Rating: 
Summary: Take this book for what it is FICTION and you will enjoy it
Review: If you take this book as a work of fiction, then you are in for a fast paced rollercoaster ride. I can see why this might offend some hardcore religious people. As a Roman Catholic who happens to be half Italian, I would urge you to read this book. When my grandmother died she left me a copy of the painting of DaVinci's "Last Supper". After I read the book I studied the painting. Remember this is entertainment and it does get you to think outside the box. I don't agree with all of the theories put forth in this book, but I do find them very intersting. It really makes you ponder how you learned about religion.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst book I've read in a long time.
Review: A conspiracy/mystery story written in simplistic, episodic fiction. It's touted to be (according to the back cover) "an exhilarating brainy thriller." In fact, this book is simply horrible. The writing is as bland as anything I've ever read. The characters are as deep as a puddle of mud.What's most disturbing are the factual inaccuracies, and this book is filled with them. It begins with the word "FACT," and then seems to imply that everything in the story is somehow based on fact. But it's not, and Brown gets even simple things like dates wrong. For example, the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947, not in "the 1950's" as one of Brown's character's claims. Another example: One of Brown's characters says that in the non-canonical Gospel of Philip, Jesus refers to Mary Magdalene as his "companion," which in the Aramaic language is synonymous with "wife." The problem, though, is that the Gospel of Philip was not written in Aramaic but in Greek. The same character, Teabing, says the vote at the Council of Nicea was "relatively close." Sure: 300 to 3. An in-depth view of all the factual mistakes in this piece of trash can be found here: http://www.tektonics.org/davincicrude.htm, with another good resource here http://www.waynecoc.org/DaVinciCode.html. The DaVinci Code is, in short, a waste of time. There is nothing good about the writing, and as far as the "facts" of the book go, about the only thing I would say is correct is the page numbering.
Rating: 
Summary: better than the movie ;)
Review: food for thought, if you've never had this meal before. -Is Brown a genius?-a seemingly absurd question, but given the amount of money he has made by writing this "thriller" i'm obligated to say that yes he is-a marketing genius-weaving the dominant religion and religious figure, greatest genius, and one of the greatest conspiracy theories ever, and then injecting them into your everyday mainstream thriller. If not before, he is a very rich man. Now I will take a step up onto my soapbox and ramble for a couple minutes. I hope this benefits someone. If anyone is offended, i'm sorry. This is just my opinion up to this point in my life. If I overzealously state the obvious or if i seem a pedant, i am whatever and whoever you think i am: -Are the "facts" in The Da Vinci Code facts? Is the Bible fact?There is much history within the last couple hundred years that we can't even verify. Although we may think otherwise, many of us aren't even sure what exactly is going on at the present moment (the reasons for the Ongoing war in Iraq, etc). Personally, 2000+ years of distortion is too much. -Some of us have one view, some have another(the catch being-opposing one of them means eternal damnation) and there are many views of What Is Truth in between. -Not everything is black or white. Philosophy may help one person and harm another, same goes for religion, etc. etc. - I'm convinced that more people would be happy if religion was used more as a Guide to living as opposed to absolute fact/guide to living. -The man known as the greatest genius to ever live was not religious. The reading and comprehension of anything is interpreted through the intellect and it's difficult to deny that Da Vinci had spirit-just look at his paintings. So why didn't he believe? Surely he was exposed to religion (no need for evidence here). Without attempting to answer this question definitively: his adamant love for rationality and disillusionment.--If romanticism is your thing, religion Does make sense, and there is nothing wrong with that so long as it doesn't do harm. After all romanticism is, for a lack of a better word, romantic. ;) -- -Was Jesus married? the formerly religious part of me doubts it but I certainly hope so; Did he live through a crucifixion? not likely; Did he rise from the dead? not likely (of course, if anything supernatural does exist, it would be possible, but as of now, we have no proof, which is why religion=faith) The exception being those raised into a belief, people seem to be openminded until They find what They believe suits Them, or what makes sense to Them (ie: a belief which can mold itself around Their experiences, or to relieve Their guilt, etc)...or what they believe will lead to a healthy family, or simply submitting to the beliefs of their partner, on and on and on. While trying to avoid being too monotonously optimistic and didactic(any chance at not being didactic is likely lost at this point), the struggle-this twisting, furcating road to happiness and stability, is different for each individual due to a plethora of variables-Who we are as Individuals in regards to emotion, experience, intellect, spirituality, environment etc. -to cut it short and step down from this worn out soap box, Calm down and Love what you have to love. ;) Your truth is out there peace folks ;) CVC
Rating:
Summary: Religious zealots & close minded people stay away!!!
Review: This book is FICTION people!!!! Get a freaking grip. Most low raters are clearly motivated by their fervor for Christianity while other low raters are less conspicuous about their convictions in their "reviews". Again, amazon has to do something about their "review" section because I guarantee that half of the reviews come from people that have never read one page of the book. Maybe amazon should have a quiz section to verify true readers. Why are so many Christians afraid of the damage that a FICTIONAL book can do to the religion? I have firmly held beliefs that are still intact after reading the book. It didn't make me question Christianity and what it stands for. Ever heard of suspension of disbelief? I hope those that read this are not actually looking for a "review" to buy this book because they would be better served flipping a coin. Everyone who rates here on amazon seems to be motivated by something and totally uninterested in giving an honest review. Oh, and by the way, if you do care, this book is wonderful like all the major news media has stated! The book has been on the bestseller list this long for a reason.
