Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

This is an old book of my brother's that has been lying around in our bookshelf for quite some time now.  Since I find myself with loads of free time on my hands, it was only natural that I would eventually come around to reading this.

Dan Brown can be considered one of the best fiction writers of our time.  With his flair for the occult and mysticism, plus a fascination with popular conspiracy theories, his books have been one intriguing read after the other.  And it was with such high hopes that I settled down and read his latest offering -- The Lost Symbol.


In The Lost Symbol, we find Robert Langdon, whom we first encountered in Angels and Demons, faced once again in a new adventure where Masons and their rituals are not what they seem.  Filled with the usual thrills, this book takes the reader on another exciting adventure with Langdon as he tries to save his friend and the Masonic organization from an extremely fanatical lunatic.  Read the full summary here at Amazon.com.

To be quite honest, I was not as impressed with this offering as I was with his other books.  First and foremost would be because I do not have much interest in the Masons, and the beliefs and myths surrounding their organization.  And I am a firm believer that in reading a Dan Brown novel, one has to at least be familar with popular theories surrounding the subject matter.  Same goes with at least a wee bit of knowledge about the famous Washington landmarks mentioned in the novel.  I, unfortunately, am not familar with both, which unfortunately made this book a dragging read for me.

I've also never noticed how much Dan Brown relied on a lot of POVs from different characters regardless of how insignificant their roles were or will be in the course of the novel.  For the life of me, I just could not remember being this annoyed as when I read his other Robert Langdon-starrers.

All in all, I'd say the book is not as intriguing as his former works.  I would recommend buying the Special Illustrated Edition to give you a more detailed background and an idea of landmarks and the like for those totally unfamiliar with Masons and Washington D.C. area in general.

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

7 comments:

  1. I agree. If one would like to read Dan Brown, one has to do some research. There's something missing in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.

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  2. @michymichymoo: Yup. Out of his other works that I've read, I'm not too partial with this one. =)

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  3. Yeah, I did not find this as good as his other novels like Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. However, I actually like the portrayal of the antagonist in this one because of the deeper personal relationship with the protagonists.

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  4. thank you for your book review. It saved me from reading the book :)

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  5. @blackshirt13: I agree. Both of the other books where more compelling, IMO. =)

    @Chew On This: welcome, sis. Although please note that this is just my personal opinion. As they say different strokes for different folks. =)

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  6. this is my least favorite among his books. btw, you should get a copy of the hunger games. i enjoyed reading it so much. =)

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  7. @cherry: Thanks for the suggestion. Will check out Hunger Games next. =)

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