Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

[DJC]

Dear God its dross.

Now I read Deception Point, Digital Fortress, A & D and The DVC before they became famous and the hype started. I admit to finding A&D OK, The DVC excellent, Deception Point again just OK and Digital Fortress bored me rigig so much I never got past half way.

The Lost Symbol is definately in the "OK" section and the lower end at that.

Highly not recommended.

[100SRV]

I read "Digital Fortress" and the other one about the Vatican and am inclined to agree with you, to be honest I find that books by Mr Brown and the chap who wrote the Bourne series tend to dwell too much on how brilliant / clever / beautiful the main protaganists are and rely too heavily on clumsy coincidence in plot. I remember reading a book in the Bourne series one holiday - "Bourne was puzzled by his ability to speak the local dialect" (he was in a remote part of Ethiopia I think) come on guys! I know that in a novel you are supposed to suspend belief but that is taking too far!

As a result of my disappointing experiences with fiction (the McNab series seemed to be heading in the same direction) I tend to stick to accounts written by those who were there - "Chickenhawk" and "Low level hell" spring immediately to mind - not over-full of prose just plenty of fact and description.

Not all my reading is along those lines - John Steinbeck's books are absolute gems...

100SRV

[CommanderJameson]

From another place, far away:

Ecks Ridgehead said:

Dan Brown said:

Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, peered at the body of renowned Louvre historyologist Gaston Comunrenard, 66. A big, horrible knife was sticking out of his back, and the fingers of his outstretched hands pointed to a series of Scrabble tiles that had been arranged meticulously on the floor.
The fingers of his outstretched hands point to a series of Scrabble tiles that have been arranged meticulously on the floor, thought Langdon. What can it mean?
Suddenly renowned Oxbridge University mathematologist Boobie Chestington, 39, burst into the museum.
"I got your call," Chestington murmured, "I got here as fast as I could. What's happened?"
"It's renowned Louvre historyologist Gaston Comunrenard, 66," whispered Langdon, "He's dead."
"Has he left any encrypted clues to the identity of his killer?" shouted Chestington.
"Each of his fingers points to a Scrabble tile," Langdon intoned.
Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, peered at the tiles: 'I-L-L-U-M-I-N-A-T-I'.
What could it mean? he thought.
"Is it a code?" demanded Chestington.
"Almost certainly," whimpered Langdon, "Something devious like A=1, B=2, probably."
"You can solve it, I know you can," cooed Chestington, "You're the greatest symbolologist in Harvard, and the whole world."
She's right, thought Langdon. But this will require all my code-breaking skills, and will take me right across Paris, past easily recognisable landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and I'll probably have to escape from some cartoonish villains as well.
Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, knew he was in for a long night.

[Steamer]

^^^^ I heard a similar review about The Lost Symbol.

Apparently 'the man with grey eyes, eyes that where too light to be black and too dark to be white' gets a mention umpteen times within the first 100 pages.

Edited by Steamer on Thursday 17th September 19:37

[CommanderJameson]

100SRV said:

I find that books by Mr Brown and the chap who wrote the Bourne series tend to dwell too much on how brilliant / clever / beautiful the main protagonists are

In that case, you should avoid Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. Apart from being tedious, appallingly badly written tripe from start to finish, Cornwell never, ever, ever misses an opportunity to tell us how amazing sheScarpetta is.

[cazzer]

CommanderJameson said:

From another place, far away:

Ecks Ridgehead said:

Dan Brown said:

Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, peered at the body of renowned Louvre historyologist Gaston Comunrenard, 66. A big, horrible knife was sticking out of his back, and the fingers of his outstretched hands pointed to a series of Scrabble tiles that had been arranged meticulously on the floor.
The fingers of his outstretched hands point to a series of Scrabble tiles that have been arranged meticulously on the floor, thought Langdon. What can it mean?
Suddenly renowned Oxbridge University mathematologist Boobie Chestington, 39, burst into the museum.
"I got your call," Chestington murmured, "I got here as fast as I could. What's happened?"
"It's renowned Louvre historyologist Gaston Comunrenard, 66," whispered Langdon, "He's dead."
"Has he left any encrypted clues to the identity of his killer?" shouted Chestington.
"Each of his fingers points to a Scrabble tile," Langdon intoned.
Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, peered at the tiles: 'I-L-L-U-M-I-N-A-T-I'.
What could it mean? he thought.
"Is it a code?" demanded Chestington.
"Almost certainly," whimpered Langdon, "Something devious like A=1, B=2, probably."
"You can solve it, I know you can," cooed Chestington, "You're the greatest symbolologist in Harvard, and the whole world."
She's right, thought Langdon. But this will require all my code-breaking skills, and will take me right across Paris, past easily recognisable landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and I'll probably have to escape from some cartoonish villains as well.
Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, knew he was in for a long night.

