Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is okay I guess. With its fair amount of plot twists making the journey worth it. The side plot of the assassin being a pervert and wanting to rape women is completely pointless. At the first part of the book involving technologies I felt very mansplained by the author somehow. But once you get through that and start going into Rome and Vatican architectures and religious symbols it feels a lot better.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not enough of a theologically inclined person to know whether Brown's thoughts on religion are interesting or trite. I guess if you're reading fiction for repeated surface-level discussions of the intersection of faith and science, then this is your book. If you're not...
Either way, one thing you can always count on with Brown is some seemingly meticulously researched art history. When I read his books, there's often at least one moment in which I feel like I'm doing some real learning about some really esoteric topics (like the church, or Renaissance art). But then, inevitably, there's an explosion, or some weird assassin dude, or some alarm counting down to the release of some poison gas. And that's the point at which I remind myself of what I'm actually reading, and somehow that "knowledge" about Raphael or the Medici family or the Vatican archives comes away feeling more than a little sullied. So, yep, two stars here.
Top quotes (warning -- there's a lot of triteness):
"I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories...legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgment on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God's hand?" --Vittoria Vetra
"'Certainly you must debate issues of faith with your classes...And you play devil's advocate, I imagine. Always fueling the debate.'
--Langdon smiled. 'You must be a teacher too.'" --Vittoria Vetra and Robert Langdon
"The Vatican chopper stayed low in the sky as it sliced northwest through the permanent smog layer coughed up by the congestion below. Langdon gazed down at the mopeds, sight-seeing buses, and armies of miniature Fiat sedans buzzing around rotaries in all directions. Koyaanisqatsi, he thought, recalling the Hopi term for 'life out of balance.'" --narrator, giving one of the most accurate descriptions of Rome I've read
"The media is the right arm of anarchy." --the Hassassin
"'So is anything in Christianity original?'
'Very little in any organized faith is truly original. Religions are not born from scratch. They grow from one another. Modern religion is a collage...an assimilated historical record of man's quest to understand the divine.'" --an exchange between Langdon and one of his undergraduate students
"How could they be so callous? Why the hatred? For Sylvie, the church had always been an innocuous entity...a place of fellowship an introspection...sometimes just a place to sing out loud without people staring at her. The church recorded the benchmarks of her life -- funerals, weddings, baptisms, holidays -- and it asked for nothing in return. Even the monetary dues were voluntary. Her children emerged from Sunday School every week uplifted, filled with ideas about helping others and being kinder. What could possibly be wrong with that?" --narrator, describing Sylvie Baudeloque's struggles as a Catholic working among scientists
"Science has won the battle. We concede...But science's victory...has cost every one of us. And it has cost us deeply...Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery and provided an array of gadgetry for our entertainment and convenience, but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident...Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. We are bombarded with violence, division, fracture, and betrayal. Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? Does science hold anything sacred? Science looks for answers by probing our unborn fetuses. Science even presumes to rearrange our own DNA. It shatters God's world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning...and all it finds is more questions." --the camerlengo
"Sometimes, divine revelation simply means adjusting your brain to hear what your heart already knows." --Leonardo Vetra
"Each of us is a God, Buddha had said. Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom." --narrator
"I am not questioning God's power! It is God who gave us reason and circumspection! It is God we serve by exercising prudence!" --Cardinal Mortati
"Doubt is your last shred of control. It is doubt that brings souls to you. Our need to know that life has meaning. Man's insecurity and need for an enlightened soul assuring him everything is part of a master plan. But the church is not the only enlightened soul on the planet! We all seek God in different ways. What are you afraid of? That God will show himself somewhere other than inside these walls? That people will find him in their own lives and leave your antiquated rituals behind? Religions evolve! The mind finds answers, the heart grapples with new truths. My father was on your quest! A parallel path! Why couldn't you see that? God is not some omnipotent authority looking down from above, threatening to throw us into a pit of fire if we disobey. God is the energy that flows through the synapses of our nervous system and the chambers of our hearts! God is in all things!." --Vittoria Vetra, p.535
Either way, one thing you can always count on with Brown is some seemingly meticulously researched art history. When I read his books, there's often at least one moment in which I feel like I'm doing some real learning about some really esoteric topics (like the church, or Renaissance art). But then, inevitably, there's an explosion, or some weird assassin dude, or some alarm counting down to the release of some poison gas. And that's the point at which I remind myself of what I'm actually reading, and somehow that "knowledge" about Raphael or the Medici family or the Vatican archives comes away feeling more than a little sullied. So, yep, two stars here.
Top quotes (warning -- there's a lot of triteness):
"I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories...legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgment on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God's hand?" --Vittoria Vetra
"'Certainly you must debate issues of faith with your classes...And you play devil's advocate, I imagine. Always fueling the debate.'
