Rating:  Summary: Beware the Illuminati book Review: This book is surprise after surprise after surprise -- but always presented in conversation. I haven't seen so much exposition since the movie Tora Tora Tora (which I actually like anyway). This book is a five hundred page repetitive cycle: personality-less people talking, teaching us some interesting history laced with a shocker or three; quick race against time to new location, arriving just too late; new person on scene inadvertantly, but luckily, provides a clue; lots more on-site educating and surprising.
Rating:  Summary: Awesome Plot Review: I bought this book while I was reading " Da Vinci Code". When I finished with the code took this one and my though was that an earlier book of the "Robert Langdon" series will be no better the last one, but I was wrong, the reading in this book was far more supeior than the other. This is a "cat and mouse" run from start to finish, and your are hold in this religious plot, that holds you in the edge of your seat until the final revelation that is not even the peak of the mountain.Please is only a book for reading not for finding the errors of the author or locations that appear in the book. Reading should be fun, entertaining. If you liked the book, recomend the title to others, no spend your time in critics that make no sense, technicals details that most of the readers don't care about it.
Rating:  Summary: I feel cheated! Review: I read this after I had read Da Vinci Code. I expected an interesting reasonably well-written page turner. What I got was a story that went from far-fetched to silly to utterly ridiculous. I wish I had my money back. More importantly, I wish I had my time back.
Rating:  Summary: His best Review: Like many, I read THE DA VINCI CODE first, having been exposed to the hype. And while that book was very good, ANGELS & DEMONS surpasses it by miles. The writing, plot, and character-development (there are some of the same characters in DA VINCI as there are in A&D) is staggering and in my opinion, this is Dan Brown's best effort to date. Also recommended: McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
Rating:  Summary: absolutely amazing! Review: this is the blah blah blah blah. I thought it was very blah. Sometimes the blah blah was too blah. However, the blah was overly blah. My favorite part was when the blah went to the blah and blah blah blah. Oh yeah, and blah!
Rating:  Summary: not deep or complicated........ Review: Dan Brown.......you read the name and think of a unique blend of a little fact, a lot of fiction, an unbelievable pace and characters, that while never deep or complicated are never the less fun and interesting. In Angels and Demons the plot revolves around a Swiss scientific research laboratory, the Vatican, an ancient brotherhood and the attempt to bring down the Catholic church. Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of "symbology", is drawn into the tale and the result is a fast paced story of murder, love, deception and intrigue. This is a fun, quick read that suspends reality.
Rating:  Summary: BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ Review: I have read the other book of Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, before this one. People discovered this book after the popularity of The Da Vinci Code. But this is the first adventure of leading character of these two books, Prof. Robert Langdon. What can I say ? Just a great book ! For me much better than Da Vinci Code ! Once you start the book, you will never leave it. It is sure that author has spent a lot of time on the places where the story goes on. All places are real. I also recommend you to take a look at the author's webpage www.danbrown.com before you start to read this book. In this website, you will find the real pictures of these places and some objects mentioned in the book. But before you go, if this review was helpful, please do not forget to vote "helpful" for me. Many thanks...
Rating:  Summary: Is There Less Than One Star? Review: To begin with, I will confess that I am only less than 50 pages into the book. Appalled at the quality of the writing, I promised that I would give it 50 pages to improve, since its popularity must surely indicate that there is something to it. Other reviews have mentioned that the characters are one-dimensional, but "cardboard stereotypes" seems more accurate. Maybe this started life somewhere as a comic book, and, if so, should have stayed there.
Rating:  Summary: Absurd and Long-winded Review: Angels & Demons is the absurd plot-driven prequel to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The Vatican and the Illuminati are the two main characters of the tale. Everyone else is peripheral. This is one of several sins that make the novel so bad-- there is no character development at all. Michael Langdon is a one-dimensional Indiana Jones type (it's obvious author Dan Brown has celluloid ambitions) who's awakened at the crack of dawn and whisked off to Europe to become a major player in a centuries-old grudge match between the Illuminati and the Vatican. But what the story is really about is what happens when one man tries to make himself God and rectify what he sees as unforgivable sin, with a disastrous outcome of course. But you won't discover that until the last 50 pages of the book. In the meantime, you'll get a primer on the Illuminati and be dragged all over and under Vatican City with Langdon and the ever-slender Vittoria as they try to prevent the murders of 4 cardinals and find the antimatter canister before it blows the Vatican and half of Rome to bits. Brown has packed this pulp with tidbits about long-dead religions and cultures, medieval scientists, and Renaissance artists. If you're interested in these topics, you could have a blast chasing down Brown's facts. Or you could accept it all at face value and go along for the ride. And what a ridiculous ride it is. If you think the first 500 pages of the novel are completely absurd, wait until the last 50 pages. It would appear that Brown has a gift for intricate plotting, and Behold! It all neatly wraps up in the end! Or did he write an outline first and fill in the blanks to flesh out the (ahem) story? That's my guess, and it's unfortunate because the story may have taken an intriguing turn if there were any character development beyond Langdon's 9 lives and ever-present Harris Tweed jacket, and Vittoria Vetra, the intelligent, mysterious, slender damsel in distress. Of course Langdon gets the girl (after they've saved the world) with all the cute corniness of a James Bond movie. The book is replete with Brown's pontifications on religion, Christianity, and the church's long history of suppressing scientists and scientific truth to protect the church's power. Brown's bias is clear throughout the book, and this didactic pummeling reveals a weakness in his storytelling abilities. The success of Da Vinci Code proves that one needn't be a decent writer to capture market share. You may enjoy Angels & Demons, but I thought the book was silly and long-winded. He could have cut the book by 200 pages for my taste. It wouldn't have improved the writing, but at least it would have ended sooner.
Rating:  Summary: Take a rest, Dale Review: Dale Brown was once an author. He/it is now a writing factory churning out novel after novel with LOTS of money thrown at HUGE marketing campaigns, guest appearances on television, nationwide tours...but precious little to show for it. The DAVINCI CODE took an incredible idea, started like gangbusters then the story veered from interesting to improbable to hokey. It fell under the weight of its incoherent mass. To make matters worse, Brown, in real life, is now going around claiming that the book was based on "real" research and hinted that the absurdities in the story could be true. It's Angels & Demons (since it seems that novels referring to religion sell well) with worse plotting and even worse characters. The plot is complicated though not complex - it is only Brown's inclusions of illogical and unprobable events that make the thing seem more a jumble than a race. Then there's the awful portrayal of the people who are about as real as the wooden Indian at the barbershop. They are as predictable as they are flat - they do things that don't really make sense and say things that happen to fit into the plot somewhat but where is the growth or change or transformation? Other readers have noted the poor editing that is on display throughout the book. (I just had a horrible thought - what if it HAD actually been edited and this was the result?) Just because you appear on talk shows and sell millions of books does not mean a fact checker, linguist, and grammar expert are not required. This is just pitiful.
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