Rating: 
Summary: the only angels you see in this book is in the title
Review: A much over-rated book by a much over-rated author. OK, you learn a bit about the Illuminati, and the Freemasons society, but other than that, pure drivel! The author builds some sense of suspense, but then, nothing happens!
It seems that the only ones who really liked this book were people who rarely, if ever read!
I was going to read the Da Vinci Code, but after reading this thing, why bother?
It seems the author is more interested in gettting his misguided point across, than writing a thriller!
Rating: 
Summary: Oh my god, this is so bad
Review: Every once in a while, you read a book that just floors you with its low quality. This is one of those. Let me see if I can summarize it for you. A sexy, single, well-liked-by-his-students Harvard professor with a swimmer's bod (he swims fifty laps a day) hooks up with the smartest woman on earth (she is also very sexy)to thwart a "Hassassin" who was hired by the illuminati to blow up the Pope with anti-matter. Yep, that's it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good storytelling; lousy writing
Review: Rather like the late Alistair MacLean, Dan Brown has opted to provide edge-of-your-seat plot pyrothechnics and cloak-and-dagger spook stories about secret societies than put any effort into his writing skills. Yes, the book is highly entertaining, but you will hope nobody sees you reading it when you see, on NEARLY EVERY SINGLE PAGE IN THE BOOK, SOMETHING IS IN ITALICS. It's rather like reading a comic book where every sentence ends in an exclamation point. Look! he cried.
What?! she gasped.
The mark of the Illuminati! The secret organization hiding within the Masonic brotherhood!
Gasp!
Shiver!
GASP! (This is a parody of Brown's writing, not a quote from the book). It is well worth reading, but, like the Harry Potter tripe, was written with a very unliterary audience in mind. Nothing more than a guilty pleasure.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Follow Up to Da Vinci
Review: Angels & Demons - WOW! I loved it. If you enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons is another you must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Neat, but Formulaic
Review: Dan Brown manages to make the esoteric approachable in "Angels and Demons." This novel (which I blew through in about two days) covers Robert Langden's first "adventure": His attempt to thwart the Illuminati's killing of the Vatican's Cardinals during the choosing of the new Pope. Needless to say, this book essentially devoured my soul. While I was immersed in this novel, I was absolutely intrigued: Granted, it plays quite heavily off of the paranoic ramblings of many other books (notably, The Illuminatus! Trilogy), it still manages to keep the topics of the Illuminati and the Catholic Church approachable and interesting. Brown weaves together a convincing (albeit far-fetched) plot line. The ending, for me, had something to be desired -- but, c'est la vie. Brown's character devlopment is excellent, Langden is captivating and human (although occasionally a bit pithy for me). Looking back, however, I find this book horrifically formulaic. Nothing seems to fit together as well as it did while I was reading it, though this is probably a mark of a convincing author. It was an easy book to be consumed by, and for a few days I couldn't stop flipping pages. Of course, the entire plot centers around what seem to be an innumerable number of circumstances (that is, Why would CERN call Langden? Why would Langden give in? ...etc) The mysticism in this book is absolutely fascinating. However true - or untrue - Brown's discussion of the Illuminati may be, it was interesting to read about the path of enlightenment through Rome. Additionally, I found it extra-neat for Brown to include a map of the Vatican and of the surrounding area, thus making the locations in this book non-fiction, while fictionalizing events. Really neat. For it's purpose (that is, a cheap/easy weekend read), Angels and Demons did very well. It held my attention and brought together suspense and religious conspiracy, some twinges of romance (perhaps for the female crowd?) and general flamboyance that often makes books best sellers. Is this the next American classic? No. But it certainly was entertaining, and an excellent break for something easy to read.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This book was much better than the Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown is a quite interesting author and this book is very interesting. I recommend this book to people who thought the da vinci code was ok
Rating:
Summary: Well done, but take with liberal doses of salt.
