Rating: 
Summary: When's the movie?
Review: Anyone familiar with the non-fiction books 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' or 'The Woman with the Alabaster Jar' or 'The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ' or Nag Hammadi/Elaine Pagel and current Da Vinci bios and 'speculation' will know the themes here. The non-fiction books don't lend themselves to a movie script, so this book fills that hole. The Merovingian angle is getting a lot of visibiity lately including 'The Matrix Reloaded'. As mentioned here by other reviwers it's fiction. Go attack the source material and those authors if you don't like the premise and underlying mythos. One comment: Robert Anton Wilson had a better sense of humor in 'The Illuminati' and Sir Frazier, Robert Graves and Jesse Weston came first. When's the movie? In the right hands the movie will be great.
Rating: 
Summary: C'était très magnifique!!!
Review: Anyone interested in a good book that will keep you reading from cover to cover must buy Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Remember when you were a kid and books had pictures? With The Da Vinci Code, the pictures are written in text. Not too much description, but just enough to keep you reading. Just try and guess the ending!
Rating: 
Summary: Remember, it's FICTION!
Review: Anyone who "believes" the theories in this book needs to remember that it is FICTION--just because the author has his "respected characters" reveal "hidden truths" DOESN'T mean what the characters are saying is true. Most of the time, it's not, it's all just silly fun, so enjoy it for what it is, but really, it IS fiction, so don't believe everything you read!
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Summary: Secret Societies RULE and Make for a Breezy, Fun Read
Review: Anyone who has read Brown's first Langdon novel, "Angels and Demons" will recognize the familiar formula used again in "The Da Vinci Code." The murder of a celebrated personality entwined with the bizarre use of a symbol that only Robert Langdon, noted Harvard symbolist, can decipher, let alone fathom, links the unassuming Langdon with a beautiful girl related to the victim and embarks him on an intellectual chase that unlocks the door to history's most guarded secret societies and the treasures they protect. Since this equation obviously worked for Brown before, he does not hesitate to use it again, but leaves a few loose strings in particular Langdon's affection for Vittoria from the previous book which is not-so-neatly dismissed and substituted by his relationship with French cryptologist, Sophie, in this one.
In spite of its similarity to the first Langdon adventure, the reader cannot help but get involved in this story full throttle. The insight into some of the historical characters intrigues and delights; the knowledge of secret societies, their roster of historical luminaries and their interplay with age-old adversaries like the Vatican boggles the mind. Dismiss Langdon and the other characters who are not fully fleshed out--- its important to realize that they are mere conduits who provide speech and action for the true main characters--the puzzles and ciphers that account for the page-turning effect that you will experience once you start this novel. True conspiracy theory aficionados will guess many of the puzzles, but honestly, that just adds to the smug fun---the final resolution is one that I never guessed and yet fully enjoyed.
"The Da Vinci Code" provides at least 24 hours of mind stimulation that anyone who wishes a fully engaged break from today's reality will appreciate. Brown documents his work with a sprinkling of book citations mentioned through the dialogue; he should have provided a bibliography for those who want to separate fact from his imagined fiction. The novel's format--short chapters told third person from the different vantage points of the police, the religious operatives, and the hero and heroine, Langdon and Sophie move the plot along at a breakneck speed that is reminiscent of Michael Crichton's style in Jurassic Park and Timeline. I recommend this book to anyone who indulges in escapist fiction with that hint of reality that keeps you wondering if what you believe in is really valid or simply propaganda.
