The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown || Book Review

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again; some love Dan Brown’s books and some don’t.

There’s no in-between. You have to either be completely into them or not.

I’ve decided to continue with the Robert Langton series, the decision to do it over a certain of period of time is mainly because of the length of the books and I don’t always like a lengthy book.

The Lost Symbol follows on the events after The Da Vinci Code and dives into Freemasonry. If you enjoy the 2004 movie, National Treasure, you’ll maybe want to give this book a go. There are very few authors in this genre that are able to fuse fiction with reality as brilliantly as Dan Brown can.

I opted to read the book as well as listen to an audiobook version as well, and I really enjoyed the narration of the audiobook. It also helped to get ahead with the lengthy novel and finish it a little faster than I would’ve if I’d just stuck to the hardcover.

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

Book review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown #bookreview #danbrown #historicalfictionbooks #mysterybooks #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter
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Challenge prompt: A fantastic audiobook
Originally published: 2009

Pages: 509
Format: Hardcover

Plot from GoodReads:

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object – artfully encoded with five symbols – is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation…one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon – a prominent Mason and philanthropist – is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations – all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

Thoughts:

The book has a fast pace from the first chapter, and everything that happens from the first page to the last covers around 24hours.

The point of view changes between some characters helped to add to the suspense.

The book is packed with detail, lots of details which added to the length of the book but the book is still a quick read even with the overload of information. With a book like this, detail is a key point because there are certain explanations and discussions needed within the book to help the reader familiarise themselves with the settings and the history to make sense of the plot.

There were a couple of confusing moments in the beginning of the book, surrounding some of the characters, that made sense when the backstories were revealed and you got to understand their significance to the story.

The characters are taken on a wild ride by an overzealous protagonist with extreme ideas and it’s up to Robert Langton’s life-saving knowledge to save the day.

Some of the misleadings in the story threw me off the scent of figuring out who the protagonist is, yet the identity reveal was pretty surprising. However, about 3/4 into the book I had suspicions about who the person was already – there was a small detail given that either you caught on or not – and I was happy to see that I was spot on about it.

Overview:

If you’re a fan of action, history and conspiracy theories, you should read this! Better yet, start the series from the beginning and follow the whole bumpy ride.