The Illuminati-vs-the Vatican. Religion battles science. Creationism meets Big Bang theory.
An adventurous Murder/Mystery/Thriller
Delightfully filled with artful descriptions of the Vatican/Rome/Italy.
"Man's morality is not advancing as fast as man's science"

Religion always was, is, has been, and always will be a very sensitive subject for me. However this book was a "battle" of religion and science. The storyline was engaging. I have to admit that the beginning was a bit slow, but as the book progressed, the pace really picked up to a point I pruned myself out in the bathtub finishing it. There was a page I found to be very thought-provoking.

"Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing."

Langdon was intrigued. "So you're saying that whether you are a Christian or a Muslin simply depends on where you were born?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look at the diffusion of religion around the globe."

"So faith is random?"

"Hardly. Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end, we all are just searching for truth, that which is greater for ourselves." - page 110

This does explain a lot of things for me... *pondering*

بدأت هذه الرواية كنوع من التجربة ، وأنا أشك بإمكانية استمتاعي بمثل ذلك النوع ، لكني فوجئت بما تحتويه من متعة بالاضافة للمزيج المدهش بين الخيال والعلم و الدين والفن وايضا تشويق الالغاز البوليسية والمؤامرات ولكن ..... للاسف كان من الممكن أن تصل الى حد الكمال - بالنسبة لي - لولا الاسراف في الوصف الحركي و المبالغة و الاصرار على ان تبدو الرواية كفيلم امريكي مستخدما كل تيمات الافلام الامريكية الساذجة

n  n    Reviewn  n
4+ out of 5 stars to Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, the first book in his "Robert Langdon" thriller series. When I saw the movie trailer for The Da Vinci Code, I was hooked and immediately bought the book so I could read it first. When I got home, I realized it was not the first in the series...



I refused to read it... and then I went to the store and got the first one, Angels & Demons, so I could read them in order. And while it's not really necessary, I always follow the order (unless I have an ARC with a due date on a newer book and no time to get to the whole series). So I started Angels & Demons, and I was was simply blown away.



Not everyone loves Dan Brown, and people aren't always kind, but man... I LOVE HIS BOOKS! And I'm not afraid to say it... so if you don't like them... don't be hating on this review because I will



On a more serious note, the climax with each of the murders, the deep connections to so many Catholic rituals and ceremonies, the brilliance of the chase... it just left me unable to stop reading it. It's exactly the kind of book I like to read:

1. Has some connection to me -- I'm Catholic and knew most of the stuff they were talking about

2. I love reading about murder -- since I won't do it in real life, I have to get my thrills somehow

3. Secrets are the best thing in the world -- I have so many about others, but I never let anyone have one about me

4. Classic battle of good versus evil -- This is my life. Should I be good or bad today? Ugh... Sophie's catch #22...

5. It's non-stop thought-provoking messages and themes -- How much control and time do we really have right now?

Oh, that's the spot baby!

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And with that said... if you want a real review with details about the story, go find someone else's! Today was all about just being excited to think about the book again. Now that said, I thought Da Vinci Code was a slight bit better, hence the 4 here.

Ciao! I've got some branding to do...



n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

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Dan Brown writes trash, but sometimes trash can have a certain allure. Sometimes trash sucks you in as you feel forced to reach the bottom of the rubbish pile and see what secrets it may be hiding.

And that’s the strongest aspect of his writing, the pull. Say what you want about the crazily outlandish plot that’s built upon a nest of poor research and flat characters. Say what you want about the anti-Catholic undertones and the semi-racist portrayal of the antagonist, there’s no denying the intensity of the writing.

This is a real page turner, the kind that keeps you reading until three in the morning and makes you want to skip to the end of the book just to see what’s happening. And it’s so entertaining like all good trash should be. Critically speaking, there is so much wrong with this book but I can’t deny how successful it is at keeping the reader involved. It creates so many ridiculous questions that just need to be answered. I stormed through this book at lightning speed.

