Will I love Angels & Demons?

I love solving puzzles and learning something new, especially when it comes to art history. 

That’s how Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons reeled me in. I’m also crazy about Rome and had great fun trying to determine which famous locations the protagonists were in search of before they found them. Each of those historic sites included sculptures by Bernini—one of the most emotionally powerful sculptors I know.

For me, Brown’s descriptions of Bernini’s theatrical works made my heart race even faster. I’m fascinated by the way art speaks to us, pulls us, comforts us, or in this case, raises our… show more.

If you are one of those people (you know, the sort that read The DaVinci Code but didn’t read any of Dan Brown’s other—much better—books) stop what you are doing and upload Angels & Demons into your Nook or Kindle right now.

Dan Brown has his shortcomings, yes, but nobody does Vatican Intrigue better. Nobody. And his plotting and background research are truly exceptional. Read it.

While most people associate Dan Brown with his more famous work, The DaVinci Code, this first novel in his Robert Langdon series really founded the archaeological thriller genre.

I loved how this book transports readers to the milieu so thoroughly that it was a bit of a spoiler when I recognized one key location from my own time in Rome before the secret was revealed—but that's a testament to how well he conveys the scene! Brown invites us behind the scenes of secret societies, sharing insider information to raise the stakes.

I had the great good fortune to take… show more.

This book allows you to think outside the box. It introduces the reader to the thought of secret organizations and conspiracy theories of powerful organizations. A physicist is murdered and a vial of antimatter is stolen. They hire a symbologist to hunt down the vial from clues left by the Illuminati. The twists and turns the author uses, allows for you to try and come up with your own theories before he finally gives you the answers you’ve been looking for. The use of clever puzzles and clues given throughout the book can easily lead you to a false conclusion.… show more.

There’s nothing like a Dan Brown book to get you racing from page to page, and for me this is one of his best. It helps that I love Rome, and was working there as a tour guide when I read it. This is the easiest way to learn about Rome, and one of the most enjoyable. Alongside the fast-paced plot and intrigue, there is a lot of information about the history and in particular art history of Rome. A wonderful read if you are about to visit Rome, or would love to be transported there in your imagination.

Angels and Demons is exactly the kind of book I like to read (and write) because it combines tension and a murder mystery with an incredible setting—Rome—and smart, knowledgeable characters—Professor Langdon. It leads the reader on a tour de force to some of Rome’s most iconic artworks and buildings, such as the Pantheon, or Bernini’s sculpture of St. Teresa.

Before the movies, this was the lesser-known prequel to the hit novel, The Da Vinci Code. Laced with mind-blowing historical conspiracy and written at a detailed yet break-neck pace, this for me is Brown’s greatest novel. At the time, there was nothing that had this much research and detail behind it in the genre, which really set it apart from any conspiracy thriller out there. A true page-turner and a must for anyone’s collection.

It may not be the most highbrow of novels, but this slick, propulsive thriller is a brilliant exercise in pace, twists, and creativity. Dan Brown’s greatest strength is his ability to craft deliciously convoluted stories and weave the reader through them effortlessly, aided by his colorful characters, sense of humor, and wonderfully wicked scenarios. Of his thriller stock, Angels & Demons is by far his most refined, and it’s a definite recommendation for anyone looking for intensity, charm, and most of all, fun in their next read.

I first read this book shortly after visiting Rome about twenty years ago. Dan Brown includes the major fountains of Rome, and you learn a little about what the artists were thinking of when they constructed these works of art. I toured the public side of the Vatican, but I hadn’t realized some of its history and power that Angels & Demons put into perspective. I read the book before the death of Pope John Paul and understood the process they would go through to elect a new pope thanks to the fictional story of Angels & Demons.

I think by now it is obvious my main theme – Science is our way of understanding God’s ways. On the deathbed of Albert Einstein he had communicated that science is God’s way of explaining and demonstrating to humankind how the universe was made, and that because we were built in his image – we can create anything he has. Angels & Demons is a battle between religion and science and that they cannot co-exist. But from the beginning of this novel explores that science can replicate creation by creating antimatter. In the book, the pope gets killed and the… show more.