The "prequel" to The Da Vinci Code.

From the back cover: "World-renowned Harvard symbologist 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 the 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."

I read this (like many people) after reading The Da Vinci Code, though it was actually written first. I loved The Da Vinci Code, and then I heard many criticisms and mocking of the plot and writing style. Having read Angels and Demons--which is a bit like re-reading DVC; they are similar in many ways--all I can say is, "you're right." In some ways, Dan Brown is probably like any other mystery writer. The plot is far from realistic; the writing style is sometimes lacking. What I like about these books is the topics. Through these books I have learned a lot about religious history, art, architecture, sculpture, and science, and I have loved every minute. And, especially in this book, he really knows how to turn you around so many times you don't know which way is up! Overall, an enjoyable read.

A book ring! I have a request. Since this is going to so many people, all over the place, could you each please sign your name and/or screen name, location, and date you read the book? (I wrote mine on the page opposite the title page.) I am planning to wild-release this after the ring is over, and this way future readers will have a visual history of the book the minute they open it. Thanks! -Bec

BecFromMD (Georgia)
Shadowraven (California)
sdkelley (Illinois)
bookgal23 (New York)
Mom-of-one (Pennsylvania) -- did not respond
yaffa (Maryland) -- removed from ring
drommie1810 (Virginia) <---current reader
weeblet (Virginia) U.S. only
Nepenthe40 (Virginia)
Lisa-B (Germany)
Loeweneckerchen (Germany)
charmedwitch23 (Australia) Australia only
newk (Australia)
...back to...
BecFromMD


Mailed to Shadowraven on 4/17/04

I just received this book; I can't believe I am the first one in a bookring! I am currently reading Mystic River for another bookring and estimate I'll finish it within the week. As soon as I do I will embark on Angels and Demons. The bookring involves a bit of serendipity for me as a friend was just recommending this book to me. We were talking about the DaVinci Code and how much I hated reading *current* bestsellers...I'm just not the type of person that reads what everybody else is reading. So she recommended this book to me and I jumped at the chance to join the new bookring!

So far I'm seventy pages into the book. While I think I'm enjoying it... I'm a little perturbed that nothing seems to be happening. This book has me thinking about many other books though. It is similar to Hannibal by Thomas Harris and Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice with its European location and early intrigue. I'm also finding the link between science and religion analogous to the young adult book titled The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

I finished the book last night. Like I said in a previous entry, this book was recommended to me by a friend and when she asked me how the book was going I confessed that I found it rather slow and a bit unexciting. She felt that although Angels & Demons was a good read, she did find DaVinci Code more fast-paced. So that basically sums up my feelings on this read. It felt like all the action was supposed to be exciting to me, like I was supposed to not be able to put the book down... but really only the last sixty pages or so were really good for me and that's only because everything was being tied-up. I hated the relationship between Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra. It makes me wonder if the author simply put that in there to attract readership.

I did find the Illuminati brands to be most intriguing though. And since they were so interesting to "puzzle-out" I think this would be an even BETTER book if it included pictures of the paintings that Robert Langdon talks about. I would have especially liked to see the Ecstasy of St. Theresa.

I'm not completely put off of Dan Brown though, one of these days (when it's much less popular and talked-about) I'll pick up DaVinci Code.

Released on Thursday, June 17, 2004 at SENT TO FELLOW BOOKCROSSER in RABCK, postal release USA.

Sent to next person in bookring this morning.

I just got this in the mail. I'll get to it as soon as I can!

This book was fantastic! I was guessing until nearly the very end, and I couldn't put it down for the last quarter of the book. I'll be passing it on to the next person as soon as I can!

This was put in the mail today!

Received this in the mail yesterday. I'm really looking forward to reading it! I have one other bookray book ahead of it, but it will soon be read.

This was my third Dan Brown book and I think it was great; better than The Da Vinci Code and Digital Fortress. I liked this book so much that I'm afraid Deception Point won't live up to my expectations. I have gotten over my dislike of Brown's writing style of explaining every little detail and I can't wait for him to come out with another book.

There was no response from the next two participants so I mailed the book to drommie1810 today. I apologize for the delay!

Sorry to have taken so long to register. I was up in Pennsylvania to help out my mother after she had a heart attack. But she's fine now, and I'm finally able to get back to Virginia and deal with everything (bookcrossing and otherwise) that's piled up while I was gone.

I'll get down to reading this as soon as possible and keep it moving. Thanks!

Sigh. I think I keep asking these books to be more than they are. I want decent research along with the cutesy little mystery plot, and it just doesn't ever happen. So, as usual, my inner religion major has several little things to say.

Firstly, Islam is a *religion*, not a *language*. Both Brown and his editors deserve a rap with a newpaper for that one. Arabic is a language. Not all Muslims speak Arabic fluently, and not all people who speak Arabic are Muslim.

Second, the whole "assassin" thing, as far as language is concerned, is made up. There's no documentation in either English or Arabic sources for that whole story. (And Hassassin, even if it had the meaning he says it does, is a plural. You wouldn't use it for one person, or even for the collective. Arabic either uses the singular noun for the collective or has an entirely different word.)

As far as the IFV goes, The Catholic Church has very definite positions on that. Artificial insemination by husband is permissible, because of the unitive and procreative nature of marital relations. Artificial insemination by any donor who is *not* the woman's husband is not allowed, because it skirts the need for a sexual relationship and so is procreative, but not unitive. Both elements have to be present (if anyone *really* cares, I can cite).

Don't get me started on the helicopter...

And a final point, and this is what really gets to me: sloppy anthropology. The novel recounts a lecture Langdon gives where is basically says that Christianity got the idea of god as sacrifice for the sins of the people and the basic idea of the Eucharist from the Aztecs. Now, can anyone tell me *how* this is to happen, given a distance of several thousand miles, and the fact that the Middle East had no contact with the American continents at this point? This is what is called "armchair anthropology" and it had it's heyday in the nineteenth century. It's very simple...all you do is look at disparate cultures, even if they couldnever have had any contact with each other, and say "hmmm, these look similar, so one group must have copied it off the other." From a scholarly standpoint, it's crap, and really only serves to shock people who are appalled at the idea that modern Christianity wasn't handed down complete and in tact from on high.

Now, I am willing to give creedence to the idea that early Christianity was influenced by the religious influences that it actually came in contact with. That is sensible and probable. The cult of Mithras involved the sacrifice of their god (in the form of a living bull) who was killed and eaten, so that the god could rise again from the dead. The cult of Isis, as described by Apuleius in "Lucius, or The Golden Ass" has an initiation process *very* similar to that described in the early Christian church by Thomas Finn and several other emminent patrologists. I'm not trying to say that religions develop in a vacuum, or that they are not influenced by the groups around them. However, I refuse to automatically assume that just becuase some things looks similar to the religion of the Aztecs, that the two groups somehow were in contact. It's glib and ridiculous.

Langdon also mentions the borrowing of symbols and traditions by a conquering religion from an existing one as being called "transference". Now I don't know about other branches of symbology, but in religion, I have never seen or heard it called anything but "syncretism". Syncretic religion is the phrase generally used to denote a fusion of new and existing traditions and beliefs.

The mystery plot, though, was fun and kept moving nicely. So, plot a seven, and research and background a four.

PMing weeblet for address.

Thanks for making this available!

Quick update: both weeblet and nepenthe have asked to be skipped, so I'm waiting to hear from Lisa-B