Rating: 
Summary: Fiction
Review: We have to remember what this book is: Fiction. Well, Dan Brown, I guess I won't be seeing you after I die.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping and impossible to put down
Review: We loved "Da Vinci Code": it is definitely a fast-paced read, that I would compare to Michael Crichton's "Timeline". The author provides many interesting and amusing bits and pieces of art history mixed with curious knowledge of religous symbolism. The book will be especially interesting for those who traveled to places described in the book (London, Paris) but will provide a light and entertaining summer reading for everyone. I also appreciated somewhat feminist-related plot in the book
Hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Fiction, Bad History
Review: Welcome to the world of cardboard villains. Brown's idea of giving dimension to a character seems to be either having them switch allegiances without warning, or else giving them some sort of disabling condition, like albinism or walking on crutches. (Improbably, Brown's albino character seems to suffer none of the usual loss of visual acuity that accompanies that condition.) Our Junior Batmen are chasing after the Holy Grail, which in Brown's universe, shaped as it is by popular conspiracy-theory speculations rather than certified scholarship, is not the cup of Christ, but a "royal bloodline" composed of descendants of Jesus Christ and (who else?) Mary Magdalene. This theory has been promoted without success before, most notably in the 1983 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, and Richard Leigh (New York: Dell). That book has been soundly critiqued. Within Mary's tomb, our heroes are told, are all manner of secret documents whose contents will wreck Christianity as we know it. These recovered "truths" will pave the way for us to return to a more enlightened spirituality whose centerpiece is the feminized divine known from goddess worship. The idea that religion was originally matriarchal, or dominated by goddess worship, and later (under the Judeo-Christian dominance) changed to patriarchal monotheism (male dominated) is a myth. It is not true. There is no evidence that any significant religious movement had dominant female deities - they were always linked to their male counterparts, and usually in a subservient role. [See, for example, Tikva Frymer-Kensky's In the Wake of the Goddesses (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993) and Craig Hawkins' Goddess Worship, Witchcraft, and Neo-Paganism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998).] The book is mostly spent in chasing after the location of this tomb, but in the end - too bad! - the book closes with the lead character finding the tomb and disclosing nothing, so we will never know whether Mary Magdalene's crypt contained a secret new Gospel or Judas Iscariot's grocery list. One the first things a reader of The DaVinci Code will see, in prefatory material and under a heading in bolded, capital letters, reading "FACT", is this statement: "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." In terms of documents and rituals, however - and even artwork and architecture -- The DaVinci Code contains few "facts" and what few it does contain require serious qualification. All of this might be excused, except that Brown baptizes such aspects of the book with the brand of FACT, and that he also puts many of these "facts" into the mouth of a character named Teabing who is described as a reputable historian. I rather think if any genuine, academic historian made certain statements attributed to Teabing, he would be promptly demoted to janitorial duties and remanded for training in History 101. Sadly, Brown's sleight-of-hand under the cloak of fact has tricked others, including the Book Review Editor of the New York Daily News, who commented naively that "his research is impeccable." I found a very thorough examination of the bogus items presented as "facts" in this book here:
http://tektonics.org/davincicrude.htm
Rating: 
Summary: SURPRISING IN EVERY WAY
Review: Well after finishing the book, a mere ten minutes ago, I am riveted. The only reading that I'm displeased with is what some, not all, but some of the other people have to say here on Amazon. If you were to ask me, there would be absolutely wrong with making up a bit of history to suit your readers. I have no idea as to whether Dan Brown has actually done this, but if he has, one must understand that this IS a work of fiction. I haven't heard one squabble over how Harry Potter doesn't have enough facts in...and why is this?...because it to is fiction. My honest advice, begin to read this book and then see if you can stop. I read the sample chapter online, bought the book the next day, and today, five days later, all 454 pages are complete. Ignore those who are obviously ignorant to a good novel, this is THE thriller of the year. This book would get 6 stars, but Amazon will only let me put 5 for now.
Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining, but the seams are showing
Review: Well worth it now if you can borrow it; otherwise wait for paper. Readable because the ideas are interesting and well presented, but the characters are sketchy and the author's style lacks polish.
Rating:
Summary: Great plot
Review: Well written, real page turner, great plot, I learned a lot about church history . Enjoyable. However, the intricacies of all the puzzles were a bit much and sort of implausable. The characters educating each other during pretty stressful times just didn't ring true. Also, the story depends a lot on happennings that could have just as easily not happenned and sent the story off track.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast paced pap
Review: Well! Dan Brown sure has written a successful book, hasn't he? Best seller for many weeks. This book is eye candy. Discerning readers among you, you know what I mean. I read it in a day.
But don't kid yourself. This book isn't researched, or in any way accurate in the details. It's a plot spun, interestingly enough, around little kernels of sketchy 'information'. Just FORGET about Constantine's role in the canonization of Scripture! Dan Brown should be ashamed of himself for suggesting he's done good research. Now if you want to read a better source for all of this, I suggest books like Holy Blood, Holy Grail or The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, or better, The Feminine Face of God.
Rating:
Summary: Oops--I believed all the hype!
Review: Well, I finally gave in and read this book for one of my book clubs, and was extremely disappointed. It was a ridiculous Hollywood script from beginning to end! The only reason I gave it two stars is because it did ignite one of the most interesting discussions I've had in a book club. But in the end, we all agreed that the book came nowhere near to living up to the hype!
Rating:
Summary: Anti-Christian Agenda Driven
Review: Well, I just couldn't go on with this book. I figured the author had some anti-Christian leanings when he mentioned how the church killed some five million 'witches' way back when - which is, I'm pretty sure, way off. But, the book already had my interest, so I just thought I would enjoy the rest of it for entertainment's sake. But when, just over half way through the book, I was expected to swallow that the divinity of Christ was never part of the early church's beliefs, but was invented by Constantine, four centuries after Christ, for purely political reasons, I felt sick. Oh, yes, he had the Councel of Nicea convene, canonize the Bible according to his wishes (leaving out all those other books - 58 other gospels, no less - that proved Jesus was just a man). Oh, they also decided to make Jesus God at this convention. Constantine needed this, you see, for population manipulation purposes, of course - and this forms the foundation of Christianity today. "You mean the divinity of Christ was decided on by a vote?" -"Yes, and a very close vote at that", the scholarly characters of the book ensure us. The dizzied woman gives the trusted scholar a look of shocked wonder. He replies with a gental nod on confirmation. It's Puke-O-Rama time, everybody! Okay, at this point I can see the author is basically making an attempt to debunk and discredit Christianity - the whole point of the book. I felt violated. He could have at least have shown some respect for historical facts. You think he would have figured that some people, believers and non-believers alike, have actually looked these things up.
Rating:
Summary: Arrrrrrrgh!
Review: Well, I must be an army of one, but this is the most wretchedly written book it's been my misfortune to encounter in many a long day. I'm a lifelong mystery and thriller afficionado, and it's rare that such an interesting concept has been presented in such a banal, pedestrian, stultifying, and often ridiculous style. Phooey. . . . but many others have loved it, so . . .
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