Reviews

Origin by Dan Brown

coyotesoul's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

mariaanngreenauthor's review against another edition

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Not bad, but my favorite is still Lost Symbol. I’d prefer another Mason based (versus religion) Brown book next, personally.

sarahbc93_'s review

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3.0

What do this book and the band Rednex have in common? They both ask the question of “Where did you come from?” (I know, cheesy)

This again, isn’t the height of literature but it is entertaining. I even think it’s more entertaining than some of the books that have come previously which is quite a statement since I seemed to veer wildly between confused and annoyed with them at any given moment.

If I’m right, this is the last Langdon book that Brown has written but he could always surprise us and hit us with a new one in the future but if he does, I won’t be reading it. I’ve done my time.

kannan_s's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.0

alisonaroberts's review

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I must be incredibly immature because every time they asked "where did we come from? Where are we going?" I would sing Cotton Eye Joe in my mind. 

Also, not giving away spoilers but it kind of reminds me of Terminator.

erikasmindfulshelf's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

Merged review:

3.5 stars

Merged review:

3.5 stars

rohini_murugan's review against another edition

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5.0

The fifth book in the Langdon series is in every way a Dan Brown novel. Be it the array of symbols that accompany us or the beautiful young lady who accompanies Professor Langdon, the author has, I guess, taken extreme precaution to maintain the spine of his unique genre intact.

SPOILER ALERT...


But the unheard science he sings of in this novel is the Theory of Origin due to change in entropy. But the much heard science he bases his entire book upon is - AI. I believe this book would be a wake up call to all Homo sapiens, irrespective of one's faith to the perils of AI (which has been addressed time and again).

Brown takes a huge leap by interweaving atheism to develop the story. Though one couldn't predict if it will have an impact as severe as The Da Vinci's code, I'm pretty sure it is a bitter pill to swallow. It was quite sad to witness Edmond's death and an even more pleasure to see Winston auto-terminated. Personally, as a scientist and a rationalist, I found it a genuinely good read.

It was a racy read and not really an action thriller but more of an enlightening one. Atheists would no doubt love it (so do I) while I couldn't speak for the rest.

"It wouldn't shake the foundations, it will shatter them"

Merged review:

The fifth book in the Langdon series is in every way a Dan Brown novel. Be it the array of symbols that accompany us or the beautiful young lady who accompanies Professor Langdon, the author has, I guess, taken extreme precaution to maintain the spine of his unique genre intact.

SPOILER ALERT...


But the unheard science he sings of in this novel is the Theory of Origin due to change in entropy. But the much heard science he bases his entire book upon is - AI. I believe this book would be a wake up call to all Homo sapiens, irrespective of one's faith to the perils of AI (which has been addressed time and again).

Brown takes a huge leap by interweaving atheism to develop the story. Though one couldn't predict if it will have an impact as severe as The Da Vinci's code, I'm pretty sure it is a bitter pill to swallow. It was quite sad to witness Edmond's death and an even more pleasure to see Winston auto-terminated. Personally, as a scientist and a rationalist, I found it a genuinely good read.

It was a racy read and not really an action thriller but more of an enlightening one. Atheists would no doubt love it (so do I) while I couldn't speak for the rest.

"It wouldn't shake the foundations, it will shatter them"

Merged review:

The fifth book in the Langdon series is in every way a Dan Brown novel. Be it the array of symbols that accompany us or the beautiful young lady who accompanies Professor Langdon, the author has, I guess, taken extreme precaution to maintain the spine of his unique genre intact.

SPOILER ALERT...


But the unheard science he sings of in this novel is the Theory of Origin due to change in entropy. But the much heard science he bases his entire book upon is - AI. I believe this book would be a wake up call to all Homo sapiens, irrespective of one's faith to the perils of AI (which has been addressed time and again).

Brown takes a huge leap by interweaving atheism to develop the story. Though one couldn't predict if it will have an impact as severe as The Da Vinci's code, I'm pretty sure it is a bitter pill to swallow. It was quite sad to witness Edmond's death and an even more pleasure to see Winston auto-terminated. Personally, as a scientist and a rationalist, I found it a genuinely good read.

It was a racy read and not really an action thriller but more of an enlightening one. Atheists would no doubt love it (so do I) while I couldn't speak for the rest.

"It wouldn't shake the foundations, it will shatter them"

novellabella's review

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adventurous informative mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

peters_book_nook's review against another edition

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5.0

I am a huge fan of Dan Brown’s books I have no read them all and I got to say there isn’t one I didn’t thoroughly enjoy! His books are not only fantastic stories with great characters, plot lines and twists but they also get the reader to think deeply about things.

The idea of “Winston” is genius! An AI that is so advanced that the operator has to be careful how they word requests other wise the AI will do anything within the parameters of the request! Also the research that Dan Brown must do in order to to write these books must be huge! The idea that life is created spontaneously not by the power of God and that we are moving into a new technological age really does make the reader stop and think omg is this theory actually real or not?!?

Robert Langdon is a fantastic character and I’m really hoping there are more books to come in this series!

DAN BROWN YOU ARE AMAZING! PLEASE KEEP WRITING ROBERT LANGDON BOOKS!

ranooshe's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm sorry to say that this book felt more like a research paper than a work of literature. Pages and pages of explanations of this scientific experiment or that, this theory or that as gathered from I don't know where from (i'm guessing Google ). Stretched them to fit into the story.
A similar job was done at the beginning of the book with different art works and tourist attractions, even though I quite enjoyed that part.
Half way through I got really bored and sneaked into the ending to be surprised at how unconvincing it all fell into place.
On the other hand, the book did ask a number of important philosophical questions, and raised important issues facing humanity as a whole, but it didn't keep me wondering as long as The Davinci Code did.
It has to be said though, much effort was made in researching the facts and places in the book, Google or other resources.

Merged review:

I'm sorry to say that this book felt more like a research paper than a work of literature. Pages and pages of explanations of this scientific experiment or that, this theory or that as gathered from I don't know where from (i'm guessing Google ). Stretched them to fit into the story.
A similar job was done at the beginning of the book with different art works and tourist attractions, even though I quite enjoyed that part.
Half way through I got really bored and sneaked into the ending to be surprised at how unconvincing it all fell into place.
On the other hand, the book did ask a number of important philosophical questions, and raised important issues facing humanity as a whole, but it didn't keep me wondering as long as The Davinci Code did.
It has to be said though, much effort was made in researching the facts and places in the book, Google or other resources.

Merged review:

I'm sorry to say that this book felt more like a research paper than a work of literature. Pages and pages of explanations of this scientific experiment or that, this theory or that as gathered from I don't know where from (i'm guessing Google ). Stretched them to fit into the story.
A similar job was done at the beginning of the book with different art works and tourist attractions, even though I quite enjoyed that part.
Half way through I got really bored and sneaked into the ending to be surprised at how unconvincing it all fell into place.
On the other hand, the book did ask a number of important philosophical questions, and raised important issues facing humanity as a whole, but it didn't keep me wondering as long as The Davinci Code did.
It has to be said though, much effort was made in researching the facts and places in the book, Google or other resources.