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rachelditty's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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
3.0
I wanted to reread The Da Vinci Code but decided to read the first of the Robert Langdon series before getting to the second book again. Angels and Demons was a fine enough read, definitely wasn't as pulling for me as I was hoping. I didn't love that the villain of the first three-quarters of the story was a stereotype, and I also disliked the insta-love between Langdon and Vitoria.
What I did like about the story was how Langdon just seemed to be Some Guy for the first two and a half hours of the audiobook--he had no idea why he was there an neither did anyone else; he was just the first person they found who was a professor of religion when they googled it, which I find so funny. He was basically useless for three hours and just acted as a walking purse for Vitoria. I thought it was hilarious.
I also think a lot of male authors try to make good female characters and fail horribly. Dan Brown, however, seemed like he was trying to make a cookie-cutter female support character and accidentally made a pretty cool woman. I really liked Vitoria. Again, thought her relationship with Langdon was pretty rushed and didn't feel right, but I liked their friendship, it was fun. Plus, their final interaction where Vitoria said Langdon only wasn't religious because he hadn't let her fuck him yet was. Pretty great, I'm not going to lie. It was fun.
I also liked the balance that seemed to iron out by the end of the story between religion and science. Learning about the Pope and his own utilization of both polarized opposites was interesting, and I thought it was cool.
Didn't love this book, and it wasn't as fun as I was expecting, but I appreciated the twist at the end, and I like that Robert Langdon was kind of pathetic. Love that for him.
What I did like about the story was how Langdon just seemed to be Some Guy for the first two and a half hours of the audiobook--he had no idea why he was there an neither did anyone else; he was just the first person they found who was a professor of religion when they googled it, which I find so funny. He was basically useless for three hours and just acted as a walking purse for Vitoria. I thought it was hilarious.
I also think a lot of male authors try to make good female characters and fail horribly. Dan Brown, however, seemed like he was trying to make a cookie-cutter female support character and accidentally made a pretty cool woman. I really liked Vitoria. Again, thought her relationship with Langdon was pretty rushed and didn't feel right, but I liked their friendship, it was fun. Plus, their final interaction where Vitoria said Langdon only wasn't religious because he hadn't let her fuck him yet was. Pretty great, I'm not going to lie. It was fun.
I also liked the balance that seemed to iron out by the end of the story between religion and science. Learning about the Pope and his own utilization of both polarized opposites was interesting, and I thought it was cool.
Didn't love this book, and it wasn't as fun as I was expecting, but I appreciated the twist at the end, and I like that Robert Langdon was kind of pathetic. Love that for him.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
alexandramrtin's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
only thing to say is that the antagonist was deliciously crafted and led to (a) nice plot twist(s)
obviously long but an enjoyable read, especially once things start coming together in the second half of the book
obviously long but an enjoyable read, especially once things start coming together in the second half of the book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
larxene_castellan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
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? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
mylittlebooklibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
m4rtt4's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I admire Dan Brown for his ability to create these kinds of page-turners full of interesting facts. I'm not a huge fan of action books or movies where everything is centered around villains and violence, but all the nerdy stuff in this book surely made up for it :)
On the other hand, I really dislike Brown's way of writing characters, everything from creating backstories interesting enough to describing them in present day and action. I mean, of course Robert Langdon is as perfect as Brown's wanted him to be (bet he created him as a perfect version of his own self), but oh god, ARE THERE MORE TO FEMALE CHARACTERS THAN THEIR BODIES? Obviously there should be, but I wouldn't recommend using Brown's books as a guide to writing women. Or, tbh, any other characters either, so very one-dimensional, stereotypical, (and even racist) he made them all (apart from Langdon ofc). Especially the assassin — his actions and overall villain-ness didn't frustrate me nowhere near as his personality was written to be.
So, overall the story was adventurous and entertaining if you just treat most of the chacters as "necessary implementers to the required actions" and ignore their personal traits. Wouldn't recommend if you dislike science and/or history.
