Rating: 
Summary: Good story, poor writing
Review: Dan Brown may be a bestselling storyteller but he lacks, or doesn't care about, basic writing skills. One of the first things fledgling writers learn is "show, don't tell." This book is rife with mundane sentences stating that a character was amazed, or stunned, or worried, or that she/he looked puzzled,confused, alarmed. These emotions should be shown through the character's actions, body language, dialogue.
Point of view jumps all over the place. Chapters begin with one character's point of view and before long, out of the blue, it's someone else's, then someone else's.
The question is: Why didn't an editor pick up these blatant errors, along with misuse of capitalization (i.e. the Pope, when it should be the pope)?
These things were annoying. I finally scanned the last half of the book simply to find out how the story ended.
Rating:
Summary: good taste prevails
Review: It appears that this book was on the Christmas list of some very intelligent people with great taste. Let me add my disapointment to the chorus. Unremarkable writing, wooden characters, stilted dialogue and dubious "research" makes for one very forgettable novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for a one-time read for fun. After that, burn it.
Review: If you enjoy well written books that completely pull you into the story, then "The Da Vinci Code" is not for you. After reading this book (it was a Christmas gift) I was astounded to hear that it's a best seller. As a fledgling writer myself, I was surprised to read so many novice writing errors in this supposed "professional" piece."The Da Vinci Code" is a large push of pseudo-historical facts and suspence, but Brown fails in making his characters feel human. During the course of their two day quest, they do not stop to eat, sleep, or even use the restroom. There isn't even a comment on how the characters feel about the lack of these necessities. (No tiredness, no stomach growls, nothing.) Brown is so wrapped up in trying to make a good story that he forgets to make believable characters. When the bad guy was finally given an actual name instead of just "the teacher," I was completely disappointed. I actually didn't believe the antagonist was really who he said he was for several chapters. Why didn't I believe it? There is a blaringly obvious plot hole that Brown forgot to cover up, which prevents his antagnoist from being who he says he is. It's simply impossible. Oh, and the chapter lengths are just amusing. Apparently Brown doesn't know how to transition between scenes without making a new chapter. In this 454 page book, there are 106 chapters. (I'm calling the epilogue a chapter because it is.) This means each chapter is roughly 4 pages long. If this were an elementary book, I wouldn't be surprised at the short chapter lengths. But as a work of fiction for adults, I expect the author to learn how to transition scenes without making new chapters each time. Personally, I think I might have enjoyed this book if Brown had set it up as a simple historical mystery. The cross-country chases and multiple gun-point standoffs quickly become tiresome and boring. The historical research is interesting, but "The Da Vinci Code" utterly fails as a good suspense novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting to read but the "facts" were laughable
Review: I will admit I did not read all of the thousands of reviews for this book. Therefore, if I am repeating what others have said, I apologize. That said... "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals are true," states the book before the Prologue. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls were NOT found in the 1950s, as the character Teabing states. They were first discovered in 1947. Teabing's character gives the reader the impression that the Catholic Church tried to suppress the scrolls because they contained damaging information. However, the scrolls promote neither orthodox nor UNORTHODOX Christianity. The community at Qumran (many scholars believe they were Essenes, and some scholars believe Jesus was an Essene himself) was not Christian, in fact, but Jewish. The book misses the mark when speaking of Constantine as well. The book proposes that he changed the day of worship from the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, the day pagans venerated the sun. There is much evidence that Christians were worshipping on Sunday long before Constantine was even born. Read Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Revelation 1:10, for starters. Early writers before Constantine (as early as the second century A.D.), such as Ignatius and Justin Martyr (just to name a few) describe Sunday as a day of Christian worship. Constantine did NOT decide what was canonical. A book had to fulfill certain principles for it to be considered canonical. As far as Jews looking down on celibacy at that time period, one must remember that Judaism at that time (and even in our present age...and also like other religions) had sects. The Essenes, for example, were celibate. While it would have been normal (and one might even say expected) for a young Jewish man to be married there ARE examples of celibacy being accepted, many of which are prophetic figures, like the prophet Jeremiah. These are just a few examples of statements in the book that should be looked into further. Everyone should do their own research. Personally, I'm left confused. Did Dan Brown purposely include erroneous material for a laugh? Did he do it to make a point...that people easily accept what they read as fact? Or did he simply not research the topics as well as many people seem to believe? I am left thinking that it would be hilarious if this man, who many probably assume is completely anti-Christian, is actually in fact a Christian man who simply made a point... Regardless of all of this, I did enjoy the book. Was it an amazing work of literature? Not in my opinion. Was it well researched? Absolutely not. As others have stated, I feel that there was no character development. However, it is fast-paced and somewhat thrilling; it definitely isn't boring, and although NOT well researched, it does refer to interesting topics. I will admit that I did keep turning page after page to find out what would happen next. As others have said, it makes a great vacation/beach book.
