Reviews

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

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popkelture's review

4.0

I have been a fan of Brown since reading The DaVinci Code... As a person interested in mythology and symbolism, his book always entertain.

This was no exception. Good read, some ideas to ponder.

mariemalou's review

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mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

mitche's review

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3.0

Exciting page turner, but the long winded preaching about religion and mysticism was contrived and silly (exactly the problem I had with his other books, imagine that). Overall, the hunt for clues and puzzle/riddle solving was fun, and the big plot twist caught me by surprise.

kimberly_b's review

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2.0

I went into this book with fairly low expectations after reading and hearing mixed reviews and it STILL feel below my expectations. Dan Brown must use the same outline for all of his conspiracy theory books (The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and The Lost Symbol), because TLS reads exactly the same as his other novels; all Brown seems to have done to freshen up the story is insert 'new' characters (I use the term 'new loosely because they are practically cookie cutter characters from his other books), a new overblown hidden secret, and a different setting. It's predictable and redundant if you've read his other books or even if you've just seen The Da Vinci Code movie. Brown uses so many pictures and illustrations in TLS it becomes incredibly annoying. Do I really need to see illustrations of "Pod 5", "Sending Message: 4% Complete", and pictures of a fork and knife to illustrate that Langdon found a kitchen?? It's condescending. As for Landgon himself, for someone so involved with symbolism, he sure takes a lot of things at their literal meaning. He is almost unbelievably stupid at times. It's either that or he is going off on some mental masturbatory rant whereby Brown tries to show us how ingenious Langdon is (mostly in the first 100 pages). Equally annoying is how many times Langdon ends up in confining spaces and as the reader you are constantly reminded of his claustrophobia. How many times can one guy get stuck in a confining space in a matter of hours?! As you have probably gleaned by now, TLS is not my favorite book. That being said, it was 'ok' enough to warrant 2 stars. Barely.

notthemonalisa's review

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1.0

Oh my heck. I couldn't look away, but I wanted to. it was SO PREDICTABLE and yet, for some reason, I felt compelled to read it any way. I love to hate this series.