Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Da Vinci Code

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

46 reviews

haleylooloo's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I've seen the movie multiple times, which definitely colored my reading of the book, but a friend lent it to me so I decided, why not? Overall a fun story. Some parts didn't age well, mainly just the sexualizing of the one female character who was given a speaking role and wasn't a nun. Like I don't need a description of how physically attractive she is when first meeting her, and it definitely didn't need to be repeated once already said. Other than that, fun, pretty easy read.

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redheadorganist's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Writing: 4⭐️/5

The writing falters at some points, but shines at others. I particularly loved how Brown writes about history and art in a way that blends fiction and fact seamlessly. I also enjoyed the flow of action, which was mostly easy to follow. What I liked less was the reliance on some sexist tropes of female characters. And, while the writing was functional, it definitely fell into some tropes for the favour of time and ease of reading. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely not the strongest writing characteristic.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5

Alright, so I get it. Robert Langdon is very, very badass. But he doesn’t know it. It was both fun and not fun at times to follow him, but I did overall enjoy him and most of our main characters. I felt less love towards the suddenness at which Robert and Sophie found themselves romantically involved. I also didn’t buy into Sophie’s reason for essentially estranging herself from her grandfather. It felt like something that would’ve been silly to keep going for that long.

Plot: 4.25⭐️/5

Okay, so the plot is incredibly... fun? That seems like the wrong word, but here we are. I enjoyed reading the plot, despite its many ups and downs and some completely unbelievable sections. But I was okay with employing some suspension of disbelief (like the many many hours of zero sleep) to enjoy the engaging, ever-changing, ever-moving plot.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of mystery novels
Fans of thrillers
Fans of art history who like mysteries/thrillers

Content Warnings?

Murder, death, self-harm, gun violence, ableism, blood, death of parent, car accident, violence, stalking, gaslighting, emotional abuse, religious bigotry, torture, kidnapping, confinement

Post-Reading Rating: 4.75⭐️/5

Well, that was fun.

Final Rating: 3.75⭐️/5

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ailsaod's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

I have been recommended this book A LOT in the past and I am genuinely shocked by this now I have read it. As the weirdly religious treasure-hunt subgenre of thrillers go this is a snooze-fest. The plot plods and most of the book consists of Langdon lecturing poor Sophie about symbology. It is clear that a fair portion of the symbology is rooted in reality but it just reeks of conspiracy theorist thought processes and seemed really arbitrary. Ah yes of course this little upward pointing chevron means masculinity because penises. Has it maybe occurred to anyone that some of the random stuff in art doesn't actually symbolise anything and just looks nice??

The entire book reeks of misogyny to an extent that is impressive. Ah yes a secret society (*cough* cult *cough*) about "the sacred feminine" (a.k.a. fetishising women) and yet none of the top members are women? Seems weird to me. There is a literal passage about how women are important because when men have sex with them and orgasm they (the men) have a religious experience. Oh OK, I guess women can only have worth in relation to the men around them?! The way the other characters treat Sophie was also really weird - she is a grown woman in her thirties and yet everyone constantly talks about her as if she were a child and mansplains to her. All of this would be enough to make this book bad but the author decided to include a paragraph about how when Sophie was a child she thought she was ugly because she was tall, ginger and had freckles. As someone who meets all these criteria this felt rather like an unexpected personal attack. (I am aware it definitely was not intended as such but like steady on Mr Brown, keep it classy!)

I mentioned earlier about this book being a weirdly religious treasure-hunt thriller - which it is but in a strange way. Dan Brown does not like the Catholic church but he goes after it with such vigour I actually felt sorry for them. At least go after the Catholic church for things it has actually done! - there is plenty to choose from after all! This book is all about religion but I don't have enough knowledge of Christianity to understand what exactly is being preached to me here.

And to top it all off the plot turned out to not even be particularly interesting in the end! I only finished the book in the end because I wanted to know what part Rosslyn Chapel played and let me tell you it was all unbelievably underwhelming!

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lycheeteareads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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sofia_17's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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gail_dancer's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wow - an exciting intelligent book that was hard to put down. Dan Brown fuses non-fiction with fiction flawlessly in this murder mystery about the Holy Grail. This illustrated Collectors hardcover edition was beautiful and fascinating. This is definitely a book I will keep.

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