It's my firm belief that Dan Brown is one of the most overrated authors of the 21st century.
His writing is solid, but not fantastic. Sometimes, his character development feels a bit forced and over the top. The stories are grandiose, at the edge of incredulity and high end adventure.
But if there is one thing Dan Brown can do, it's write a good puzzle.
For those of you who have no idea of the plot, Angels and Demons revolve around the plucky symboligist hero Langdon from the Da Vinci Code, though the former was supposed to happen first in the chronology of things. Basically, a group called the Illuminati (a name conspiracy theorists should recognize right away) surface with a most diabolical plot to literally destroy the Catholic Church with a power time bomb buried deep within the catacombs of the Vatican. Langdon, and the stereotypically beautiful and capable Itallian scientist Vittoria race against time as they follow clues left by the original Illumanti - namely Gallileo and his cohorts - to find the Illuminati Lair in hopes of being able to stop the bomb.
The puzzles are pretty darn amazing. And the ending is quite possibly one of the strangest, plot twisty, convuluted endings I've ever read. Though it takes about 200 pages for the hunt to really start rolling, from then on it's one ghastly murder and cryptic clue after another to quite an explosive ending.
The writing is nothing spectacular or amazing. But if you like symbols, puzzles and copious amounts of fiction written about conspiracies and the occult, then by all means, read Angels and Demons if you haven't already.
And yes, I do realize I may be the only person on the internets who just finished his first Dan Brown novel.
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2 comments:
yeah, i believe that Angels and Demons is a better novel than Davinci Code. But that's just me. but, check out this news story from the PI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/333912_robert02.html
it's funny 'cause it's true!
i've never read a dan brown novel. i'm surprised you haven't read one until now, your dad being such a huge of the da vinci code. my dad's a huge fan--he's read every single one of brown's novels. blearghggghhghghh. i suppose i can't pass valid judgment, i've only read the first maybe 20 pages of da vinci code. too awful, i couldn't go on. hooray for ted.
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