Rating: 
Summary: Factual, Fast, and Fun
Review: I was introduced to the books of author Dan Brown only three weeks ago, but have quickly absorbed all four of his published works. It is easy to see why some are comparing the work of Dan Brown and James BeauSeigneur (THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY). Both Brown and BeauSeigneur deal masterfully with the more mysterious features of religion, politics, and science. Both bring to light amazing bits of information, which they weave into the intricate patterns of their stories. Both are highly imaginative and write with a ring of authenticity that makes for a compelling read. While Brown compresses labyrinthine plots into brief time periods to provide page-turning suspense, BeauSeigneur trilogy is of epic proportion, covering several decades. While Brown applies the mysteries of history to the drama of "today," BeauSeigneur uses both history and prophecy (from perhaps a dozen major world religions) to transport the reader from the world of today, to the very dawning of a new age in a story reminiscent of the scope of Asimov's classic, FOUNDATION.One other difference is that BeauSeigneur has taken the novel (pun intended and forgiveness is asked) approach of including footnotes in his books of fiction. By doing so, he all but eliminates the necessity of suspending disbelief. Few authors employ such strong factual grounding as to make footnotes useful, but I believe Brown's work (and his readers) would benefit from BeauSeigneur's innovation.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely Worth Buying
Review: I was loaned this book by a friend and I am now buying it so that I can lend it to my friends and relatives. It is definitely worth it. Not being a big fan of murder mysteries, I was apprehensive about reading this book when it was recommended to me. But since I was assured it also crossed genres into historical fiction (my true love) I decided to give it a try. I was hooked within the first 10 pages. The romanticized descriptions of the Louvre and other museums/landmarks made me want to give Paris another chance after having had a bad experience there a few summers ago. The story is fascinating, the well-researched history is intriguing, the pace is energizing, and the characters are stereotypical but adorable nonetheless. Buy it or borrow it ... it is a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Pitiful pop-culture trash
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book because a friend told me that the book was about cryptography, symbols, and religion. I was disappointed by all three aspects. The shoddy recycling of religious urban myths is bad enough .... And the low-brow treatment of crytography was annoying too: mirror-writing and crossword-type puzzles is about as sophisticated as it gets. But at least, after 450 pages, the author could at least given the novel a satisfying conclusion. The author leads us to the brink of something satisying but leaves us hanging at the end. This is the worst book I have read in a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: Foucault's Pendulum for Dummies
Review: I was not impressed at all with The Da Vinci Code. It simply boiled down to a classic chase yarn with a well-researched MacGuffin. Mr. Brown's exposition was clumsy, and his action was contrived. Chapters concerning Bishops and Policemen seem only present as an excuse to end the previous chapter on an obvious and awkward cliff-hanger. Aside from one or two clever ideas, Mr. Brown simply has created brain-teasers for his characters to solve, and we must wait for his characters to solve them. Most of the interesting concepts and histories in the book seem to have come from other books, which Mr. Brown has condensed, simplified, and regurgitated. For example, the unwieldy and unnecessary exposition regarding the Golden Ratio goes into just enough detail to where we understand only that Mr. Brown understands it, but not enough detail (specific examples? the fact that it's an irrational number? where does it show up in the UN building or in Mozart's music?) to where the information is actually useful. "Donald in Mathmagic Land" does a much better job explaining the Golden Ratio than Mr. Brown. It is as though he underestimates the intelligence of the average reader. I realize that the characters are under a lot of pressure, and cannot spend hours telling the entire history of the politics of Christianity to each other, but why could Mr. Brown have not had a separate, isolated chapter with enough detail to where I feel like I've actually learned something? A bibliographical appendix would be most welcome.
Rating:
Summary: An extremely readable book.
