Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a moderate Christian, I was looking forward to a wonderful read describing mysteries and codes beyond my dreams. I finished the book, just barely. The prose was poor and the surprises were all predictable. Reading dry texts on the Holy Grail are far more satisfying. I hope that the marriage described could have happened to intensify and both deify and humanize, Christ. This book was only one list after another of dry information with the characters saying "Oh". I would not recommend the book but other books on the same topic.
Rating: 
Summary: DaVinci Cold....
Review: As a mystery novel, The DaVinci Code is less than thrilling. If you can't figure out the bad guy, his motivation, and break the codes yourself long before the hero does, then you probably haven't read too many mysteries. The hero, Robert Langdon, is every bit as blah and undistinguished as his name, and the heroine, Sophie Neveu, is equally colorless. I did find it a hoot, though, that Sophie actually happened to be the code-breaking estranged granddaughter of the book's first murder victim, around whom the plot centers. I mean...how conveeeeeeeeeeenient for popular scholar Langdon; she can figure out what he can't, and vice versa! (What are the odds?) They are reminiscent of undeveloped pulp fiction characters who exist only to move the plot along. Like short-lived moths they flutter around doing their mercifully brief thing in this book. So don't read this book expecting to find the mystery-solver(s) as much a part of the entertainment as they mystery itself. They are not even as interesting as the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Now on to the controversial plot...well, if you're an devotee of alternative history books, you should find this just as indigestible as readers to whom this is new. You'll also be hooting at the supposedly inside joke of the murdered Louvre curator being named Sauniere; others won't get it. Hey, did you know Walt Disney was a pagan feminist whose life work is coded with goddess references? Me either. Dan Brown makes use of much research that has gone before him: if I were one of the authors whose work he uses without credit (he mentions HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL and a few other titles, but doesn't even give the authors' names) for his own plot, I'd be extremely ticked off. This is a novel that needs a bibliography. "History is written by the winners," another unattributed quote from the DaVinci Code. I would say that history is also written by pop bestsellers.
Rating: 
Summary: A Non-Christian Perspective
Review: As a non-Christian I find this book to be absolutly amazing. Our country was not founded on Christian freedom, but on all freedom. Today we have shows like "charmed" who portray pagans as people with supernatural powers. How is this any different from the DaVinci Code? It takes some truth, adds suspense and fiction, to make a fun book. This book is based in fact, while the pieces are true and may not add up to be a whole truth, it never claims to. It is true that experts critique the book because of it's factual mistakes, however, the book has got people interested. It has taken hold of the public and sparked people to look into the truth. Everything in today's society is critiqued and made fun of, just look at the late night television. This book is no different, except that it challanges the majority religion. Just like the movie Stigmata this book raises important questions and convinces people to look more closly at their own religion instead of accepting the dogma that is handed out. The Lord may be our Shepard, but that doesn't mean we have to be sheep and have no brains of our own. Anything that challanges the popular view is going to come in for criticism, Galileo is great example. Instead of looking at this book as a theory, people really need to look at it how it was intended: as a work of fiction loosly based on truth. Ladies and gentleman it's in the fiction section for a reason...
Rating:
Summary: interesting premise, perhaps dangerous
Review: As a published author myself (www.booksbybrooks.com), I must be careful when reviewing the work of other authors. From that context, I was blown away at the depth of treatment Dan Brown gave to this wild premise, which is nothing if not compelling. It showcases the power of fiction, in that this story might actually sway the religous beliefs of some readers (it shouldn't, by the way), in that it reflects doubts and questions many harbor, which is a credit to the author. While impressed (indeed, intimidated) by the conceptual execution, I found the writing somewhat less than intimidating, at times eloquent, at other times pedestrian, though never as bad as some other reviewers have said. This is yet another example (along with "Derailed" by James Seigel) of what happens when a publisher decides to push a book onto the lists (as opposed to "The Lovely Bones," which was "pulled" onto the lists by its readers). I hope for such a push myself, someday. I'm glad my [purchase price]is tax deductible, as I found myself reading it for research as much as pleasure. This is a #1 bestseller... and in that, I find great hope.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: As a reader of at least one book every week, I found this book to be one of the best that I have read in a long time. It was so packed with information and new ideas that I had to take rest breaks to take it all in! Definitely worth the time to read and re-read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Ho Hum
Review: As a simple mystery it is nice for a sunday read but I was able to figure out ALL the clues WAY before the characters - and I'm NOT in Mensa. As a couple of supposedly intelligent people with their lives at risk the main characters made a boatload (think Titanic)of blunders.
