Dan Brown

jonny68 · 11-02-2005 01:20AM #1

Just wondering what people think of his books?Having read The Da Vinci Code,its an awesome book and prompted me to go out and buy Digital Fortress which im looking forward to read..its not often a writer catches my imagination like this..

http://www.danbrown.com/

rainbow kirby · 11-02-2005 01:25AM

Angels and Demons is VERY similar to the Da Vinci Code. Good read though, I read it in 1 3.5 hour session (I'm an insanely fast reader). Digital Fortress rocks. Start reading!

fade2black · 11-02-2005 01:48AM

Dan Brown is an excellent researcher but he's not a very good writer. His character treatment is some of the worst I've ever seen. DA Vinci Code and Angels and Demons work because of the subject matter, his own plot and twists etc are terrible in my opinion, but hey thats just me. By the way, there are a good few threads floating around on this subject already.

mycroft · 11-02-2005 02:37AM

Possibly one of the most annoying books I've read, ever.

For starts I'm staggered by the amount of people who take what he wrote as Cannon, or fact.

The idea of this book is such a rip off of far superior work like Robert Anton Wilson's the Illumanti trilogy and Eco's "Focault's Pendenlum"

It breaks one of my cardinal rules of fiction (never buy any book which features the words, "beautiful, brilliant, and mathematican" as a character description"; see also film rules, JLO as a criminal psychologist )

I read it over a weekend while working, my girlfriend runs a 2nd hand bookshop, and got it for me, as I knew it would be quiet, I was staggered at how moronic and flimsy the plot was.

The only thing that made it worthwhile was the person who read it before me was so frustrated at the plodding plot that they took to writing sarcastic comments in the margin so spoiler: when our intrepid hero a havard professor and his brilliant cryptographer sidekick take FOUR PAGES to figure out the 10 digit code to the Swiss Safe Deposit Box might in fact be the same 10 numbers the dead curator scrawled by his corpse, I found "about ****ing time" scrawled next to the page. I swear it was the only thing that made that dreadful book worth reading.

Finally I found the book to be an enormous cop out. It makes no reference to the fact that the Grail could change the religious and political situation in the middle east, solve many of the issues that cause conflict between Muslims and Christians, and weaken the church considerately. Finally in case it offended right wing catholics it makes Opus Dei a pupper organisation for the evil villian instead of portraying it as it is a bloody sinister fascict catholic group.

Frankly I'd not wipe my arse on the pages because the cheap paper is too coarse.

It's a contemptable dull book the characters are more childish and poorly written then an edith B famous

limbovski · 11-02-2005 02:46AM

That was harsh :eek:

I'm slightly with you on the treatment of characters and I think his books follow a formula somewhat... but overall they're definitely worth a read.

billy the squid · 11-02-2005 02:47AM

I would go with the idea that although his research is quite good, his writing skills are lacking somewhat.

Angels and Demons is the prequel to the Da Vinci Code, and it shows in that the Angels and Demons book was a better story. The endings of both books were predictible to be honest.

as for the other two books. deception point and digital fortress. they were ok but they were not edge of your seat like the other two.

Spalk0 · 11-02-2005 10:07AM

Well ive read all his books in a short period of time(about 1 and a half weeks)
Have to say i like them though!I would be more of a Dean Koontz fan though!

Angels and Demons was my favourite!
Da Vinci code does get you thinking though!

AARRRGH · 11-02-2005 10:11AM

fade2black wrote:

Dan Brown is an excellent researcher but he's not a very good writer. His character treatment is some of the worst I've ever seen. DA Vinci Code and Angels and Demons work because of the subject matter, his own plot and twists etc are terrible in my opinion, but hey thats just me. By the way, there are a good few threads floating around on this subject already.

I agree 100%.

In my opinion (and I'm not saying this to be an ass), Dan Brown is fiction for retards.

ixoy · 11-02-2005 10:16AM

Read "The Da Vinci Code". It almgamated some interesting ideas (not all of them unfamiliar) into a plot that, somewhat, was kept pacy using short short chapters. It was easy to read but... it wasn't a good read.

Like mycroft, and others, I found that his ability to write left a lot to be desired. The characters were unengaging and his vocabulary range was severely limited. What annoyed me most though was that he often made his characters act stupidly, perhaps to enable the reader to get some smug sense of satisfaction when they figure it out first ("ohh aren't I clever"). Simple example:

When they discover Da Vinci's mirror writing. Not only was it immediately obvious just by looking at the damned thing, but anyone with a cursory knowledge of DaVinci knew about this and would have twigged it instantly.

Instead we had to wait an age for them to cop the hell on, during which I seriously contemplated hurling the book at the wall.

Having read this, I'm not tempted to buy any more of Mr. Brown's work. If I want to read my researched fiction, I'll stick to Neal Stephenson who, thankfully, can actually write as well as he can research.

Dr. Loon · 11-02-2005 11:04AM

I bought my niece a big dirty hardback version of The Da Vinci Code for Christmas, as I'd heard all the ranting and raving about it. I haven't read it myself, but must do. Wasn't there another 2 guys in the 80's who pretty much wrote the same book. I think it was called Holy Blood Holy Grail or something?