What happens next? I was just getting into that.

[whirligig]

I find all that italics to show what he's thinking really get on my nerves.
The DVC and A&D I quite enjoyed but Deception Point was amazingly bad. The bit where they are escaping from the baddies on the ice and a friendly submarine just happens to surface to rescue them......awful. Not rushing to buy this one but probably will in the end!

[DrTre]

cazzer said:

CommanderJameson said:

From another place, far away:

Ecks Ridgehead said:

Dan Brown said:

Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, peered at the body of renowned Louvre historyologist Gaston Comunrenard, 66. A big, horrible knife was sticking out of his back, and the fingers of his outstretched hands pointed to a series of Scrabble tiles that had been arranged meticulously on the floor.
The fingers of his outstretched hands point to a series of Scrabble tiles that have been arranged meticulously on the floor, thought Langdon. What can it mean?
Suddenly renowned Oxbridge University mathematologist Boobie Chestington, 39, burst into the museum.
"I got your call," Chestington murmured, "I got here as fast as I could. What's happened?"
"It's renowned Louvre historyologist Gaston Comunrenard, 66," whispered Langdon, "He's dead."
"Has he left any encrypted clues to the identity of his killer?" shouted Chestington.
"Each of his fingers points to a Scrabble tile," Langdon intoned.
Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, peered at the tiles: 'I-L-L-U-M-I-N-A-T-I'.
What could it mean? he thought.
"Is it a code?" demanded Chestington.
"Almost certainly," whimpered Langdon, "Something devious like A=1, B=2, probably."
"You can solve it, I know you can," cooed Chestington, "You're the greatest symbolologist in Harvard, and the whole world."
She's right, thought Langdon. But this will require all my code-breaking skills, and will take me right across Paris, past easily recognisable landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and I'll probably have to escape from some cartoonish villains as well.
Renowned Harvard symbolologist Robert Langdon, 46, knew he was in for a long night.

What happens next? I was just getting into that.

Top work all of you.

[HA51EMT]

whirligig said:

I find all that italics to show what he's thinking really get on my nerves.
The DVC and A&D I quite enjoyed but Deception Point was amazingly bad. The bit where they are escaping from the baddies on the ice and a friendly submarine just happens to surface to rescue them......awful. Not rushing to buy this one but probably will in the end!

I'll not bother reading any further then!

Only joking,
DP was pure dross.
DF sussed out the baddie straight away.
A&D quite enjoyed, was the first one I read.
DVC didn't enjoy as much as A&D.
Again probably get this one sometime.

Tel.

[100SRV]

CommanderJameson said:

100SRV said:

I find that books by Mr Brown and the chap who wrote the Bourne series tend to dwell too much on how brilliant / clever / beautiful the main protagonists are

In that case, you should avoid Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. Apart from being tedious, appallingly badly written tripe from start to finish, Cornwell never, ever, ever misses an opportunity to tell us how amazing sheScarpetta is.

Your mention of Cornwell reminded me of the Arthur trilogy by Bernard Cornwell (is he related to Patricia?) and the book he wrote about stonehenge, also I read a bit of a Sharpe book too - I get impression that the narrative is the same and they use a macro to change places,dates and names.

ETA:
Are Colin Dexter's novels a good read? I enjoyed some of the Morse series by am wary of being let down by the books...

Having run down a few writers I must recommend Philip Pullman's books, the subtle knife is excellent - superb imagination and storytelling.

Happy reading!

