Rating: 
Summary: I feel cheated!
Review: I read this after I had read Da Vinci Code. I expected an interesting reasonably well-written page turner. What I got was a story that went from far-fetched to silly to utterly ridiculous. I wish I had my money back. More importantly, I wish I had my time back.
Rating: 
Summary: His best
Review: Like many, I read THE DA VINCI CODE first, having been exposed to the hype. And while that book was very good, ANGELS & DEMONS surpasses it by miles. The writing, plot, and character-development (there are some of the same characters in DA VINCI as there are in A&D) is staggering and in my opinion, this is Dan Brown's best effort to date. Also recommended: McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
Rating: 
Summary: absolutely amazing!
Review: this is the blah blah blah blah. I thought it was very blah. Sometimes the blah blah was too blah. However, the blah was overly blah. My favorite part was when the blah went to the blah and blah blah blah. Oh yeah, and blah!
Rating: 
Summary: not deep or complicated........
Review: Dan Brown.......you read the name and think of a unique blend of a little fact, a lot of fiction, an unbelievable pace and characters, that while never deep or complicated are never the less fun and interesting.
In Angels and Demons the plot revolves around a Swiss scientific research laboratory, the Vatican, an ancient brotherhood and the attempt to bring down the Catholic church. Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of "symbology", is drawn into the tale and the result is a fast paced story of murder, love, deception and intrigue. This is a fun, quick read that suspends reality.
Rating:
Summary: BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ
Review: I have read the other book of Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, before this one. People discovered this book after the popularity of The Da Vinci Code. But this is the first adventure of leading character of these two books, Prof. Robert Langdon. What can I say ? Just a great book ! For me much better than Da Vinci Code ! Once you start the book, you will never leave it. It is sure that author has spent a lot of time on the places where the story goes on. All places are real. I also recommend you to take a look at the author's webpage www.danbrown.com before you start to read this book. In this website, you will find the real pictures of these places and some objects mentioned in the book. But before you go, if this review was helpful, please do not forget to vote "helpful" for me. Many thanks...
Rating:
Summary: Is There Less Than One Star?
Review: To begin with, I will confess that I am only less than 50 pages into the book. Appalled at the quality of the writing, I promised that I would give it 50 pages to improve, since its popularity must surely indicate that there is something to it. Other reviews have mentioned that the characters are one-dimensional, but "cardboard stereotypes" seems more accurate. Maybe this started life somewhere as a comic book, and, if so, should have stayed there.
Rating: 
Summary: Absurd and Long-winded
Review: Angels & Demons is the absurd plot-driven prequel to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The Vatican and the Illuminati are the two main characters of the tale. Everyone else is peripheral. This is one of several sins that make the novel so bad-- there is no character development at all. Michael Langdon is a one-dimensional Indiana Jones type (it's obvious author Dan Brown has celluloid ambitions) who's awakened at the crack of dawn and whisked off to Europe to become a major player in a centuries-old grudge match between the Illuminati and the Vatican. But what the story is really about is what happens when one man tries to make himself God and rectify what he sees as unforgivable sin, with a disastrous outcome of course. But you won't discover that until the last 50 pages of the book. In the meantime, you'll get a primer on the Illuminati and be dragged all over and under Vatican City with Langdon and the ever-slender Vittoria as they try to prevent the murders of 4 cardinals and find the antimatter canister before it blows the Vatican and half of Rome to bits. Brown has packed this pulp with tidbits about long-dead religions and cultures, medieval scientists, and Renaissance artists. If you're interested in these topics, you could have a blast chasing down Brown's facts. Or you could accept it all at face value and go along for the ride. And what a ridiculous ride it is. If you think the first 500 pages of the novel are completely absurd, wait until the last 50 pages. It would appear that Brown has a gift for intricate plotting, and Behold! It all neatly wraps up in the end! Or did he write an outline first and fill in the blanks to flesh out the (ahem) story? That's my guess, and it's unfortunate because the story may have taken an intriguing turn if there were any character development beyond Langdon's 9 lives and ever-present Harris Tweed jacket, and Vittoria Vetra, the intelligent, mysterious, slender damsel in distress. Of course Langdon gets the girl (after they've saved the world) with all the cute corniness of a James Bond movie. The book is replete with Brown's pontifications on religion, Christianity, and the church's long history of suppressing scientists and scientific truth to protect the church's power. Brown's bias is clear throughout the book, and this didactic pummeling reveals a weakness in his storytelling abilities. The success of Da Vinci Code proves that one needn't be a decent writer to capture market share. You may enjoy Angels & Demons, but I thought the book was silly and long-winded. He could have cut the book by 200 pages for my taste. It wouldn't have improved the writing, but at least it would have ended sooner.
