Most people have heard of “The Da Vinci Code,” and probably about 99 percent of those people have no idea what it’s about — me included. Therefore, I opted to read the other fabulous books in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdonseries. The first in the series is “Angels & Demons,” which is not only a one hell of a book, but also an ass-kicking movie.
I watched the movie before I read the book, so I knew what I was in for when I started. The book focuses on Harvard professor James Langdon, who is a symbologist. He is called to look at a symbol left on a dead body, and is slightly disturbed when he realizes the Illuminati seem to have resurfaced.
Langdon is then thrown into a dangerous and deadly hunt for the forgotten Illuminati church before a high tech bomb blows up the Vatican and four cardinals die. This book got a lot of criticism from the Catholic church, but it’s purely fiction.
The first 200 pages were slow for me. Since I saw the movie to begin with, the first 200 pages were 20 minutes, so I dragged my feet reading it. Once the plot picked up, it was hard to put down.
I really enjoyed the well thought out plot to this book. It took a lot of research and strategic thinking to write this book, so I give props to Brown. The reader can tell the amount of effort put into this book.
The best part of the book that was transferred on the screen was the actual thought process that went behind trying to find what churches held the specific statues. It’s one thing to read the thoughts behind the actions and see them being played out.
The one thing the movie didn’t play up was the relationship between Langdon and Vittoria Vetra. The two are professional in the movie, but have a sexual tension in the book. The book begins and ends with Langdon having the same dream of a young woman he is married to, which my guess points to Vetra, that never made it to the big screen either.
“Angles & Demons” gets my full approval and four stars. If you’ve never heard of the book, you’re lame, but if you never heard of the movie check out the trailer here.
