We have a term called ‘paisa vasool’ in Hindi. It means ‘worth the money’ and is generally used in reference to films. A mainstream Bollywood film is termed paisa vasool and is commercially successful only when it constitutes the following factors:

1)tA hero who can do anything and everything under the sun. He can achieve impossible feats and always survives bizarre accidents.

2)tA heroine comes across as smart independent women in beginning but turns into a cardboard cutout by the end. Just another pretty face, another damsel in distress.

3)tA plot which is always over the top. Includes dramatic twists, graphic deaths, a little romance thrown here and there, and a demented villain. In the end the hero saves the day and then shares some steamy/mushy moments with the heroine.

Halfway through Angels and Demons, I realized that except for the trademark bollywood songs, this book shared every other characteristic of a typical masala film. Logic and reason have only cameo roles, all the characters are one dimensional, there are unexpected twists and turns all along, the prose can be described as pedestrian at best, but somehow you feel compelled to finish the book. To be honest though, my compulsion arose more from the fact that I had bought the book (damn these book sales) than from anything the novel had to offer. That Dan Brown got half of the facts wrong does not please me either. Still, I would give this page turner 2.5 stars, because at the end of the day it was “paisa vasool” and entertaining.

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.

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!

I read this after the drivel that is called "Da Vinci Code." I decided to give the author another chance, and take on something that maybe wasn't so formulaic.

No dice. I am convinced that Dan Brown does absolutely no research into the subjects he writes about. Or if he does, he decides it is not "titilating enough for him" so he makes it up. I mean why even include actual real things in his books if he chooses to ignore any facts about them. Opus Dei? I doubt he could spell it. Catholic Church? Has he even read any history about the Catholic Church at all? His descriptions of the Church seem to be based on whatever anti-Catholic propoganda he could find, Chick Tracts, and superstition.

So it comes to no surprise that he has 2 massive bestsellers that are more or less, anti-Catholic. Cuz you know, Catholic baiting and prejudice to the Catholic Church is the only real acceptable prejudice left. The underlying superstition and hostility towards Catholicism, priests, the Pope, Vatican, etc is very close to the same sentiments that lingered in the decades and centuries before WWII in Europe.

Think I am overreacting? If someone wrote these books but instead baited the Jews or Muslims there would be a huge outcry. Bashing Catholics and depicting them and their history in the way Dan Brown does in these books is outrageous and should be criticized and shunned.

And I didn't even delve into how awful of a writer he is, did I? The only thing more embarassing than his writing that will never be remembered 20 years from now, is the fact that so many people bought into his piece of shit and wasted their time with it. Including respectable people like Tom Hanks and Ron Howard. There's time you will never get back again. Congrats!

Gech.

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

Esta historia es cronológicamente anterior a la de El código Da Vinci.

Todo comienza cuando convocan a Robert Landon para decifrar algunos códigos dejados en el cuerpo de un científico muerto. Esto ligará a la iglesia contra la ciencia en una legendaria historia de odio.

Y el origen de todo es totalmente inimaginable.

La película no es tan buena adaptación como la anterior y se pierde totalmente el motivo del origen de toda la historia.

The first one in a series of Vatican thrillers.
Full of stereotype characters, conspiracy theories and dubious scientific and historical references. Also it seems a bit outdated by now.

2.5 stars with a downgrade to 2.
--------------------------------
Der erste in einer Reihe von Vatikan-Thrillern mit Professor Robert Langdon als Protagonisten.

Leider wirken die Charaktere wie mit der Schablone ausgestochen: der klassische, weiße, US-amerikanische Superheld, die schöne, exotische Frau, deren Hauptmerkmal ihre Weiblichkeit ist, der abgrundtief böse, braunhäutige (und zweifellos muslimische) Araber usw.

Das Buch gibt eine Menge Verschwörungstherorien her, die ganz unterhaltsam sein könnten, würden sie nicht so geballt auftreten. Die wissenschaftlichen und historischen Referenzen sind zumindest fragwürdig.