Review: If you liked the Da Vinci Code, you will love this book also. It has a great conspiracy, this time concerning the Illuminati, lots of artistic and historical detail, and also features Robert Langdon, the intrepid art historian from Cambridge. Summoned to Switzerland by a strange fax he receives in the middle of the night from the director of CERN, Langdon learns of the murder of Leonardo Vetra, one of CERN's brilliant scientists, who had been working with his daughter, Victoria, on a way to harness anti-matter. Antimatter has astonishing characteristics; a tiny sample about the size of a grain of sand is hypothesized to hold "as much energy as about two hundred metric tons of rocket fuel." They have succeeded in suspending the violent substance in a vacuum. They learn to their horror that a vial of it has been stolen and hidden in the Vatican; it will explode when the battery pack keeping the material suspended runs out. There seems to be a conspiracy of Illuminati supporters to destroy the church. The pope has just died (killed as we later learn - I'll try not to give away too much), and the cardinals have all been called together to elect a new pope. The Illuminati were supposedly a group of science-minded rationalists who abhorred the church's spiritual basis for reality, hence their desire to obliterate the church. (If I told you what was really going on, it would ruin the suspense, of course.) Supposedly, Italy's most enlightened men of the sixteenth century, physicists, astronomers, and mathematicians banded together to share their concerns about the inaccuracies of the church's teachings. "They feared that the church's monopoly on 'truth' threatened academic enlightenment around the world. They founded the world's first scientific think tank, calling themselves 'the enlightened ones,' " i.e., the Illuminati. Hunted by the church, they were forced to maintain extreme secrecy, but they spread the word through codes and messages and met regularly at a secret location called the Church of Illumination. Lucifer, in Latin, means bringer of light or illuminator. There is some interesting history of iconography. U.S. currency is supposedly covered with Illuminati symbola. The pyramid on the back of a dollar bill is an occult symbol representing "a convergence upward, toward the ultimate source of Illumination. The eye above it, also emblazoned on Masonic lodges around the world - the Masons were thought to be offshoots of the Illuminati - represented the Illuminati's ability to infiltrate and watch all things. "The shining triangle represents enlightenment and is also the Greek letter delta, which is the mathematical symbol for change." The U.S. Great Seal is thus a call for enlightened, all-seeing change and the wording under the pyramid, Novus Ordo Seculorum, means new secular order. Take all this with liberal doses of salt. Other pieces of delicious trivia include Pope Pius's emasculation of the male form in statues. In 1857, he decided that the accurate representation of the male form "might incite lust inside the Vatican. So he got a chisel and mallet and hacked off the genitalia of every single male statue inside Vatican City. He defaced works by Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bernini [who plays a very important role in this tale]. Plaster fig leaves were used to patch the damage. Hundreds of sculptures had been emasculated. Langdon had often wondered if there was a huge crate of stone penises someplace." Langdon explains how the church pictured "satanic cults as devil-worshiping fiends. . .yet Satanists historically were educated men who stood as adversaries to the church," called Shaitan, an Islamic term meaning adversary. "The rumors of satanic black-magic animal sacrifices and the pentagram ritual were nothing but lies spread by the church as a smear campaign against their adversaries. Over time, opponents of the church, wanting to emulate the Illuminati, began believing the lies and acting them out. Thus, modern Satanism was born." Langdon uses his knowledge of art history to locate the lair where the assassin who has been hired to kill off the four most likely candidates to the papacy is hiding, and has squirreled away the love interest (typical). Taken with a tablespoon of salt, the story goes down delectably. For those wishing to wander down the path to paranoia, see
Http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NOW/index.htm. Rationalists would find the Mason history more illuminating at http://www.masonicinfo.com
Rating:
Summary: Good book, not that original though.
Review: I read this after finishing The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown as well; after that book I was prepared for a let down. However, my experience was quite to the contrary. I ended up liking Angels and Demons more than The Da Vinci Code! Crazy, eh? Whilst The Da Vinci Code was fascinating, I must confess that I would rather learn about science as opposed to art, and when they are combined with religion... Well, I was interested. If you read this book afore The Da Vinci Code I do not believe that you should feel compelled to voyeur into the next book in the series, for his modus operandi changes not at all. Seems like he is losing his creative touch almost... None the less it was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed the ambigrams. Props go out to John Langdon for creating them. You can see more examples of his work on his website (there is a link off of DanBrown.com). All in all it was worthwhile and I feel satisfied in awarding it four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Suspense
Review: The Illuminati was a scientific organization founded by Galileo to discuss matters the Church forbade research on. Feared by many and studied by few, they were more secret than any other underground organization in history. Over the centuries, the group faded away. Or did they? When famed physicist/priest Leonardo Vetta is found branded with the seal of the Illuminati, it seems like the cult has once again arisen. Vetta's experiment - the largest isolated quantity of antimatter - has been stolen. If not found within 24 hours, it will explode with more energy than any weapon previously built. It is up to Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and Vetta's adopted daughter Vittoria to find the canister and safely return it to protection. There's only one catch. The antimatter is somewhere at the Vatican. Though the canister is appearing on a security camera, the camera has been moved - and the Swiss Guard have no idea where. There is not enough time to check out the entire complex. And with the papal conclave about to start, the world is watching. Led on a chase through ancient churches in Rome, Robert and Vittoria's only hope of stoping the scheme is to catch the assassin, an Illuminati killer who has vowed to murder a cardinal ever hour until the canister explodes. In this riveting novel of suspense, Dan Brown weaves a tale so deadly realistic it is terrifying. It is a world where no one is what they seem - and the end of the Church is threateningly close. Featuring deep, intriguing characters and fast-paced action, "Angels & Demons" is a book you won't be able to put down until you've read the final surprise.
Rating:
Summary: Better than "The Da Vinci Code"
Review: I really liked this book.
Better than "The Da Vinci Code".
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