Rating:
Summary: Take a rest, Dale
Review: Dale Brown was once an author. He/it is now a writing factory churning out novel after novel with LOTS of money thrown at HUGE marketing campaigns, guest appearances on television, nationwide tours...but precious little to show for it. The DAVINCI CODE took an incredible idea, started like gangbusters then the story veered from interesting to improbable to hokey. It fell under the weight of its incoherent mass. To make matters worse, Brown, in real life, is now going around claiming that the book was based on "real" research and hinted that the absurdities in the story could be true. It's Angels & Demons (since it seems that novels referring to religion sell well) with worse plotting and even worse characters. The plot is complicated though not complex - it is only Brown's inclusions of illogical and unprobable events that make the thing seem more a jumble than a race. Then there's the awful portrayal of the people who are about as real as the wooden Indian at the barbershop. They are as predictable as they are flat - they do things that don't really make sense and say things that happen to fit into the plot somewhat but where is the growth or change or transformation? Other readers have noted the poor editing that is on display throughout the book. (I just had a horrible thought - what if it HAD actually been edited and this was the result?) Just because you appear on talk shows and sell millions of books does not mean a fact checker, linguist, and grammar expert are not required. This is just pitiful.
Rating:
Summary: Science Vs. Religion...Fascinating Tale
Review: After reading the "DaVinci Code", I was curious to read another work by Dan Brown. "Angels & Demons" was even faster paced with more action and more suspense. Robert Langdon, Harvard Iconologist, will experience the most harrowing 24 hours of his entire life. He will discover HSCTs-High Speed Civil Transports (Boston to Geneva in just 64 minutes), visit the famous CERN in Switzerland, find proof of the secret society the Illuminati, discover antimatter, and unearth a plot to destroy the Vatican. Maximilian Kohler, director general of the CERN (Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire) contacts Robert Langdon immediately following the murder of CERN physicist Leonardo Vetra. What makes this murder so mysterious is the ambigram burned into the chest of Vetra. It is a symbol for the ancient Galilean brotherhood known as the Illuminati. Kohler needs Langdon's input on the situation. It seems that Vetra along with his physicist daughter Vittoria made a scientific discovery-antimatter- the most dangerous energy source known in the world. Now Vetra was dead and the antimatter canister was missing. The Illuminati which has promoted the interest of science versus blind religious faith has carried it to Rome and to the center of its ancient rival the Vatican. On the eve of a papal conclave four cardinals are suddenly missing. They have been kidnapped to become sacrifices to the Church of the Illumination (the Illuminati lair). One cardinal will be killed each hour starting at 8 pm until Midnight when the antimatter will explode somewhere beneath Vatican City. Each cardinal will be branded with an ambigram at one of the four markers in Rome leading to the Illuminati lair. Langdon and Vittoria Vetra begin a frantic search against the clock for clues leading to the markers among the vast amount of Roman churches to find the four cardinals before its too late and locate the antimatter before it incinerates Vatican City. Brown incorporates many historical facts along with fiction to make a very interesting and entertaining story. I found myself interested in the workings of the Vatican, art history especially Bernini, Galileo's work and the concept of the ambigram.
Rating:
Summary: It's DaVincilicious!
Review: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened in the middle of the night and confronted with evidence of something he hadn't thought possible: the Illuminati, the world's oldest satanic cult, though long thought a defunct organization, is apparently thriving and responsible for the horrific mutilation and murder of a brilliant physicist. Arrived at the victim's workplace, a secretive nuclear research facility in Switzerland, Langdon discovers that the Illuminati have more in store for the world than the assassination of a single scientist. The group has its hands on the world's most destructive material, stolen from the dead man's lab, and is intent on destroying the Catholic Church by violent means. Angels & Demons is the precursor to Dan Brown's much ballyhooed The DaVinci Code, which also features Langdon in the Indiana Jones-ish role of studly-smart professor-hero. The book is similar to The DaVinci Code, too, in its style and content--a romantic flirtation in the midst of crisis; secret religious history unveiled; complicated information rendered highly digestible by Mr. Brown's skillful hand; short, explosive chapters that make the book very hard to put down. A great story, well-written.
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