Rating: 
Summary: The Well-Written Piece of Historical Fiction
Review: The premise of this book, a search for the mythical "Holy Grail" and the subsidiary premises - 1) that the Grail is not a "thing" but a person and/or relationship and 2) that a secret society has kept secret the location of this person and information for several centuries, is a little much to believe.Dan Brown has a very good grasp of history in regard to the Grail, the Knights Templar, Freemasonry and the semi-legendary mythos surrounding these entities, but its clear that he hasn't really delved into the theological inconsistencies of adopting the theories espoused in his book. To make the case that Mary Magdalene was the "Holy Grail", that she rivaled Peter for the leadership of Christianity after Jesus' death, that she and Jesus had an intimate relationship that yielded children whose descendants are alive today, calls into the question the entire basis for Jesus' mission on Earth. I can't think of a single main-line Protestant denomination that would accept such an idea - obviously the Roman Catholic church would reject it outright. Such a scenario creates too many inconsistencies, in fact, to make possible the belief in Jesus as divine. So what this book really ends up promoting, as an (un)intentional consequence, is unbelief. If you're like me, you tend to think that ideas with little merit die-out rather quickly while those that bear strong elements of truth and believability survive. The ideas espoused in this book have been around for a while, but never accepted by anything but a lunatic fringe of conspiracists. Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic church continues to add members to its ranks worldwide 2000 years after the death of Christ. You make the choice.
Rating:
Summary: POORLY WRITTEN AND TEDIOUS
Review: The premise that the established Church has made every effort to bury the truth about the humanity of Christ is interesting and I admire Brown's imagination (or erudition). Unfortunately, The Da Vinci Code is not a well written novel. The short "cliff hanger" chapters were tedious and the characters were one dimensional (and unbelievable.) The book did motivate me to learn more about the history of Christianity and for that I am grateful.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, BUT....
Review: The problem with Brown's story isn't the material it covers. That alone makes a stellar story. And therein lies this author's problem: why did Dan Brown not create a story based on the Priory of Scion and its connections to mystical Christianity? The other plotline is superfluous and silly. The short chapters--most of which are no longer than 4 pages, some not even one page--are irritating. It's a gimmick the author employs to give the reader the sense the novel is moving at a lightening pace. But because each chapter--over 100 of them-- is so short, the reader is also never given a chance to pause, breathe, reflect. And Brown may have done this on purpose. The writing throughout the book is lazy. Characters are underdeveloped. Foreshadowing is weak. If Brown's book were truly intelligent and genius as it is being touted, the author would not have to go back and explain to the reader the whys and hows when he reveals the identity of the Teacher and his major accomplice at the end, a la a "Scooby Doo" episode. The trademark of a good writer is showing a story, not telling it. Mr. Brown has not accomplished that with this book. However, it is a good "read" if you like fast paced, commercial, plot-driven books. The historical material covered in the book is fascinating. It is obvious that Brown spent exhaustive hours researching for his book. Fast paced? Yes. Intelligent? Yes with regards to the research the author has done. A good read? Yes. A good book? No. The Da Vinci Code is interesting because of the religious and historical themes it contains...not because of its story.
Rating: 
Summary: An explosive secret leads to death and destruction.
Review: The protagonists in Dan Brown's best selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code," are Robert Langdon, a brilliant symbologist from Harvard and Sophie Neveu, a French cryptologist. Sophie's grandfather, Jacques Sauniere, was brutally murdered in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris, where he was curator. The French police suspect that Langdon may be the killer, but Langdon flees after protesting his innocence. He teams up with Sophie to decipher the clues that Sauniere left behind in the minutes before he died. The two then embark on a difficult and dangerous search that leads them through France and London on the trail of the real killer. "The Da Vinci Code" is filled with complex puzzles and arcane facts about such subjects as the history of the Roman Catholic Church, Leonardo Da Vinci's genius, and the origins of such words as "villain" and "heretic". If you like puzzles and obscure history as I do, then you may find these parts of the book intriguing. However, Brown does not completely succeed in writing a great thriller. The characters of Sophie and Robert are poorly developed. We get no sense of them as human beings. They are merely vehicles for the many set speeches that they make throughout the book, often along the lines of, "I've got it! Let me explain what this code means!" The dialogue is stilted, the villains are stock characters, and the author overuses italics and exclamation points to show the reader that a very important event is occurring. On the plus side, Brown certainly piqued my interest with his fascinating and tantalizing codes and his unusual tale of a secret so earthshattering that it drives people to kill.
Rating:
Summary: Okay thriller, okay premise, GREAT rattler of cages
Review: The puzzle: easy. The writing: not too bad. The premise: old news. However, if you've never encountered the actual history of the Catholic Church or noticed the extreme anti-woman ideology of Christianity, this book might lead you to further questioning and research of your own. Independent thought is frightening and difficult (witness the wailing and gnashing of teeth in many of the "reviews" so far); if this mediocre book encourages even one person to Google something new, then more power to it.
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Summary: yes no let me know
Review: the rage will be short live surviving only in church book clubs and oprah fans. a page turner all admitt, however, the premise of controversial religious topic is the real suspect to blame for gluing your finger to the page. the writting was mediocre not to ripe the book apart but i was just as enthused by picking up a goosebumps book. only suggestion- read it for yourself the opinions seem to vary drastically
Rating: 
Summary: "It will open your eyes"--but I'd rather not look at crap
Review: The reader is drawn into this book with truly fascinating examinations of various theories linked together quite nicely into a thrilling tale. Most of the material is believable because the author is good at what he does--telling stories--and he does so in a very popular scientific tone via a skeptical (cynical) protagonist. But in order to make this tale so engaging, truths are bent and sometimes fabricated leaving what was an interesting theory to suffer and negating the character's validity. Many of the theories examined in the book look more like conspiracy theories by the time Brown's stretching of the truth is done with it. The example that jumps out is the assertion that Leonardo was "a flamboyant homosexual." This lends well to many of the themes in the book and it's clear why it is unequivocally asserted. But there is no solid proof, no scientific proof, whatever to this claim. No true scholar (like the protagonist is supposed to be) is going to make such an assured claim about a subject that has no certain proof. Reading fiction, one is prepared to accept bending of the truth--in fact one may well desire it. In this regard, the lover of fiction (for fiction's sake) should enjoy this book. Meanwhile, the nearly absurd assumptions made in the book and precarious themes are more than enough to turn away anyone who wants more than just a series of events to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a Novel, Not a Historical Text
Review: The readers who are art historians and take issue with this work should re-read the cover, particularly the word "novel." I read this work of fiction as closer to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings than Elaine Pagels' Gnostic Gospels. As to the veracity of Dan Brown's interpretation of The Last Supper, etc., I do think he provides some interesting (and not unknown) speculation about the divine feminine.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Stunning!
Review: The real DaVinci is nothing compared to Dan Brown and his masterpiece! All I can say is read it now!
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Summary: Theres more to this story !!
Review: The real Knights Templars protect a real secret, read a book called "The Hiram Key".....
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