On the other hand, I really dislike Brown's way of writing characters, everything from creating backstories interesting enough to describing them in present day and action. I mean, of course Robert Langdon is as perfect as Brown's wanted him to be (bet he created him as a perfect version of his own self), but oh god, ARE THERE MORE TO FEMALE CHARACTERS THAN THEIR BODIES? Obviously there should be, but I wouldn't recommend using Brown's books as a guide to writing women. Or, tbh, any other characters either, so very one-dimensional, stereotypical, (and even racist) he made them all (apart from Langdon ofc). Especially the assassin — his actions and overall villain-ness didn't frustrate me nowhere near as his personality was written to be.
So, overall the story was adventurous and entertaining if you just treat most of the chacters as "necessary implementers to the required actions" and ignore their personal traits. Wouldn't recommend if you dislike science and/or history.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Sexism, and Suicide
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
a pulse-racing, unstoppable page-turner filled w/ twists and turns, interesting historical facts, info, speculation, and thought-provoking debate on science and religion and their roles in modern society, though its writing abt women does turn me off quite a bit. 620 pages of this felt like a short novella tbh; thats how engrossing the book was. i havent read a lot of thrillers to make an adequate compariaon, and idk how historically and factually accurate this book is, but as a casual reader it was pretty damn good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
librariangeorgia's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-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
3.0
According to my old goodreads profile, i've already read this series but I don't remember it so I wanted to have a 'reread' of them.
It's a very detailed book - too detailed for me to be honest. As expected, it is science and religion heavy which I didn't care for as I was more interested in the 'cracking the code' side of the story.
I did enjoy it though - i'm interested to see how it'll compare to the rest of the series.
It's a very detailed book - too detailed for me to be honest. As expected, it is science and religion heavy which I didn't care for as I was more interested in the 'cracking the code' side of the story.
I did enjoy it though - i'm interested to see how it'll compare to the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
zoeysalzman14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I read this while on vacation and it was quite the tense read. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I hope to read other Dan Brown books in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Murder
monicavillasb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
Plot: I love love love Dan Brown's plots, always! They are so fast-paced, full of interesting information and packed with plot-twists from beginning to end! Unfortunately I discovered quite early who the main villain was (from experience reading all of his other books), but the ending was insane anyway. One thing that I always like about Brown's book are that they teach you interesting things about history. This one, being the first book in the series, lacked a bit of it in my opinion compared to other of his books such as Inferno.
Writing: I already knew what to expect from the writing. Dan Brown has a very signature writing style and you can easily recognize it. It's valid to say that he mixes history scenes and action scenes very well. The one things the author could do different is to put more effort in making his female characters more diverse (I feel like they're always the same in his books) and stop the MC from having an affair with them in the end of every.single.book.
Characters: I already knew Robert Langdon from other books, but I feel like he was well-written enough that, if I had never read another book in which he is the MC, I would still have gotten to know him very well. Vittoria was a compelling character too, but I wish we had seen a more emotional side of her, she was grieving and this seemed to be forgotten sometimes. All the other characters introduced were essential to the story too.
Writing: I already knew what to expect from the writing. Dan Brown has a very signature writing style and you can easily recognize it. It's valid to say that he mixes history scenes and action scenes very well. The one things the author could do different is to put more effort in making his female characters more diverse (I feel like they're always the same in his books) and stop the MC from having an affair with them in the end of every.single.book.
Characters: I already knew Robert Langdon from other books, but I feel like he was well-written enough that, if I had never read another book in which he is the MC, I would still have gotten to know him very well. Vittoria was a compelling character too, but I wish we had seen a more emotional side of her, she was grieving and this seemed to be forgotten sometimes. All the other characters introduced were essential to the story too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
yashirolevi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
4.0
i suspect even a few years younger me wouldn't have enjoyed this as much as i did now over the past week. had i not had any pressing responsibilities, I'd have absolutely inhaled this in like, two days. the plot moved incredibly fast and there were so many moments i couldn't have predicted. this was particularly interesting for me since i believe i have not seen the movie adaptation either. really gripping and i felt that the author has done a magnificent job at researching for this novel. hope the next books won't let me down as i have my hopes up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit