Rating: 
Summary: Another Melodramatic Conspiracy Thriller...
Review: I can't believe no one else has taken the time to review this book! I guess Brown's _The DaVinci Code_ is getting all the attention._Angels and Demons_ marks the first appearance of Robert Langdon, Brown's handsome yet unassuming Harvard professor of religious symbology. Very much as in _The DaVinci Code_, in the first chapter he is awakened at an early hour by a person requiring his attendance at a murder scene where an arcane symbol is prominently involved. The victim is a physicist at a major Swiss science laboratory. Langdon realises that the symbol signifies the re-emergence of a secret society, and when the murdered physicist's adopted daughter discovers that the material result of their latest research--a potentially powerful weapon--has been stolen, the chase is on to trace the conspiracy and stop the society's schemes. A&D is obviously a rehearsal for _The DaVinci Code_. From characters to plot structure to action, most of the two books are utterly interchangeable. As in TDVC, we have Langdon wandering around without having had any sleep (maybe that's what causes his leaps of inspiration), lecturing on secret societies and hidden symbolism while decrying conspiracy theorists, acompanied by a beautiful and brilliant woman who just happens to have been related to the murder victim. The secret society are the bad guys in this case and the crisis has material consequences rather than purely spiritual ones. But we're still tackling the question of the Christian (specifically, Roman Catholic) Church's influence on modern thought. It's just that the framework in A&D is less volatile. I have a problem with Brown's hysterical tone. Again, he starts the book with a page of "facts," which ends with the assurance that this secret society truly exists. This sets the book up to be read as some kind of expose--fictionalized, perhaps, to protect the writer, who has gone out on a limb--rather than straight fiction. I find this extremely exasperating, a demagogic technique meant to rope in readers, and influence them to take the book more seriously than it merits. And I found that Brown's emphasis on facts really got in the way of a key point of this book. Early on, he asserts that the mysterious symbol that is the key to all this has been lost for four-hundred years and no artist, not even a sophisticated computer, has ever been able to re-create it. Yet the symbol, as well as five others similar to it, is RIGHT THERE on the page. That completely shattered MY suspension of disbelief, I'll tell you. I might have been able to let it go had Brown dropped the matter, but every time a new symbol appeared he insisted on reiterating how these had been lost and NO ONE was able to produce them except the secret cult involved. Sigh. I thought that was really bad form. Compared to TDVC, there is a greater balance in A&D between exposition and action. There still isn't much character development, however. So if you're looking to learn more about Mr. Langdon, you won't find it. There was a clever twist at the end that, although not completely unexpected, brought the book above the level of the utterly predictable. All in all, I found myself enjoying _Angels and Demons_ more than I did _The DaVinci Code_, partly because it was less sensational and partly because the story was simply more interesting. But I still think there's a lot more hype about Dan Brown than his writing really deserves.
Rating: 
Summary: BETTER THAN DA VINCI CODE
Review: If you read, and enjoyed Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, you'll love Angels and Demons. A&D was written before DaVinci Code, but follows the same formula. The book will remind you of DaVinci Code, but it is still very very different. BETTER I TELLS YOU!
Rating:
Summary: What a wild ride!!
Review: I see that a lot of the negative reviews on this book are from people who are educated in the areas this book explores. I guess if I knew a lot about conclaves and such I would be annoyed at reading through a book riddled with errors. But I know nothing about those things, and I loved this book!
I started this book because I needed some "light" reading. I ended up completely hooked and unable to put it down! I stayed up way too late for 2 nights reading Angels & Demons until I finally finished it.
This is a great, smart (despite the flaws others pointed out) suspense novel with plenty of action and some interesting twists at the end. Definitely worth a read this summer - it'll certainly entertain you!
Rating:
Summary: No Da Vinci Code Here
Review: I read this book after reading (and loving) The Da Vinci Code. This was such a disappointment, but mostly b/c I had already read TDC. If I reviewed this book based on it's own merits I would give it 4 stars; but after reading TDC this one feels lame and very formulaic - like Dan Brown was practicing for the TDC with Angels & Demons, polished it up and put out The Da Vinci Code. The characters are so similiar, the story takes place in Europe and has another religious theme. TDC is by far his better book and I'm glad I read it first!
