Rating: 
Summary: Definitely read, but don't believe.
Review: This is a fun read with lots of puzzles, ciphers and references to art history, and I completely recommend it. My copy is making its way through my office. The only place where this book goes astray is when it tries to come up with a good conspiracy theory. Suppression of the mother cult started long before Constantine (a good starting point is "When God was a Woman" by Stone). Constantine also probably got a good dose of Christianity from his mother, St. Helen. The Knights Templar were a threat to the consolidation of power of Philip IV of France not pope Clement V or the Catholic Church. In fact there was a power struggle between the two and Philip decided the "Bishop of Rome" would be better quartered in Avigon France, under "French protection". In fact the knights were tried in French courts, for religious crimes by an inquisitor who was excommunicated! Something the pope objected to but Philip ignored. Good sources are "The Templars" by Read and "The Knights Templar: A New History" by Nicholson. In "The Templars and the Grail" Ralls points out that the trials were politically motivated and pretty much a kangaroo court. Whenever the Templars were brought before the inquisitors they were acquitted except when brutally tortured. Which meant everywhere in Europe except France and Naples (Charles II of Naples was Philip's uncle..go figure). The outcome is the Templars were only guilty of supporting the church, defending pilgrams, being prosperous and being in Philips way. In an unusual act of defiance Clement transferred the Templar's holdings to the other religious orders primarily the Order of St. John (Knights Hospitallers) keeping them out of Philips hands. A lot of the myths and legends used in the book belong in the "El Dorado" category but it lends an air of mystery to the work. The work has a lot of the spirit of Umberto Eco but without the tedium and academic rigor and is a great summer read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Read!
Review: This is a fun, entertaining book. Take it to the beach and start turning the pages! You can almost see the movie as you read this thriller.
Dan Brown has successfully arbitraged a lot of research about the Holy Grail and Mary Magdelene and the Knights Templar with the general public's lack of awareness of all that research into a cosmic whodunit.Along the way, you learn about Fibonacci Numbers, The Codex Leiscester, church and art history and mythology.
If you want to know more about all the issues the plot deals with, buy "The Templar Revelation", by Picknett and Prince, at the same time(published in 1998, the first chapter is entitled "The Secret Code of Leaonardo DaVinci"!). Their non-fiction book describes in depth practically everything The DaVinci Code treats in this fictional representation.
Rating: 
Summary: Good plot but a great leack of accuracy
Review: This is a funny novel, with mistery, imagination, a good rithm, etc. But if you pretend having written a very well documented book... you cannot start with a earthquake in ...Andorra!!! That's unbeliveable!!! If all the suposed facts are as much accurate as this...
Well, good fiction, but that's all!
Rating: 
Summary: Eco does it better
Review: This is a good beach read but that is about it. My main problem with it was that I had been lead to believe by the hype that it was intellectual. As far as I can see, Dan Brown has taken a mis-mash of tired old theories about the power of the Church and symbology and formed them into a pretty good thriller. There is very little new here in the way of ideas and the writing style is not particularly lyrical (two things that I personally like in novels.) Umberto Eco has done somewhat the same thing in Foucault's Pendulum and he did it infinitely better.
Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: This is a good fiction book, you will read it fast as you will find dificult to put it down. However, the emphasis should be in fiction. It is a novel that claims that it is based in certain true facts. Not quite so! For an author that claims to expend long time in researching there are many unexcusable mistakes here. For example continuously references to the Vatican actions and mentioning the Vatican as it existed throught the 20 centuries of the Church history. The concept of the Vatican is modern, actually it came into a common concept after the unification of Italy and the loss of the Papal territories during the later part of the XIX century. Only with the Letran Treaty signed by Musolini in the 1920s the Vatican was born as an independent state. More properly would be to talk about the Church, the Papacy, but not the Vatican.The claim that the text of gospels and the Bible were changed by Constantin is false. As it is false that it was in the Council of Trent that the divinity of Jesus was recognized by the Church, it's also false the concept that Constantin was the one that changed the celebration of the Christian weekly observance from Saturday to Sunday... At the time the book of Revelation was written around 90s A.C. Sunday was already called the Day of the Lord (Rev 1:10). The interpretation of the name of God as Jehova is erroneous... etc. Too many failures for an author that claims extensive research... unless there is more sinister and personal hidden "code" behind those mistakes. There are too many "revelations" made in this book that are just old unproven attacks to the Christian faith just presented under a new cover. Hope the readers keep in mind that it is a novel and consequently it is fiction, even more when it pretends to be presenting historical facts related to actual historical figures, such as Botichelli, Da Vinci, Newton, etc. etc. but none of then proven by respected historical records. As a novel it is good, however, as a non-fiction book it has no merit whatsoever. As long as the readers keep it in proper perspective there is no problem with reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Good but overrated
Review: This is a good FICTION/MYSTERY, but all the hype it has recieved really baffles me. This is a fun read, but you probably won't have any profound realizations in reading this (unless you have never heard any of the history or theory surrounding the christian church). This is not a book I will read again, but if you want a book which will absorb you, without making you think too much (and will just be FUN) then this one is great.
Rating:
Summary: Good read but what a load
Review: This is a good mystery with puzzles to solve, historical sights, interesting happenings and escapes, but flimsy in its basis. Enjoyed it but couldn't take it seriously at all, almost laughable. But you might like it.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, Stimulating, Implausible, Overanalytical
Review: This is a good/bad book of great pop cultural interest. I'll try to tell you what's good and what's bad about it, so you can decide for yourself whether or not to purchase it. First of all, there is the matter of its impact. A long stay on the best-seller list and a lot of word-of-mouth have led this book to spawn college classes and discussion groups on its controversial pagan thesis and its alternative history. At its best, it's intelligent. Its descriptions of the physical world of churches and museums are both poetic and sound. Dan Brown has the kind of mind that enjoys puzzles, symbols, anagrams, encryptions, and every kind of enigma. "The Da Vinci Code" is a page-turner whose mysteries keep you interested and zipping along through the text. It's pagan assertions strike at the very heart of Christian dogma, creating a sort of exhilirating subversion. That's the good news. The bad news is: This is one of the most implausible books I've ever read. Giving us good descriptions of the physical world, Brown neglects to let his characters behave as real people might. From the beginning we know we'll be asked to suspend a lot of belief, as Sauniere, curator of the Louvre, designs elaborate codes while bleeding to death from a fatal bullet wound. Aren't most people in shock at this point? Brown could have been more plausible here by allowing Sauniere to leave a set of clues for his daughter and her cryptologist friend to follow IN CASE he was ever assassinated, but no!...He designs a complex treasure hunt during his death throes! Brown shows more of his weaknessness as his fiction claims that everything under the sun is a hidden symbol for feminine power and that everyone from Botticelli to Walt Disney was in on the cover-up. This is a conspiracy theory with everything but a grassy knoll. Some people complain about the ending (Stop reading if you don't want it spoiled), but it's an anti-climax that leaves the story's central mystery intact, which is actually a fitting ending for a novel which is an panegyric to feminine mystique over "masculine" reason. Do I recommend it? Well, read it if only to see what people are reading these days. Read it as a gripping page-turner and for its fun puzzles and coincidences. Christianity deserves every attack against it and more, but one with a tighter, more plausible plot would be appreciated.
Rating:
Summary: This is the BEST!
Review: This is a great book for all ages. My friend's dad is reading it and so am I(30 year age difference). It is eductational, tense and wants you to keep on reading.This book tells you about many interstings things you probably never head about such as the Priory of Sion, Mona Lisa, and the magic number. To fiind all about this you NEED to read this!
Rating:
Summary: MUST READ
Review: This is a great book for art history and mystery buffs. Because it discusses a lot about ancient symbology, which is really interesting. The author has written the story in such a way that it wasn't easy for me to figure the ending....has a twist and makes u think as u read.
|
