The #1 New York Times Bestseller (October 2017) from the author of The Da Vinci Code. Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist, and one of Langdon’s first students. But the … Langdon’s first students.
But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch’s precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced to flee. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch. They travel to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch’s secret.
Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade an enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain’s Royal Palace. They uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch’s shocking discovery…and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us.
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Fantastic and totally plausible!!
I finished it last night. I read over Labor Day weekend, it’s a page turner. It’s not the Davinci code buts it’s really good ! I’m
As with all Dan Brown books, it is a page-turner, one of his best. It was so good that I had to stop reading it to catch my breath. Characters are well defined and exciting. The plot was exciting as per usual for a Dan Brown book. In fact the whole darn book was exciting. How does he think this all up and put it down on paper? Read it NOW!!!!!!!!!!
Dan Brown does an excellent job of leading the reader down unexpected twists and turns but never leaves any loose ends. This book was no exception and was so entertaining I completed it in record time.
A few very short fuzzy chapters towards the end, but entertaining and genuine Fan Brown all the way through.
Was a bit predictable…not at usual level of Dan Brown books
The book was so engaging and I couldn’t put it down, but then I got to the final chapters and I was so disappointed. The ending and wrap up just sucked, I don’t know how else to put it. It was similar to Inferno for me, where I just couldn’t;t put it down and then you get the resolution and you think “Really? That’s it?”. Overall, disappointing.
Really enjoyed this book. I took three times as long to read it. Actually had to think. It’s been a while. Guess I was a bit rusty. Thanks Dan.
Fast paced and fun to read!
Dan Brown has the ability to bring out the deepest emotions in his readers, from religious questions or beliefs, to scientific facts, theories or unfounded beliefs. In this novel he brings it all together, keeping the reader on edge from page one to the epilogue.
Slow to start but is worth it to push through.
Thought provoking
Sigh. This is an easy one to review, but a difficult one to rate.
The buildup…I really hoped it wouldn’t disappoint. It was initially fun and exciting, but after a while, it started to pall ever so slightly. 22% (chapter 22) in and we still didn’t have any idea what the atheist scientist had discovered to prove that God didn’t exist. That was totally what the scientist was going for, right? Giving irrefutable proof that creation didn’t actually take place?
I must admit though, Brown IS repetitive. Were his prior novels like that? I didn’t notice when I read them. A post I saw about his formulaic writing when Origin was released seemed to have sensitised me. The post just listed how similar all his books have been so far (which is true, I gotta admit, but, I don’t really care) and how much he repeats phrases and scenes and whatnot. For example, he starts plenty chapters like you would start the latest episode of a TV serial show, complete with minor “previously on Origin” (I swear I heard Tom Hank’s voice saying that) where he mentions AGAIN something he’d just written about in a previous chapter LIKE WE DIDN’T JUST NOW READ THAT CHAPTER! I wish I could list examples… He also does this stuff where he writes a conversation in one language and immediately writes its English translation. Like, Dude, we get it. Just write it in English and tell us they had been speaking Yoruba.
But, seriously, enough nitpicking. I don’t really care. This story is good. If you can look beyond all the faults, and the attempts at suspense, you may actually end up enjoying yourself. The art, the locations, the symbols, the religion, the history, and, my God, the technology, which is something he’s not really explored in a Robert Langdon novel before. He attempted a bit of that in Deception Point and Digital Fortress, awesome books in their own rights. Michael Crichton MAY like this book. At least, I’m imagining him smiling indulgently…(RIP Dr Mike)
Some methods of manipulation here rather looked painfully rushed and childish. Brown seemed to be struggling to compress some points into a tiny book. It didn’t really work for me, but, I’ll overlook it in the overall picture. I get the point he’s trying to make. His method could just have been better. And, he seemed to also employ the eye-glaze-over method when it came to some “scientific” revelations. Y’know, that method where you purposely talk so much science, everyone just basically loses interest and waits for you to make your point.
It was almost painfully obvious who the bad guy was. All you needed to decipher that is to be in tune with certain Hollywood products. I’ll spoil it if I say more.
I vacillated (this is totally a word, right? I mean, it’s in my keyboard’s autocorrect and everything) between 3 stars and 4 stars for quite a while it was becoming Unreal… What I want to give it is 4 stars for the speed, the thrill of the chase, the knowledge acquired (there are TWO popes?? ). I want to give it 3 stars because, in the end, the discovery wasn’t…sigh. And it was predictable. Like I said, Hollywood. And some reasons weren’t explained. I think Brown forgot all about them. For example: who had some clergy killed and why? AND this didn’t really NEED to be a Robert Langdon book. Anyone could have been in his shoes and we wouldn’t have noticed the difference.
Here’s to finally reading a book ABOUT Langdon. However, don’t leave out the codes and symbols, lol.
I have read all of Dan Brown’s books but had somehow missed this one. He is such a great writer.
Love this book, as all Dan Brown books. Well researched, exciting story.
Better than expected with great descriptions of the scenery and architecture.
Excellent detective story as always, from Dan Brown. His delving into AI at the end was interesting, but very technical.Thought provoking, disturbing look at technology “ evolving”…
Long winded and not very ‘origin’al. My least favorite of the Robert Langdon books.
This is a great technology mystery story!
This is an awful Robert Langdon story!
Robert Langdon is renowned both in his fictional world, and in the minds of Brown’s readers as a symbologist who uses those skills to solve mysteries.
Honestly, you could have dropped any character into Robert’s place, and the story wouldn’t have changed much. I don’t know what Brown is doing with this character, but it feels like he’s stringing us all along in this Robert Langdon series for money, and continuing to put Robert in situations that don’t make sense.
The only reason I am giving 2 stars instead of 1 is because the story idea itself isn’t bad. But it’s just not a good Robert Langdon story.
One of Dan Brown’s best. Thought provoking. Don’t know how he could know so much about so many different things. Right up there with Da Vinci Code!