Looking back though, it is very easy to see the faults. Dan Brown hooks his reader, using mystery and suspense as bait, and it is so very easy to bite on the line. Though as every fish knows, once you’ve been netted life only gets worse. This is a book of very cheap thrills, which can be addictive but will only ever be cheap.

My mouth never went as dry before as much as it did while reading this book. Masterpiece

Is the movie adaptation worse than Percy Jackson or is it the other way around?

داستان کتاب شیاطین و فرشتگان از جایی شروع میشه که رابرت لنگدان استاد سمبل شناس دانشگاه با یک تماس عجیب به ژنو در واقع دعوت میشه تا در ماجرای قتل یک دانشمند به یک موسسه‌ی علمی کمک کنه. دانشمندی که با نشانی عجیب در سینه به قتل رسیده. اگر به دید یک داستان بهش نگاه کنید داستان مهیج و جذابی داره، یه سری اطلاعات تاریخی جالب هم بهتون میده ولی خب نگاه علمی یا مذهبی به کتاب باعث گارد گرفتن مقابلش خواهد شد.ه

Call it a conspiracy theory, but

How did secret societies, associations, cults, and shadow cabinets influence human history, and how evolved the first stone age groups of chief, medicine man, dealer, and strongest soldier until today and will develop in the future?

An all time problem until enlightenment kicks in in a faraway utopia
It´s not just the realm of religion that has had its fake news problem since the first primitive cults and sects tens of thousands of years or even longer ago. It´s each field and area of human activity that was, can, and will be influenced by the dark forces in the background, the puppet masters controlling the fate of both tribes of thousands in the past or states and space colonies of billions in the future.

Faith vs science, subjectivity vs objectivity, emotionality vs rationality,
Call it as you like, I can´t objectively say much about the epic, endless science vs faith battle, because I am biased as heck and it would go against the obligation of a responsible reviewer to add too much subjective... Go science, show who is the boss, yes, keep using that chokehold,…

A subjective interpretation: I am reading nonfiction for over 20 years and must say that much that has once been deemed impossible, wrong, or lies, became true and influenced the lives of everyone in massive ways. So the truth seems to be pretty flexible. And the lucky ones of us living in so called enlightened democracies could reverse engineer big and progressive history and guess how much of, well, everything could be wrong, lies, and pure fiction. That it´s the opposite of official history in some cases, that many of the weirdo theories about the present and future are the truth, and much of what is written in history books are lies.

Monetarizing this concept was an ingenious idea by Brown (and his not so well known predecessors?)
And I don´t understand the Brown bashing of some people, many authors don´t really care much about the rules of writing or create average quality of consistency, logic, dialogues, and stuff and don´t get criticized for it. It might be possible that it´s more the inconvenient topics Browns is using that are activating the bite reflexes and reactionary mental programs of pissed people preferring proselytizing priests. The fast paced writing style with many different settings, fine infodumps, cliffhangers, and everything similar to a well written Hollywood blockbusters, techno- and psychothrillers is nothing people are ranting about as long as it´s not controversial.

At least the lectors tried to pimp the real science
It´s possible that the new editions of the book have been edited and corrected ( I don´t know), as there are some errors regarding the possibility of the involved physics and technology and wrong descriptions. But as I know publishing houses, they probably still haven´t invested the money to fix the bugs, even in a multi million copies world bestseller, that uses the intentionally produced good old catholic church and JC controversies like no series before.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspir...

When The Da Vinci Code phenomenon happened, I read most of Brown's novels and I enjoyed all of them. But for some reason I didn't read this one, his first one with his famous hero Robert Langdon. And now I really wonder why... because I loved it!

Dan Brown combines action with mystery, historical and science elements in an outstanding way and he creates an action thriller that you just cannot put down.

