A review by dullshimmer
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

2.0

Like many people I was introduced to Dan Brown via The Davinci Code. It was a book that for some reason took the world by storm. What I didn't realize at the time was that The Davinci Code was actually the second book in the Robert Langdon series. There was a book before that called Angels & Demons. I think the Davinci Code is a bit overrated, but this book just felt a bit like a mess and also manages to diminish the plot of the second book as well, since so much is very similar.

If you basically replace the quest for the holy grail with the battle between the illuminati and Christianity (which is pretty much only the Catholic Church in Dan Brown's view) then a good 75% of the plot is pretty well laid out for you. There is a murder by a mysterious assassin, a call for Robert Landon our protagonist, a hot female sidekick that helps Landon and can't help but fall for him by the end, the following of a path made up of ancient clues in art and literature, a surprising betrayal, and plenty of partly reliable and partly not reliable information about religion and religious symbols.

The book is good at keeping you wondering and guessing, but part of that is just due to the fact that the plot and resolution is so ridiculously convoluted that I'm not sure you'd really be able to guess all of it. I'm still not sure if it all even really makes sense at the end. For starters it doesn't make sense that a religious symbologist is the first person you call when a murder happens, even if there is a religious or anti-religious society claiming to be behind it. I'm not sure it gets better from there.

Overall, I feel like Dan Brown's books are about the journey. The journey keeps you on your toes, keeps you guessing and wondering how everything is going to go. It is rather exciting and uncertain, but as you get closer to the destination you wonder if this journey is really going to pay off. Sadly in Angels & Demons that destination was not nearly as enjoyable as the journey.