Edited by 100SRV on Thursday 17th September 21:57

[AlpineWhite]

Only read Digital Fortress. It was enough to make sure I won't read any of his other books!

[Oily Nails]

100SRV said:

...... by Bernard Cornwell (is he related to Patricia?) and the book he wrote about stonehenge, also I read a bit of a Sharpe book too - I get impression that the narrative is the same and they use a macro to change places,dates and names.

Unfortunately you are correct, I am a big fan of the early SHARPE novels, but most of the other series from Bernard is as you state....Macro name/places change.
The worst offender of his different series is the 'STARBUCK' novels, set in the American Civil war. In each book Starbuck stops a private from firing a musket/rifle that the private keeps loading without priming/firing



Although I did enjoy the 'HARLEQUIN' series, set in the medieval period around the time of the 100 years war

[suthol]

CommanderJameson said:

In that case, you should avoid Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. Apart from being tedious, appallingly badly written tripe from start to finish, Cornwell never, ever, ever misses an opportunity to tell us how amazing sheScarpetta is.

Must confess to having read quite a few of these, light entertainment to read on holiday whilst lying in the sun with a beer in hand.

In a similar vein but a bit grittier have a look at Tess Gerritsen's work, should curl your toes a bit.

Edited by suthol on Thursday 17th September 23:11

[CommanderJameson]

suthol said:

CommanderJameson said:

In that case, you should avoid Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. Apart from being tedious, appallingly badly written tripe from start to finish, Cornwell never, ever, ever misses an opportunity to tell us how amazing sheScarpetta is.

Must confess to having read quite a few of these, light entertainment to read on holiday whilst lying in the sun with a beer in hand.

In a similar vein but a bit grittier have a look at Tess Gerritsen's work, should curl your toes a bit.

I enjoyed some of the earlier Scarpetta novels, such as From Potter's Field and Postmortem.

Scarpetta, though, was utter bilge.

[bridgdav]

I've just downloaded 'The Lost Symbol' as a PDF..

I'll read a couple of chapters, then decide if the books worth it, or wait until its in the charadee shops in a couple of weeks.

PM if you want a copy..;)

[Galsia]

In my opinion if it gets most of the undercless learning to read properly then its a good thing.

Edited by Galsia on Thursday 17th September 23:18

[him_over_there]

Galsia said:

In my opinion if it gets most of the undercless learning to read properly then its a good thing.

Edited by Galsia on Thursday 17th September 23:18

]

There's a chasm between being able to read properly and being able to read Dan Brown

[ettore]

him_over_there said:

Galsia said:

In my opinion if it gets most of the undercless learning to read properly then its a good thing.

Edited by Galsia on Thursday 17th September 23:18

]

There's a chasm between being able to read properly and being able to read D

Brown

Quite - ste, ste, ste.

Anyone who has ever read anymore than one Dan Brown title should automatically be banned from commenting on any other book. In fact, they should be banned from commenting on any subject at all.

Did I say, ste, ste, ste..?

[maser_spyder]

Sorry to be a literary snob, but ANY book, with thoughts in italics deserves to go straight in file 13....

Ban Drown et. al said:

Mr Dick Face walked in to the room.

What am I doing here he thought.

He turned to face the wall.

Has that wall moved since last time? he wondered?

etc. etc. ad finitum

Christ, talk about 'reading for dummies'.

If you want to read pap, there's SUCH better stuff out there. Robert Harris is along the same vein, simple to read, but from memory, there's nothing in italics to treat you like a total moron.

I honestly think Dan Brown is written for people who have had at least part of their brains removed. If ever I'm a dribbling vegetable (which may be sooner than I think), I'll probably whittle my way through the whole lot and thoroughly enjoy them.

[maser_spyder]

ettore said:

him_over_there said:

Galsia said:

In my opinion if it gets most of the undercless learning to read properly then its a good thing.

Edited by Galsia on Thursday 17th September 23:18

]

There's a chasm between being able to read properly and being able to read D

Brown

Quite - ste, ste, ste.

Anyone who has ever read anymore than one Dan Brown title should automatically be banned from commenting on any other book. In fact, they should be banned from commenting on any subject at all.

Did I say, ste, ste, ste..?

Hooray! I kindred spirit!