Reviews with content warning for Murder - El Simbolo Perdido

Interesting book and did enjoy, I just didn’t feel as intrigued with this secret societies background as books 1 and 2. As always love the debate between religion and science and how is connects to different parts of our society.

TW: Body mutilation, drowning, homicide

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kerfuffle87's review against another edition

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It was just so bad.

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iris_jv's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Imo the weakest of the three books in this series I’ve read thus far (Angels&Demons, Da Vinci Code).

Most easy to figure the villain out, villain itself being a repulsive human, doing the most inhumane things. Also slightly more unbelievable/un-logical than the other two.

Not really hitting the spot that the others did for me. Will still read the remaining two though (Inferno, Origin)🙃.

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ricksilva's review against another edition

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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

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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cloudypages's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

3.5

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