Rating: 
Summary: Dan Brown goes on my must read authors list!
Review: A friend sent me the RandomHouse internet quest for the Da Vinci Code ...I was hooked! I spent half a day in the office solving the clues, getting other colleagues involved. The pre-marketing was great. On my last visit back to the states, I picked up the book in the airport. I nearly finished it durning my 8,5 hour flight (instead of sleeping). I couldn't put it down. When I arrived, I immediately bought a book about Da Vinci, to check out painting details that I missed when visiting the originals. The combination of art, history, twists on religion and even just revisiting the Louvre, were so well described .... it was just like being there. I have recommended the book to EVERYONE I talk to! Long live the the Priory of Sion.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I enjoyed most of the book, a definite page turner, but when I got to the end, it was like many other books in the genre, disappointing. The end simply didn't make sense and the dots just weren't connected. It was a let down after the roller coaster ride. I also thought the characters rather one-dimensional.
Rating: 
Summary: Momentary divertissement
Review: A sluggish cryptology caper whose storyline I'll leave to others to summarize. Author Brown is of the tour-guide school of novelisting, relentlessly filling us in on every reference and footnote. To be fair, he manages it more seamlessly than many others. It's also crying out to be filmed (which at last check shows no option snapped up, but that's for his agent to time). On the run, our hero and his comely Sophie Marceau-style feisty companion find refuge with a Paris-based knight with a name to rival Tufton Beamish, Leigh Teabing. Mysteriously reluctant to allow his guests more than a fleeting glimpse, on page 231 Sir L tantalizes them with the teaser that, "Da Vinci painted the true Grail, which I will show you momentarily." Honestly, it's one thing to have airline pilots taunt us with a brief bumping of tarmac before bouncing off again to Lord-knows where, but to have a man of supposed letters flub at this basic a level - and with a K of the Realm - just makes one despair. Not much further on, Teabing credits some heavy-handed duplicity to his time with the "Oxford Theatre Club". This could well be the case, but considering how carefully Brown fashions LT as a bogus and pompous oaf, he's far more likely to pretend a link with OUDS. No match for the double whammy of sloppy research and a tin ear, I handed this fairy tale to *my* Rémy Lagaludec (another ludicrous nomen) with instructions that it be placed below stairs for the maids' amusement. I've no idea how or if DVC reaches any workable conclusion. Perhaps one of les domestiques will post their own assessment.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read!
Review: Intriguing and extremely suspenseful,The Da Vinci Code is a mystery that will make you think!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting subject, but ultimately cheap thrills
Review: Despite impressive scholarship, this poorly written book fails to deliver except as a cheap thrill ride. The Holy Grail legend and its connection to history, art, architecture, the Church and secret societies would have been better served in a non-fiction piece than this amatuerish and implausible plot with its annoying and one-dimensional characters. (But there's not as much money in non-fiction). The attempts at humor are enough to make you toss it into the fire. Everything falls so conveniently and completely in place, down to a peanut allergy in the last act - that it rings utterly hollow...sillier than an Agatha Christie mystery. The bad guys get their comeuppance and the hero and heroine get together...how predictable. That the entire book and countless revelations take place in a matter of hours and between virtual strangers is ludicrous. There's undoubtedly an audience for this kind of pablum. It kept me interested; it's not dull, but sophisticated writing, it's not.
Rating:
Summary: Rubbish
Review: This is a horribly researched book. Brown knows so little about Europe (and the UK in particular) that you have no confidence in anything else he is trying to sell with this novel. An awful read which will have you tearing your hair out at the mistakes.
Rating:
Summary: history - a set of lies disagreed upon.
Review: i get the sense that Dan Brown wrote the Da Vinci
Code book in an attempt to shatter myths &
paradigms like faberge eggs by bringing the
legend, history, & relevance of the of the holy
grail to the masses, as only a best selling work
of fiction could. to the degree that they are
factual, the implications the author makes are
relevant to everyone. the author takes every opportunity to pummel
readers with facts, as he reveals the origins of
various words, "pagan" for example, & explains
the significance of the sacred feminine & the
tragedy of its fall from prominence. the sacred
feminine is the foundation for this book.
i'm a sucker for anything tied to Da Vinci; the
author includes some facts about Da Vinci &
various other standouts from history. the book gave me a lot to wonder about. primarily
i wonder how much was true. i still don't
understand how the masons are connected to the
whole thing. he didn't explain the masonic
references well at all, which i regret. time for non-fiction i supp0se. anyway, if you don't already know much about the
holy grail, this book will be an interesting &
entirely entertaining way to find out what the
holy grail is purported to be. the characters were somewhat underdeveloped.
there was some predictability. it moves fast at
first, towards the end it slows down, the
dialogue tires out & the story begins to feel
awkward & hastily contrived. overall it was entertaining & informative. i enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: This book is a must read for any history or art lover. I absolutely couldn't put it down. The author's creativity was brilliant. I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. It also has many great twists throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: Intense
Review: One thing I can say is that this book is incredible. I started in the morning and couldn't stop until I closed the book at 10 p.m. The plot was intertwined with fact and fiction and awakened a new side of me. A renewed interest in art and religion! I do not want to say much about the book because it may or may not spoil it for you, however, this is an INTENSE read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and if you are so inclined, you may want to seek out Dan Brown's website that coincides with this book. After you've read it, of course. Enjoy this very interesting, well put together, and thought provoking book. I know I did!
Rating:
Summary: Rivetting to the last page
Review: I was interested but extremely skeptical about the book I received for my birthday. But after reading I will be purchasing more of Dan Brown's work. The character's are well-developed (I easily identified with their reasoning and emotions), the plot is both complicated, but extremely simplistic in its thought. You just get pulled deeper and deeperin this amazing story with its many twists and turns, page after page. The research (wife is art historian), insight from first hand accounts of art, architecture, history, and real societies and oganizations make this story one of the best I have read. Read this, you won't regret it.
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