Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time...
Review: I got this book thanks to the hype and good reviews my friends, family and online gave to this book. I finally finished it last night, thank god! Like others have said, the beginning is really good. It hooks you and really gets you "sunk" into the book. After about 30 chapters (out of 100+), it gets tedious and boring. I found myself skipping or skimming pages, all about religion and symbology. I mean, it was boring and I really didn't like reading it all. They go on and on and on and on...there's lots of extra writing in here, where they could be more short and sweet. I didn't really think the plot was really realistic, especially certain scenes where they get out of "messes", such as the airplane scene. There are very few good parts. I found myself waiting and waiting for it to get better, and found myself miserable at the end. If you just "have" to read this, borrow someone's copy or buy one of the used, cheaper copies. I don't understand all the hype...
Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: I guess I am alone in my opinion. I thought the book
got off to a great beginning, and that I was really going
to love it. I was learning a ton about Opus Dei, the Templer
Knights ect. Then it got "silly". One moment I thought,"I've had enough
of the divine feminism bit", and the next moment after one more
"escape" excuse me they get out of the limo at the airport with
the bound albino without being seen (?) I could see the promo
---and starring Harrison Ford. My daughters and I had selected the book for our annual wine and
book discussion summer visit. I hope they liked it better than
I did. If I hadn't committed myself to the evening, I wouldn't
have finished it.
Rating: 
Summary: if you believe in the-church-as-conspiracy...
Review: i guess i'm an odd one in that the judeo-christian-islamic tradition never made much sense to me. as a teenager, i came to one conclusion: the church is a man-made conspiracy to keep women oppressed. this book kind of builds on that theory using history as a backdrop. a lot of what dan brown writes about is tied to what historians know about early christianity, pre-christian, and non-western faiths. and that's what makes it all the more interesting. it's an excellent, thought-provoking read.
Rating:
Summary: This is what all the fuss is about???
Review: I guess people either love this book or hate it. Count me in the latter group. It starts out very promising, but quickly goes awry after the two main characters leave the museum. I agree with the reviewer who said it was a big slam on Christianity and the Catholic church. But, religion aside, it's not a very well written book. The characters are one dimensional. The plot is ridiculous. The end of each chapter left us dangling like a daytime soap opera. I agree with one reviewer who wrote that is reads like a movie script turned into a book. I could guess the ending by the middle of the book. I kept hoping the characters would get caught to avoid another chase scene, and end the book! When two "specialists" with advanced degrees couldn't figure out that the backwords writing was just that and not another language, I was ready to give up reading. And, while the book describes some interesting theories, it also quickly leaps beyond the facts into complete conjecture. The problem is that many people believe that all of the information in this book is factual and based on "extensive research". Just look at the complimentary reviews. That's the big danger in this book--peole who are ignorant and/or gullible about Christianity and its history are falling for this. Again, even if you take the religious aspect out, it's still not a very good suspense/thriller when you can guess the ending so early on in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Best thriller read of the year!
Review: I had a blast reading this book ~~ it was fun, fast-moving and chock full of interesting information about a conspiracy and theories about Christ and his followers ~~ that I couldn't stop turning the pages. Dan Brown knows how to write to captivate an audience ~~ and I have to say that you shouldn't walk to the nearest bookstore ~~ you should run and buy this copy! Don't wait for the paperback to come out ~~ this is such a fun book that it's worth every penny in buying this book! Robert Langdon, a professor from Harvard, gets a middle-of-the-night rousing from the French Police while speaking in Paris. The curator of the world's most reknown museum has been found dead in the museum ~~ and Robert, who was to meet this man, is one of the top suspects in this man's murder. And thus begins this book. With the curator's granddaughter Sophia, Robert begins a run for his life while solving the mystery from the dead man's last message in finding the answer to where the Holy Grail is. Some parts of this book is predictable ~~ it was for me as I had guessed some of the answers early on ~~ but it's because I love reading books on conspiracies and religious themes ~~ not because he gave away the hints. But the historical studies and theories that are written throughout the book are very fascinating and some of the ideas are new concepts for me. It piques my interest enough to read more on them. With Robert and Sophia on the run for their lives and in solving the last riddle ~~ it does become tense in several places. I wouldn't hesitate in picking up this book ~~ it's a definite thriller and must-read of the year. It's an intelligent book ~~ meaning that the author explains how they decipher codes and languages from the past ~~ and in such a fun way, you find yourself trying it out. Now I am hooked on Dan Brown's writings ~~ I plan to read more of his books. I have asked my husband this, "How come I have never heard of this guy before?" No fear, I will be reading more of his books! 4-17-03
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to put down
Review: I had a friend tell me that this was the best novel he had ever read. I found that a bit of an exaggeration, but it's certainly a very good, hard-to-put-down, read. It's a remarkably well-written combination of puzzles, mystery, history, and chase that will keep you up late at night.
Rating: 
Summary: hokey fun
Review: I had a lot of fun reading this book -- but reviews to the contrary, it's not erudite. Brown makes many gaffes. He believes, for example, that the golden ratio, or phi (a number which fascinated Greek philosophers and mathematicians because it was the first known instance of an irrational number -- the existence of which contradicted all their theories of the orderly and explainable foundations of the world), was "derived" from the Fibonacci series. He also seems to think that a codex is a scroll. (A codex is, of course, a manuscript volume, or book. Think of the early illuminated gospels.) There are many similar confusions, but it would be churlish to list them because that's not the point. No one buys this kind of book to understand math or learn art history, they buy it because it's a blast. Two-thousand year-old onspiracies, religion, romance, betrayal (though anyone who is suprised by the identity of the betrayer should probably go back to reading Dick and Jane), mixed with sketchy, pseudo-exotic European locations, and leavened with a dash of stock characters. The prose is servicable, mostly -- a few grammatical horrors don't get in the way of being able to visualize the action -- and the plot gallops along. A pure pedigree bestseller.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!
Review: I had a terrible time putting this book down! I read chapters before work, after work, in the car picking up kids...everywhere I could. Dan Brown's tale about the search for the Holy Grail is fast paced and never boring. The surprises just keep coming. The biggest surprises are who the "Teacher" is and where the Grail is located. Dan Brown obviously uses a lot of historical facts and suppositions to weave his tale. Whether or not you believe in what he writes it will certainly make you question the beginnings of the modern Church if only for a second. The only thing that upset me about this book is that it had to end!
Rating:
Summary: Close to the best
Review: I had a very good time reading this book. I am fascinated by puzzles, word games and cyphers, and I have more respect for history and science than for blind religion. Therefore this book met all of my expectations. The author's style is particular (many very short chapters) but it fits the style of the story and it didn't bother me (unlike other reviewers). And the fact that the book (cover) contains a bunch of extra information you wouldn't expect (check out the book's web site) did feed my hunger for more puzzles and games. This book is close to the best you can get. Why not the best ? Because the author sometimes seems to add too much non-fiction (information) that is not enough related to the plot, just for the purpose of showing how much research he did - though the research is likely limited to the list of books included in the story. He should've avoided this pitfall, and the book would've been the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow and Cumbersome
Review: I had eagerly awaited the chance to read this book because of all the rave reviews I had heard about it. Unfortunately, the reality did not live up to the hype. While expecting a mystery thriller, what I got was mostly historical fiction. While the author seems to have done a lot of research into the history of the grail and secret societies, the mystery was poorly plotted and seemed to drag where it should be speeding along. Hot thriller? I'd say lukewarm at best. The first 150 pages were hard to get through, but I persevered. The story did pick up a little bit after that, but was so trite and predictable that I had it all figured out by page 200. What seems to fascinate everyone that reads the book is the "history" given- and some people actually seem to believe the premise given in the book to be real. (See other reviews.) However, this is a work of FICTION. There is just enough truth mixed in with the fiction to perhaps fool the masses, but any true Bible scholar knows better.
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