Caution: May contain spoilers.

As a hardcore fan of Brown, there's no surprise that I expected a lot from the latest installation to his series of Robert Langdon novels. Maybe I expected just a little TOO much, hence explaining the disappointments.

Okay, I do admit, this book IS a blast, and looking from sales alone (it is the fastest selling adult-market novel in history, with over one million copies sold on the first day of release), you know how popular Dan Brown really is and how many people shared the same amount of anticipation as me.

BUT (yes, there's always the butt), I felt that the climax of the story falls short of the build up and character reactions. And the ending was not exactly "satisfying." I don't get the feeling I got after I put down "Digital Fortress" and "Da Vinci Code." It was just not... breathtaking enough. Although it still can be considered as a page-turner, I don't quite think it's half as good as the 2 books I've mentioned above. Actually, now that I come to think about it, even "Deception Point" was better. :/

The good stuff.
It's easy to read. You don't need much knowledge of anything to enjoy the book (as long as you have a good sense of imagination). I actually googled some of the places and paintings that were featured in the novel and I was kind of surprised by the fact that most of my "mental creations" actually matched up to the actual imagery. :O Well I guess the credit goes to Brown's wonderful descriptions.

The smart use of symbols, mythology and conspiracy theories never failed to impress me. Obviously, this man took months and years to conduct his research. So don't expect any flaws, and expect everything to be as real and as scary as it can be. The dollar bill + 2 opposing pyramids and the marking of the word "MASONS" pops up?? Many things in the book will simply blow your minds away.

Now for the bad stuff.
I don't really see the relevance of Katherine's research to pretty much anything at all. Okay, she made quite an amazing discovery and I'm pretty sure that after reading the book, there'd be a lot of people who will begin to develop a keen interest in the research of Noetic Science. BUT, I seriously don't see her research as even barely relevant to the development of the story. Does it have to do with anything at all? How would her research affect Z at all? Hmm...

And sometimes it gets really tedious to read parts of the book because Brown would choose all the wrong timings to introduce "profound points" or "important knowledge" when what I really want to know is "what happens next??" Lol and the painful thing is that I can't just flip over to the next page. That just won't do.

But all in all, I still feel that "The Lost Symbol" is a generally good book and I'm quite positive about it. Out of the 5 books, my favourite remains as the "Digital Fortress." This is probably my 4th or 5th favourite.

Okay friends, that's all for today.
Ciao!

Labels: Books, Dan Brown