I have always had very mixed feelings about Dan Brown's books. I was a sophomore in high school when The Da Vinci Code became a sensation, however I resited reading it for a long time. I'm not always the first to jump on the bandwagon with popular books, and usually come in after the fact. When I read The Da Vinci Code I honestly didn't see what the big deal was. I was a Catholic school girl, and I had heard a lot of the conspiracy theory before. It was a thriller, pure and simple, okay but nothing special. Eventually I got around to reading Angels and Demons, out of order I know. In this case I hated it, I thought it was so extreme and farfetched that I barely got through it. People have told me that I would have liked it better if I read it before The DaVinci Code, not so sure about that. When the long awaited (six years long awaited) third Robert Langdon novel came out in Spetember of 2009 I intented to get around to reading it once the rush died down, that way I would have no problem getting my hands on a copy (my library alone has six copies sitting on the shelf now). I honestly forgot all about reading it, to be honest it wasn't high on my list, until Kerrie the Reading teacher at work asked me if I had read it. After the conversation settled to the back of my mind I happened to be looking for something else at the library and there it was on the shelf, right at eye level. I think someone was trying to tell me something. Not God, though. I'm pretty sure God has forsaken all Dan Brown books (what you don't believe me? Just ask the religious right).
As always there was a good concept, lots of red herrings, and some real whack job characters. Having no expectations really helped a lot, I went in for a mindless read with some roller coaster turns, lots of random yet interesting facts about arcane secret societies and history in general and came out not too disappointed. I actually didn't see the big twist coming at the end, its nice when an author can surprise me.
The writing, as always with Dan Brown was pretty bad, and if there is an author with more awkward sentence structure out there, I have yet to read them. I feel like about 1/4 of the scenes were recycled from earlier books with a new location and new girl, but other wise were just about word for word. There was something I had read, that Dan Brown has ideas for at least ten more Robert Langdon books he wants to write, this kept circling around and around as I read. Not that I have anything against Robert Langdon, he is a mildly interesting, highly unlikely hero (despite all of the heartthrob scenes that Brown tries to write with Langdon in swim trunks at the Harvard pool). I love a guy in a tweed blazer with elbow patches more than the average girl, its just I don't try to elevate a guy in a tweed blazer with elbow patches to be anything more than what he is. James Bond I can believe as a ladies man who goes through gorgeous women like Kleenex, but Robert Langdon.... that and Brown writes each girl as so emotionally and perfectly matched to Langdon, then she disappears like his grammatical ability at the end of each book. Could there really be ten more women out there like that? Doubtful, and if there are I'm not sure how much I really want to read about them.
That criticism aside, the romance in The Lost Symbol was the most believable so far, age appropriate and well matched in terms of who they are and what they do. Not that it matters, Dr. Solomon will be gone with the wind like all the others !?! (a very Dan Brown-sqe punctuation) One of the reviewers from the ALA (American Library Association) pointed out that Brown did himself a disservice setting the book in Washington, because of the natural comparison to the National Treasure movies. I can see his point, however The Lost Symbol is clearly much darker, and (I can't believe I'm about to say this) more believable. I wish it had been summer, or I had a long plane ride, because this is precisely the kind of book you like to take along. Manageable chapters, a fast pace, and lots of fun. Had you noticed that Dan Brown (and we can presume Robert Langdon, sex god and Harvard symboligist) like italics? How could you not?
