Rating: 
Summary: I HAVE STOPPED READING AFTER THE FIRST 24 PAGES
Review: Alright you have to help me out on this one.... but let me begin at the beginning. I read the recent USA Today overview of Dan Brown and the so hot THE DA VINCI CODE and was struck by the description of the book being full of factual information.... about art, secret organizations and so forth... I thought "wow, this is the kind of historical book I might like". When I went to the book store (sorry Amazon but sometimes you have to scratch your book itch in person!) I learned that Dan Brown's earlier novel ANGELS & DEMONS introduced the symbologist Robert Langdon and might be a good place to start the story so to speak (and the fact it was available as a less expensive paperback helped also). I looked forward to a really good read and hoped to high heaven that there would not be a silly factual mistake or something of some such nature to make me regret my purchase (I find that if I discover something "dumb" in the first 25 or 30 pages of a book I just can't keep going forward). Well I have to tell you this book presented a "dumb" and "counter-factual" thing right off the bat.... Is it just me or did anyone else feel the same way? I mean couldn't our hero be sent a plain old executive jet for his flight to CERN? Did Brown have to have CERN send him a Boeing X-33 HSCT (a prototype to boot) that flies at 11,000 miles a hour? Do you know the kind of support equipment that would be needed at Logan airport for this thing? Do you know the kind of stir it would cause if it landed there? Every aviation nut in the world would be there in a minute. And only one pilot? You would make such a important flight to pick up this hot shot Harvard guy and send only one pilot?.... and he plays country music?...AND he hops out of the plane in Switzerland to give Langdon a ride to CERN himself? No car to pick him up? And Langdon makes reference several times to the planes GANGPLANK.... what is this thing a pirate ship? I'm sure NORAD would love a 11,000 MPH plane flying at 60,000 feet to make it's way into Logan.... that wouldn't draw any attention I'm sure. All right I will get off my high horse.... I am probably letting facts get in the way of a good story. I just find it so incredible that a story teller would start off this way... and for no real reason. The story would be so much more believable if Langdon made his way to CERN in a much more conventional way. Most of what I have read so far (to page 24) just doesn't ring true... so how am I to believe what follows? Am I the only one who sees this? Am I being to demanding of this thriller? Anyway.... I need someone to reply to my review and assure me that this book gets much better (and more factual). Shall I continue or does other "unbelievable" things come along? I can handle adventure and fast changing action and maybe even some improbable (but possible) events but honestly so far I am not impressed.... I was looking for something written with some brains (as the U.S.A. Today story hinted) but if the rest of the book is like the first 24 pages.... well I think I will be looking for something else to read. If THE DA VINCI CODE is written with the same lack of realism as the first 24 pages of this earlier book presents then I am hiring a literary agent and starting my new novel right away (I think I would like to go for the hard cover sales record also!)
Rating: 
Summary: Good Thrills But Inherently Flawed Novel
Review: I always enjoy good thrillers, especially ones that involve conspiracies and nefarious plots; indeed the best ones can wrest you from your world into theirs, suspending your incredulity and logic as the story weaves its way towards its end. Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons', however, is not one of them. The biggest disappointment are the inconsistent and irrational characters that Mr. Brown has created. This obviously isn't supposed to be a character-based novel but still it is difficult to be swept away by the story when you feel that the hero, supposedly intelligent because of his Harvard affiliation, is so obtuse that he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes when facing the Hassassin, or when the heroine, supposedly Italian and a physicist, speaks in American lingo and worse, spouts hackneyed lines. Characters make the story and it was a disappointment that this is Mr. Brown's biggest weakness. However, what about his strength of weaving historical facts into an engrossing story? I was impressed by the facts and how Mr. Brown's imagination wove them into this still thrilling story. Nonetheless, the book should have ended at page 250 and not 430. A reader cannot suspend belief when he is always so conscious of how the author is trying too hard to craft "ingenious" twists and when these twists are so trite and predictable. This would have been a better book if it wasn't so laboriously hackneyed. I hope the infamous Da Vinci Code is better, though I'm now a little hesitant to pick it up at the bookstore.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Similar to others, I too have become a Dan Brown fan since "The Divinci Code" This book had me on the edge of my seat anticipating every move Langdon made. I do not look at this book for any historical or religious facts, those that are reading this have to keep in mind that the book is still fiction. Brown is a brilliant author and I applaud is imagination and his intellect, to combine the two is amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect blend of fiction of facts!!
Review: In Angels and Demons, Professor Robert Langdon is thrust into a world of intrigue and peril as he tries to solve the mystery of the Illuminati and save the Vatican. A page turning story that has a wonderful twist at the end! A not-to-be missed prelude to The DaVinci Code. Dan Brown's Angels and Demons offers up something for everyone. A great story with life and death drama, along with a well researched amount of science, art and history.