Review: I was not interested in reading this book, but a friend lent it to me and said it was good. They were correct. It is an extremely readable book, loaded with symbols, puzzles, art, and mystery. The chapters are very short, making it easy to pick up and put down as needed. I was familiar with much of the subject matter beforehand (so much for the real, historic conspiracy!), so many of the revelations were obvious to me - still I am not great with puzzles and though I love art I am no expert, so he did give me a few things I wasn't aware of before. I will have to do some research (to me, this is a good thing) on some of the things mentioned, just to make sure the author wasn't taking artistic license (a bad thing, IMOP. Real things and people should be portrayed as they are/were).
As much as I liked it, it failed to make a perfect score. I felt the ending was a bit trite, and the villain was just a bit too obvious. Also, if he did take license with DaVinci's art I will lower my rating!
Rating:
Summary: A Thriller!
Review: I was on the edge of my seat the whole time while reading this suspenseful book. I love reading and I couldn't put this one down.
Rating:
Summary: I Agree with the Pans
Review: I was pleased to see that many readers had the same reaction to the Da Vinci Code as I. Great subject matter. Could have made a very strong book. Puerile plotting and narrative. I felt like I had ordered one of those No Downpayment kits from an infomercial.
Rating:
Summary: Slickly written but mean-spirited
Review: I was prepared to like this book because it was recommended by family and friends. It grabbed my attention immediately and was very exciting. The more I read, however, the more I didn't like what was written. As a Catholic, I just kept saying "That can't be true!" The claims of this being a well-researched book just struck me as wrong. I would recommend reading an article called "Dismantling The Da Vinci Code" by Sandra Miesel. It takes Mr. Brown's "facts" that sound so reasonable and documents why they aren't true. I love reading good fiction but I don't like it when fiction is presented as fact.
Rating:
Summary: Honestly, Brown is a hack
Review: I was reading this book expecting it to the live up to the hype. It started how good, but the more I read the more familiar it seemed to things I have read or seen before. Then it began regurgitating verbatim the bizarre theories of Jesus revisionists (like claiming he was married etc) and that vast conspiracies exist surround this. I suppose the gullible reader will believe these things. The problem with these historical revisionists is that their theories are based on vaguearities, giant leaps of faith, hearsay and other ad hoc theorizing. Even in the "bible" of this Jesus-Revised movement, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", they admit : "Our hypothetical scenario...was also preposterous...much too sketchy...rested on far too flimsy a foundation...could not be supported...too many holes...too many inconsistencies and anomalies, too many loose ends." They continue and say, "We could not - and still cannot - prove the accuracy of our conclusion." So I wonder about the reviews for this book. "Finest mysteries?" "Fascinating detail?" "Pure Genius?" "Intelligent?" "Remarkable research?" Yeah right. All Brown did was cobble together some stuff he read in pseudohsitorical books he read one weekend. Are we supposed to be impressed by references to artwork and architecture? "Hey give this book to your dumb friends because they didn't learn this in public schools." The reviewers prove they aren't any smarter and went to the same schools when they endorse a book do full of pseudohistory. If you want some balance, read about the real Jesus in Habermas' "The Historical Jesus" or Strobel's "The Case for Christ." And Brown, while trying not offend anyone, still makes the outlandish claims that science and faith are incompatible and that faith is blind and not based on reason. He obviously didn't research that part very well. Sorry, but in a year or two everyone will have forgotten about this book. It has no enduring value other than being the pulp fiction of the moment.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth it
Review: I was really disappointed with this book. The story was exciting, but it was written so horribly that it was distracting. Also, the author has obviously never been to Paris or the Louvre. Many times when he is describing the buildings the characters are seeing, it is impossible from where they are supposed to be. Contrary to popular belief, you can't see the Eiffel Tower or Sacre Coeur from everywhere in Paris (as Brown would have you believe). And another thing - Is it mandatory that in every book with a male hero and a female hero that they get together at the end? Come on...they barely talked during the whole book, and then all of a sudden were like, "We solved the mystery! I love you!" Brown also seemed to enjoy his thesaurus at the beginning of the book. He was just throwing in random words that sounded smart. And yet the dialogue was so juvenile. "Hi. My name is Robert. What is your name? Do you want to help me find the Holy Grail?" All things considered though, this book will make an awesome movie (but don't bother reading it).
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