Dan Brown novels

Who thinks that Dan Brown's novels

1. The Da Vinci Code
   
2. Angels and Demons
   
3. Digital Fortress
   

aren't very good? Yeh, they're interesting but not that great. He hasn't written them that well and aren't great pieces of literature. And how dumb where the people in Digital Fortress? No wonder the American security is what it is if it's employees are like those people. The bit with the "Prime differences between Hiroshima and Nagasaki" and it's written out in the Julius Ceasar thing and it takes them ages to figure out what it is.

ARGH!!!

How dumb can you get!?
:bnghd:

I've read two:

Digital Fortress was alright. Nothing great. I get sick of Michael Crichton type climactic endings. I do read some of them, but the endings strike me like hollywood movies. Of course that's no coincidence.

Da Vinci Code. Way over-rated but it was a fun story when I needed one, only with really clunky writing. Religiously, I wasn't offended at all. I followed up by reading the non-fiction book by Cardinal George of Chicago that offers an informative and Catholic perspective to the Da Vinci Code content.

I AM going to read Brown's next book too.

i'm reading angels and demons right now and it's pretty good so far building up the plot (only up to page 70, reading it on the train ride home)

im going to pick up the davinci code next but digital fortress doesn't look worth a read.

Dan Brown's novels are, to be blunt, FLUFF. They are lightweight books without any real scholarship. They are not great pieces of literature by any stretch of the imagination. To be honest, I am amazed that Dan's work has garnered any interest at all.

For the most part, Dan based his work loosely upon the work of Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln's seminal book 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'. When this book came out in the early 80's, it caused a bit of a furor and received a bit of attention but, for the most part, it did not receive the "critical acclaim" that Dan Brown has received. While I can be happy for Dan's success, I bet that he is just as surprised at the extent of his success as I am. And I am very very surprised.

Perhaps the theory of the 'dumbing down' of America is true. Because I have never heard such praise and acclaim for any book in recent memory as I have for Dan's work. Yet, as I said before, it's fluff, lightweight and far from being any great shakes in the literary realm. And most of all, I am stymied at how people are using his books to attack some of the mysteries of the Church and of secret societies around the Church. These people are as misguided and misinformed as they were before they ever read the book. These "theories" are based on convolutions of actual theories and scholarship found in Holy Blood, Holy Grail. If someone wants to actually raise their awareness a notch, this is where they should begin.

I've read "Angels & Demons" and really enjoyed it. It moves quickly and has (IMHO) a pretty good plot. I'd recommend it to anyone needing to kill a couple of cold, wintery days. Haven't read any of his other stuff.

Angels and Demons is a way better book then The Da Vinci Code. I have a vivid imagination so I guess that may embellish it a wee bit. Da Vinci Code had none of the impact of Angels and Demons. The ending for me, was too sandwiched in. I hate old people.
What do you folk think of the movie that is coming out?

I havent read those ones but I have read Deception Point. It was a good book but nothing stand out over many of the novelists i read today. From what I hear of the Da Vinci code it does take from many previous books on the subject. One thing he does do is to write in an easy flowing interesting style.

I have read both Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the Da Vinci Code. I liked Holy Blood, Holy Grail but it took me forever to finish it because it was so dry (read more like a history lesson than a story). I really enjoyed the Da Vinci Code after I got passed the first 100 pages or so. I agree that his endings seem slapped together, like he is rushing to make his deadline. The way he writes it, it's just a "story".

Da Vinci Code was worth the read although nothing really special, as was Deception Point. I really liked Angels & Demons though. I read Deception Point as well as Angels & Demons on my flight to LA. I like bigger books.

He needs to cut the "romance" between the star character (usually an old ass man) and all the "beautiful" women he comes into contact with during his adventures, all it does is induce my gag reflex :bnghd: He does NOT do romance well lol

Overall, nothing note-worthy, but readable stuff IMO. I will read just about anything tho, I just love to read.

