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A Very Good Second Novel, The First Robert Landon Novel

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2019

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"Angels & Demons" is a very good suspense thriller set primarily in The Vatican City. The novel is the second novel by Dan Brown, the first being "Digital Fortress". This is the first of the "Robert Langdon" series. It is a medium length, fast paced novel that is written in modern conversational English and is mostly an easy read. The chapters are mostly short and the novel can be read in intervals during work breaks, etc., without losing the flow of the story. I liked it very much.

Although somewhat similar in format to "Digital Fortress" this novel marks a distinct improvement and the story line is completely independent of "Digital Fortress". There is little or no gratuitous vulgar language in this novel, another distinct improvement over "Digital Fortress". "Angels & Demons" is dedicated specifically to Dan Brown's mother and I cannot help but wonder if this elevated the author's lexicon to a level more consistent with good literature. The first novel was dedicated to both of his parents.

The novel is primarily set in Vatican City and is a mystery thriller. The story requires detective work of a more academic nature than the average violent street felony. Although I am a retired detective and I read a good bit, I would not have been able to work though this case on my own, in the time allotted in the novel, without Robert Langdon's expertise. I really enjoyed the academic aspect of this novel and this was my favorite part of the novel. I did parallel reading and learned a good deal.

This novel features yet another semi omniscient uber villain who cannot resist spewing background information to his victims. Personally I last encountered this in "The Lincoln Letter", another academic mystery novel. I never encountered villains of this nature in my professional career and I have concluded that this is a literary device to shorten and simplify the story. I preferred this novel over "The Lincoln Letter".

In summary, I really enjoyed this novel. It is a distinct improvement over the author's first novel. The two stories stand alone and a reader can skip the first novel without missing anything in this second novel. Although very academic it is still a relatively easy read and I prefer it to other mystery novels by contemporary American male authors such as James Patterson and Dean Koontz. I mean no disrespect to them, I just liked this novel better. Thank You...

Dmytro

primitive and illogical

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2018

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Couldn't make it past 10%

CERN director, supposedly a physicist and a man of science behaves like a kid, making far going conclusios from nearly absent evidence. No scientist would ever thought like that.

I see a symbol — that must be illuminati. Find them! What? What do you mean illumati do not exist? But the symbols is there, so your words must be a lie!

And all that considering, no one ever saw an illumati insigna before, according to Dan Brown.

This is a disgustingly primitive and illogical book.

Peter Insabella

A stinkeroo

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2019

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First off, let's mention what's good about this book:
1. The author moves the plot along briskly.
2. See #1.

After reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which is a really stupid book, I should have been warned off Dan Brown. But I thought, "What the heck," I'll give Angels and Demons a try. How bad can it be?
Pretty bad.
The premise of the book, science vs. religion, is interesting. But the story soon veers off into the improbable and then it lands in the absurd.
The actual writing of the book is poor. Many of the sentences sound like they were done by a 6th grader. And the hero of the book, Robert Langdon, goes from one improbable, life-threatening, situation right into another, and then another.
It's just a ridiculous book.

Dan Brown's First Controversial Novel

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2019

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A neverending sequence of crises and turmoil, this first of the Robert Langdon series was Dan Brown's third novel. It's fast-paced action makes it a fun read, although some of the backstories often were distracting and wisely eliminated from the movie version. The historical context and scientific elements added interest, while often misstating reality and adding information that sometimes bogged down the story, but overall, it was an enjoyable fictional reading experience.

The characters were interesting with a few fully developed, yet complex enough for their motives to vary and become conflicted as the story progressed. Although much of the religious information was accurate, Brown obviously ignored, adapted, or invented several elements. As such, this is a novel garnished with some truth.

I generally like the author's style and intense tone, while only wishing he used fewer words to make the storyline more consistent with the actual time realistically available to the characters.

Brown's writing continues to improve with later books, but this one is essential to understanding the Robert Langdon character and series.

The Audible narration was a pleasant supplement, helping to drive the story forward, especially at one-and-a-half times speed. So glad Audible has this feature!

A good book to read over several days or a couple of weeks because I found myself including online research to understand better some of the locations, historical, and scientific elements.

Lynn Swan

A wild ride

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2019

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Dan Brown is a magnificent storyteller. Tackling the centuries old debate of science vs religion as a backdrop to his adventure, Angels & Demons takes the reader on a fast paced wild ride of devotions taken to extremes and what can happen. Just because we can - does it mean we should? The depth of the research for this book is staggering and makes the reader feel like they have been invited to glimpse inside the Vatican in ways few will ever really experience. It makes you want to go to Rome and follow the trail of the Illuminati and take in all the beauty and fine details lost by the overwhelming magnitude of the masters’ works. Great book. Thoroughly enjoyable and easy to get wrapped up in it and lose track of time.

