Customer Reviews
Dan Brown, author of the humongously successful "Da Vinci Code," scores well with this story written before his international best sellerIncredibly, the entire 500+ pages of action occurs over a six-hour period. As in "Da Vinci," the action takes place in and around the Catholic Church -- literally. The bulk of the book involves Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and his attractive Italian co-sleuth Vittoria Vetra racing between the Pope's office, the Vatican's secret archives, hidden Middle Age passageways, the crypt holding St. Peter's remains and various churches in Rome in an attempt beat a midnight calamity that threatens to destroy the Catholic Church at its very foundations.The nutshell: CERN, the world's most formidable collection of physicists, has produced and contained anti-matter, that theoretical substance present at the Big Bang. Despite elaborate security, a vial of the anti-matter has been stolen by a resurgent Illuminati -- that cryptic group dating from the Middle Ages that purported to represent and defend scientific inquiry against the forces of a Church desperate to stamp out anything even remotely calling into question Rome's vision of the earth, man and their divine creation.After waiting four centuries, the Illuminati have a chance to extract their revenge upon the Catholic Church. The vial of anti-matter will escape containment when a battery mechanism allowing its suspension turns off at midnight on the day bereaved cardinals are gathered to select a new pope. Anti-matter, when coming into contact with any matter (even air, or the sides of a container) produces an explosion so great that a pea-sized drop of the stuff could wipe out a mile square area. And, the vial has been hidden someplace in the recesses of Vatican City.Langdon appears because his specialty -- symbology -- makes him the foremost expert in possible clues to the Illuminati plot and the hiding place of the vial. The beautiful Vetra appears because she was teamed with her father in the production of anti-matter at CERN -- her father being a catholic priest/physicist who was attempting to prove the existence of Genesis with his work (he adopted her when she was an orphan).Breathless describes this novel. The entire story, except for Langdon's educational lectures on the Illuminati, various aspects of Vatican lore, and Middle Age Italian artists and architecture, takes place between the time most allow for dinner to follow lunch. The action never stops -- it is ceaseless.It is also very entertaining. Anyone attracted to history, secret societies, church politics past and present and a whiff of physics as backdrop to a ripping good yarn will appreciate this book.
I had been very impressed by DIGITAL FORTESS, Dan Brown's first novel, and found his treatment of a complex subject matter both knowledgeable and compelling. I had then missed the publication of ANGELS AND DEMONS, but felt that he had overplayed his hand in his third novel DECEPTION POINT, which started with an interesting premise but wandered into unnecessary complexity and violence and ultimately complete implausibilty. With the publication of THE DA VINCI CODE, upon learning that Robert Langdon is the central character in both DA VINCI and ANGELS, I decided to first read ANGELS in order to keep the stories in sequence. This is a mesmerizing page turner as long as you accept the author's central technological premises concerning scientific achievements in the near future.Robert Langdon, a professor of iconography and religious symbology at Harvard, is awakened by a telephone call from Maximilian Kohler, head of a prestigious European scientific institute. One of Kohler's fellow scientists has been murdered and an ancient symbol burned into his chest. Langdon feels compelled to investigate, and soon finds himself in the midst of a plot involving not only the death of Leonardo Vetra, a priest who is the world's leading antimatter researcher, but of the revival of a centuries old vendetta by a secret society, The Illuminati, against the Catholic Church. Langdon is forced by circumstances and the nature of the threat to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, Leonardo's adopted daughter, in an attempt to uncover the Illumunati's secret and halt not only several additional murders which have been threatened but the destruction of The Vatican itself.Incredibly, the entire story takes place within a time span of just over twelve hours, which adds to the compelling nature of the action. The book is typical Dan Brown, meticulously researched (despite the complaints of a few reviewers about some details), with lots of interesting information about a variety of subjects related to religion, the Vatican, art, science and morality. It is a well constructed story, with several plot twists and enough misdirection to make it extremely difficult to anticipate the conclusion. (I doubt that the outcome was as expected by those critical reviewers who didn't finish the book after identifying their choice for the "obvious villian". I also did not feel that the story was at all anti- Catholic, in fact the author met with the Pope and was helped by the Vatican during his research efforts.) While there are several gruesome scenes, they are integral to the context of the story and the violence is usually minimized and only briefly described.The real bonus of reading this story is the wonderfully well articulated discussion of the tension between science and religious faith, which forms the heart of the story. The last section of the book has a particularly insightful monologue in this regard, but the subject infuses the whole discussion woven into the plot concerning the historical conflict between the Illuminati and the Church. For instance, early in the book Vittoria challenges Langdon's evasion concerning his apparent lack of a belief in God with the observation "I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference."In addition, the book is almost worth reading just for the ambigrams (words or phrases which read the same right side up or upside down) which Dan Brown had created. These are truly works of art and their design is incredibly clever and beautiful. Finally, if you are familiar with Philips Exeter Academy, the author's alma mater, you will also have the fun of recognizing the source of the names of several of the characters referenced in the book.
For some reason I had not read this book out of all in the series.It was good. It had all the elements that we will find in a Dan Brown book.
Even after the movie, the book remains mesmerizing, especially with its plot twists and constant energy.Highly recommend re-reading prior to visiting Rome! Then read Inferno prior to visiting Venice. Enjoy!
I don't think Dan Brown needs any recommendations! Fantastic!If you are interested in religion, science, cults and secret societies, this book is for you. And it's not completely fantasy. Some of its stuff are real and damn scary 😀About the publisher: the book came intact.