--Langdon smiled. 'You must be a teacher too.'" --Vittoria Vetra and Robert Langdon
"The Vatican chopper stayed low in the sky as it sliced northwest through the permanent smog layer coughed up by the congestion below. Langdon gazed down at the mopeds, sight-seeing buses, and armies of miniature Fiat sedans buzzing around rotaries in all directions. Koyaanisqatsi, he thought, recalling the Hopi term for 'life out of balance.'" --narrator, giving one of the most accurate descriptions of Rome I've read
"The media is the right arm of anarchy." --the Hassassin
"'So is anything in Christianity original?'
'Very little in any organized faith is truly original. Religions are not born from scratch. They grow from one another. Modern religion is a collage...an assimilated historical record of man's quest to understand the divine.'" --an exchange between Langdon and one of his undergraduate students
"How could they be so callous? Why the hatred? For Sylvie, the church had always been an innocuous entity...a place of fellowship an introspection...sometimes just a place to sing out loud without people staring at her. The church recorded the benchmarks of her life -- funerals, weddings, baptisms, holidays -- and it asked for nothing in return. Even the monetary dues were voluntary. Her children emerged from Sunday School every week uplifted, filled with ideas about helping others and being kinder. What could possibly be wrong with that?" --narrator, describing Sylvie Baudeloque's struggles as a Catholic working among scientists
"Science has won the battle. We concede...But science's victory...has cost every one of us. And it has cost us deeply...Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery and provided an array of gadgetry for our entertainment and convenience, but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident...Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. We are bombarded with violence, division, fracture, and betrayal. Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? Does science hold anything sacred? Science looks for answers by probing our unborn fetuses. Science even presumes to rearrange our own DNA. It shatters God's world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning...and all it finds is more questions." --the camerlengo
"Sometimes, divine revelation simply means adjusting your brain to hear what your heart already knows." --Leonardo Vetra
"Each of us is a God, Buddha had said. Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom." --narrator
"I am not questioning God's power! It is God who gave us reason and circumspection! It is God we serve by exercising prudence!" --Cardinal Mortati
"Doubt is your last shred of control. It is doubt that brings souls to you. Our need to know that life has meaning. Man's insecurity and need for an enlightened soul assuring him everything is part of a master plan. But the church is not the only enlightened soul on the planet! We all seek God in different ways. What are you afraid of? That God will show himself somewhere other than inside these walls? That people will find him in their own lives and leave your antiquated rituals behind? Religions evolve! The mind finds answers, the heart grapples with new truths. My father was on your quest! A parallel path! Why couldn't you see that? God is not some omnipotent authority looking down from above, threatening to throw us into a pit of fire if we disobey. God is the energy that flows through the synapses of our nervous system and the chambers of our hearts! God is in all things!." --Vittoria Vetra, p.535
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Decent introduction to Robert Langdon.
He is a much nerdier Indiana Jones and doesn’t kick nearly as much physical ass but makes up for it with intelligence. Brown does kind of endow him with a little bit of a Mary Sue complex but to be honest I’m not reading these books for gripping moral dilemmas between characters.
The history is the best part of the book, but due to the race-against-time nature of the plot we as the reader don’t really have a *lot* of time to let the incredibly interesting historical stuff sink in. At least not as much as I would like. I’d say Brown hits his stride about 3/4 of the way through, and everything post antimatter explosion is actually quite profound and thought provoking. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a religious theme.
Was not a fan of how Brown characterized the Hassassin. Felt very cartoon villain mustache twirl-y with a touch of racism which all in all seemed in poor taste.
I also REALLY think the love story was wholly unnecessary and a little weird. At least with Indy, he’s sexy and enough of a ladies man to warrant some sort of escapade on all his adventures. Not sure if it’s because of how Brown wrote it but Langdon and Vittoria’s romance just felt a little incel-y.
Overall the character work was on the weaker side and kind of strange but the plot and history is so thrilling I was undoubtedly hooked.
He is a much nerdier Indiana Jones and doesn’t kick nearly as much physical ass but makes up for it with intelligence. Brown does kind of endow him with a little bit of a Mary Sue complex but to be honest I’m not reading these books for gripping moral dilemmas between characters.
The history is the best part of the book, but due to the race-against-time nature of the plot we as the reader don’t really have a *lot* of time to let the incredibly interesting historical stuff sink in. At least not as much as I would like. I’d say Brown hits his stride about 3/4 of the way through, and everything post antimatter explosion is actually quite profound and thought provoking. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a religious theme.
Was not a fan of how Brown characterized the Hassassin. Felt very cartoon villain mustache twirl-y with a touch of racism which all in all seemed in poor taste.
I also REALLY think the love story was wholly unnecessary and a little weird. At least with Indy, he’s sexy and enough of a ladies man to warrant some sort of escapade on all his adventures. Not sure if it’s because of how Brown wrote it but Langdon and Vittoria’s romance just felt a little incel-y.
Overall the character work was on the weaker side and kind of strange but the plot and history is so thrilling I was undoubtedly hooked.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Really interesting, but the ending was a little too much for me. Would love to read the other books, though.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes