|
|
|
In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair - a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the the Vatican. But, with each revelation comes another twist, another
turn in the plot, which leaves Langdon and Vetra reeling at the mercy of
a seemingly invincible enemy... |
|
|
|
This was a fairly absorbing (and quick) read, despite coming in at a little over 600 pages. It definitely wasn't without it's problems though, and I admit to being distracted easily by uneasy narrative or stretching the bounds of reality too far. In this case from the opening moments of the book I was ill at ease, trying to ignore the Mills and Boon intro to the Lead character, Robert Langton. Beware, herein lieth spoilers of great magnitude. In the early hours of the morning Langton receives what can only be described as a summons to CERN, a technologically advanced science facility in the heart of Geneva. Langton's mind is in a whirl after being faxed a picture of a brutal cult murder, and travelling to Europe in the blink of an eye in a new mach 15 super jet. When he arrives at the facility he meets Maximilian Kohler, a renowned scientist and director of CERN. Kohler explains his predicament, that Leonardo Vetra, a Nobel prize winning scientist, has been killed by an anti-religious cult long considered dead. The Illuminati. The full scope of the crisis becomes frighteningly clear when the dead physicist's daughter, Vittoria, arrives and explains what she and her father have been working on. In an effort to unite God and science the Vetra's have created matter from nothing, proving that the creation myth stands up to scientific scrutiny. The only problem being that Newtonian law insists that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, in this case anti-matter. To the horror of all concerned a sample of the deadly substance has been stolen, and the Illuminati's ancient war with the Catholic church has been ignited for one last, final battle. I said I had problems with the story, and now I can explain them fully. First Kohler's choice of Langdon was wholly unbelievable. As a reader am I really supposed to think a man too paranoid to call the police to investigate a famed scientist's death would rather pluck a relatively unknown name off the internet and share with him one of history's most explosive (no pun intended) discoveries? There was a point in the book that it seemed to make sense, when Kohler was portrayed as the 'bad guy', but by the end I was struck by this problem's vastness and so couldn't really trust what I was reading. In order to really enjoy a book I need to be able to relax and suspend reality, but when fundamental flaws jump out of the narrative at the beginning of a book I find it incredibly hard to then relax again. From that point on any detail that doesn't convince me leaps out at me demanding attention. I can't help it, it's just the way I'm built and damn those authors out there who don't take their responsibility seriously enough to clear up nagging doubts straight away! So blame Dan Brown for the following diatribe, and also for including HUGE spoilers! Did I mention there were spoilers? The love interest was set up from the first page, when describing our uber-masculine lead with his sturdy six-foot swimmer's body, toned to perfection with daily laps. It was worse when we met his female companion, in what can only be described as literary masturbation. Clad in kahki shorts covering chestnut skin, legs perfectly toned from Hatha yoga. Her long black hair swirling in the backwind of the helicopter rotors, and a brain the size of a planet. Oh really? No smart cookie would ever get out of a helicopter without tying, or holding, back her hair! You'd never get a comb through it again! There really was only one reason to introduce her so crassly, and that was because it was a shag-teaser. At some point in the book these two beautiful people were going to get naked and do the wild thing. Must read on then! Wouldn't want to miss that, eh? No, no, no! Romance is great, in moderation, but the kack-handed way this little tryst was set up just made me cringe. No subtlety, no suspense, no doubt that they were gonna shag, and the final scene of the book was just the most horrible clichéd mess I've read in a while. "You've never been to bed with a yoga master, have you?" Ahhhhhh, no more, no more! Before I get on to a more fundemental issue I had with the story I want to bitch about two things that dove off the page at me and made me swear, growl and generally curse the day I'd picked up the book (Saturday). This was the first: "in the wrong hands antimatter could be deadly. Very Deadly." Ahhhhhhhh. Sorry, but either something's deadly or it isn't, it can't be very deadly! Unless you're reading The Princess Bride things are either dead or they're not, there are no degrees! The second completely pissed me off, because Dan Brown is trying to write a scholarly and intellectual book based around real myths and real history, so the following blunder was entirely unforgivable. 'He inched slowly into the darkness, keeping one hand on the wall. The stone felt sharp on his fingertips. For an instant Langdon recalled the ancient myth of Deadalus, how the boy kept one hand on the wall as he moved through the Minotaur's labyrinth, knowing he was guaranteed to find the end if he never broke contact with the wall.' Where to begin! Bloody hell! Firstly it was Theseus who used that method to escape the labyrinth...well, actually he used a thread given to him by Ariadne, we'll skip that for now. Deadalus built the labyrinth, and famously couldn't escape, having to build wings of feathers and wax so he and his son Icarus could fly out to safety...remember that legend? How could a classical scholar and symbolist get that wrong? I admit that by that point I had already lost any faith in this book as anything more than sheer thrill-a-minute action and got on with reading. The real trouble with the book was that the hero was dumb. Totally thick as two short planks, not even the sharpest knife in a drawer full of knives voted bluntest in the world! At every step of the way (ok, beyond the actual finding of the altars of science) he displayed ignorance beyond that normally known to man. From Big Bang theory to logic, his lack of mental where-with-all was stunning. As a reader and occasional writer I'm fully aware or the difficulties with exposition, however there are ways of doing it that don't diminish the believability of the prime movers. Another author, Kathy Reich, is a good example of informing the reader going badly wrong, when her heroine (a forensics expert) questions other experts in areas anyone with even a fleeting brush with crime would have basic knowledge of. Dan Brown stands guilty of similar crimes. Later Langton has an extensive bitch session about being denied access to Vatican archives, and in particular a publication by Galileo that figures heavily in the story. At no point does he consider the most logical reason he'd been turned away, that he didn't actually understand the language the document was written in! Using the book for research purposes would have been impossible for him without creating a copy of the book, and in the process risking damaging it, or taking an interpreter, compromising the archives. The most annoying instance of the guy's lack of logic comes at page 183, when the exact location of the anti-matter bomb became instantly obvious and yet no one even considered the Hassassin's words relevant. The book could have been an awful lot shorter if Langton hadn't been examining Vittoria's legs and other assets and put his mind to the problem at hand. I admit, the treasure hunt was good fun, and what Dan Brown did best of all was write action sequences, something many authors struggle to bring alive. It did get a little repetitive and (once they had deciphered the Galileo) simplistic. I was hoping for a much more in depth examination of mystical symbolism beyond stating common knowledge and going 'wow' at the Illuminati brands. The brands were something I found incredibly imaginative, and they were beautifully designed. I don't know if they were created for the book or are authentic, either way I liked seeing them on the page. Ok, the last big inconsistency. Vittoria is nearly raped by the Hassassin, and he slices through her khaki shorts with his knife...moments later they are winging their way back to the Vatican. Was she just in her knickers? Did she have a spare pair about her person? I had this image of Vittoria running through St. Peter's square in her underwear, when she'd previously been chastised for having short pants on. So, to sum up...the book was very easy to read, and was certainly jam packed full of action. It didn't live up to my expectation of an intellectual read, not like A Secret History by Donna Tartt which was truly staggering in it's beauty. This felt like I was reading a blockbuster, pulp which didn't stand up to close scrutiny and with no real integrity. It was the literary equivalent of watching 24, and equally dodgy on the timings. That didn't make it a bad book, just not the book I thought I had signed up for. I wanted to read a mystery and ended up with a rather complex conspiracy thriller. Of it's kind it was good, but not a damn patch on The Wine of Angels, which I'm very tempted to reread. I very much enjoyed the backdrop debate of religion vs science, and a lot of work went into creating compelling arguments on both sides.
|