Rating:
Summary: But of course! The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!
Review: I really would not have been surprised if one of Dan Brown's woefully inane characters made a similar statement. The Davinci Code is an incredulous monument to ignorance, sensationalism, and utterly graceless writing. The latter fault is the biggest crime foisted upon the reading public. It astounds me when people laud this book as "well-written," when his style is virtually indistinguishable from that of any book from the Hardy Boys series. The characters are not compelling or even remotely likeable, and the "plot" is rammed down the reader's throat with no sense of aesthetic or pacing. It has the same intellectual and spiritual benefits as listening to the massacre of a litter of kittens at a high decibel. It reads not like a true novel, rather like a pitch for a made-for-TV movie. Yet Brown's mockery of good taste does not end with childish storytelling or wooden language. Much of his history is suspect as well. While I will not pretend to know everything about the subject, what I do know about history conflicts with Brown's interpretation. It's not that Brown outright lies, rather misunderstands facts or takes them out of context. For example, he claims that Constantine was a die-hard pagan who only converted at his death-bed. Nevertheless, baptism on one's death-bed was the modus operandi for Christianity at the time; the thinking being that since baptism completely washes away one's sins and is a one-time only deal, being baptised moments before death was the best way to ensure eternal paradise. Thus, Constantine was like virtually every other Christian at the time. This is only one example of Brown's shallow understanding of history. This book is a complete waste of time. Not only does it lack in any artistic merit, but its history is suspect, and moreover does not even have "entertainment value." If you're looking for entertainment, check out Monty Python.
Rating:
Summary: Sure, it's a page turner....
Review: and I read the whole book from start to finish. However, as I reading it, I was thinking things like "it's a good thing I've read <i>Holy Blood Holy Grail</i> and all those other nonfiction books about Jesus's so-called bloodline, or I wouldn't know what this book was talking about" to "what stilted dialogue!" to "these people narrowly escaped death how many times in how many locations within the span of a few hourse, and didn't keel over??" to "yep, I guessed that one" to "oh yeah, I knew they'd end up there." My biggest gripe though was "how many TIMES is this dude gonna WHITEWASH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?!" When there is so much interesting non-fiction out there on this subject, I think I'll stick to that in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Should come with a warning!
Review: The book will insult even average intelligence. It is infantile and inaccurate. Dan Brown â€" the Master of the Obvious!
Rating:
Summary: Sensation Frustration
Review: Everybody's talking about this book. A friend of mine has invited folks over to discuss it. I've no doubt this will springboard us into talking about 'the sacred feminine' (Eve was framed) and "Are there intergenerational, nay inter-epochal conspiracies, secret societies, etc, etc, etc." Well OK, the book is selling and it's a great springboard.
Other questions that I expect answers to in a book ballyhooed as much as this one: "What if I had the Holy Grail, the actual cup that Jesus drank the first communion with his disciples; what properties would the Grail convey on the possessor (or viewer)? Would it be like Dorothy's ruby slippers or Midas' golden touch? Another question- how is the Grail's authenticity verified? Tell me this, Dan Brown! No, <The DaVinci Code> never reveals this to my satisfaction. The whole 'thing' hinges on a riddle and the hero, Langdon never sees the Grail. So...it's DaVinci Code as in Crossword Puzzle, not as in the chromosonal genetic code that spells Jesus Christ. Admittedly, a clever read and if <DaVinci Code> serves you like it did me, to generate an invite to brunch, go for it. Another caveat; this is one of those stories where the hero was tired to begin with and stays up 48 hours. Don't start reading it after 9:00 PM or sympathy pains may convince you that sleep is all but impossible!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting topic, pedestrian writing
Review: I enjoy thrillers, and have more than a passing interest in history and theology. But this book was tough to finish -- the writing is pedestrian at best, and truly awful in places. Clichés abound. I'm a technical writer, and it disturbs me that such a poorly-written book has ascended to the top of the best-seller lists.
Rating: 
Summary: Two Thumbs Up
Review: As much as I love my wife, she and I don't usually agree on our book preferences (a typical conversation in our home might lead you to believe that the books I like are "stupid" while the books she likes are "boring"). I am happy to report though that of the books we have been reading we have found THREE (yes, count them again THREE) books we both agree WE BOTH LOVE. Now that either means these books are both "stupid" and "boring" OR they are superior books and transcend the differences in our tastes. Obviously one of those books is THE DA VINCI CODE by DAN BROWN (along with THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by SUE MONK KIDD and MY FRACTURED LIFE by RIKKI LEE TRAVOLTA). The Da Vinci Code is a fantastically captivating mystery that follows all the established patterns of the genre to satisfy expectations, but with such unique twists and turns as to not be complacent in the genre. Using some religious elements without making it a story about religion was brilliant and handled fantastically. We (Mr. Stupid and Mrs. Boring) hope you enjoy our recommendations.
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