Rating: 
Summary: Interesting concepts, poor characterization
Review: I was disapointed it this book, but not for the reasons most people are writing about. I enjoyed the alternate history of the gospels and the secret workings inside the catholic church. For those who find this kind of conspiracy theory unrealistic, the non-fiction biblical histories are just a few clicks away, why are you reading a fiction book? What ultimately disappointed me about the DaVinci Code was the poor character development. I understand that Dan Brown wants to reuse his main character in a series, but this "James Bond of the Art World" character really become a bore to read about. He was not risky, charasmatic, or even charming. Brown showed no creativity to get his main characters out of tight spots and basically had them running around the street paris saying "oh my, they are after me! what do I do?" I would rather have read more about the villians thoughts, at least they showed some originality. I was very unimpressed and disappointed that a book that has been read by so many people could be written so poorly.
Rating:
Summary: Unoriginal
Review: I bought this book after I read a newspaper review promising me an intellectual thriller full of clever puzzles and intriguing historical references. What a disappointment. The history is full of annoying minor and sometimes major errors and at least one glaring math error (an order founded in 1099 isn't more than a millennium old). The puzzles aren't particularly ingenious (why was the professional cryptographer unable to figure out the code to her granddad's bank vault while I got it at once?). Thrilling? Yes, the first 300 pages. Hence the extra star on top of the minimum of one.
However, the worst thing is, that this is just a rehash of Holy Blood, Holy Grail in novel format without adding anything of importance. I feared as much very early on, when the family name of the victim turned out to be Sauniere. If the review had mentioned this, I'd never have bought the book. I even wonder if Dan Brown wasn't hired by the remaining two of the original three authors of HBHG to rescue them from oblivion (they're in the book as Leigh Teabing: Leigh = Leigh...; Baigent = Teabing - I've seen better anagrams). I really wish that reviewer hadn't been so clueless. I feel cheated.
Rating: 
Summary: loved it
Review: dvc is a great book i was not thinking about the facts about jesus, but after reading this book i feel inclined to find the truth dvc = thriller + suspense + art + da vinci + facts + conspiracies + religious background + .....
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Fiction
Review: This is an action oriented tale that is pure entertainment. It unfortunately does not offer any character development of the main characters. We never learn much about them at all, little background or relationship information. Once you read the first page; it takes off from there on a fast-paced at time frantic tale. The story is based on a historical conspiracy theory that the author takes seriously but that lacks ALL credible evidence. For each assertion, there a hundreds of valid refutations that immediately jump out. The author is making a case that is so outlandish it is beyond being debatable. I did enjoy reading it but had to completely ignore many of the claims made regarding art, history, religion and secret societies due to their lack of credibility. I am really surprised that a book based on such erroneous and illogical claims could have been published at all and then be so popular. If anyone actually is swayed by the story's claims, just look at The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel or especially Josh McDowell's Evidence that Demands a Verdict, among other Christian books that offer evidence for all aspects of Christianity. They offer historical, spiritual, religious, and scientific evidence of the verity of Christianity, as opposed to this book's conspiracy theories. The truth concerning the issues relating to Jesus' life in this book are not mysteries as they are treated here. There has been more research and study of Jesus' life than anyone else in history. If the validity of his story and of the Bible was so ambiguous, neither would have stood against all the opposition to them both. Something built on lies and fraud cannot withstand the violent attacks levied against the early Christians. Besides, this book purports that Constantine initiated a great fraud that caused the Catholic Church and Christianity to be based on lies. Well Christianity was already 300 years old by that time, and the Catholic church is not synomous with Christianity. The author doesn't even address the initial growth of Christianity in the centuries immediately following the life of Christ. All of his logic follows this pattern--extremely shallow and easily diputed. You won't be missing much if you don't read it; if you do read it, you are sure to be entertained but not taught a history or religious lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to Put Down
Review: Awesome book! Hard to put down. Whether or not the theories are true, they are certainly interesting. This book is a very entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Can't stay out of the soup
Review: This book was very good initially, then I got bogged down in the soup. Some parts seemed to drag on & on. I often resorted to skimming paragraphs in an effort to edit.
Rating:
Summary: Good at first then....
Review: When the book begins, it definitely hooks you in with its creative storyline, promises of secrets, conspiracy theories, etc.; however once the main characters leave Paris, the story becomes absurd. As many other reviewers have said, the dialogue is horrible and ineloquent, the chapters are left with "cliffhangers" that are honestly really lame, and the lead character seems to know EVERYTHING. I mean, can he be stumped for more than 5 seconds? It gets so ridiculous. I'm not going to reveal the ending, but the longer the book progresses, the worse it gets. If you want a quick read with no pre-requisite for thinking, borrow it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: "Everyone loves a conspiracy."
Review: This was a well put together suspense novel. (Emphasis on the word novel.) I thought I had the villain figured out and then it surprised me, which is a plus! It had quick pacing, until it hit about 40 pages of explanation of the Holy Grail theory which went slightly over the top. However, the pace picked up again for the rest of the story. Overall, a good, fun read, but I wasn't able to see what qualities have left this book up so long on amazon.com's top 10 books sold list. Take it with a grain of salt (after all, it doesn't have a bibliography) and enjoy it for the puzzle-solving and chase elements.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: First off I would like to comment on mistah mack--please speak english for god's sake. Second of all that is a woman in the picture of the Last Supper, you people are in denial. It does not matter about the names on the painting it is all just a cover to make everyone happy. And third of all This book is the best read since the Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phonex, I highly recommend everyone should read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This is NOT a reference book - Be more cynical!
Review: This is a novel, and not a very good one at that. I was disappointed to find that this was yet another quest for the Holy Grail, and I guessed "who-dunnit" as soon as the character was introduced. I also found Brown's one and only plot device, of not revealing important matters of fact to the reader, tiresome after awhile.
It was entertaining enough to actually warrant 2 stars; however, the misinformation that it conveys as truth requires a demotion. I cared so little about this book that I had no intention of adding yet another review, but I became greatly concerned by all the comments by readers who believe they learned so much from this "informative read." To say that you have learned about Christianity from this book is the equivalent to learning about the Kennedy assassination by watching Oliver Stone's "JFK." Dan Brown takes a smattering of truth and mixes it with bits and pieces of multiple theories in a clumsy attempt to support a fragile hypothesis. As a religious scholar, none of the theories was new to me, as they obviously are to most readers. The reason so few are familiar with the concepts outlined in the novel is that there is no evidence to support these theories, so they have not been incorporated in mainstream history, religion, and art texts.
I am neither a Christian nor a fan of the Catholic Church, but Dan Brown's novel both obfuscates and detracts from the historically valid arguments denouncing organized religion.
Read this book for fun, but get your history elsewhere.
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