The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Monday, May 25, 2015

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: March 18th, 2003
Pages: 454
Song I Played While Reading: Somewhere to Run by Krewella
Rating: 4 stars

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, a baffling cipher found near the body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, sort through the bizzare riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci- clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a startling link: The late curator was involved in the Prior of Sion- an actual secret society whose members include Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. Langdon suspects they are on the hunt for a breathtaking historical secret, one that has proven through the centuries to be as enlightening as it is dangerous. In a frantic race through Paris, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu fin themselves matching wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to anticipate their every move. Unless they can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle, the Priory's secret- and an explosive ancient truth- will be lost forever. 

This is one of those adult novels that, at least for me, I have to read in my lifetime. I've heard about it all my life, and have seen the controversy over it, so naturally I wanted to read it and form my own opinion. Plus Christine Riccio (my favorite Booktuber) swears by this book. I spontaneously bought it on my kindle last week (I own the physical copy but its currently residing in my home in Chicago), and finally started reading it. And I absolutely loved it.
I think the combination of my neutral take on religion and my open-mindedness led me to absolutely devouring this book. Based on some truth, Brown formed some pretty shocking statements in here about the Church and Jesus Christ, so I think some people, even though this is technically a work of fiction, will be rubbed the wrong way. But I love a good scandal and found this book to be super engrossing, to the point where I would stop reading and feel almost drunk off all the information I was learning. This took me 5 days to read and on one of those days, I was cooped up in my room almost all day. Unless you enjoy the feeling of your brain oozing out of your ears, then I recommend you only read this in spurts. For someone like me, who has a very small amount of knowledge on religion, this was a BOATLOAD of information.
But I never once faltered and honestly found everything so damn fascinating. Brown managed to weave together history and facts alongside heart-stopping action, making this a fantastic historical thriller. I didn't even know that type of genre really existed, yet here I am, in awe that I both learned something and ran all over Europe with wanted fugitives.
The characters lacked emotion and I didn't feel much of a connection, but this story is obviously all about the details, and for that it gets an A+ in my book.

2 comments:

  1. This is definitely one that I've been wanting to read for the longest time but still haven't! I saw the movie and was really confused, so I feel that reading the book would definitely help with that.
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

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    1. Oh yeah, its definitely easier to understand while reading it. (I'm assuming, cause it was super easy for me to understand) But it's so so good, and as long as you find it interesting I'm sure you'll love it :)

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