Rating: 
Summary: Starts strongly, but...
Review: Brown is only the latest of a number of popular fiction writers who have mined the legends of the grail and Knights Templar for plot ideas. What distinguishes this book is the promise- never fully realized- of the revelation of a great secret (and great improprieties) hidden by the modern-day Roman Church. Perhaps part of the interest is rooted in the current scandals of a different nature involving the Church. While Brown starts strongly enough- a murder in the Lourve, a hidden secrets, a visitng American academic suddenly caught up in a vast centuries-old conspiracy- the book soon becomes little more than a so-so detective novel with all the usual gambits and tricks. Yes, there's a fair bit of facinating grail lore mixed in, but it's been done better by others.
This is not a bad book; it's good vacation or airplane reading, and for the first half you'll find yourself caught up in the story and facinated by the bits of the legend that Brown doles out in drips and drabs. But then the plot sort of slows down and the suprises become fewer as the turns and twists become more obvious. The climax of the mystery is pretty unsatisfying, the characters are never fleshed out much, and by the end of the book you don't care much one way or another what becomes of them.
If you're looking for a really masterful, brilliantly written book built on the Templar legend, you can't do better than Umberto Eco's "Focault's Pendulum". If you're interested in some more fanciful and full of conspiracies there's always the books of Robert Anton Wilson.
Rating: 
Summary: Junk History plus Biased Analysis Equals Questionable Agenda
Review: Brown perpetrates a poorly disguised anti-Christian and Anti-Roman Catholic attempt at a suspense thriller. The unbelieveable plot twists and vain attempts at maintaining some minimal level of credibility strain Mr. Brown's slight talents to the breaking point. Venal characters, unsympathetic and sometimes ludicrous, leave us totally uncaring of their fates about half way through the novel.
Brown executes his craft at a breathtakingly amateurish level and insults our collective intelligences throughout the book. Such a novel preys on the ignorant and easily persuaded to promote a blatantly anti-religious message. That the book is boring is just one insult added to the rest.
Rating: 
Summary: Story based on poor scholarship
Review: Brown relies on the theories presented in the book Holy Blood Holy Grail, a work of of very shoddy scholarship. It makes huge leaps in logic and ignores many of it's cited sources. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas actually presents Jesus as a male chauvist not someone who repsects the "sacred feminine." In it he says women will only enter heaven when they "become like men." It is interesting to note that the UC at Berkely (not exactly a pro-Christian institution) has a course on recognizing bad logic, and Holy Blood (Brown's basis for this novel)is required reading. Check out the university website and see for yourself. There are also many mistakes related to Leonardo and his works; a big one being the portrayal in the novel of the Madonna of the Rocks being on canvas (it was painted on wood). None of this would matter if Brown had not claimed to have researched his facts in order to write this story.
Rating:
Summary: A good read but.....
Review: Brown writes a good story but I was appalled at the suggestions about Jesus and Mary M. I don't believe this for one minute.
CEB
Rating:
Summary: Not an original work
Review: Brown's *The Da Vinci Code* mixes the holy grail story with some very superficial, web-based research on symbolism, iconology, paganism, the early history of christianity, and historical tidbits of certain historically significant places in London and Paris. His structure is choppy, and his writing, at points, borders on ... Consider the following excerpt from his book (p. 395):
"Westminster Abbey is considered neither cathedral nor parish church. It bears the classification of roayl peculiar, subject only to the sovereign."
With the following excerpt from the Westiminster Abbey web site at http://www.westminster-abbey.org/ :
"Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a 'royal peculiar' under the jurisdiction of a Dean and Chapter, subject only to the Sovereign."
One can only guess how many other such examples pervade the book. Very disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Women In Heaven
Review: Brown's best seller, perhaps ironically, wound up under the Christmas tree for me this year. The buzz about the book is because of the way Dan deftly weaves enough historical facts into the plot to give the reader a sense that it MIGHT be true.
As literature, it is a popular page-turner with rather shallow characters. Robert Langdon never really became life-like or very interesting. Sophie Neveu was a good female lead -- brainy, brave and determined -- fitting for this subject matter. I think my favorite characters were the villains. I like Silas the albino monk who kept inflicting pain to keep him aware of Christ's suffering, while ignoring the commandment "Thou shall not kill" and offing all the people who he felt were on God's hit list. I also really like Remy the butler who was kind of like a French R2D2 with enough human twists to keep him interesting. It was a shame he was allergic to peanuts; because I would have liked to have him kept around to the end of the story. Lee Teabring (if I correctly recall the character's name) as the millionaire on crutches was endearing to me at first; so I wasn't quite prepared for the twists at the end. I found the suspicions Brown created on whether Bezu Fache the police chief was part of the plot or not to be a bit manipulative; the character could have been given a bit more depth. While I did want to keep turning the pages, I found it a bit tiring how almost each chapter wound up the tension like a cliffhanger. There are only so many cliffs one can hang over before it becomes routine.
As far as the reality of the book, many Christian theologians understand that the Bible was edited. The role of women in the Bible was more shaped by Paul's attitudes than by those of Jesus Christ. In The Urantia Book's version of the Life & Teachings of Jesus, there was an entire Women's Corps of 62 female evangelists whose existence was edited out of scripture, and whose most important teacher was Mary Magdalene. So while it is probably no surprise that the church is male dominated, nor is it equally surprising that God loves his daughters as much as his sons, Brown has brought all of these together with the Opus Dei and Priory of Sion to make us take pause and wonder. Truth never suffers from honest inspection; so this is probably the greatest service from The Da Vinci Code. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Brown's book is captivating and full of knowledge, besides supplying a story which is unrivaled. Awesome ending.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Echo of Eco
Review: Brown's conspiracy has been cribbed from the Illuminati Trilogy and Umberto Eco's masterpiece Foucault's Pendulum. If you're under 25, read the Illuminati -- it's not nobel material, but it will blow your mind. Eco on the otherhand needs no introduction -- he is one of the foremost writers of our generation, and Foucault's Pendulum is at once gripping, astoundingly well written and steeped in every historical conspiracy. By contrast, Brown is but a dilettante.
Rating:
Summary: The first book I've read in a day since "Harry Potter"!
Review: Brown's narrative style is like great chocolate: rich, seductive, and seriously addictive. I read this one in a single day, and look forward to reading it again! I absolutely love Grail fiction, so finding this novel was like finding...well, you get the idea. The ideas may not be totally new, but they are presented in a gripping and fascinating manner. I'm sure that there will be knee-jerk reactions from many Catholics, but even though I am a Christian I found Brown's ideas about the role of political manipulation in the history of the Church to be intriguing food for thought. Here's to thinking outside the box!
