5.2k reviews for:

Illuminati

Dan Brown

3.75 AVERAGE

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This book was amazing, lots of suspense and plot twists.
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I think it's a great book, with an absolute fantastic story and magnificent plot twists.
But.
The way Dan Brown writes Vittoria as a character is a standard case of r/menwritingwomen... In her introduction (and many times afterwards) it's all about her looks. The fact that she is a brilliant scientist gets lost and she is most of the time quite useless. And I imagine that, on a quest against time you don't have time and energy to build a romantic relationship (also because they don't talk about anything personal, therefor making it unclear if they even would work together well).
If Dan Brown hadn't written the "romance" between the two of them, it had at least been a four star, maybe even a five star read.

Corny, implausible but a riveting read.

For all the detractors you cant fault the book and writing for entertainment value. Edge of your seat ride across 6 hours. Yes, everything that happens is impossible and even the facts very liberal and loose but it comes together to a very interesting and fun page turner. When you read a Dan Brown book you dont expect something like Foucaults Pendulum.

People can look down their nose at the books not being an excellent piece of literature but it sells and has wide appeal.

For me this is my favourite Dan Brown book, though it has been years since I read them all and I am going to get through them all this year. This one interests me more than the rest and is the best of the bunch as far as I am concerned. Da Vinci Code gets the publicity but this one is a notch above in my opinion.

What I like most about these books are they inspire me to research and read up on the art and history mentioned like the sculptures of Bernini and even the history of the Papacy, aside from the hours of enjoyment the introduction to new interests and pieces of culture that would have otherwise passed me by.

My enjoyment of this over the past few days buffs my rating up a star to 5.
adventurous relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous dark informative mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No