Rating:
Summary: fun to read but full of inaccuracies
Review: If Brown had only taken a bit more trouble in his research the book would have been a lot better. But statements to the effect that hatha yoga is a Buddhist practice, that Henry Wallace "sold the design of the Great Seal to the President" (actually, he put it on the dollar -- it was designed in the 1700's), and that the motto "Novus Ordo Seclorum" means "New Secular Order" (it means "New Order for the Ages") mar the book, as do numerious factual errors about physics. Why a person with so much imagination would not take the trouble to do research easily obtained via the Internet is beyond me. If you want to see how fact and myth are artfully combined, read Foucault's Pendulum. It has the Masons et al neatly tied together with great style. But Brown's book is fun to read if you can get past the howlers.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 Stars...The Answer is Two-Fold
Review: Like many others, I found this book after racing through "The Da Vinci Code." I wondered if Dan Brown was a consistent thriller writer, or if he had come up with just one great idea. The answer is two-fold. Yes, in "Angels and Demons" Brown shows that he has the chops to write consistently fast-paced thrillers, with intriguing historical tie-ins. Instead of dealing with the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail, this time he tackles the Illuminati and their anti-religious zeal. When a scientist is murdered and branded with an ancient anagram, our old friend Robert Langdon is dragged into a serpentine scheme to undermine the foundations of Catholicism. As always, Brown divvies out his facts and plot twists with perfect timing. He gives little time to breathe, but offers tidbits of character development that keep us caring about Langdon--even if only on a peripheral level. Ultimately, though, this book stumbles under its own weight. It could've ended a hundred pages earlier and been a tighter, more believable novel. Instead, Brown goes for broke...and leaves us feeling a little over/under-whelmed. He makes some fascinating arguments for the value of spiritual and moral existence, while also diluting these ideas with pantheistic mumbo-jumbo. According to the author himself, the next Langdon book will delve into the secrets of the Masons. I'll be quick to pick up a copy. I won't be reading it to find out universal truths, but I will love every minute of Brown's superb storytelling fervor.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Really great. I loved it. If you liked DaVinci Code, you'll love this. The science-y side is really intresting and I still can't stop thinking about the concept of antimatter. a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, gets a call in the middle of the night from the director of CERN. A horrible murder has been commited and a CERN scientist has been killed and branded with the symbol "illuminati" a satanic/anti-christian organization, thought to be extinct. When the anti-matter is missing from the dead scientist's lab, it is a paniced search for the destructive substance. A really amazing book. No matter what type of book you normally like, you'll be amazed with it.
Rating:
Summary: Another Thrill Ride from Dan Brown
Review: If you like thrillers and mysteries, Angels and Demons is for you. Like The Da Vinci Code, this one is hard to put down. I have no idea how accurate the history background is for Brown's books, but the stories are riveting. Angels and Demons is like being in the middle of fantasy computer game in which one has to solve a puzzle to reach a new level. The combination of futuristic physics, the modern Catholic church, a tour of Rome, and late renaissance history makes for a quite volatile brew. As with The Da Vinci Code, I enjoyed the details so much that I re-read many of the chapters. The plot is fascinating and the characters come alive beyond being mere charicatures. I was totally hooked and willing to suspend my disbelief as the novel climaxed toward a spectacular victory of good over evil. Of course I will not reveal the ending, but can say that the book does not end with a thud.
Rating:
Summary: Knights and Shadows
Review: I get jealous of a main character who is both an academic expert on religious symbology at Harvard, and a perfect physical specimen who plays water polo for light exercise. I get even more jealous when this superman (AKA Robert Langdon) gets whisked to CERN headquarters in Europe to investigate a peculiar murder that seems to involve the Illuminati. And you can imagine my further feelings when Langdon teams up with the beautiful and brilliant daughter of the victim (Vittoria Vetra) in a last ditch attempt to save the Vatican from annihilation by a titantic anti-matter explosion. What Langdon discovers at CERN is that the Illuminati appear to have stolen a new technology, with which they intend to attack the Catholic Church, bringing an abrupt finish to a struggle that started hundreds of years earlier with Galileo. With all of the cardinals lock in enclave to elect a new pope an anti-matter bomb has been hidden in the vast Vatican city and a madman busies himself leaving grisly trophies on the path to Illuminati headquarters. Dan Brown does more than write a pure action novel. With a deft combination of fact and imagination, he recreates CERN headquarters, Illuminati history, and the mysteries of the Vatican, telling the story within the space of one short day in the history of the world. Admittedly, the story bogs down in places, character development is a trifle minimalistic, and the ending is over-baked. But the resulting effect is fine entertainment. Suspense buffs will get a kick out of all the machinations and plot twists. I've never read The Da Vinci Code, Brown's previous Robert Langdon novel, but I'm tempted to now. Even though I feel there were some plot inconsistencies and a couple of occasions where Brown stretched the underlying facts a bit too far, the fact remains that this was an interesting book. The ideas he plays with, such as a possible spiritual implications of subatomic particles and anti-matter are ingeniously blended with what is primarily a paranoid plot story, resulting in some incidental food for thought. Spice for what is otherwise an entertaining story of detection, deduction and intrigue. I also appreciated the visits to some of the more obscure parts and rituals of the Vatican. So if you need your weekly dose of paranoia - this is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: An intense and educational read!
Review: Okay, so you may be thinking... how is this educational??? It is a thriller, murder mystery, not far off a Grisham or Clancy feel, but then it is packed with so much more! When Robert Langdon gets a shocking call in the middle of the night he is tangled in the middle of a countdown to detsruction. His knowledge of symbology and ancient brotherhoods and their connections pulls you into this mystery. Through his conversation you too, will be informed, not only on religous symbols and rituals, but simply things like a 'thumbs up' sign, and it's origin of meaning. I was actually told to read this before Da Vinci code, becasue it gives you a good background on our main character and it is a premise to the later book. I am reading DaVinci Code next, and very excited to. While Langdon's antics do get a little "james Bondish" in the end, this book is still riveting and full of surprises. It reads much like a movie script, is easy to follow, and loaded with extra goodies in references to 'Satanic Cult's' , the Vatican city and its strange quirks,plus more. Lace all this into a fast paced day of a man (with a beautiful side kick) trying to save lives and you have yourself an EXCELENT weekend read. DON'T MISS IT! You will be glad you took the time to read this one. References to Bernini and his sculptures are so much a part of this story, by looking up statues and finding these works of art to study as you read will only enhance this great book.
| 
