Angels & Demons
Ratings1,448
Average rating3.6
My first book reading by world-famous thriller author Dan Brown. And guess what, it's a breathtaking journey. Serial killers, time bombs, puzzle breaking, conspiracies, secret societies, assassins have all the elements of a thriller and the book has moved forward at rocket speed. The reader's hair will stand up in excitement while reading the book. The book is excellent as a thriller.
Just not my cup of tea. A little too gruesome & dark, a little too much incomprehensible science-speak.
This book was even more fun considering I got to go to the Vatican after reading it and visit all of the places in the book.
Throw in a few conspiracy theories, a professor, and a gasp, how original murder to set it off, and you've got Angels and Demons. This book might as well have been written for children, it has no emotions, no sentiments or gut reaction or humanity. It's a thriller, and like all thrillers it's fast paced and explosive and chilling but it just HAS. NO. HEART. Angels and Demons isn't great literature, but I don't always want to read great literature. Sometimes I just want a GOOD READ (lame, I know) and Angels and Demons was entertainment at it's most bookish form. :D
If you're going to pick up something by Dan Brown – I don't think I'd recommend it, but if you really must – pick this up and not The Da Vinci Code. Aside from BEGGING you to suspend disbelief at and around the climax of this novel, this is the better of the two European Adventures with Robert Langdon books.
A true thriller - a book I've read ages ago and loved. In spite of the gory nature of some of the scene descriptions, the story is a good one. Dan Brown magically weaves together symbolism, bible verses, church conspiracies, the Vatican City and raw human fallacies in this un-put-down-able book.
I enjoyed this first adventure of symbologist Robert Langdon in Vatican City and Rome. With the unexpected and sudden flight to the CERN hadron collider and his subsequent travel to Rome to find a dangerous item, the story kept my interest throughout.
Me ha gustado bastante, hubo un momento que me atrapó y me comí más de 150 páginas antes de dormir
Lo único que peleo es el término “por el bien del guión” que tuvo un par de veces y que me sacaban un poco de la “realidad” que se puede tener en la historia, cosa que no me hace perder el disfrute de la historia al final.
Nota: me sorprende que algunos comentarios sean malos porque sienten insultada a la religión, es ficción.
4.5 ⭐️
Really cool setting and plottwists I didn't see coming.
The DaVinci Code was just a bit more interesting in the beginning and overall had a better arc of tension.
Also, I preferred the topic and setting of DaVinci Code.
Still a great book though
“Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.”
A bit awkwardly writing at parts and over simplifies science and religion. But overall, the story is good and the twist is great.
In all honesty, I think this is a rare example of the movie being better then the book.
Excellent book. I was captivated and couldn't stop listening. From what I understand, most of the historical references and things of that nature (and there are a LOT of them), are accurate! The story that Dan Brown built around all of this is fascinating!
4.5 stars.
Although I absolutely loved the book and enjoyed reading every bit of it, the climax left me a little disappointed.
For starters, the book became too descriptive towards the end, and seemed to stretch out unnecessarily. The divine ramblings of the camerlengo was frustrating and it could've been cut into half easily.
The writing apart, I believe I would've liked the book more if they had decided to reveal the truth to the world at the end. Truth supercedes faith, and more than trying to preserve a faith built on lies and deceit, the people deserved to know the raw truth.
A fun reading, quite entertaining. The ending is full of twists and turns, but it seems to me to be in a hurry given the information to be revealed.
I've never called Vatican City and Rome so much, but I confess that I felt like visiting the places mentioned in the book.
I prefer the Langdon presented in the Da Vinci Code. In this book he seems to me more naive and whose deeds do not interfere so much in the narrative.
4.5/5
I really enjoyed this and practically flew through the whole thing in 3 days. But I did find at some points the writing wasn't as great as I'd wanted it to be and I had seen the plot twist from pretty early on in the book.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a thrilling read with conspiracy themes.
Entertaining, but bad.
Dan Brown is not a good writer, but his books are entertaining. The plot is exciting if you can get past how frequently Brown uses Deus ex machina to get Langdon out of a tight spot. Vittoria is horribly written, as are all the women in Dan Brown's books, existing primarily as an object for Langdon to ogle.
Despite all the negatives, the book is an entertaining read, and I intend to read more of Robert Langdon's adventures in the future.
I don't know if I got the unabridged version or not, but it seems like for the beginning of a very famous series there wasn't much initial character development. I felt like all I really knew about Robert Langdon as the adventure started was that he was a Professor of Art History at Harvard. However, having studied a lot of art history, this book was really well developed. I liked all the interwoven references to famous sculptures and architecture. All and all pretty good. But also lacking at the ending. You can totally tell the end was written by a male.... all the girl wants to do is bang her “hero”, even though her dad with whom she had a very close relationship to was just brutally murdered. But I guess “c'est la vie” ? Lmao.
Lots of twists and clever ideas
Despite being late to the party, I thoroughly enjoyed the first in the Robert Langdon series. It has set Dan Brown up as ana author who really knows how to pull my intrigue. There was definitely a lot of action, a lot of mysteries and it was all written in a way that made it very accessible!
Looking forward to reading the sequel, one of the bestselling books of all time, The Da Vinci Code.
I've always enjoyed alternate history expeditions. Indiana Jones, National Treasure and now also this series. Its hard not to enjoy a combination mystery and treasure hunt driven by clues sprinkled throughout history. I enjoyed this one more than I expected.
I've always enjoyed alternate history expeditions. Indiana Jones, National Treasure and now also this series. Its hard not to enjoy a combination mystery and treasure hunt driven by clues sprinkled throughout history. I enjoyed this one more than I expected.
Not one to typically read a mystery crime novel, but I enjoyed this one. The use of religious symbology captivated me. My biggest issue is realising half way through that a lot of the references were fabricated, or “creatively” altered. It didn't ruin the story as a work of fiction, but I can't say it didn't take some of the wonder out of it. Of course, there are aspects that are true, and I did learn a few things. If you're someone interested in the history of Rome, the Catholic Church and the Illuminati, you will have to put the book down to do some fact checking before you go repeating cool “facts” you've learnt. But don't let that wreck the book for you, it still stands up well.
Sometimes you would like to say something good about a book, but you just can't think of anything worth mentioning. Unfortunately, that was the case with Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.
It was a bit boring, bland and unmemorable experience. Actually, I don't even want to write about it.
Officially, I would give this 3.75 Stars.
The detail was excellent. The planning and plotting were almost visceral. The world building was justly large-scale.
That being said, I found occasion to complain far too often to be as fully impressed as the masses claim to have been. Repeatedly throughout I found myself, quite innocently, bored. I don't want to fight through a novel but I'm not against it if I'm duly rewarded. That's not to say this book wasn't supreme in it's reveal, it certainly was. I found, however, the pace and timing of the story a bit too lumbering at an alarming regularity.
The final scenes ought to have been an afterward rather than being included in the bulk of the tale. Furthermore, the finality needed desperate help in being more concise. Robert gets the girl, I get it. They have sex, preceded by banter and foreplay, good for him. I don't need so much time wasted on denouement.
Q-Worthwhile?
A-Without question.
Q-Greatest book ever? Greatest thrill ride ever?
A-No ... and ... no.