Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I went into this book with such anticipation. C'mon, it has a great build-up, intriguing premise, glamorous settings. But the writing is flat, the dialogue stilted & didactic, the so-called characters mere cardboard cut-outs whose sole purpose is moving the plodding plot forward. By the end of the book, I barely knew anything about Langdon, Agent Neveu, or anyone else. Furthermore, I didn't CARE if I knew anything about them! Even the originally titillating premise was finally a yawner. Holy Grail as feminist manifesto? Whatever. I'm sure plenty of people love this book, it pops up on commuter buses all over my city. I can't recommend it under any circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I went to the house of my girlfriend's parents, and her mother had this book in the visitors room. I started reading it, and after a while I just could not let go of it. Her mother decided to go out and buy it for me after seeing how much I liked the book. I am not an avid reader and it is probably because I never read books as good as this. I fully recommend this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting to read but the "facts" were laughable
Review: I will admit I did not read all of the thousands of reviews for this book. Therefore, if I am repeating what others have said, I apologize. That said..."All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals are true," states the book before the Prologue. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls were NOT found in the 1950s, as the character Teabing states. They were first discovered in 1947. Teabing's character gives the reader the impression that the Catholic Church tried to suppress the scrolls because they contained damaging information. However, the scrolls promote neither orthodox nor UNORTHODOX Christianity. The community at Qumran (many scholars believe they were Essenes, and some scholars believe Jesus was an Essene himself) was not Christian, in fact, but Jewish. The book misses the mark when speaking of Constantine as well. The book proposes that he changed the day of worship from the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, the day pagans venerated the sun. There is much evidence that Christians were worshipping on Sunday long before Constantine was even born. Read Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Revelation 1:10, for starters. Early writers before Constantine (as early as the second century A.D.), such as Ignatius and Justin Martyr (just to name a few) describe Sunday as a day of Christian worship. Constantine did NOT decide what was canonical. A book had to fulfill certain principles for it to be considered canonical. As far as Jews looking down on celibacy at that time period, one must remember that Judaism at that time (and even in our present age...and also like other religions) had sects. The Essenes, for example, were celibate. While it would have been normal (and one might even say expected) for a young Jewish man to be married there ARE examples of celibacy being accepted, many of which are prophetic figures, like the prophet Jeremiah. These are just a few examples of statements in the book that should be looked into further. Everyone should do their own research. Personally, I'm left confused. Did Dan Brown purposely include erroneous material for a laugh? Did he do it to make a point...that people easily accept what they read as fact? Or did he simply not research the topics as well as many people seem to believe? I am left thinking that it would be hilarious if this man, who many probably assume is completely anti-Christian, is actually in fact a Christian man who simply made a point... Regardless of all of this, I did enjoy the book. Was it an amazing work of literature? Not in my opinion. Was it well researched? Absolutely not. As others have stated, I feel that there was no character development. However, it is fast-paced and somewhat thrilling; it definitely isn't boring, and although NOT well researched, it does refer to interesting topics. I will admit that I did keep turning page after page to find out what would happen next. As others have said, it makes a great vacation/beach book.
Rating: 
Summary: Despite what you might think, a good read none of the less
Review: I will agree with most people's reviews so far, this book is overhyped. I have rolled my eyes a couple times at points, but I wouldn't say that this book is bad. First of all, the facts in the book are pretty accurate. I have studied about the Holy Grail and the religous involvement with it for a couple years now, and Browns research seems to add up pretty well with it. I also read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and noticed some similarities between the two, such as The Priory and the name Sauniere, as well as the Dossier Secrets. But, I think the biggest problem people have with this book is the fact that it isn't very supportative of the Catholic church, and thats a problem. The facts in the book are true, maybe not entirely, but to a good extent, and people just don't want to believe it. Personally, I found a lot of the facts in the book refreshing and actually learned some interesting things. And it was nice to see someone who actually did some research for their book. Brown almost reminds me of Jane Jensen, who does some very similar work, but, Brown is much more interesting to read from. If you want more info on this kind of thing, Holy Blood Holy Grail is good as well as the computer game Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the sacred, Blood of the damned.
Rating: 
Summary: Trite drivel
Review: I will have to qualify this review by stating that I have only read the first five chapters. I would have read more, but Brown's writing style is so inane and uncreative, I couldn't stop laughing. Admittedly, it is quite difficult to refrain from snickering at such [paraphrased] gems like: "He resembled Harrison Ford in a tweed jacket". Of the almost infinite possibilities in which one can describe a person, the author chose this actor's visage. In my humble opinion, the novel is about par with "See Spot Run" or an English reading primer.