Rating:
Summary: Just what the doctor ordered
Review: One of the best things I've come across in a long time, this stellar read had me on page one. The age old question: Is it Science or God who created the Heavens and Earth? Mixed up in the question is a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a group known as the Illuminati. A symbolgist, Robert Langdon, is called in by a little known scientific group when one of their own is found murder with the Illuminati symbol burned on his chest and his eye missing. The scientist's, daughter Vittoria, works together with Robert to undercover who murdered her father. The trail takes them into the heart of the Catholic Church where a new pope is just being selected. Four of the most respected cardinals are missing. A message is received that each will be murdered. The location of each murder is given in a cryptic message. There is little time. Can Robert and Vittoria stop the Illuminati? The late pope's right hand man seems to be willing to help in any way he can. He provides Robert access to the Vatican library where Robert finds an ancient writing that decrypts the message from the Illuminati. Based in Catholic religion, Dan Brown writes so even a non-Catholic can follow along. I thought I figured out "who done it" about five chapters before the end. Then as I kept listening, I changed my mind. The ending kept me in suspense right up to the VERY last words. Although this a story torn between science and religion, I found some of the story to be a bit out of character for the Catholic church. That aside, there are a couple of twists that I did not foresee until the very minute they happened. This makes for a book that is hard to put down. I know this was certainly true for me. If you are a history buff, love suspense and like being kept on the edge of your seat, this is a book for you. Would also like to recommend another great Amazon read: "The Bark of the Dogwood."
Rating: 
Summary: Such an assortment of misinformation...
Review: I work at CERN. This book's relationship to fact or anything like it is minimal at best. What a pile of garbage - the only thing you can safely credit is that CERN in near Geneva and that there is a huge accelerator (being built) there.
Everything else is hokey baloney. Everything. Which means you really can't take anything he says seriously. At all.
That in addition to being a Mad Libs/Xerox rehash of DaVinci Code. Which also wasn't terribly burdened with facts. The philosophy was laughable and... sophomoric. What can I say? That being said - when I wasn't groaning out loud, or laughing, it was an OK thrill ride. It's not worth all the fuss, though - this isn't in the same league even as Grisham or Clancy.
Rating:
Summary: Angels and Demons
Review: In Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, he tells about a mysterious brotherhood that has been perceived as dead for centuries. When Robert Langdon receives a horrible fax photo, he is transported into Vatican City to try and decipher a long lost code on the path of Illumination.
Brown is a genius. He takes the true, hard facts and studies all of the mystery surrounding them. Then he sees how these facts tie together. His observations are twisted into a breathtaking thriller. Brown writes in a way that always keeps you thinking.
Having read this after The Da Vinci Code, I was already familiar with Brown's style of writing. I look back and see that this book may have been useful before The Da Vinci Code, but it is still a really great story standing on its own.
I really have enjoyed this book and consider it one of the best books I have ever read. It is a catching read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in the mood for a fast-paced thriller. You will be caught in Brown's writing trap and won't be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: More research needed
Review: One other reviewer cited numerous errors of language, geography, etc., but the one that really irked me concerned the physics. The supposedly brilliant physicist Vittoria wants to use antimatter as an energy source to cure the world's ills, but fails to reconginize that no matter how efficient the production of anitmatter might be made, one cannot get around Einstein's mass-energy equivalence. Even with 100% efficiency, it would still require putting as much energy into the production of antimatter as the subsequent annihilation would release. While the story is a fun read on a rainy afternoon, it was built on such a flimsy foundation that I was glad when it was over.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Fiction... And maybe some fact?
Review: This book does make some implausable leaps, but its allowed to do so because its a work of fiction. I found the information entertaining and the storyline believable enough that I could keep reading without stopping to say, "What the...". Character development is poor but it didn't bother me that much as many books nowadays lack the careful character development of past authors. As far as the research information in the book goes, its definitely intriguing, although debatable. But, in defense of the research, how many people in the world can say that they haven't skewed a some research in their favor while writing a report or term paper. I think that if you have interest in the subject this book deals with and can get past a few leaps of imagination without getting completely off kilter you'll like this book or at least find it intersting. Conversely, if your a literary afficiando that needs everything to be totally in order you probably won't like the book at all.
Rating:
Summary: A great page turner with just a few faults
Review: I had been hearing so much about Da Vinci Code and my sister told me to read this one first because it was written first and was suppossed to go first. I read both and there is really no order in which to read them. The only thing in common in the stories is the main character, Robert Langdon. Angels and Demons is more of a page turner than Da Vinci Code but the Da Vinci Code is probably more researched.
Anyway, Demons and Angels was a great book with an interesting plot. I stayed up all night once just because I couldn't put the book down.
After page 100 or so I began to wonder how he could fill the remaining 500 pages but he did an excellent job writing about one single day.
Some of the things which are in the novel like information concerning Galileo Galilei is wrong and has no basis in fact. Also I know that some things concerning the Illuminati is all wrong and the relationship between Freemasons and the Illuminati. They are not connected. The few things which were wrong with information was the only thing which made me give it a rating of four instead of five.
I have read many books and this is one of the best books probably among the top five. I would reccomend this book to anyone who reads.
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