Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype
Review: Reading this book was an utter waste of a few hours. It pretends to be have some historical and scholarly significant in the tradition of "The Name of the Rose" but it doesn't even rate to be mentioned in the same breath. I guess one was supposed to absorb Dan Brown's version of history with the same naivete that his main female character seems to display at every new revelation. Didn't she grow up with a noted art scholar?I will only state one example among many in the book which I found preposterous: the suggestion that Da Vinci painted the image of Mary Magdalene (known as the image of John to the rest of us) next to Jesus in his famous last supper! Also, having recently seen the newly restored fresco in Milan, the vibrant reds of "Mary's" clothing but which in reality is the depiction of John the disciple could hardly be called a vibrant red. I found this reference particularly irksome because of the use of Da Vinci's name in the title. I gave this two stars for the storytelling value but I would rate it 0 on scholarship.
Rating:
Summary: Its success is more terrifying than the story
Review: Reading this wasn't like getting root canal; it wasn't that painful, Instead, reading it was like experiencing those moments in a dentist's chair with nothing to do except wait for the anaesthetic to seize hold, wait for the dentist to come in, wait with a cotton clump immobilizing your upper lip while a rubber device pries your jaw in place. Your feeling is one of discomfort and boredom, and your dominant wish is simple: "I hope this ends soon." As banal as some "page-turners" may be, this book seems uniquely joyless, without any of the elements that make books special, if not magical: insight, words that act like lyrics, passages that read almost musically. Instead, this book seems frighteningly like the Dick and Jane books:it's not just storytelling, it's only storytelling. Pure plot and nothing more. Is that what fiction has come to? Heaven help us! And who has ten hours to waste on something like this, something that suggests what one reviewer said of the movie The Passenger: If sheer vacuity had weight, one could crush an ox by dropping on him this book. Of course, this screed seems to assume this is a book. In all likelihood, it isn't; it's the outline for a screen play from which Mr. Brown hoped and prayed he reap at least $3 million so he could avoid the one task he dislikes: writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Choose your own adventure
Review: Reads like Foucault's Pendulum Lite, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Half the obscurity, twice the readability, but somehow not as satisfying. If you're acquainted with "conspiracy" theory and/or history in any real sense this book will leave you feeling sort of embarassed that your once arcane knowledge will no longer shock people at parties. If, however, you're a total numbskull and have bought everything they've taught you over the years, then this makes a pretty good introduction to the world as it is, and you will probably reject it, because its truths unmask the lies you've accepted for so long.
Rating: 
Summary: If you're Twelve You'll LOVE IT!
Review: Reads quite a bit like a "chose your own adventure novel"... Every chapter ends with some kind of predictable nonsense along the lines of:
Robert stood there, marveling at the amazing thing on the floor, speechless.
"That simply CANNOT be what I think it is!" said Sophie, her mouth struggling for the words, popping open and closed like a fish's
"Yes it is!" exclaimed Robert, the excitement overtaking him. "YES YES YES! IT IS! What else can it be!"
Sophie looked on silently, her eyes firmly locked on the incredible thing resting on the floor in front of them. "My GOD!" she said, shivering with excitement. "IT SIMPLY MUST BE!!!!!!!!!"
End of Chapter
WHAT IS IT! WHAT IN THE WORLD! WOW! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IT IS!
sorry, you'll have to wait thirty five pages to discover that its a frog... and you won't mind that the frog has nothing to do with the story, because shortly afterwards Robert Langdon will look up in the sky and say, "OH MY GOD! Look SOPHIE! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO! Is that what I think it is!???!!?!?!"
"It must be! but it can't be!" said sophie, covering her face and crying.
=>insert projective vomit here. Yeah.... that's right! He ends his CHAPTERS ON CLIFFHANGERS! And, by the way, his characters don't develop, in any WAY at all! Forget all the unfortunate nonsense about biblical misrepresentations and historical innacuracies... it doesn't matter, this is ridiculous! How could the Christians view this book as a threat? Who would take the hearsay reassurance of the introductory "all riturals described in this book are real" at face value?