Rating:
Summary: A good book and a responce to other reviews.
Review: I will make little judgment about the historical truth or the spiritual truth of the views presented in this book. It will suffice to say that as a Catholic I find many of the views disturbing but I don't think that neither my faith nor the faith of any Christian should be shaken even if the views espoused in this novel were true.
As for the book... The story line is fast paced and entertaining. Unfortunately the book beats the readers over the head with hints about major plot points (and the main 'mystery' of the novel). Personally I like novels, which give the reader more time to think about the riddles presented before solving them. It would also be nice if the riddles presented in this novel were not so obvious.
But as many people know this book is not so much a mystery as a means to push a philosophical view. As I said I will not pass judgment on these issues; my experience with religious studies (while quite detailed) has not given me adequate base on which to judge the books content. Many reviewers have said that the book lacks an essential historical base and that Brown's research is not apparent, however, he does have an "extensive bibliography" on his web page (according to CNN.com's article "The man who created 'The Da Vinci Code"). I have not had the time or the desire to look over these references; however, he does claim that he spent nearly 2 years researching the book.
There are better mysteries out there and there are better books on this particular view of the Holy Grail. Buy the book for a quick read but avoid it if you are looking for the complexity needed for both philosophy and a good mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but I was expecting something more...
Review: I will not deny that this was an engrossing read--I, like many other readers, was unable to put this book down. Nevertheless, I was somehow expecting something more. I don't really know what, but as fascinating as this story was, something fell short. Maybe it was that the villain wasn't very villanous (and indeed his aims were arguably admirable). Or maybe it was that the book wasn't long enough. The Da Vinci Code is the type of thriller with a masterful exposition that quickly fizzles into 200 pages of less-inspired but still intriguing writing. I don't know. But it's a good read, even if it isn't perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating!
Review: I will refrain from gushing, but I have to say very few books have the effect that this book had on me while reading it! In fact, I'm sure it's happened before, but I can't remember with what book(s)! I would describe this author's talent for writing as brilliant. I think very few authors have the gift of organizing their words in such a way to captivate the reader and make them read every single word. I am notorious for skimming descriptive paragraphs because often they are not written well or they don't hold my attention long enough; I find myself wanting to skip to the dialogue. Not so with this book! This is the first novel I've read by Dan Brown, but it definitely will not be the last.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping From the Git-Go
Review: I wish I could say that Dan Brown's novel was gripping from the git-go, but it isn't. The beginning is gripping. The curator of the Louvre is murdered, but his murderer allows him enough time to die that he can form his body into a *symbol.* Next the police are rousing from a too short sleep the protagonist of the story who happens to be a renouned professor of *symbology* from Harvard University. So far, so good. Then the novel bogs down. Key to Brown's story is his interpre-tation of Da Vinci's "Last Supper." Each participant at the Supper has his own goblet. Supposedly this means that Da Vinci did not mean that the Holy Grail was a goblet. Brown does not mention that there are other historical discrepencies such as Jesus and the Disciples are sitting rather than reclining. The Disciple to the left of Jesus supposedly has the figure of a woman. If so, this Disciple is not the bustiest. Jesus and this Disciple supposedly wear the same colors of clothing. However many characters in the painting wear blue and red. The reader needs to allow Brown some latitude to tell his story. However it is distracting to read that (p 245) one of the characters pulled a book called _The Gnostic Gospels_ off the shelf and proclaimed that it contained "photocopies (really?) of the Nag Hammadi and the Dead Sea Scrolls." Enjoy the mystery, but don't get get caught up with it.
Rating:
Summary: If You Read "Angels And Demons", Skip This One.
Review: I won't even go into the historical or theological inaccuracies of this hack piece of work. What I will tell you is that this "novel" is his previous work, "Angels And Demons", just with different character names. The beginning involves the murder of a prominent intellectual figure by a secret society. The book's main character, Robert Langdon, a Harvard Sybologist (semioticist?) is yet again brought in to assist on the esoteric clues left behind. We have Langdon yet again thrown in with a female character who is related to the murder victim. He has to deal once more with thick-headed law officials possessing no imagination. Once more there is a race against time... Reading this book was a bad case of deja vu! Mr. Brown, please think of a different plot and more complex characters for your next novel. Also (most importantly), do better research if you're going to continue doing these so-called "religious/conspiro" thrillers.
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