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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Review: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown - November Book Club

 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Book Description: When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati... the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy... the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair... a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.
An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war...


About the Author: Dan Brown is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling novels of all time. Named one of the World's 100 Most Influential People by TIME Magazine, he has appeared in the pages of Newsweek, Forbes, People, GQ, The New Yorker , and others. His novels are published in 51 languages around the world.

Here's What I think: Well I understand what the fuss is all about. Dan Brown is an incredibly talented author. He creates a completely realistic world in which unthinkable things really are happening. He is very skilled at creating that feeling of total suspense. He carefully crafts each character without making you feel like you are reading each person's biography, but rather that you are getting to know them, as anyone else would, in the space of time that you first meet and do something together. However, if you have seen the movie prior to reading the book - like me - it might be difficult to read. I am one of those people that can only watch a suspenseful movie once, and can only read a book once and if someone spoils it and tells me what happens, I will have trouble reading a book or watching a movie. (This is also way I do not recap what happened in the book in my reviews and if I am going to mention any sort of spoiler I try t warn people as much as possible) This is because, for me, the thrill of a mystery is trying to solve it before the ending. That being said, I struggled to finish this book because, even though there are some variations, it follows essentially the same chain of events, with a ultimately the same outcome. I have also come to the conclusion that I can only read a book prior to watching a movie and not the other way around. I would definitely want to read the next in the series if I hadn't already seen the movie, so I may just skip ahead to the third installment - The Lost Symbol.






This book was the November 2010 Book Club Selection. If you have reviewed this title before, please link up your review here. If you have read and reviewed any of the books in this series by Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code or The Lost Symbol) please feel free to link them up as well.


Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated to publish this post. I had it on my bookshelf.
If you are an author and/or publishing house and would like for me to publish a review of your book, please feel free to contact me at: polsen11atcomcastdotnet

3 comments:

  1. I linked up my review for The Lost Symbol. It was the weakest of all three of the books I thought.....

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  2. Hmmm, maybe I need to just call it done on the series then!

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  3. I've read all of Dan Brown's books and loved them. I am just amazed by his imagination. I didn't care for the movies only because I didn't feel they did the books justice. One of my favorites was Digital Fortress.

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