Just finished reading my 2nd Dan Brown book in a week. This one's "Angels & Demons" and I must say the first novel is tad better than the 2nd, "The Da Vinci Cde". The plot is on the incredible side but oxymoronic as it may seem, the story's a bit more believable than Da Vinci's, the situations less conveniently-placed, the characters less contrived-sounding. My trouble with "The Da Vinci Code" was that Langdon appeared all-of-a-sudden enlightened during all the right moments. "Angels & Demons" showed him as an erudite who misses symbols and clues. The plotting is agonizingly close to the 2nd book which leads readers to compare the two. a good read (can't put the book down last night) that lasted 2 days, not counting my working hours.
Regarding Dan Brown, he is one of those writers who try to sell his novels as fact. CBN wrote about this and coined the term "fact-ion," an apt name for a blending of fact and fiction. My favorite techno-thriller writer, Michael Crichton, is adept in this, save for the fact that he blends technology fact with emerging scientific developments. Brown treads on very dangerous grounds as he jabs at Christianity as one big conspiracy. Had he chose to jab at Islam in the same degree, he would be a marked man by now. One of the greatest strengths (and liabilities) of Christianity is tolerance. Anyway, it might not be worth the effort to rebut the book in the same way as Moslems threatened Salman Rushdie when his satanic verses was published.
Publish Post
well, just like "holy blood, holy grail," books like these either creates doubters or bigger believers. i would like to believe i emerge a better believer after this read. faith is more than just cracking codes or finding clues in symbols. religion as entertainment? in the aftermath of the end of the cold war, publishers and writers have strayed into a new yet old territory to sell.