Rating:
Summary: Mystical lite -- and that's all right
Review: Read it one riveted session -- with a bucket of beer and chicken and snow on the ground outside. Many readers have found Brown's metaphysical thriller an over-cooked and contrived tale, with much promised and little delivered -- but I say he's a very clever story-teller, with a canny knack for strange detail. For the sake of all those disappointed souls, may I suggest a book that far exceeds expectations. It's called IN THE GHOST COUNTRY by Peter Hillary -- it's an adventure story, a ghost story, a psychological thriller and a shock-filled memoir by a famous person, all in one. It absolutely knocked my socks off.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh My G_d will you lighten up?
Review: (...)Unusual book in many ways: The beginning was not that great. Some of the writing made me roll my eyes. The dialogue is embarrassing at first. The ending is a bit weak too. It's almost like Mr. Brown couldn't resist a nice tight Hollywood ending. By the way, contrary to what the 'reader' said, there is absolutely no sex in this book at all, which is a clear indication that Mr. 'As a Christian" didn't even read the book he claimed to read.
So why do I still give this best seller four stars?
The middle of the book is absolutely awesome. I couldn't put the darned thing down. Brown interlaces a lot of cool ideas together. His articulation about the significance of Mary Magdalene is incredible. And the bottom line is that a lot of it rings truer than what the Catholic Church has doled out for the past two millenia, I am sorry to say.
And the book also makes you want to go and rent two movies:
The Last Temptation of Christ (which was an excellent film, by the way, and much much better than the current Mel Gibson fiasco) and Eyes Wide Shut (the last film by Stanley Kubrick, a real moviemaker, unlike, you guessed it, Mel the Smell-as in, I smell MONEY).(...) Enjoy. Review to your hearts content.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book
Review: Prior to reading this book, I saw tons of people getting this book, but had little word of mouth information and never knew what it was about until there was a television special about it. I decided to read it because I thought it was an interesting idea for a book. Especially because it went along with my curiousity about truth and fiction in the Bible and church history. I absolutely loved it. It opened things up that I hadn't really considered, with my relatively conservative religious upbringing. It was a thrilling idea that Jesus was human, and not a robot without feelings and without a true human experience. It was also fascinating to consider the role of previous church leaders in information, or the supression of it. It was interesting to see how the book ended, but more interesting was the information that I went out to research after I finished reading it. The book wasn't focused on sex. It was focused on the idea that the information we could have gotten that was such a threat to the authority of church leaders that they felt they had to surpress it. Anyone who walks away thinking the book was all about sex made a snap judgement and didn't see the problems posed by the church burying information. They came in with pre-concieved notions and would have been offended no matter how well or how poorly the story could have been told. They are also probably the same folks who watch television shows and movies just so they can whine about how violated they feel. And that's truly sad. People who are deeply offended can move on, because they can go get one story spoon-fed to them every week. But those who are interested in looking at a work of fiction that can open their eyes to exciting ideas, while reading a gripping story, will truly enjoy this book. I read this book in a day and have re-read it several times. This book has also given me a start to do historical research and find out what real events are behind this story. Fantastic... Read it, but keep an open mind. If you can't do that... Then stay the same as you've always been.
Rating:
Summary: Good thriller, mediocre literature, forget the facts
Review: It's a good thriller and good entertainment. You'll enjoy reading it. Anything else might disappoint you. The literature value of it is doubtful (who cares anyway in these type of books). And the "facts" have no evidence supporting them and may not be true but it's just a novel, a good novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I had hoped for . . .
Review: I read this book just from the perspective of wanting a good mystery to read - the religious 'accuracy' aspects didn't concern me. And - it simply didn't hold my interest very well. The plot seemed fairly lite, and the characters weren't well developed. I probably scanned through about 1/4 of the book's pages. I suspect that Dan Brown recognized that the religious implications of what he wrote would make the book sell - and for that he is correct!
Rating:
Summary: Historical Mysterious and Suspensefull
Review: Dan Brown has done a great job with this novel. Although many premises on which the foundation of this story builds itself, and to which he alludes within his novel are still today of a controversial nature he does a great job of rattling the cage of Christian History. From the birth of Christianity to its modern day state, Brown grips the reader with suspense, mystery and a great deal of enlightenment throughout this history-unveiling book. Although the premises of the story may not be fully founded, and the facts of history are spread thin with controversy, the overall appeal is good because of the authors ability to continuously affect the reader in a way that most other books cannot. Dan Brown went out on a limb to write a book that challenges the history of a popular faith and taking this book for what it is, a fiction novelists latest attempt to write a bestseller, it's a very dynamic book that you won't be able to put down. Without getting into any details of the book (as this is a mystery novel that must be experienced without such give-aways) i'll say that the only thing that i did not like about the book was that, as it went on, the chapters seemed to get too short, and scenes jumped around too much. I would prefer a 10 to 20 page chapter that tags you along a story line more than the 2-4 page chapters Brown has opted for. Historically, no matter what faith you believe in, this book is going to make your head turn with his connection of Da Vinci's life and work to the blood line of Jesus Christ Himself. I would recommend this book to those novel-seekers interested in History, Mystery and Suspense.
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