sammm_888's review
Page 298.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Death, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Police brutality
Minor: Murder, Self harm, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry
lindsayslibrary22's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The mystery is gripping, and the historical elements are interesting. Brown’s use of suspense keeps the reader going throughout the novel, and it is easy to follow the threads of the plot. Some of the action sequences are a bit unbelievable, but match the logic of your average action film.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Self harm, Gore, and Religious bigotry
eliever's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
i mean.......... it was ok? i was more focused on silas and dan brown's mystery shit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, and Suicide
shoutout to religious men i guesswoweewhoa's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
EDIT: Okay with time this book gets worse in my brain so I'm lowering the rating. Sorry Davinci Code Likers for lowering the overall rating some more.
Okay, so, I listened to the audiobook of this within a few days, and I gotta say, this book, while going at a rapid pace, is way too long. If I was editing this? I would take out a bunch of the lecture scenes, and honestly, made Robert a much more minor protag than he was and make Sophie more central. She is the main character, but because we start with Robert, and he's the guy!!(apparently?), we gotta go into his brain a Lot. I think this book would've been more interesting and also more compelling if it mainly focused on Sophie. Also, the lecture parts of this book were lame!
On a different note, this book is super gender essentialist, which is also partially why I put transphobia in the moderate content warning. There's a couple mentions of 'girls with dicks' said in a frankly derogatory manner as well, which, was out of left field honestly and did make me feel uncomfortable. Also, as a trans man, as this book really got into the nitty gritty of the 'Sacred Feminine' and associating that with the womb and vagina, and let me tell you, I sure started feeling really dysphoric listening to this book. Also, even though the book Does mention Da Vinci possibly being gay, it really boils down to 'men and women gotta be together for the '''''balance''''''' of the world' which. hm. Kinda saying heterosexuality is inherent to being which. Well, is wrong. Just at point blank.
When the book was Not super focusing on that stuff, its a fun romp. Very very stupid at times with how to solve the puzzles and the mysteries involved. But it was fun in the way stupid stuff goes, and honestly a lot of the stuff I was hearing would make me double take because of how dumb it was. That was great.
If your gonna read this book, I'd recommend the audiobook as narrated by Paul Michael, because he did a great job with all the accents and didn't make that aspect sound silly at all. It helped kinda place people too, and the voices of all the characters was very well realized because of that! I liked hearing conversations between the characters because you'd get an American accent, then a Brooklyn accent(? this guy shows up only a couple times but I liked hearing him when he showed up bc of this choice), British, French, Scottish... very fun!
Okay, so, I listened to the audiobook of this within a few days, and I gotta say, this book, while going at a rapid pace, is way too long. If I was editing this? I would take out a bunch of the lecture scenes, and honestly, made Robert a much more minor protag than he was and make Sophie more central. She is the main character, but because we start with Robert, and he's the guy!!(apparently?), we gotta go into his brain a Lot. I think this book would've been more interesting and also more compelling if it mainly focused on Sophie. Also, the lecture parts of this book were lame!
On a different note, this book is super gender essentialist, which is also partially why I put transphobia in the moderate content warning. There's a couple mentions of 'girls with dicks' said in a frankly derogatory manner as well, which, was out of left field honestly and did make me feel uncomfortable. Also, as a trans man, as this book really got into the nitty gritty of the 'Sacred Feminine' and associating that with the womb and vagina, and let me tell you, I sure started feeling really dysphoric listening to this book. Also, even though the book Does mention Da Vinci possibly being gay, it really boils down to 'men and women gotta be together for the '''''balance''''''' of the world' which. hm. Kinda saying heterosexuality is inherent to being which. Well, is wrong. Just at point blank.
When the book was Not super focusing on that stuff, its a fun romp. Very very stupid at times with how to solve the puzzles and the mysteries involved. But it was fun in the way stupid stuff goes, and honestly a lot of the stuff I was hearing would make me double take because of how dumb it was. That was great.
If your gonna read this book, I'd recommend the audiobook as narrated by Paul Michael, because he did a great job with all the accents and didn't make that aspect sound silly at all. It helped kinda place people too, and the voices of all the characters was very well realized because of that! I liked hearing conversations between the characters because you'd get an American accent, then a Brooklyn accent(? this guy shows up only a couple times but I liked hearing him when he showed up bc of this choice), British, French, Scottish... very fun!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Transphobia, Ableism, Sexism, Torture, and Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, and Homophobia
ran_sophia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death of parent and Car accident
cassandra72's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-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? N/A
2.5
Had a very lukewarm response to this and im honestly glad. The concept and the plot has been discussed over a million times so I'm not going to say anything about that.. I found some of the ideas appealing, like the conspiracy theory and symbolism, but the execution was not so great most of the time. Also this is a personal opinion, pet peeve if you may, but I hate reading about religion and if I could describe this book with a sentence it would be everything wrong with religion. So there is that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Death and Torture
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
this book has such a bad rep but idc bc it's damn entertaining. the writing certainly isnt anything special, but does anyone ever ask of high literary value from other thrillers? i wonder if suddenly it's a huge issue bc of dan brown's subject matter. this was unputdownable and i def learned a few things. the central issue of the sacred feminine and its role-or rather, lack thereof--in christianity is thought-provoking and im not surprised that this book ruffles a few feathers. sick of robert langdon and his one-book (or rather, night) romances tho.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
librariangeorgia's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I blitzed through this book. Definitely my favourite in the series so far.
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the code-breaking elements to it, very interesting and clever.
I’m not sure whether any of it is historically accurate but I don’t really care about that - it’s a well written book that kept me gripped all the way though.
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the code-breaking elements to it, very interesting and clever.
I’m not sure whether any of it is historically accurate but I don’t really care about that - it’s a well written book that kept me gripped all the way though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Ableism, Blood, Death, and Murder
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, and Car accident
mikitiale's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
It was meh. I know a lot of people are worked up about this book but it was honestly fine. The prose wasn't great but the premise was cool. The book's goal is to make you question your beliefs, not because they're necessarily wrong but because "we worship the gods of our fathers." How do we know what we know is true? Our ideas of religion, history, and science might be different from what is objectively true...or maybe they aren't but if we never question what we are told be others, we will never learn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Gore
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
arthur_ant18's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Injury/injury detail, Car accident, Alcohol, Gun violence, Ableism, and Blood
Minor: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse