Customer Reviews
A Great Story in a Mediocre Book - By: G. SAUNDERS, 16 Dec 2008 
I had expected amazing things when I picked up the Da Vinci Code earlier this year & perhaps I was always going to be disappointed. The sad truth is, the Da Vinci Code is an interesting book, but not a good one.
What has made this story such a roaring success is its engrossing plot & the "truth" behind the fiction. For those unfamiliar with the blood line; sang-real; holy grail; templar etc legends this book is at least a decent introduction.
What lets it down is Brown's amateurish writing style. Although it is a vast improvement on the laughable Angels & Demons, Brown still likes to describe everythingin almost baby language, using a wide range of the very oldest writing cliches. In the hands of a better writer this book could have been truly awesome (then again, it has been hugely popular so maybe it's just my taste!).
It should be mentioned that the research for which Dan Brown has been so greatly praised is almost entirely based on the works of Baigent, Lincoln & Leigh, most notably "Holy Blood & the Holy Grail" (a non fiction book but still hugely readable). It should also be mentioned that Dan Brown has taken much of the research done by these men (which generally left you to draw your own conclusions) & distorted it for the story. Indeed, as with Angels & Demons, when left to his own devices Brown is an amazingly poor researcher, here he fails to accurate locate several major landmarksin the story & frequently underestimates distances between places quite ridiculously (a recurrent themein Brown's book).
Ultimately the Da Vinci Code is worth reading, just to know what the hype is all about at least. The plot is well conceived, if not actually well written & drawn from a genuinely fascinating topic. It must however be taken with a pinch of salt as much of what is purported fact simply isn't.
Hardy Boys anyone? - By: Jon Mason, 08 Dec 2008 
Reminded me of a Hardy Boys book I read 20 years ago. About the same level of literary sophistication - & resemblance to reality!
AMAZING - By: Dr. John Bu Tan, 24 Nov 2008 
best book i have ever read
thats all i can say
face-paced, well-described & full of twists & turns
you never know whats going to happen next
i personaly loved the characters & the way they were built up, i htough the book was jampacked with clever escapes & fabulous jinxes
a must read for ALL -
adults & teenagers
Utter Tripe - By: G. Downs, 05 Nov 2008 I read this only to find out how bad it is & it is very very bad indeed. I couldn't care less whether the supposed facts are fictitious but i don't believe i have ever read worse prose (H.P. Lovecraft at his worst could run him close though). It reads as though he had "how to write fiction" manual open beside him & many sentences made me laugh out loud. I despair that when hundreds of thousands of people decide to read they choose this. Brown before starting writing recorded an album of love songs sometime backin the 1990's, it may well be the worst pop albumin history but he would make a better pop star than a novelist.
Not as good as I was lead to believe - By: Derob Ecnirp, 10 Oct 2008 I know that, with the 1000+ reviews this book has, this review is pretty pointless. But, for reasons explained by many other reviewers, I found this book absorbing, & the only thing that kept me turning the pages was so I could back up my arguments :D. I didn't find it to be difficult to tell what was going to happen, which wrecked the mystery element I was told it had. It, quite frankly, is written badly, which ruins it as a thriller. And Dan Brown is constantly adding random snippets of informationin the form of flashbacks, something that constantly annoyed me as I didn't really want to hear about the main character teaching a classroom of children about things when I'm reading the "thrilling" bit. Just a bad read & waste of time.
