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Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon)

Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon)

World-renowned Harvard symboligist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization - the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth . . . the long-forgotten Illuminati lair.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Book Info

Authors: Dan Brown
Binding: Paperback; 768 pages
Publication Date: 5/29/09
Publisher: Random House Large Print
ISBN: 0739326759
Bookhuddle Average Rating: (2.0)
Amazon.com^® Average Rating: (4.0)

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Reviews

Number of Reviews:1, Bookhuddle Average Rating:

(2.0)

D@Bookhuddle

(2) It didn't interest me

I tried to read this book after reading "Da Vinci Code", but I couldn't get into it. The way the story developed was too similar to the other book and although I really enjoyed the other book, I was probably feeling "Da Vinci Code" fatigue. I should probably give this another try sometime.

Number of Reviews: 2311, Amazon.com^® Average Rating:

(4.0)

(2) Disappointing

Have you ever heard someone say "Oh the movie was OK but the book was much better"? In this case it is the opposite. Go see the movie. It was great. Great screenplay. Great acting. Great production values. But I made the mistake of seeing the movie before reading the book. My wife on the other hand read the book THEN saw the movie. Here are my complaints about the book:

1) Cowardly foreshadowing. The author tells all the characters about something but leaves the reader in the dark. This is a device to build suspence that instead builds resentment on the part of the reader.

2) Poor sentence structure. e.g. He says that St. Peter's tomb is 6 stories under the Earth when he meant below the surface.

3) Bad science. e.g. if antimatter is 100 percent efficient vs fission which is 1.5 percent efficient then how can antimatter be 1,000 more powerful than a nuclear bomb? Or it the amount of antimatter in the story can vaporize a half a mile, how can St. Peter's tomb or the hazmat vault at CERN contain the explosion?

4) Technology errors: There is a scene where the people come out into the crowd of reporters with camera lights blaring and flash-bulbs exploding. When is the last time anybody used a flash-bulb?

My wife enjoyed how the movie was so different than the book. I was annoyed reading the poorly written book after seeing the great job Ron Howard and the screenplay writers did with the movie.

Buy this book? As they say in Texas - El Paso.

(4) Angels $ Demons

Excellently written, couldn't put it down. Over 500 pages, done in less then 3 days.

(4) a fun read

Say what you will about Dan Brown but the man does write a fantastically thrilling novel. Fans of the Da Vinci Code will find that Angels and Demons is very similar in writing style and plot (really all that changes is the search that Robert Langdon goes on). One of my favorite things about the Da Vinci Code was all the talk about the art of Da Vinci. In this novel our artist who hides clues to protect a secret is Botticelli. Again in the novel readers are given lengthy descriptions of the works of art as we find them pointing to the answer that Robert Langdon seeks. We also are given a look at the possibility of antimatter and some of the science that surrounds it. Many reviewers out there will criticize Brown because his "facts" are not all that accurate and his take on religion is always less than favorable. But readers lets me honest, Angels and Demons is after all a work of fiction. The fact is the novel is at times very thrilling and a page turner. As far as the characters go... well do not expect much depth or insight from the characters. At times they function just to move along the action. But again the book is a fun summer read.

I gave this book 4 out 5 because the ending was strange. I felt that there were two endings to this novel. One concludes the action we were all waiting for a great ending that took me by surprise. The other is one that functions to finish off the relationship between Robert and Vittoria which was easy to see the first time the two met. Although Brown tries to create sexual tension between the two really it is flat and if the second ending were left out of the book completely the book would have received 5 out of 5. All in all it is a great book for the beach or a rainy summer day.

Amazon.com

It takes guts to write a novel that combines an ancient secret brotherhood, the Swiss Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, a papal conclave, mysterious ambigrams, a plot against the Vatican, a mad scientist in a wheelchair, particles of antimatter, jets that can travel 15,000 miles per hour, crafty assassins, a beautiful Italian physicist, and a Harvard professor of religious iconology. It takes talent to make that novel anything but ridiculous. Kudos to Dan Brown (Digital Fortress) for achieving the nearly impossible. Angels & Demons is a no-holds-barred, pull-out-all-the-stops, breathless tangle of a thriller--think Katherine Neville's The Eight (but cleverer) or Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (but more accessible).

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to find proof that the legendary secret society, the Illuminati--dedicated since the time of Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the blind faith of Catholicism--is alive, well, and murderously active. Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, his eyes plucked out, and the society's ancient symbol branded upon his chest. His final discovery, antimatter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source known to man, has disappeared--only to be hidden somewhere beneath Vatican City on the eve of the election of a new pope. Langdon and Vittoria, Vetra's daughter and colleague, embark on a frantic hunt through the streets, churches, and catacombs of Rome, following a 400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the incineration of civilization.

Brown seems as much juggler as author--there are lots and lots of balls in the air in this novel, yet Brown manages to hurl the reader headlong into an almost surreal suspension of disbelief. While the reader might wish for a little more sardonic humor from Langdon, and a little less bombastic philosophizing on the eternal conflict between religion and science, these are less fatal flaws than niggling annoyances--readers should have no trouble skimming past them and immersing themselves in a heck of a good read. "Brain candy" it may be, but my! It's tasty. --Kelly Flynn

Product Description

World-renowned Harvard symboligist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization - the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth . . . the long-forgotten Illuminati lair.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

From the acclaimed author of Digital Fortress comes an explosive international thriller that careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.