Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code

Genre: thriller/mystery

    I doubt Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series is unfamiliar to most people nowadays, as it is such a big name in the popular fiction space. I had read Inferno in the past, and I think I started Origins but only got halfway through. But with my new acquisition of the Kobo Clara Reader (I’m very excited to start my reading journey with it), I decided to start off with this book, which seems to be one of Dan Brown’s classics. I’ve always considered the Robert Langdon character to be an iconic one, as the series tries to blend in cultural and historical values through art and other practices, and I usually learn a thing or two from it.

After finishing this book, all I can say is, the book is not for me.

The book started out just fine, beginning with a journey to the Louvre (from which I learned about the museum’s layout, interiors, and some of its art pieces). The story follows an investigation into a crime scene where the victim has directed Robert Langdon to uncover a truth he wanted to pass on, all while Langdon is a fugitive.

The writing style is fine, I enjoyed the scenes of action: the thrill of being wanted, deceptive ways of escaping, the clever ways of cracking the puzzle, and the joy of discovery. However halfway to the book, the interpretation of the arts start to get sideways on the conspiracy side of the secret society and the Christianity side of things. I’m not a very religious person, and the story just takes it too deeply into the religious side of things, that I had lost interest, and find myself skimming the parts of the book where the analysis of things started, resuming only when there is action to move the plot forward.

Once again, a very personal take. I’ve not read enough to give a good critique, but what I know is the book is not a definitive pickup for everyone, and certainly not for me.