Rating: 
Summary: I Almost Regret Doing This.
Review: Let's start off with flaws. "The DaVinci Code" rarely takes time to slow down. The entire 400-something pages happens, for the most part, in less than 18 hours of time. The characters are pretty thin, with very little true analysis and/or dimension. The only exceptions to this are Silas and the Bishop, who receive less of a role in the story than they deserve. For a book that has an endless amount of plot twists, (which some may find to be incessantly mind-numbing after awhile) it seems rather linear in the sense that once you figure out what the real conflict and goal is, it's just straight ahead without too much diversion. There can't be anything very interesting about a book centered around two highly predictable cryptographers and a slew of rather unimportant characters racing towards something that isn't even fully explained until the last third of the book, can there?Well, if you guess "no", then Dan Brown has proved you wrong. Horribly wrong, in fact. The DaVinci code is so captivating, that many people will not even be able to realize the technical errors that would usually stand out like a sore thumb. Brown makes no attempt to flood the reader with everything at once. Because there is quite a lot to take in. Instead, he uses a rather cheap, but highly effective method, of keeping his audience captivated. You will find, when reading this book, that there are very few places where one can really come to a stop. It's very, very difficult to put the book down and take a break. When finishing one chapter, you will be introduced to an incomplete plot twist, which will remained uncompleted until after 5 more chapters have passed. By that time, you've already been introduced to another twist. Intertwined in this suspense-thriller game of cat and mouse is a thick overtone of cryptography, history, and religious conspiracy, for lack of a better term. This aspect of the story will probably captivate some as much as the thriller aspect. The two main characters are forced through solving code after code, while learning about a historical battle of epic proportions that has remained virtually hidden from the light of common knowledge for all these years. Well, Dan Brown just may have changed that.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but ...
Review: Rip-roaring good read for the beach or any particularly brainless day. It's entertaining, but the characters are cardboard, the history and "facts" utter crap, and - the worst sin of all - I consistently figured out the next "twist" in the mystery long before the characters did, which made for a lot of impatient waiting for the characters to get around to figuring things out. Nothing worse than an utterly predictably plot "twist." (Also, do these people never sleep? Maybe that's why they're so dumb ... they run for like five days with no discernable breaks and a bizarrely distorted time-scale.) Enjoyed it, but don't particularly reccommend it. And keep it away from any historians, theologians, or art scholars you know - it'll only make them crazy with all its invented facts.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Novel, With Believeable Research and Suspense
Review: Brown conveys his entire story based on true archaeoligical and historical evidence, and that makes it THAT more exciting. The ending caught me completely by surprise, and I am dying for a sequal. READ THIS BOOK
Rating: 
Summary: Intrigueng, convoluted, and thought provoking.
Review: This one kept me going as few others have of late. A very unexpected pleasure to read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Major Let-Down
Review: All I can say after this reading is...BLAH! I am truly shocked that SO many people liked this book. Maybe it's because so many had never heard of any of the concepts Brown introduces. I think he's one of those know it all sort of people who has a definite agenda to push. For this guy, it's goddess worship. Read any interview of him regarding this novel and you will know the truth of my words. If you must read it, please don't waste your money- borrow it from your public library.
Rating:
Summary: DaVinci Code, What has Brown done for you lately?
Review: It seems as though there are no middle of the road reviews on Dan Brown's DaVinci's Code. Either they are wildly euthusiastic or a complete pan. The story's premise has an interesting hook that grabs almost anyone (Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene) but, delivers it with such lameness that the reader becomes annoyed. Not even the fast facts nor the historical trivia can keep you from noticing the all too convenient discoveries and formula type writing. For example the multiple uses of the second look at any situation yielding much more information than the first. I would imagine this is to create suspense or intrique. It accomplishes nothing when used twenty times in the book. We end up wishing the main characters would purchase a pair of dime store bifocals to see what is patently obvious to the reader. All in all I was left on completion of the book with the feeling of how good it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: An exciting, fun and intelligent read!
Review: What's great about this book is that it is loaded with quality historic research and conspiracy theories that make you start to wonder about things you never thought of before! This is the kind of novel that gets the intelligent person hooked and keeps them up all hours of the night just to find out what's going to happen next! I don't read a lot of novels, but this one is smart, exciting and just a lot of fun! A must read for those interested in The Holy Grail.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting and thought provoking!
Review: Having been mildly interested in stories of the Holy Grail after a trip to Rosslyn Chapel in 1999, it was with great anticipation that I finally read THE DA VINCI CODE. It did not disappointment me in the least. One hallmark of a good book to me is that it makes me think and makes me read more about something I learned in the book. I have already read two of the books mentioned in TDC (those in Teabing's library), and as a domino effect, have bought several others. But this book is not a history book or a book on art appreciation although it does make it even more interesting if you are interested in those things. It is a first-rate thriller. I wasn't able to figure out the villain until it was revealed to the reader (having been totally wrong in who I had guessed it to be). Of course the scenes at Rosslyn Chapel really came to life as I had remembered it. My book group read this and I wholeheartedly recommend it as a book group selection. We had our best discussion ever, I shared photos of Rosslyn Chapel and Westminster Abbey while another member brought books she purchased at the Louvre. I can't say enough good things about this book. My husband read it right after I finished (right after he read Brown's ANGELS AND DEMONDS). This book justly deserves all the attention it has been receiving and justly deserves its place on top of the bestseller lists.
Rating:
Summary: Good beginning, horrible ending
Review: The first half of the book was great. The second half was horrible. Too contrived, to predictable, how could they not get the codes? The first thing I did was look at the writing in the mirror because the script flowed right-to-left instead of left-to-right. How could they not get that? And as for the last code, I got it with about 2 minutes of looking at it, but these guys have to go all over Europe trying to figure it out. The characters are completely unbelievable. They are all supercharacters, then they can't decipher the codes! And the very end was moronic. If the grail really was where Langdon thought it was, don't you think SOME construction worker, electrician, etc etc who had to move the thing would wonder why all they went to all that effort and there was nothing on display? Of COURSE someone would have talked. And wouldn't someone, somewhere, have made the connection that the leader of the Louvre and most power secret society and the leader of the church where the grail is supposed to be hid were married? Just dumb. This book gets two stars because Brown can write coherent sentences, but as for any semblance of plausibility it gets 0 stars.
Rating:
Summary: The Da-Great Code!
Review: This is a mystery full of great mystique and surprise. I loved the cliff hanger chapter endings and couldn't stop turning the pages to unravel the code. I shall reserve further commentary as there are spoilers potholes abound when discussing The DaVinci Code. I recommend this one enthusiastically! Geena Brighton, columnist for Sherrington
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