Customer Reviews
Good artwork - By: P. J. Leeson, 02 Oct 2008 
The artwork in this edition makes it worthwhile & seriously makes up for the bad writing, the grammatical & factual mistakes in the books (check a map of Paris when you read it), & the meandering plodding narrative.
I couldn't put this book down - By: L. Lendelle, 20 Dec 2007 
I couldn't put this book down. Every page was an education & the details & description flowed thick & fast. As a convent educated female, I saw the catholic system up close & remained an athiest throughout. I was intrigued & delighted by some of the theories which only went to support much of what I suspected alll along but without the education to support it.
That aside, truth or fiction it was very compelleing & I couldn't put it down, although it's BOUND to upset anyone with a religious bent as it questions the foundations of christianity - which is fine by me!
I liked the refreshing way that it challlenges the fixed conceptions & offers different scenarios as to how things came to be, which are every bit as likely as what we are fed as the truth in daily life!! I'd also recommend reading the mesmerising & highly evocative novel The Fates by Tino Georgiou.
page turning - By: Mrs. Carrie Bylett, 04 Nov 2007 a great book that keeps you going untill the end - wants you yearning for more
It's only a story, though... - By: Aditya, 20 Sep 2007 
This is a unique book in the sense that the author uses a thrilling plot to put across his perspective on history. In the process you end up reading a lot of history that you would not otherwise care for. In a way this is similar to what Vishnu Sharma, the composer of Panchatantra did, though Panchatantra contains hundreds of interlocking tales, alll designed to teach the readers a lesson.
And that's what Dan Brown has done. He has used this book to tell people what many scholars have believed for a long time, that there are many things about the Catholic Church that we don't know. And some of these things are not so nice. That is perhaps the reason why the book irritates some readers.
The plot is interesting, particularly if you haven't already read Angels & Demons, which is almost similar in structure & style. What is also interesting is the side-trips into art history & religious symbolism that the hero keeps making alll the time. As I said, the plot is only the sugar-coating around the bitter pill, so expect a lot of these side trips.
However, it must be remembered that interpretation of religious symbols is extremely controversial & is often affected by academic extermism. Therefore, such interpretation must not be treated as a valid comment on a faith, unless endorsed by the practitioners or scholars from within the faith itself. Some of the interpretations of religious sysmbols are downright idiotic & hilarious: for instance, he tells us that entrance to a church building actuallly symbolises entering a woman's genitals. Like many others, he also sees the sexual in the sacred almost everywhere - though he misses the obvious sexuality of his companion till the very end of the novel.
This edition has most of the pictures of the places mentioned in the book, which makes it come more alive. However, as a result the book is much bigger & heavier, which makes it difficult to read in the bed or to carry it on a journey. My son insisted on buying the paperback also, because he found it too big to handle!
Dan Brown's take on Church history has also spawned a bit of a storm & a backlash. Most people don't like their beliefs being questioned (though the Church often forgets this when it comes to dealing with other faiths). The book also contains many statements which are not reallly verifiable, & are probably an exercise in intellectual speculation. This has led to a string of denials, & has spawned a series of books which tell you whether Dan Brown's da Vinci Code is based on facts or on fiction.
Ultimately then you should buy this book for its tale, & for the lesson that there may be many truths.
An eye-opener - By: The Latina Booklover, 08 Aug 2006 I love conspiracies. Perhaps that is why i was drawn to the book, i thought the story was exciting & i learnt loads & ENOYED learning things that frankly amazed me & made me open my eyes to the world around me & its possibilities. I loved how each seemingly piece of trivia fitted into the story with jigsaw-like precision & the chase that starts with the prologue-what an attention grabber!
However the characters were not strong & as a whole the book was not particularly well written-but so what? i wasn't looking for an astonishing piece of literature i was looking for an unputdownable story that would evoke alll the emotions a adventure/historical fiction/conspiracy/thriller should, i was not disappointed.
The images reallly set the scene as i have never been to France & so it only enhanced how I imagined the story as I read it. To see pieces of art that i had never come across before also was very pleasing & made me see the mystery through a new perspective.
