Book Review – ‘Angels and Demons’ Dan Brown

Title – Angels and Demons

Genre – Novel, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Speculative fiction, Conspiracy, Cabal, Crime Fiction

Series – Robert Langdon #1 (Standalone)

Publisher – Pocket Books originally, and then Corgi Books

Length – 1,53,760 words

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol—seared into the chest of a murdered physicist—he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati … the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy—the Catholic Church.

Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair … a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

***

The fictional tale starts with the brutal murder of Leonardo Vetra, a physicist working for CERN. His chest is found branded with an ambigram, a symbol that can be viewed “as above so below” At the sight of the ambigram which says, ILLUMINATI, Maximilian Kohler summons our hero, Robert Langdon, who then embarks on a journey which reveals to him the secrets that were hidden long ago, desperate to be unleashed once again. The ancient Brotherhood, Illuminati, is resurfacing with the desire to seek revenge from the Church.

The concept and the theme of this book is absolutely amazing, and will not fail to amaze you. Even though the book seems quite bulky, but do not be deceived by its appearance, for it’s such a fast pace thriller that you will find it really hard to keep your eyes off the book. Vivid description and ‘new-turn-on-ever-page’ is what makes this book a-must-read. Not only the diction is professional but also easy to read and understand. The writing style is elegant and immersive, you’ll find yourself completely hooked in this book, travelling in the jet, and running by the streets of rome. The desrciptive writings plays its magic so well that you can literally picturize the whole thing in front your eyes.

The theme of this book resembles a war between ‘Science’ and ‘Religion’. The plot of this book is planned out extremely well, for the moment you would be guessing about the ending, you might come across something on the next page itself that will fail your guesses.

The author has literally put the scenery in words. The locations of Vatican City are so beautifully drawn in front of your eyes that you’ll fall in love with the way the author describe settings.

The plot is amazing, hooked right from the first page. The theme is exciting, and the dialogues and writing style are a pleasure to read.

Even though this book is an action-packed thriller, you will still find those lovely moments of deep connection with the characters when the ‘flashback’ is sprinkled. This book questions someone’s belief in God, and the way the author has explained it, let it be Vittoria and Robert’s conversation, or the speech at the end, it’s really thoughful.

The mystery in this novel starts right begin from the start, with the murder. And the threads keep on getting entangled until at the last, it is finally loosened free. You won’t even realize getting from page 1 to 50, and that’s what I call ‘page-turner’

And the descriptions, I know I have mentioned this point already. You won’t feel like it’s a book. All the things are so perfectly displayed in words, you will find no difficulty in imagining each and every scene.

The book revolves around a subordinate concept of “Science vs Religion”, though the main concept is ‘revenge’ In this book, the antangonist wants to vanish Vatican City from the face of this world. Some of you might not like the idea, but for me, it was a ‘thumbs-up’

The deaths in this book are intensely graphic. The author has left no step unturned to show the cruelty in the way the people are murdered, and some poeple might find it disturbing. The author has described explicitly all the deaths and the corpses, so you may not like it, but I loved it!

Now, comes my favorite part, the characterization. Even though the story is what holds the book in place, but it will fall apart if character development is poor. One more thing I loved about the book is, the characters are tricky, and developed extremely good.

You may connect more to the main character, Robert Langdon, since the story is from his perspective generally, but the author has done a great job in adding life to each and every character, everyone’s aim is different, everyone is hiding a secret, everyone’s motive is different, but all are blended in one story!

Dan Brown is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has become one of the best selling novels of all time as well as the subject of intellectual debate among readers and scholars. Brown’s novels are published in 56 languages around the world with over 200 million copies in print.

In 2005, Brown was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine, whose editors credited him with “keeping the publishing industry afloat; renewed interest in Leonardo da Vinci and early Christian history; spiking tourism to Paris and Rome; a growing membership in secret societies; the ire of Cardinals in Rome; eight books denying the claims of the novel and seven guides to read along with it; a flood of historical thrillers; and a major motion picture franchise.” Source

You can buy this book at your local bookstore, or you can also order it online, through Amazon or Flipkart (I prefer Amazon)

Buy from Amazon

I got this book at World Book Fair, New Delhi, held at Pragati Maidan! 🙂

Note – Just do not watch the movie before reading the book. Simply because the pleasure is real when you get amazed watching the scenes in the movie and screaming inside your head “That’s perfectly how I imagined it!” And the second reason, train your brain to VISUALISE!