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juleseliasw's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
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
Very fun and interesting as a lover of symbols and history!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
ailsaod's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I have been recommended this book A LOT in the past and I am genuinely shocked by this now I have read it. As the weirdly religious treasure-hunt subgenre of thrillers go this is a snooze-fest. The plot plods and most of the book consists of Langdon lecturing poor Sophie about symbology. It is clear that a fair portion of the symbology is rooted in reality but it just reeks of conspiracy theorist thought processes and seemed really arbitrary. Ah yes of course this little upward pointing chevron means masculinity because penises. Has it maybe occurred to anyone that some of the random stuff in art doesn't actually symbolise anything and just looks nice??
The entire book reeks of misogyny to an extent that is impressive. Ah yes a secret society (*cough* cult *cough*) about "the sacred feminine" (a.k.a. fetishising women) and yet none of the top members are women? Seems weird to me. There is a literal passage about how women are important because when men have sex with them and orgasm they (the men) have a religious experience. Oh OK, I guess women can only have worth in relation to the men around them?! The way the other characters treat Sophie was also really weird - she is a grown woman in her thirties and yet everyone constantly talks about her as if she were a child and mansplains to her. All of this would be enough to make this book bad but the author decided to include a paragraph about how when Sophie was a child she thought she was ugly because she was tall, ginger and had freckles. As someone who meets all these criteria this felt rather like an unexpected personal attack. (I am aware it definitely was not intended as such but like steady on Mr Brown, keep it classy!)
I mentioned earlier about this book being a weirdly religious treasure-hunt thriller - which it is but in a strange way. Dan Brown does not like the Catholic church but he goes after it with such vigour I actually felt sorry for them. At least go after the Catholic church for things it has actually done! - there is plenty to choose from after all! This book is all about religion but I don't have enough knowledge of Christianity to understand what exactly is being preached to me here.
And to top it all off the plot turned out to not even be particularly interesting in the end! I only finished the book in the end because I wanted to know what part Rosslyn Chapel played and let me tell you it was all unbelievably underwhelming!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Murder
ritugp01's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
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
Very famous and well known book! Glad to have read it and found they clues fun to solve, I especially loved all the art and symbolism that's inherent to the plot.
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
woweewhoa's review against another edition
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: Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, and Transphobia
Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Pedophilia
sadiefc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder
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