Rating: 
Summary: Choose your own adventure
Review: Reads like Foucault's Pendulum Lite, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Half the obscurity, twice the readability, but somehow not as satisfying. If you're acquainted with "conspiracy" theory and/or history in any real sense this book will leave you feeling sort of embarassed that your once arcane knowledge will no longer shock people at parties. If, however, you're a total numbskull and have bought everything they've taught you over the years, then this makes a pretty good introduction to the world as it is, and you will probably reject it, because its truths unmask the lies you've accepted for so long.
Rating: 
Summary: If you're Twelve You'll LOVE IT!
Review: Reads quite a bit like a "chose your own adventure novel"... Every chapter ends with some kind of predictable nonsense along the lines of:
Robert stood there, marveling at the amazing thing on the floor, speechless.
"That simply CANNOT be what I think it is!" said Sophie, her mouth struggling for the words, popping open and closed like a fish's
"Yes it is!" exclaimed Robert, the excitement overtaking him. "YES YES YES! IT IS! What else can it be!"
Sophie looked on silently, her eyes firmly locked on the incredible thing resting on the floor in front of them. "My GOD!" she said, shivering with excitement. "IT SIMPLY MUST BE!!!!!!!!!"
End of Chapter
WHAT IS IT! WHAT IN THE WORLD! WOW! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IT IS!
sorry, you'll have to wait thirty five pages to discover that its a frog... and you won't mind that the frog has nothing to do with the story, because shortly afterwards Robert Langdon will look up in the sky and say, "OH MY GOD! Look SOPHIE! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO! Is that what I think it is!???!!?!?!"
"It must be! but it can't be!" said sophie, covering her face and crying.
=>insert projective vomit here.Yeah.... that's right! He ends his CHAPTERS ON CLIFFHANGERS! And, by the way, his characters don't develop, in any WAY at all! Forget all the unfortunate nonsense about biblical misrepresentations and historical innacuracies... it doesn't matter, this is ridiculous! How could the Christians view this book as a threat? Who would take the hearsay reassurance of the introductory "all riturals described in this book are real" at face value?
One of the most poorly written books I've ever made my way through, the novel constantly asserts facts as though they were truth, using fictional characters as resource material. The fact that people think they're being educated about ANYTHING by reading this pulp trash is hilarious.
It's characters are architypal self-parodies. It's story is contrived and forced upon an interesting concept.
It only gets worse and more disjointed the more you go along.
It feels like you're reading the screenplay for a bad PC rpg.
It pretends to educate you about the truth of the Catholic church (by using extraordinarily selective sources.... just to clarify, I'm not christian... I'm agnostic... and still I was offended by the flippant pretence of this novel)
PLEASE! Someone tell me why this book is selling so well? Do people really need such cheap entertainment? Are people so unwilling to think while they read anymore? Isn't Vanity Fair magazine more informative than this tripe? I can't take it! I really can't! this is SO Horribly BAD! COME ON!
I bought this book because it sold well... I couldn't believe it... Please people, don't buy into it! This is the literary equivolent of the Titanic movie. It's easy cheap, pretentious literature for people who do not read enough to know how much it sucks. Run from it, pick up ANYTHING instead.... you'll be glad later... trust me. I lost a few hours of my life to this book, I just want to help you to avoid that same horrifyingly pointless experience.
This is probably the most basic fiction I've ever encountered, pathetically obvious in its indulgences and struggling desperately to captivate its audience (by whatever means possible).
Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: Really enjoyed this book. If you find this book interesting, check out 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'.
Rating: 
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: Really fast read. Great airport book. Pick it up, get interested, and have something to read for the next couple of hours. But it's full of NOTHING. There area few tid bits that are fun food for thought, but even those are run over an over and over again like a bad joke. The two main characters are experts on symbols and codes...but you wouldn't know it unless you had been told. Every other line is "It was so easy, I should have seen it before!" Then the bad guy...it sounds like Dan couldn't figure out who he wanted for the bad guy until he was forced to show him. Awful. Most of the book was sitting and listening to information. Lecture lecture lecture. RUN FROM THE BAD GUYS. Lecture lecture lecture. RUN FROM THE BAD GUYS. Lecture lecture lecture. And most every chapter ended like this..."It's time I tell you the trueth." Then you would have to wait four chapters to find out. That's how Dan infuses a book with suspense that wouldn't normaly have any.
Rating: 
Summary: Ausm
Review: Really Good, Starts a great hook, and keeps the suspence up untill after the book is closed, well worth the 7 houres i took to read
Rating:
Summary: Best Thriller of the Year
Review: Really is an enjoyable and suspenseful read. I couldn't put it down at times.
