Angels and Demons by Dan Brown {Book Review}

Some love Dan Brown’s books, some don’t.

It’s all about how you perceive his books and his writing style, and whether you’re ultimately into the genre.

As I’ve mentioned before, conspiracy books are some of my favourite to read because I love looking at the ‘what ifs’ of situations and the history of them. I won’t say I’m obsessed with conspiracies, okay some more than others, but I do enjoy doing some research on them and then coming to my own conclusions. I hadn’t heard of Illuminati before reading this book, and that set off a path of much research to learn more about the organisation and it took me a few months to climb out of that hole again.

Symbology was another fascinating subject and you could spend hours researching all of it, and still not get to the end of it all. It comes with lots of history and while it might be hard to memorise each detail, it’s not necessary because you can just rather marvel at the ideas and see how they all come together.

Some reviews have bashed book for being poorly researched and incorrect but there’s a reason you’ll find this book in the fiction section, and it’s written well enough to keep the story in motion and making sense to the plot line. There are also some inconsistencies with some religious references but this isn’t a history textbook, so take it for what it is.

I read The Da Vinci Code first when it came out and then only discovered it wasn’t the first book in the Robert Langdon series.

I’m not usually a fan of long books, but this book was worth every page.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book Review: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown #bookreview
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Plot:

Robert Langdon, a world-famous Harvard symbolist is called to a CERN, a Swiss research facility to decipher a symbol burn into the chest of a murdered physicist.

His discovery leads to an unthinkable revelation; a deadly plot against the Catholic Church, by the Illuminati – a centuries-old underground organisation.

In a time-sensitive race, Langdon joins forces with scientist Vittoria Vetra in Rome to save the Vatican from a powerful bomb.

They need to work together to connect the clues, find out who is behind the terror attack and save the lives of others before it’s too late. Will their search lead them to the most secretive vault on earth, the one of the Illuminati?

Are they the threat or is there someone closer to home?

My Opinion: Positive Thoughts

The storyline is fast paced and not drawn out (there’s just a small slow pace to get through in the beginning). The short chapters keep the story moving along faster.

I usually don’t like multiple points of views, but I found it was necessary for them in this book because you got glimpses into different minds, even the killers, and that helped piece the storyline together with all the clues.

The scenery descriptions are amazing, and the use of real locations, pieces of art and documents build on suggestions to picture what you were reading and helped in creating the perfect set-up for the book.

Robert Langdon is an interesting character, and I loved reading about all his knowledge within his profession, and how it helped solve a lot of clues and put puzzle pieces together. It sure helps to have a guy like him around when you need to dig through historical clues and conspiracies.

Vittoria Vetra is a strong female character, who seems to be underestimated quite a bit by everyone, including Langdon, which seems a little odd since she has so much valuable knowledge to share yet is often ignored. She should’ve received more limelight for her contributions to the story.

Overview:

I found the whole book to be a gigantic puzzle that each piece of information read being a piece of the puzzle coming together at a great pace with suspense at every page turn.

Dan Brown boldly explores the controversial war between science and religion, and adds enough truth to the fiction to keep the story moving and the reader glued to the pages.

He also mastered keeping secrets for the right moments of reveal, leaving you guessing at what will happen next