math, science, and history to factuality. He claims (for example) that the golden ratio (approximately 1.61803, and the ratio of the long to short sides of most flags) represents the ratio of female to male bees in a hive. Balderdash. Or that the ancient prejudice against left-handedness results from a program of defamation by the early church against the feminine, left-side, rather than the obvious explanation that a person who cah shake your hand and stab you at the same time seems sinister. More egregiously, the author claims that Constantine (emperor 324-337) changed the day of Christian worship from Saturday to Sunday, ignoring the fact that Justin the Martyr describes Christian worship on Sunday, no later than AD 155. Most astonishingly, he suggests that the divinity of Jesus was not established until the Council of Nicea, ca 325, apparently ignorant of the fact that the issue addressed was the Arian heresy, not even an issue until the late third century, and which proposed that Jesus, while supernatural, was not consubstantial with God, and that Jesus, while first-created, was not co-eternal with God. There had been lots of discussion about the nature of Jesus, but by far the maority belief was in the divinity of Jesus, not the skeptical denial of much modern theology, which Brown pretends was the prevailing view of the early Church. The silliest thing Mr. Brown claims is that the Hebrew (unpronouncable) name of God - YHWH - was derived from the 16th century translation mistake Jehovah. A good discussion of the origin of the word "Jehovah" is given in Gunther Plaut's commentary "The Torah" pp 425-6. In summary, an enjoyable story that despite faltering at the end, is mostly a pleasant read. The silly and even offensive lapses in the historical background make it occasionally annoying. For his authority on the history of the early Church, ...
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Summary: Good thriller or bad hoax.
Review: Dan Brown is a masterful writer who has taken on a difficult topic with great flair creating a roller coaster like suspense thriller that I could not put down. Unfortunately, he has some highly skewed sources and some gaping flaws in his Biblical scholarship. This is not significant to the non-Christian reader, or better yet to the atheist or New Age reader since their world view is not impinged on by such, yes, heretical notions. Mr. Brown himself admits that the core of his book's conspiracy theory has been "whispered" for centuries and is not his own. His web site contains an interview of sorts that gives us a glimpse of his attitude to these "facts" and to his quasi-Christian beliefs. Mr. Brown, according to that same site, is in a writer's seclusion while working on the sequel to the "Code." He cannot be contacted...My commentary and counterpoints may affect someone not yet having read the book except to say to the Christian reader, beware of the presentation of fiction portrayed as fact. Spiritual warfare is ubiquitous in this otherwise enjoyable if not misguided work. The fundamental premise that Jesus was a man, not divine, not the Son of God makes the reason for the intrigue and the focus on His so-called lineage a puzzle in and of itself. If He was only a man, who cares who his decendents were. Even if this allegedly suppressed "secret" were true, how would this make his decendents important? There are 28 generations from David the King and the birth of Jesus the Christ according to the Bible. That is an awful lot of people. Joseph was not in line for any throne that he did not himself carve. The Princes in Brown's story is no more royal than anyone who believes in Christ and is therefore an inheritor of Heaven. The divinity of Jesus is critical to Christianity. Christianity based on Jesus as some prophet with healing powers makes this faith no different than other faiths pinned on prophet leaders. Judeo-Christian traditions had many prophets none of whom became the basis of a faith within a faith that had any lasting power. Christ was different. His divinity was based on many things most importantly the "empty grave" or Christ's resurrection. No one ever came forward at any stage and alleged the grave was not empty, that his bones were found, or that he failed to defeat death. These are the facts of Christianity. Then there is Leonardo, himself. He was indeed not a Christian for most of his life, just as is alleged in the book. The end of the story, Leonardo's story, is also important. On his deathbed, Leonardo accepted Jesus as his Lord and professed his faith without reservation. How does all of this affect your premise and plot line, Mr. Brown? Maybe you are right (from his Web page interview), your novel will provoke Christians to think. My hope is that they will think about what are the immutable minimums that make them Christian. I hope and pray they do not re-think their faith because your well spun web gives the misimpression of fact instead of good fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Read
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I thought the author tied a lot of the Grail Lore in very nicely. I found a lot of the DaVinci information new & refreshing & came back to a lot of the stuff that I knew about the Templars, early Catholic Church & the Gnostic Gospels.
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Summary: A Thrilling and Murderous Search for the Holy Grail
Review: Professor Robert Langdon of Harvard University is in Paris to lecture and meet with a curator of the Louvre. Instead, the police take him from his hotel to the Louvre, where he finds the curator murdered. He is stunned to find that all evidence points to him as the murderer of a man he had never met. But Sophie Neveu, a police cryptographer and granddaughter of the curator, shocks Langdon further by maneuvering him into escaping from the police. On the run, she explains that she does not believe that he murdered her grandfather. The curator was the head of a secret society that dated back to the time of Christ and protected a great secret. She wants to find the secret. Pursued by police, they soon find that they are also pursued by the murderers. To their astonishment, they find that the secret they seek is nothing less than the Holy Grail. Their breathtaking flight extends from France to London and on to its climax in Scotland. Brown's ending of his story is less than thrilling, but the chase, which occupies most of the book, is well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: Read the Amazon reviews for this book and took a chance. WOW, what a great read. Haven't read a book this good in quite some time. Took it to the beach for vacation and finished it in two days. Could not put it down. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: MUST read
Review: If you read only one book this year, it should be The Da Vinci Code. In fact, if you only read one book this decade, it should be this one. I could not put it down. Dan Brown pulls you in on so many levels. This book redefines the phrase, "page-turner." I was blown away. I have recommended this book to everyone I know.
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