Top reviews from other countries

Jane

FINALLY!

Reviewed in India on September 10, 2018

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FINALLY, after so so long, I am introduced to the amazing and famous Robert Langdon.

Yes this is my first Dan Brown read. Being told numerous times by my friends (both readers and non readers) how great Dan Brown's books are, I finally do it. And I gotta be honest, I didn't feel it.

It's not like I didn't like it from the very beginning. I was hooked for 3/4th of the book. And by hooked I mean, sleep was irrelevant the night I read this book. All I wanted was to know what happened in the next chapter. With each page, it was intense and thrilling. And there were several moments that completely blew my mind away. One thing I have to say is I frigging commend Dan Brown for doing so much research and getting his facts right. That made the story more realistic and less fictional.

The read was going so well until it reached a point where I legit went "ARE YOU FRIGGING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!! NOO THIS ISN'T HOW IT SHOULD END?!!" *siigh* I was honestly frustrated when the story took that turn. It was going so well and I was thoroughly enjoying it, but the ending blew it for me. I was genuinely disappointed.

But, don't let this stop you from picking this book up and giving it a shot. Most of the people who have read this book loved it. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean you wouldn't like it too. This isn't the first time I'm part of a minority :P

CaroleQ

Angels and demons

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2018

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Angels and Demons

Approximately fifteen years ago I was introduced to the writing of Dan Brown. More by accident than design I picked up a copy of his entertaining but controversial book ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and read it over a day or two. However the story of the main character, symbologist Robert Langdon did not begin with that book it commenced in Brown’s earlier publication ‘Angels and Demons’.

An eminent scientist is murdered and items relating to his work are removed from his laboratory. Simultaneously the leaders of the Catholic Church are about to go into conclave to elect a new pope. Unbeknownst to the cardinals four of their number disappear just prior to conclave commencing. There is also evidence of the missing laboratory item having been placed on the grounds of Vatican City. Rumours abound of the return of a historical anti-Catholic organisation known as the Illuminati.

Langdon is brought in because of his historical knowledge of the Illuminati. Drawing on his knowledge he follows the Illuminati trail across Rome in an effort to find who the modern day perpetrators are. Assisted by the murdered scientists daughter and having access to the Vatican archives Langdon finds evidence of Church secrets going back many centuries.

In a book which simultaneously highlights the spiritual core of the Catholic Church whilst challenging the concept of Papal infallibility Brown creates a drama which keeps readers guessing right until the last pages. Made into a successful but sadly inferior movie the book enriches the reader with its attention to detail and its emphasis on the historical evolution of the Catholic Church. Brown makes public the perhaps privately held view that the Church has focused on suppressing the human spirit to fit into a narrative of its own making.

I enjoyed my return to this eminently readable book. Truthful? Who knows. It certainly raises questions on topics that the Catholic Church has always regarded as being sacrosanct. Written several hundred years ago I suspect Brown might have had to deal with a lot more direct criticism from the Vatican than he actually received. However one thing is clear and that is the Catholic Church’s actions then and now shows its human frailty and human limitations more clearly than I suspect they would like?

Pascale FM

Very enjoyable if you like ancient mysteries and secret societies...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2017

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I loved it. It is one of these books you can't put down once your start. I am a lover of conspiracy theories, so, Angels and Demons appealed to me. I only bought it because the author is well known but I did not expect it to be so good. I thought it would be a lot of hype and little substance. Nope, you can feel a lot of research has been done. Robert langdon's character is great and you would like to know more about his life, why he is still a bachelor etc... but the best bits were about the history of the Illuminati and the science bits. This I really enjoyed while learning a lot.
Sometimes, the descriptions do go on a bit, like if you are in a classroom, so, I may have fastworded the reading a bit. Mea culpa! but I will still rate this book 5 stars.
I did not write about the plot, plenty of other reviewers have done this much better than I would.

Tracey

Angels and Demons

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2020

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Symbologist Robert Langdon is called to CERN following the murder of one of the scientists apparently by the Illuminati. Soon he finds himself caught up in a series of events that has the world watching to see what will happen next.
I love the film version of Angels and Demons but after finally reading the book I have to say I prefer it over the movie.
The book is in places completely different to the film and contains characters not in the film version. To me the book is the complete story and I'm glad I read it.
If you've seen the film, do yourself a favour and read the book. You won't regret it.

R. D. Mayles

An all action read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2020

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From the very start this book never lacks pace. A great story with lots of interesting detail. However one event in the book seemed t o be confused by a similar event later in the book ,the event being the branding again of the same man. I went back and reread but could not fathom it out.Anyway a jolly good read but it did have a very boring theological debate in it about 50 pages from the end that was quite unnecessary and very tedious. The End seemed to drag on and on but I kept going. It was going to be a 4star but it scrapped in as a 5 .

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