Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

6 reviews

peachani's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug abuse and Abandonment

gail_dancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Another gem from my new favourite author Dan Brown. Intricate plot twists leave the reader riveted until the end. Enemies and heroes are never as clear cut as they seem in Browns books. Can’t wait to read the next instalment on the adventures of Robert Langdon 4.75 ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

ricksilva's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This earns an extra star for Dan Brown's usual array of historical and architectural details. Beyond that it's pretty weak. Symbologist Robert Langdon is tricked into coming to Washington DC by a man who has kidnapped one of Langdon's best friends, a high ranking Freemason. The usual mayhem ensues, in the same kind of frantic race of chases and puzzle-solving that we see in the other entries in this series.

The pacing (another specialty of Brown; the entire novel takes place over twenty-four hours, aside from some flashbacks) is used to obscure a whole range of plot holes, eventually leading to a big disappointment of a climax, followed by about four more chapters of philosophical debate on hidden meanings in the Bible and the power of positive thinking. 

The noetic science that's a huge plot point in the story isn't really a science. It's repackaged new-age pseudoscience. The massive threat to national security that has the CIA involved in the case turns out to be

Spoiler

a video that would be embarrassing to important politicians

, and it's never made clear why the villain waits to go forward with that part of his "evil" plan.

An early murder in the story, one of those "just to make sure everyone knows the villain is a really bad guy" killings reads like incel fanservice (the only things we know about the victim are that she's smart, she's overweight, and a computer nerd can't figure out why she possibly would have turned him down for a date).

Potentially world-changing discoveries that are referenced don't end up changing anything, and the story's teased revelations about the secrets of Freemasonry don't really amount to much in the way of revelations at all.

But I do now have some ideas of places I'd like to visit and take photos next time I'm in DC. So there's that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping and Injury/Injury detail

katrinarose's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Exact same formula as his previous books except the stakes of this book were much lower and less thrilling than previous books. Entertaining nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

marianneiriss's review

adventurous dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Infertility, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Suicide, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Medical content, and Cursing

lilybuddy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Oh jeez. I started this book for the 3rd time because I never understood it well and I hoped the new TV series would give me some handholds. It did! But the book is very different than the show. And quite a bit longer. With a lot of explanations. And more explanations. And expositions. Sometimes multiple times about the same thing.

Sometimes I just skipped entire paragraph because Langdon was waxing poetic about a building that didn't matter for the plot.

I get now why I could hardly follow it the first 2 times. I could barely follow it now. The story gets buried beneath the author's apparent need to prove how much research he did, which is an impressive amount, it has to be said. 

All in all, I'm glad I read it again but I'm less enthused than I thought I'd be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death