Rating: 
Summary: Exciting .. a little dissapointing at the end.
Review: I looked at this book as purely a piece of fiction to enjoy. It doesnt matter to me if there are facts present in this book or not. They never mattered anyway ;-) I found the book fast-paced and very exciting for the first half. It was almost like a roller coaster ride. You do pause sometimes to think whether the author is quoting a fact or just cooking something up at times. The search for the Holy Grail kept me engrossed till the end and when I finally got through the final pages, it left me a little dissapointed with the end .. but at the same time I give credit to the author that he actually built that momentum and expectation. Its quite an enjoyable piece of fiction ... it wont dissapoint u if you prefer to just let it be what it is.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast-Paced Narrative Leads Reader on Thrilling Search
Review: I love a good mystery---and this was one of the best---with all the added suspense of hidden clues, secret societies, and people who are not what they appear to be. The writing was fast-paced, intriguing, and had me breathlessly turning the pages hoping to discover what our hero and heroine were trying to discover---the Holy Grail. Beginning with a grisly murder at the Louvre Museum, the reader is tantalized by clues hidden in poems, numbers, and various designs. Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu are never fully developed as characters, but it's all right because in this book, the chase is everything. The chase to find the Holy Grail and discover its secret is paramount. My only complaint with the book is that it fictionalizes real people and real events and rewrites history in such a way to attempt to undermine Christianity. While most readers are smart enough to distinguish between fact and fiction, this does plant a lot of innuendo, legend, and rumor masquerading as fact. My advice is to take it for what it's worth...an exceptionally good thriller...and not to take too seriously its rewriting of historical and Biblical fact. On the upside, this book had me searching websites for factual information moreso than any book I've ever read. I have also learned more about the works of Leonardo Da Vinci than I ever knew before and finally think I know why the Mona Lisa is smiling.
Rating: 
Summary: The most dangerous type of falsehood
Review: I love a good page turner as much as anybody, and this one is a doozy, but for al the wrong reasons. It's so easy to pick on the Catholic Church, and particularly Opus Dei, but having been on the inside of both, I can tell you that the factual errors are overwhelming, and dangerously misleading.
While it's true that ALL religions are man's attempt to put God in a bottle, and to put that bottle on an altar, and build a temple around that altar creating rubrics and rituals to circumscribe the "faithful" from the "heathens", (and that this leads directly to a "my God's bigger than your God" mentality), there is NO hierarchical conspiracy going back in the mists of time to supress "the divine feminine" in Catholicism. The emphasis on Mary (his mother, not Magdelen) in the last several hundred years in the Catholic Church has given rise to a Protestant backlash that thinks Catholics have gone too far, and that in fact they worship the mother of Jesus. It was in the 1800's that Mary's Assumption into heaven was promulgated by the Church, and that put her on a par with Pentecost. You've come a long way baby...
As for Opus Dei, their penchant for penance is what most Catholic priestly orders ( Jesuits, I know of first hand )did before Vatican II, they just never stopped the practice, and carry it over from their founding. But the cloak and daggar stuff is just ridiculous, and so ultimately, is this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great stuff!
Review: I love good fiction, and the Da Vinci code is just that. It brings up a lot of issues that most people are just too frigtened to look into. ONe of them is that, maybe, just maybe, Jesus was a human being who lived like a human being! I also like the idea of there being a conspiracy, since one of the best books on the subject of Christianity is "The Christ Conspiracy," which I think everybody should read. Hey, it might not go so far as we'd like it to, but the Da Vinci Code is sure a start to findiung out the truth about religion. Wake up everybody!
Rating:
Summary: exciting, yes. but even more interesting.
Review: I love learning about the subject discussed in Da Vinci Code. This is definetely a typical page-turner/suspense filled book, but the setting and plot that is packed in here makes it a step above the rest. I bought the book, read it, and passed it on to many other people in my family. They, too, enjoyed it as much as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Recommended
Review: I love mysteries and this book kept my attention to a point. However, the author presented many religious theories as facts (I think the research was lacking). The more I read, it became apparent that this novel was an attack on the Catholic Church as well as traditional Christianity. I found this troubling since some readers will view his 'theories' as the Gospel truth. I wonder about the author's background - I kept feeling as though a bad experience with the Catholic Church was the basis for this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Blasphemous Mystery
Review: I love mysteries and thought that this would be a good one since it starts in the Louvre. Was I wrong. As a Christian I take exception with the author making Jesus a mere mortal and saying that his divinity was made up by the Catholic church. Also what was all that junk about Mary Magdalene being a goddess and the wife of Jesus. There is only one God and the goddess bit is just new age stuff. Is the author a new age junkie? I wish someone would explain why Christianity is the only religion debunked and belittled in books. I gave it one star because it could have been a good mystery. But this will be the last book I will ever read by Dan Brown. I am glad I didn't waste the money on it. Thank God for libraries.
Rating:
Summary: The DaVinci Code
Review: I love mysteries that are also thrillers. However, with this book, the mystery was secondary to me (I actually guessed the Teacher fairly early on :)...... all the interesting historical information was the intriguing part of the novel for me and led me to do additional exploration re Leonardo Da Vinci. I think I can safely say, this was one of the best books I have ever read!
Rating:
Summary: A plot based on stolen research
Review: I love this subject, and so was excited at the prospect of this novel. However, to readers of the non-fiction books "Holy Blood, Holy Grain" and "The Templar Revelation," there is absolutely new. Mr. Brown has taken other scholars' research and fashioned a not-so-innovative plot. In effect, he has taken credit for others' work. That, combined with his cheesy, manipulative suspense techniques (a cliffhanger at the end of every 2-page chapter) make this a disappointing read. Perhaps Mr. Brown should have just skipped the novel and went straight for the screenplay.
Rating:
Summary: If you are a stickler for solid research, you'll LOVE this!
Review: I love to read fiction, but what I really love is a great read that educates you along the way! Why not have double duty? I've been reading much of the non-fiction "Historical Jesus" material that is out there (Marcus Borg, Elaine Pagels etc...) and I took several Christian Theology classes at the small Methodist college I attended in the 80s so this book smacked right into my world! I LOVED it. I "read" the Da Vinci Code by listening to the unabridged CDs. I used this as motivation to stay on the treadmill! It worked! I'm a stickler for logic strong research. If I read (or hear) something that sounds incorrect I'll spend plenty of time researching this to found out if it's true. After working out for 60 to 70 minutes while listening to Da Vinci Code, I would settle into a comfy chair and hit "Google" to fact check Dan Browns work. Wow! This guy did his research! I love Sci-Fi but I can't always take the leap of logic needed to enjoy it completely (love Allis for entertainment but the poor research and logic drive me nuts). If you are a stickler for accuracy you will absolutely LOVE this piece of fiction!
| 