Much of the 'factual' information is blended with a large portion of theoretical and not well grounded research. The Gospel of Magdalen has been around for quite a while - not news to me. If this book is about feminine power why are there No strong independent female characters? The female lead couldn't get herself out of a paper bag without a clue from 'ole grampa. The Goddess org. is led, dictated by, and set up by males - like little boys with secret codes, keys, passwords to the treehouse type stuff - what truly defining and powerful parts do females actually have here? There is no balance of power between Female/Male here. It plays on the fears of feminine/goddess thinkers and anti Catholic sentiment. For book sales it thus belittles what is an important and I believe historic movement in human thought.
Rating: 
Summary: Great as a FICTION novel
Review: As a work of FICTION, this novel is a true page-turner! But the author mixes fact with fiction a little too well, and I'm afraid a lot of people who read this book will have been misled into believing the core "sercrets" of this book are true. As other reviewers have mentioned, take this book with a grain of salt and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Worth losing sleep over!
Review: As an Art History student who took a class in Iconography with Horst Janson as an undergrad at NYU, I have to say this book is better by a mile! Art and history brought to life and while it is a novel, it screamed TRUTH at me from every page. The Goddess has been trampled in this world I lost a week's sleep over this book and it was worth it! Dan Brown wrote and intelligent book about a fascinating subject. I see the influence of his art historian wife all over it. What a powerful pairing of research and invention! Dan does NOT need to read "The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For?", he KNOWS!
Keep doing it Dan - this was wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: As an employee of one of the major chains, I had access to a preview copy of the book. We were encouraged to handsell this book, so I thought I should read it. I don't think I've been so disappointed in a book since "The Celestine Prophecy".
The writing style is mediocre at best. At first I liked the short chapters that intercut between characters so that you feel you are reading the story in real time. But this device became very tedious when a character, usually Sophie or Langdon, would go into long reveries about some detail in the past.
The plot device of following the clues wears thin rather quickly. It becomes a cross between a roller coater ride & a scavenger hunt.
The anti-Catholic tone is strident & ridiculous. Throughout the book we are led to believe that the Vatican (is the Vatican a person now?) is behind the conspiracy or involved in some way. Then Brown just drops the insinuation. Vatican motives were not so evil after all.
I was willing to go along with the parts set in France, but when the scene moves to Britain, I began to notice the little niggling errors about places I have been. The author describes people as "grave-rubbing" in Westminster Abbey. The proper temr is brass-rubbing and it has been a very long time since anyone was permitted to do brass rubbings in the Abbey. This indicates that Mr Brown may not have done as much research as he should have.
Dan Brown chooses the most outlandish of interpretations and then presents them as facts. This leads to wild deductions.
The characters are flat and cartoonish. Am I the only reader who thinks he was a bit hard on the French police?
The only reason I give it two stars is because it kept my attention half way through the book. I had to force myself to finish it. I read Patterson's "The Jester" in the same month. It may be a while before I can force myself to read another hyped thriller.
If you want to read this kind of thriller, Arturo Perez-Reverte is much better at it. Try "The Flanders Panel", an amazing book that will not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Hokum
Review: As an English teacher, people always want to tell me what they've been reading as of late. Many, MANY people offered up that "The Da Vinci Code" is sheer brilliance, and could not be put down. Several, in fact, testified that they haven't read a book cover-to-cover in decades, until this novel entered their lives. Is that something to brag about? This novel was written for somebody who does not enjoy reading anything with substance. It is the literary equivalent of a poorly written action TV show. Hence, it keeps the attention of preteens and dullards, while ignoring character development. All three of the 'major' characters in this novel are simply named different things. They all act basically the same, and nowhere does the protagonist Robert Langdon say or do anything befitting a 'renowned Harvard symbologist." This novel is just such claptrap. It's depressing, because there was a time that Americans could follow something that had a little depth to it. Should I be glad that Americans are reading at all? To tell the truth, not if it's this filth. A poorly told story cannot be compensated because it is flashy or has shocking ideas about religion. It's true that I could not put this book down...for at least the two hours it took to read. How can a 500 page book take so little time to read unless it has absolutely no serious content. Stick it in the children's literature section. Just don't tell most adults that they have the equivalent intelligences of American children fifty years ago.
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