Rating: 
Summary: Should come with a warning!
Review: The book will insult even average intelligence. It is infantile and inaccurate. Dan Brown â€" the Master of the Obvious!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice relaxing read
Review: The book's a thriller but not that captivating of one. Description is not too vivid, characters not too deep, storyline mediocre at best. What the book lacks in skilled writing it makes up (a little) with interesting concepts and conspiracy theories backed with documented facts. First half good, second half something that would end up on the "to do" list... it's gets to be a chore. I would say the book is good but needs serious storyline work.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, but...
Review: The book's main story is really good, but some the contents, which I can't list without spoiling the story, are very controversial and can be found disturbing by a lot of people, specially by Christians or Catholics.
Rating: 
Summary: A Real Eye Opener!
Review: The book, 'The Da Vinci Code', is without a doubt one of the best books I have read all year. It is the story of the murder of a French man named Jaques Sauniere who held a great secret. As death approached, he is forced to transfer his secret through puzzles set across Europe that only one person can understand. This person, Sophie Neveu, works together with Robert Langdon, and American symbologist from Harvard to discover the origins of an ancient Pagan cult and the secret that they hold.
To some, this novel may not seem as "earth shattering" as others, but it personally intrigued me because all of the historical content on religion and hidden messages in paintings, such as Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper', are true to life. All of the revelations of Christ and his followers are true theory that can be proven from actual text found in ancient books and scriptures. Being someone who does not devoutly follow religion, it has greatly interested me and I find myself wanting to learn more from outside sources. The fact that this book could make me so intrigued in a topic that previously meant nothing to me makes me confident that 'The Da Vinci Code' truly deserves the highest rating I could give it and I stress that all people should read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: shockingly reckless pap
Review: The casual reader will probably find the Da Vinci code spellbinding, mainly due to the bombastic nature of the conspiracy. The first page of the book anointes the historical details underpinning the conspiracy as matters of established "fact". The cardboard characterizations, pedantic action, self-effacing expository and flat prose of the book take a back seat as long as the reader is under the belief that Dan Brown is in the know and you are not, that he has researched what he is writing about, as any credible author would, and that the historical details enumerated are indeed "established facts". As long as the reader is under the spell of the books factual imperviousness, the conspiracy at the center of the book will be enough to beguile you into overlooking the books otherwise considerable shortcomings. So here is the rub - Dan Brown didn't do any real research for this book. Zip. None. Zero. The "facts" presented are so far from being historically accurate as to be ludicrous, reckless and downright duplicitous. Brown goes out of his way to avoid facts so well established by both sides of the isle as to effectively pull a gigantic "gotcha" on the reader. The story is only interesting and engaging if you are under the belief it's based in historical facts, as Brown brazenly attempts to do. Take that away and it becomes simply a waste of time - a porous work of fiction lightly masking the authors puzzling agenda. Among the numerous and mind numbingly inaccurate details are his parallels of Mithrailism to Christian cornerstones like the resurrection, when in fact Mithraic Scholars attest there is no Mithraic resurrection or even death. He completely ignores the resurrection as the driving central belief of the early Christian church. He totally misstates Constantine's role in the Council of Nicea, ignoring the fact Constantine had no role whatsoever in the Canonization of the Bible. Brown can't even get simple details correct like the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were discovered in 1947, not the 50's and no Gospels were contained in the scrolls contrary to Browns "facts". Readers who leave intact the veneer of "fact" the story needs to weave it's spell will most likely find the book engaging. Once the reader realizes the joke is on him, he or she will have difficulty finishing the book. The upside however, is the book may spurn readers to do their own research and teach them to be wary of demagogues cloaked in scholarship. In fact, Brown inspired me to think of a new word - fugenda: a fuge like state involving the blatant omission or revision of facts to satisfy a personal agenda.
