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briljjohnson's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
samcurler13's review
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? No
4.0
smelendez's review against another edition
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? No
2.0
aligrint's review against another edition
1.0
Essentially a poorly-written [author:Michael Chrichton] novel. He could have been better aware of the technology he wrote about.
royal_tea's review against another edition
3.0
I love Dan Brown's writing style, so naturally I had to read the rest of his books, having read The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons before.
It may be because I'm not as interested in technology and computing that I couldn't get as engaged in this book compared to TDVC and A&D. It is still written well, with the usual Dan Brown plot twists, action sequences and clues littered everywhere. The surprises never stop, as even on the LAST page he let's out of a secret, which I really did not anticipate, but in retrospect I don't know why.
I still suggest Dan Brown fans read it! I also really like short and snappy chapters, so I can stop and start haphazardly.
It may be because I'm not as interested in technology and computing that I couldn't get as engaged in this book compared to TDVC and A&D. It is still written well, with the usual Dan Brown plot twists, action sequences and clues littered everywhere. The surprises never stop, as even on the LAST page he let's out of a secret, which I really did not anticipate, but in retrospect I don't know why.
I still suggest Dan Brown fans read it! I also really like short and snappy chapters, so I can stop and start haphazardly.
mehmehsloth's review
adventurous
funny
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
As much I loved the inferno I think this was just not Dan brown. Although it is remarkable and research is very well done on cryptography but he completely is off the point on networking in the end. But still since it is fictional piece we will ignore factual fallacies.
As for plot it's way too slow and takes a lot of time to actually reveal characters. It went from sleek spy drama to pure mess in the end. Plot rushed and a lot of unnecessary tension is being built in then end. Plot twist caught me completely off gaurd and I think till that point the book was great. After that everything seems off. Still pretty entertaining
As for plot it's way too slow and takes a lot of time to actually reveal characters. It went from sleek spy drama to pure mess in the end. Plot rushed and a lot of unnecessary tension is being built in then end. Plot twist caught me completely off gaurd and I think till that point the book was great. After that everything seems off. Still pretty entertaining
rabisha's review against another edition
4.25
Enjoyed this so so much, especially the last 100 pages or so. I was entertained the whole way through, and the short chapters definitely helped with that. I liked the characters and they felt very real to me as they had flaws and were reasons behind their actions. The variety of characters also kept my attention. The complexity of the situation was extremely enjoyable and I would love to read more books similar to this, and will definitely read more books by this author. The concept of this book intrigued me and made me pick it up, but the execution, characters, and writing style made me stay.
The reason to why it does not have an even higher ranking is because I felt that the book was like 50 ish pages too long, and I was able to figure some parts and plot twists out (although not most of the main ones, just the antagonist but I think that might be partially due to the fact that I read a lot of books and am able to decipher the villain from the writing style :)), and it just did not give me the 5 star feeling. But I won't be surprised if another book by this author does end up being a 5 star read for me (and I am looking forward to finding it!)
The reason to why it does not have an even higher ranking is because I felt that the book was like 50 ish pages too long, and I was able to figure some parts and plot twists out (although not most of the main ones, just the antagonist but I think that might be partially due to the fact that I read a lot of books and am able to decipher the villain from the writing style :)), and it just did not give me the 5 star feeling. But I won't be surprised if another book by this author does end up being a 5 star read for me (and I am looking forward to finding it!)
catnipfields's review against another edition
2.0
Before reading this book I even thought saying Dan Brown is my favorite writer. Now I can say - definitely not. Overall, he still maintained the general idea of secrets, codes and suspense, but this one disappointed me. Firstly, too much of romance and lovey dovey fiancees stuff, not to mention the love triangle (though at least the latter contributed to some of the logic of the plot). Secondly, I was easily able to figure out who was the villain quite early. Thirdly, Dan Brown's inaccurate obsession with usage of Japanese characters or themes makes me roll my eyes - I'm not an expert at Japanese, but I'm pretty sure the name Tankado is not really correct and it should have been Takado instead (and even though it was necessary for one of the codes, Takado could have been used for that as well), also, Soshi Kuta doesn't sound like a realistic name either (and trust me, I've heard plenty of Japanese names), especially for a female, and it was stuffed with all the references with umami and haiku and kanji... Additionally to those, almost all of the scientific/historical references seemed placed unnaturally, almost forced to us to show off the knowledge of the writer, which to me never was the case in his other books. And most importantly, I figured out at least 80% of the final cipher/code, whereas it took some 15 pages and a bunch of incorrect guesses (or even no clue what it was) for someone who make a living out of it working in NSA. Seriously?