Rating: 
Summary: Anyone who knows Paris
Review: Anyone who knows Paris at all knows you don't go down the Champs Elysees from the Louvre to get to the American Embassy. I just stopped reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good in a cheap thrill way
Review: Anyone who thinks this is a great piece of fiction does not know a thing about writing. But I'm willing to admit that this book is great fun to read - there are times when I do crave a mindless ride through formulaic cheap writing techniques, eg, plot postponement, multiple climaxes, deja vu, blah blah blah. This book is "good" only in the sense that it fulfills a niche of bad fiction that somehow still remains entertaining. It is bad fiction because every element - every twist of plot, every detail of "history" and art, every character - is a slave to the author's attempt to continually surprise and keep the reader on edge. when characters are enslaved by plot, there can be no depth or meaning or DEVELOPMENT at all throughout the book. but dan brown was successful in surprising the reader - albeit, in a predictable way - the careful reader of literature knows what i mean by "surprise in a predictable way" this book is good for what it is - lazy reading that is simply entertaining, nothing more - not informative nor meaningful. it is entertaining if you love superficial suspense thrillers; it is also entertaining if you love to make fun of artificial suspense thrillers. this book is NOT, i repeat, NOT intellectual in any way, nor does it possess any "meaning" - in the cognitive or affectual sense of the word. it's about as deep as a petri dish, and if you know what that is, you probably should not read this book unless you have a good 8 hours with absolutely nothing to do.
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Summary: Read 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' Instead.......
Review: Anytime a book gets as much attention as 'The DaVinci Code', I feel compelled to read it. I think the real reason this book has taken off like wildfire is that most people AREN'T familiar with 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'. This is a historically researched book dealing with the same subjects which Dan Brown basically pirated for his novel. The difference between them is, that truth in this case is stranger and MORE interesting than fiction. The characters in 'The DaVinci Code' were wooden, the plotlines about Opus Dei were awkward, and Dan Brown has an EXTREMELY ANNOYING habit of making every other sentence an italicized thought! It got really cumbersome when I first started reading the novel and became more and more cartoon-like until I gratefully reached page 454.... Another historical book dealing with the same subject matter is called 'Rennes La Chateau' and again the true subject of Berenger Saunier --- a priest who found a mysterious treasure in southern France using clues found in the paintings of Poussin is worlds more interesting and engrossing than Brown's flimsy fictional attempt at it's exploitation.
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Summary: An absolute riveting read!
Review: Apart from being well written, this fascinating book presents a lot of information on the ancient classics. Brown does an excellent job weaving his plot: a Harvard professor of symbology and a French police criminologist are on a mad pursuit to discover who killed the criminologist's grandfather, the prominent curator of the Louvre. The fact that the Harvard professor is the prime suspect adds further intensity to the plot. In a race against time to find the curator's murderer, astonishing facts surface about the curator. In the process of melding the plotline, Brown presents a fascinating array of true documented evidence on the Holy Grail, biblical and ecclesiastical history, secret societies, art symbology, and more. I had never heard of most of this evidence - I was fascinated to learn that such theories, and societies, existed. Apart from the historical interest, however, this is just a plain great mystery read - Brown's style flows and is effortless. He also presents his plots in pieces and jumps around to different scenes frequently - this means you don't have time to get bored. And not without coincidence, this means you have to just keep reading if you are interested in a particular plot but keep being interrupted. No unnecessary embellishments or pedantry in his writing style at all - a good clean mystery that guarantees to please!
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Summary: Don't pay attention to Mike Stewart from Lakewood California
Review: Apparently Mr. Stewart has some kind of personal vendetta against Dan Brown. Not only does he sprinkle immature comments like "Hate this book? Try In the Ghost Country!" but also he has taken it upon himself to criticize most of Dan Brown's books at Amazon. As a first time reader of Dan Brown's work with The Da Vinci Code, I was amazed at the author's imagination and profound research that went into his writing. Yes, this is popular fiction, but it is definitely a book that anyone would enjoy reading--from the highly educated to the common masses. I couldn't put it down for an entire day and I loved the author for that. It was a welcome respite from pre-med classes at Columbia. It has been awhile that I've enjoyed such an interesting and fast-paced read. It is thought provoking and wonderful. BUY THIS BOOK TODAY and SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS! You will definitely not regret it, I assure you. :)
Rating: 
Summary: junk history
Review: Are you wondering, like me, why this book remains a best seller. What can we expect from a country spoon fed history in 40 minute segments (after you delete the commericials)on the Discovery, Learning, History Channel etc. "A little learning can be a dangerous thing." Alexander Pope. Frightening in its ignorance. Dan Brown has made an appalling attempt to rewrite history, couching his ludicrous "research" in an insipid thriller. Educate yourself people!
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