[edit on 13-12-2005 by ImJaded]

I agree totally about the romance. As I was reading Deception point I groaned when I saw the way the story was going to go. He really should leave the romance to Clive Cussler and his Dirk Pitt hero romances.

Im Jaded. What did you think about the microbots in Decption Point. Those little buggers got me thinking a whole lot about political assassinations and illnesses. They were the biggest thing I got out of the book actually.

[edit on 13-12-2005 by Mayet]

Originally posted by Mayet

Im Jaded. What did you think about the microbots in Decption Point. Those little buggers got me thinking a whole lot about political assassinations and illnesses. They were the biggest thing I got out of the book actually.

Funny U mention that, I was thinking the same thing! They were a very exciting part of the story One of the few that kept me reading, I loved the military and scientific detail, everything else kinda lost me.

I just finished "Deception Point" and this was printed on the last page right after the epilogue:

1-V-116-44-11-89-44-46-L-51-130-19-118-L-32-118-116-130-28-116-32-44-133-U-130

What does this mean?

Well i never noticed that before but yes, it has a whole page to itself, right after the epilogue.. hmm any takers on what it means?

fair few repeats and double numbers in it too.

I really enjoyed Dan's novels too with Angels and Demons being the best. I should of read that one before DaVinci Code though.
Overall, I liked it. But those two seemed to have the same basic structure, just with different types of conflicts. and they always end with the two main characters hooking up. lol
as for all of the numbers mentioned you go to that chapter and substitue the number with the first letter of that chapter. THEN you do a caesar box. its the same with the back of digital fortress.

Oh, and to do the ceasar box once you have all the letters,simply divide the letters into four groups of four, and rearrange them vertically like this example..

YAOR
OVSE
UEET
HNCS

Then look close enough and you should see a message!


[edit on 18-12-2005 by DustintheWind]

Used to have the whole collection of his books but lost all of them to friends who never returned after borrowing them. Now i can recall little from the novels with my pathetic memory.

I liked deception point the best. I don't know is it because i read da vinci first but i feel like deception point and angel and demon are just as nice or even better. BTW i was wondering why the ending for da vinci is different from the other 3 books...for those who know what i mean.

Next book is called The Solomon Key and i'm juz as excited to read his new work. The movie Da Vinci is coming up next year too.

i liked the da vince code best...angels and demons are a lit boring compared, but almost the same story. its a to close to each other

I really _really_ liked Angels and Demons. While it had some plot twists I could've done without, it was much better than DaVinci Code, which I also enjoyed reading. Digital Fortress was pure tripe. Haven't read Deception Point yet, though.

IMO DaVinci Code is not really up to all the hype currently surrounding it. And what really gets my goat is that it seems that almost every new book I've purchased which handle the same issues like Holy Blood, Holy Grail has some sort of a disclaimer stating that the truth is nothing like described in the DaVinci Code. ArrrrGH. I even purchased one reissue book I already had because I thought that it contained some interesting new information, only to find out that a chapter had been added which slammed DaVinci Code. Give me back my money!
OK, I better calm down or this'll get moved to Rant

Dan Brown is very overrated

Originally posted by The Juvey
Dan Brown is very overrated

Amen to that. They're too romanticised, and quite over the top. Plus, most of the endings are the same (well Da vinci code and Deception Point are).
The novels are a bit like a marathon of 24 the show. It has some good points here and there, like the theories, but in the end I couldn't just give a damn.

So what if Jesus was married? Alot of Jews get married.
Angels and Demons was wrong because it denied the Illuminati.
The code breaking one was tedious and really annoyed me after I read it on the ferry from France.
And Deception Point was interesting, but everything in every book goes from bad to worse.

Similar to a cheap horror film, I was thinking "No you idiots! Don't do that! You're meant to be a politician/ scientist/ historian/ NSA employee you muppet!" But then I thought about, and as I said earlier, didn't care in the end.