One of the greatest aspects of his books are the historical elements. There are times that it feels like you're watching a documentary, but an exciting one at that! Sometimes it feels like all those information are too much, it even feels like Dan Brown wants to impress the reader with his knowledge, but after you are done with the book you will still find yourself wanting to learn more about them.

Another great element that really is one of the reasons that I like his books so much is the setting. Brown always uses a gorgeous place as the background of his story. Τhis time the setting is Rome, one of my favorite cities in the world. The descriptions of the city and the places are breathtaking. Mesmerizing. You feel like you are there. And what I also like is that he uses places in Rome that most tourists don't know about. He presents a hidden side of the city. Places that when you read the book you will want to visit.

The whole story takes place in 12 hours and this really is a great idea that Brown fully takes advantage of. You can feel the pressure of the time. I found myself many times throughout the book wanting to scream at the characters to hurry up! This energy that radiates from the pages is what made me read this book in two days. You feel like you are there with the characters, you want to solve the mystery.

What I don't like sometimes about Brown's books is that he rushes the ending too much without giving a full explanation to all of my questions (Dear "The Lost Symbol", I am talking about you). But this is not the case with this book. The ending is as amazing as the rest of the story. There are three huge twists at the last fifty pages that really took me by surprise! After that three twists everything is positioned into place perfectly.

You rarely find such enjoyable, action-packed thrillers and this is why his books are so popular! They are nothing more than what a popcorn-blockbuster is for the cinema but we all need a book like that sometimes!

sure, it's no da vinci code, which is in turn no paragon of great literature...

and okay, the only thing i remember about it distinctly is the corny and endless insertion of descriptions of robert langdon's dashing good looks...

and yes, apparently it took me almost 3 months to finish it...

but...

actually i forget where i was going with this. i don't think i actually have anything nice to say.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago

One thing I really liked about this book was the captivating narrative which revolves around architecture, symbolism, mixture of science with religion, history of Christianity and Vatican City.

However having read Da Vinci Code, I found this book a bit drag. Unnecessary plot twists and lengthy storyline made me think why did I even start this book.

Robert Langdon had an immense grip on history of arts and architecture which made me want to visit Vatican City and the whole of Italy. Other than that it wasn't much intriguing.

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This is another great work by Dan Brown! Though it is first in the Langdon series, I have somehow managed to read it the last, having read the other three books in the series in order. Like in all of them, Dan Brown's uniqueness has been preserved in this book too. It has Dan Brown inherent features: history, puzzles, action, intrigue and a masterfully crafted story.

A physicist attached to CERN is murdered in cold blood and a canister containing antimatter is stolen. The word "Illuminati" is branded on the dead man's chest indicating that he was killed by an secret organization which Professor Langdon believes now to be extinct. Professor Langdon teams up with the dead scientist daughter in the quest to find out the murderer of the scientist. But there is another danger: The canister with antimatter, stolen from the CERN laboratory, is now abandoned somewhere in the Vatican. Once removed from the electric charger on which the canister is kept, the antimatter can hold in suspension only for 24 hours without further charge. And once the antimatter falls from suspension and contact physical matter, it will explode and the damage it can done is equal to a nuclear bomb explosion. Professor Langdon teams up with the dead scientist's daughter, Vittoria, who is also a scientist in the quest to stop the destruction and the threat to Vatican as well as to find out the murderer of the scientist. However, further troubles await for them in Vatican. The four Cardinals, out of which a new pope is chosen, hasve suddenly disappeared without trace. Vatican is in chaos and only Robert Langdon and Vittoria can save the day.

It was fascinating read and an intense page turner. I felt as if I too was running against time with the duo to stop the horrific murders and feeling greatly distressed when the attempts become futile. I also really enjoyed the factual details to the history, art and science. It is very informative. I have a very high regard for Dan Brown for taking pains to provide the reader with a good historic knowledge through his well-researched books. With this read I have read all the books he has authored, and I must say he has not disappointed me so far; waiting impatiently for the "Origin" to hit the shelves in October.