Rating:
Summary: Inexplicably fascinating despite its vacuous goofiness
Review: The characters might as well have been clipped out of wallboard. The plot is a goofy mess as these same charmless characters bumble from European landmark to landmark, solving riddles. And the book runs out of steam after about the 12th time the characters narrowly evade capture by the most inept French police inspector since Clouseau.That being said, "The Da Vinci Code" IS an occasionally engrossing page turner, altho' its charm depends entirely on its frequent asides concerning art history and the Catholic church. Sure, the Masonic plottings are familiar to anyone who's watched the Discovery Channel, but there's still enough fascinating tidbits to overcome the book's godawful prose. Unfortunately, the only thing propelling the actual plot are the riddles and puzzles, which the self-congratulatory and self-deluded Dan Brown frequently refers to as "clever." They're not clever. (VERY MINOR SPOILER AHEAD). Two of the main characters--one of whom is a Harvard professor, the other an Oxford-educated art historian--spend a chapter trying to solve a riddle that turns out to be simple mirror writing. Ten pages later, it only takes them a few paragraphs to solve a riddle that requires them to unravel a Masonic pun, translate it into Hebrew, encypher the result, transliterate the Hebrew back into English, and then etymologically trace the result back to the original ancient Greek. Like I said, occasionally interesting, but intensely goofy.
Rating:
Summary: Intruiguing!!
Review: The climacteric of this book got me hooked. Made me questioned what's real and false about life and our society. This book definetly rubbed some wake up call to the average Joe. There's about 3 scenes to the book where it jumps back and forth which can be a little confusing. After reading the beginning the 2nd time around, it was crystal clear.
Rating:
Summary: Pedantic
Review: The curator of the Louvre museum in Paris has been murdered, leaving behind a string of clues--not to his murderer's identity, but to a secret for which he and others like him have been responsible for keeping. Faced with the idea that the secret might die with him, he spends his last minutes setting up a treasure hunt for two people: his granddaughter, a cryptologist with the French version of the FBI, and Robert Langdon, a professor of symbology. Together they embark on what turns out to be a quest for the Holy Grail, but a Holy Grail unlike anything the reader has ever heard of. Or so the author seems to hope. This novel relies very highly on the supposed sensational nature of the secret. Much of the drama, especially in the early parts of the book, hinges on interrupted revelations. Unfortunately if you already have read the source material, or have been exposed to Mr. Brown's subject before, the contrived nature of his plot becomes not only apparent but tedious. As a digest of various...alternative religious beliefs, secret societies, philosophies and conspiracy theories, this volume is not without interest. However, the writing is pedantic, sometimes sounding as if it had been excerpted verbatim from various encyclopaediae. In other areas the plodding conversations, stereotyped characters and trite similes also make the reading a trial. I have to admit my reading habits are eclectic, but I had a hard time believing in the blindness of the main characters when it came to the puzzles; more often than not I solved them full chapters before Mr. Langdon and company. I also didn't find the ending any great surprise. In spite of its faults, _The DaVinci Code_ does manage to be a page turner and as such is a relatively quick read. My disapointment stems from the fact that I was hoping for some new treatment of the subject matter and didn't find any. I give the book credit for taking the subject into the realm of popular fiction and exposing it to a wider audience than it has heretofore enjoyed. But I can't help but think that had the topic not been in itself so controversial, _The Da Vinci Code_ just wouldn't have gained such noteriety. The quality just isn't there.
Rating:
Summary: AN AWESOME RIDE!
Review: THE DA VINCE CODE is a smooth book to read. The chapters are extremely short, which makes it convenient to find stopping points - not that you'll want to stop (this book is so engulfing). The flow of the story is really easy to follow, even though it often splits up, switching from scene to scene. Brown is masterful at telling the story from one viewpoint, and then switching and telling it from the eyes of a different character. I cannot give this book enough praise. Not only is it chocked full of information guaranteed to spark the imagination of the conspiracy theorist in anyone, but it is so complex, with intense and unexpected twists and turns all the way until the end. You will be guessing and trying to crack The Da Vinci Code the whole time. What's best, is that the person behind it all, is the one person I would have never even suspected, not even for a moment - and yet it makes perfect sense. I am blown away.
Also recommended: LIFE OF PI by Martel, THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: The Da Vince Code is one of the better books I have read in some time. Author Brown combines elements of the Knights Templar, Opus Dei, Masons, and of course Leonardo Da Vinci to build a tale of the Holy Grail. The grail isn't what you suspect it would be and the author gives the reader clues as to finding its real identity and location. I recommend it highly!!
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