One of the most poorly written books I've ever made my way through, the novel constantly asserts facts as though they were truth, using fictional characters as resource material. The fact that people think they're being educated about ANYTHING by reading this pulp trash is hilarious.
It's characters are architypal self-parodies. It's story is contrived and forced upon an interesting concept.
It only gets worse and more disjointed the more you go along.
It feels like you're reading the screenplay for a bad PC rpg.
It pretends to educate you about the truth of the Catholic church (by using extraordinarily selective sources.... just to clarify, I'm not christian... I'm agnostic... and still I was offended by the flippant pretence of this novel)
PLEASE! Someone tell me why this book is selling so well? Do people really need such cheap entertainment? Are people so unwilling to think while they read anymore? Isn't Vanity Fair magazine more informative than this tripe? I can't take it! I really can't! this is SO Horribly BAD! COME ON!
I bought this book because it sold well... I couldn't believe it... Please people, don't buy into it! This is the literary equivolent of the Titanic movie. It's easy cheap, pretentious literature for people who do not read enough to know how much it sucks. Run from it, pick up ANYTHING instead.... you'll be glad later... trust me. I lost a few hours of my life to this book, I just want to help you to avoid that same horrifyingly pointless experience.
This is probably the most basic fiction I've ever encountered, pathetically obvious in its indulgences and struggling desperately to captivate its audience (by whatever means possible).
Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: Really enjoyed this book. If you find this book interesting, check out 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'.
Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: Really fast read. Great airport book. Pick it up, get interested, and have something to read for the next couple of hours. But it's full of NOTHING. There area few tid bits that are fun food for thought, but even those are run over an over and over again like a bad joke. The two main characters are experts on symbols and codes...but you wouldn't know it unless you had been told. Every other line is "It was so easy, I should have seen it before!" Then the bad guy...it sounds like Dan couldn't figure out who he wanted for the bad guy until he was forced to show him. Awful. Most of the book was sitting and listening to information. Lecture lecture lecture. RUN FROM THE BAD GUYS. Lecture lecture lecture. RUN FROM THE BAD GUYS. Lecture lecture lecture. And most every chapter ended like this..."It's time I tell you the trueth." Then you would have to wait four chapters to find out. That's how Dan infuses a book with suspense that wouldn't normaly have any.
Rating: 
Summary: Ausm
Review: Really Good, Starts a great hook, and keeps the suspence up untill after the book is closed, well worth the 7 houres i took to read
Rating:
Summary: Best Thriller of the Year
Review: Really is an enjoyable and suspenseful read. I couldn't put it down at times.
Rating:
Summary: INTELLIGENT & THRILLING
Review: Remarkable book. Love the premises. I could not put it down. I love to learn interesting historial facts while being drawn into a great mystery. If you liked this one try Killer on the Canvas by R.W. Wright
Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code: The Prequel
Review: Renowned author Dan Brown watched with justifiable pride as the printer spat forth the final page of his just-completed manuscript. He smiled wanly with smug satisfaction, knowing that he had successfully butchered theology, history, a score of other academic disciplines and English syntax like a slaughterhouse with a new McDonald's contract. As he encased the freshly printed manuscript in regulation-brown post-office wrapping paper, Dan couldn't help but notice that it was as thick as three stubbed-out Gitanes laid end-to-end. How could anyone smoke Gitanes, those practically toxic cigarettes you can mercifully find only in France? Dan thought. He shook his head in disbelief, then deftly placed the return address sticker on the package. By now his obviously fertile imagination was doing cartwheels, and he could already see the lightly fluttering bosoms of female talk-show hostesses earnestly inquiring how such a young man could have such deep knowledge of so many profound subjects. He silently chuckled to himself as he imagined one or two of them confiding, You can uncover the truth of my sacred feminine anytime. Dan strode to the curb, thrust the package into the mailbox and raised the bright red metal flag, now standing before him like a miniature Eiffel Tower as monument to a goodly year's worth of sweat, tears and sangre.
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