Der Schreibstil ist wenig überzeugend und oft ziemlich holprig. Eine echte Spannung hat sich für mich nicht entwickelt, weil ich das Buch an so vielen Stellen einfach doof fand.

Ich habe dieses Buch vor vielen Jahren schon mal gelesen, konnte mich nicht mehr an den Inhalt erinnern, aber ich weiß noch, dass es mir damals erheblich besser gefallen hat.
Heute wirkt es oftmals schon recht angestaubt und veraltet.

Ich bewerte mit 2,5 Sternen, abgerundet auf 2.

So I honestly want to give the book three stars. What I enjoy about Brown is how he can write almost 600 pages of a book and I get almost to the end and realize that it has taken place all in the space of one day. As a writer, I would love to be able to do that. The weaving of religious and scientific themes into an adventure set in European locales is also right up my alley.

What I don't like... and why I am forced to drop down to two stars (just a few examples):

That same time stretching often results in a parceling of time that is terribly irritating - most of the book actually isn't just in less than one day but in about four to five hours. Unfortunately, in one part of the book, given twenty minutes, the protagonists can, say, drink tea and eat scones, talk at length about their theories about what's happening, run from one location to another, save someone, and research an important historical fact. But during another twenty minutes, they don't seem to have enough time to, say, run the length of a block and enter a building. It must be difficult as an author to keep track of this sort of incongruity but this is Brown's special trick and it's irritating that he can't follow his own rules. It needs to be either one way or the other but not both.

Every few chapters, he seems to feel the need to reintroduce his main protagonist by first and last name, "Robert Langdon stood in front of the church..."; like we haven't met this character yet for every single paragraph for the last 126 chapters (and no, I'm not exaggerating on the numbers of chapters).

This really, really frustrating thing where the protagonist, Langdon, is this brainy professor that can supposedly figure out these relatively obscure, secret messages hidden by other brainy men hundreds of years ago in order to save the world... and yet he can't figure out the REALLY obvious things right in front of his face. I was listening to this on audiobook and I SWEAR, I kept expecting a three year old child to pipe up from somewhere in the back of the crowd, saying, "Oh, come on, mister! You can't see that? Seriously? Aren't you supposed to be the hero? Even I can see that!!

And, finally, lines like, "The silence that followed might as well have been thunder." Um, what... honestly, what? Is this Brown's version of "A thunderous silence followed..."?

It's really rather frustrating because I honestly think that in many ways Brown is rather talented; in some of his plotting, the details, the ideas he pulls together. I just wish that in other ways - the writing, some characterization, he could catch up with his other abilities.

After reading The Da Vinci Code, I was going to read both this and Digital Fortress but I do believe I will stop here... wishing I could tip it over to the three stars.

I enjoyed "The Da Vinci Code" as a trashy good time, but then read this one and just couldn't stop rolling my eyes. Not only was it silly and formulaic, it made the silly formula underlying "The Da Vinci Code" all too clear. Really? Another middle-aged yet strangely attractive/brilliant male protagonist -- oh wait, the same one from the other book? Another grisly murder of an old dude kicking things off? Another hot foreign chick, related to the dead dude, helping solve the mystery? Another secret society intertwined with the Vatican? Really? Really? I can enjoy a trashy book, sure, but not when you're rubbing my nose in the stink...

Existe una corriente que critica lo "comercial" y en cierto modo me gustaría sentirme así (siendo poseedor de un paladar literario más refinado), pero la verdad es que cuando leí esta novela hace mas de quince años disfruté muchísimo.

Lo que más me gusta de un libro es que la historia me atrape y que sucedan muchas cosas (ritmo). Ángeles y demonios no solo cumplió con estas características sino que además sacó una gran nota.

¡Ahí tienes mis cinco, Dan!

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.

Blog | YouTube  | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn