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A review by rachelditty
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
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
3.0
I wanted to reread The Da Vinci Code but decided to read the first of the Robert Langdon series before getting to the second book again. Angels and Demons was a fine enough read, definitely wasn't as pulling for me as I was hoping. I didn't love that the villain of the first three-quarters of the story was a stereotype, and I also disliked the insta-love between Langdon and Vitoria.
What I did like about the story was how Langdon just seemed to be Some Guy for the first two and a half hours of the audiobook--he had no idea why he was there an neither did anyone else; he was just the first person they found who was a professor of religion when they googled it, which I find so funny. He was basically useless for three hours and just acted as a walking purse for Vitoria. I thought it was hilarious.
I also think a lot of male authors try to make good female characters and fail horribly. Dan Brown, however, seemed like he was trying to make a cookie-cutter female support character and accidentally made a pretty cool woman. I really liked Vitoria. Again, thought her relationship with Langdon was pretty rushed and didn't feel right, but I liked their friendship, it was fun. Plus, their final interaction where Vitoria said Langdon only wasn't religious because he hadn't let her fuck him yet was. Pretty great, I'm not going to lie. It was fun.
I also liked the balance that seemed to iron out by the end of the story between religion and science. Learning about the Pope and his own utilization of both polarized opposites was interesting, and I thought it was cool.
Didn't love this book, and it wasn't as fun as I was expecting, but I appreciated the twist at the end, and I like that Robert Langdon was kind of pathetic. Love that for him.
What I did like about the story was how Langdon just seemed to be Some Guy for the first two and a half hours of the audiobook--he had no idea why he was there an neither did anyone else; he was just the first person they found who was a professor of religion when they googled it, which I find so funny. He was basically useless for three hours and just acted as a walking purse for Vitoria. I thought it was hilarious.
I also think a lot of male authors try to make good female characters and fail horribly. Dan Brown, however, seemed like he was trying to make a cookie-cutter female support character and accidentally made a pretty cool woman. I really liked Vitoria. Again, thought her relationship with Langdon was pretty rushed and didn't feel right, but I liked their friendship, it was fun. Plus, their final interaction where Vitoria said Langdon only wasn't religious because he hadn't let her fuck him yet was. Pretty great, I'm not going to lie. It was fun.
I also liked the balance that seemed to iron out by the end of the story between religion and science. Learning about the Pope and his own utilization of both polarized opposites was interesting, and I thought it was cool.
Didn't love this book, and it wasn't as fun as I was expecting, but I appreciated the twist at the end, and I like that Robert Langdon was kind of pathetic. Love that for him.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, and Death