Rating:
Summary: INTELLIGENT & THRILLING
Review: Remarkable book. Love the premises. I could not put it down. I love to learn interesting historial facts while being drawn into a great mystery. If you liked this one try Killer on the Canvas by R.W. Wright
Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code: The Prequel
Review: Renowned author Dan Brown watched with justifiable pride as the printer spat forth the final page of his just-completed manuscript. He smiled wanly with smug satisfaction, knowing that he had successfully butchered theology, history, a score of other academic disciplines and English syntax like a slaughterhouse with a new McDonald's contract. As he encased the freshly printed manuscript in regulation-brown post-office wrapping paper, Dan couldn't help but notice that it was as thick as three stubbed-out Gitanes laid end-to-end. How could anyone smoke Gitanes, those practically toxic cigarettes you can mercifully find only in France? Dan thought. He shook his head in disbelief, then deftly placed the return address sticker on the package. By now his obviously fertile imagination was doing cartwheels, and he could already see the lightly fluttering bosoms of female talk-show hostesses earnestly inquiring how such a young man could have such deep knowledge of so many profound subjects. He silently chuckled to himself as he imagined one or two of them confiding, You can uncover the truth of my sacred feminine anytime. Dan strode to the curb, thrust the package into the mailbox and raised the bright red metal flag, now standing before him like a miniature Eiffel Tower as monument to a goodly year's worth of sweat, tears and sangre.
Rating:
Summary: Da Vinci Code
Review: Research it for yourselves. A lot in this book has already been proven false. Its just another fall in our society... look at how much pain is out there, this books goal is to cause doubt and confusion for those not well educated in Christ. Those who know and love Christ have no problem with pathetic claims like this. It can not shake our Rock and our foundation.
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but it dosen't live up to all of the hype
Review: Review by Richard Gray
http://www.rich-gray.com Robert Langdon, a famous Harvard Symbologist, gets woken by the police late one night while in Paris to give a lecture. He finds that the elderly curator of Louvre has been murdered, his body stripped naked, laid spread eagle, with a pentacle carved into his body and a coded message written beside him. Robert also finds that he is the primary suspect for the murder, and that the French police chief, Fache, may need to convict Langdon to save his own job.
Helped by police code-breaker, and the granddaughter of the Louvre curator, Sophie Neveu, Langdon flees the crime scene in hope of either making it to the US embassy to avoid being convicted of a murder he didn't commit, or solve the strange code left by the body in hopes of proving his innocence.
At the risk of spoiling anything (though if you've read any of the controversy around this book this part is probably already spoiled) Langdon finds that in order to prove his innocence he must find The Holy Grail which is protected by a secrete society called The Priory of Sion. The 'Holy Grail' isn't actually a cup that held Christ's blood, it is actually the bones of Mary Magdalene, the woman who Jesus is supposed to have married, and documents that show Jesus and Mary had children and that Jesus was not divine, simply a great prophet.
As you can probably tell from the last paragraph, this book has ruffled the feathers of many Christians out there, particularly Catholics. Langdon puts forth an alternative version of history that is more or less well researched and will probably seem more appealing to those who are not upset by the idea of Jesus having a wife, or that Jesus is not necessarily divine.
However, this is not to say that all of the claims that Brown makes, or seems to support in this book, are on steady ground. Much of this book is built around proving that Da Vinci believed this version of history by examining his artwork. Some of these 'symbologist' proofs are very interesting, and others are stretching it. There is also the looming, annoying flaw in his logic that just because Da Vinci believed a certain version of history, does not make that version of history correct, regardless of wether or not he was the head of the Priory of Sion.
All of the controversy aside, this is an enjoyable read, though I don't think that, as a novel, it deserves all of the attention that it's getting. Brown is a very skilled writer as far as crafting his sentences and paragraphs, but the plot is a bit formulaic and even verges on unintentional silliness. The ultra short chapters, the constant running and narrow escapes, and how the main characters literally take turns solving the little puzzles makes things a bit tiresome. The plot structure reminded me of the Doctor Who episodes I used to watch as a kid, only instead of time lords, Cyber men and Darleks, you have art symbologists, Opus Dei, and the Priory of Sion.
The book is best read just one short chapter a day (some chapters are short enough to be put on a daily calendar) and if you try to read much more than that the repetitive plot structure might start to get on your nerves. There were points in the story where, if I read too much of it at once, I'd say to myself, "For non-divine Christ sakes, not another puzzle. Just find the blasted thing!"
People who thoroughly enjoy riddles, cross word puzzles, and constant narrow escapes will probably give this book 4 or 5 out of five stars. If you don't fall into that category then this is a solid 3 stars. Also people who don't read very often, or who prefer short, sweet chapters will probably find this book a safe bet. It's a good book, but it just doesn't live up to all of the hype. If the alternative version of history is what draws you to it, then you might be better served by picking up a copy of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" which seems to be one of Brown's predominant historical sources.
Richard Gray
http://www.rich-gray.com
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