Talliesin · 11-02-2005 11:08AM

Dr. Loon wrote:

Wasn't there another 2 guys in the 80's who pretty much wrote the same book. I think it was called Holy Blood Holy Grail or something?

Yes, a large percentage of Brown's "excellent research" was reading it.

Kain · 11-02-2005 11:21AM

I agree with Ioxy, i thouoght that the whole idea of the stiry was pretty interesting, but theres a lot of it i find hard to beleive (other then The Last Supper painting, there is something in that painting). I find Dan Browns writing style to be a bit of a pain, i hate this whole thing with writing a chapter no matter how small devoted to one character. And some of the plots are really quite predictable.

Although i now i'm interested on getting my hands on Holy Blood And The Holy Grail.

Vokes · 11-02-2005 11:38AM

Just wondering what people think of his books?Having read The Da Vinci Code,its an awesome book and prompted me to go out and buy Digital Fortress which im looking forward to read..its not often a writer catches my imagination like this..

Digital Fortress is a bit dodgy. Mr. Brown seemed to do next to no research on the subject of cryptography.

Its a decent read though if you couldn't care less about details of the subject.

Saruman · 11-02-2005 11:48AM

Its a great book, the da vinci code... i loved it... Dont know how much i believe as fact but then again i dont believe in anything the church says.

Talliesin · 11-02-2005 11:52AM

SofaKing wrote:

Digital Fortress is a bit dodgy. Mr. Brown seemed to do next to no research on the subject of cryptography.

Another subject Neal Stephenson writes good fiction on.

I love how he manages to explain enough of the science for the audience that doesn't have a clue to get up to speed, and yet does so in a way that doesn't bore the more knowledgable reader.

fenris · 11-02-2005 11:59AM

"The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" is a more factual book written by researchers, a fantastic read that can fuel some hugely entertaining arguements with almost any bred of our bible bashing brethern!

The follow up book "The Messianic Legacy" is also well worth a read, especially when you live in a country that is infested with funny handshakers like Ireland.

Vokes · 11-02-2005 12:07PM

Another subject Neal Stephenson writes good fiction on.

I love how he manages to explain enough of the science for the audience that doesn't have a clue to get up to speed, and yet does so in a way that doesn't bore the more knowledgable reader.

Aye, Crytonomicon was an excellent read.

Reading Quicksilver at the moment but nearly had a fit the other day when i discovered my book doesnt have pages 848-898, instead have pages 715-765 again!!!

penguinbloke · 11-02-2005 12:36PM

From the c4 documentary with Tony Robinson a week and a half ago.

The Cathars – had no ‘secret’ but were simply heretics.

The Templars – didn’t make their money through knowing of a blood line from Christ. Pilgrims payed for protection. And then it seemed practical for the Pope to destroy them to get their money, a decision he regretted just two years later.

Priory of Sion – this supposed secret society who know of and keep the blood line of Christ were just three French guys who dreamed up the club in the 1950s for a laugh, and later admitted to the hoax.

Magdalene married Jesus? – simply not a shred of evidence. You’d think some gospel would have mentioned it, and it was common for holy men not to marry. In fact according to texts at Himis, Kashmir, Jesus was in fact single and a traveller in the East until the last three years of his life in any case.

Jesus had a child? – the documentary blew this one right out of the water. Simply no evidence. Even Michael Baigent, co-author of ‘Holy Blood / Holy Grail’ called it in interview ‘purely hypothesis’. In fact, Baigent, when presented with the facts that the Priory of Sion doesn’t even exist, simply squirmed.

Rennes Le Chateau - The priest had a scam going which is all documented: pay me big money to be absolved of your sins.

The Holy Grail – no mention of it whatsoever in human history until a French work of fiction in the 12th century.

So much for research.

Also when compared to the Lewis Perdue WORKS OF FICTION the 1983 and 1985 novels "The daVinci Legacy" and "The Daughter of God" a couple of similarities are noticed, like the entire plot.

The story begins murder of an art expert who is found dying in his office near a clue written in his own blood.

The male hero knows the murdered expert and is accused of the killing.

The clue leads the hero and heroine to a painting on a wood panel whose title refers to the woman being worshipped in the novel.

The curator in charge of the painting gives the heroine a gold key that opens a safe deposit box in a Zurich bank, which holds yet another container requiring a combination.

Leonardo Da Vinci's notebook "Codex Leicester" is used to make a critical plot point. Strangely, both novelists make the same factual error about the famous work. Da Vinci wrote the book - now known as "Codex Hammer" - on 18 double-sided sheets of linen loose-leaf paper. Perdue and Brown both mistakenly state that it was written on parchment.

I may seem to be being a little harsh so here are a couple of the differences

In Perdue's "The DaVinci Legacy" the tomb in Question is that of St Peter,
while in "The DaVinci Code" it is that of Mary Magdalene.

And in "Daughter of God" the chasers are a secret brothehood called Fr. Morgans Group. Whereas in "The DaVinci Code" it's the priory of Sion.

[edit]
check out pages 14 to 47 in the Amended response and Counter claim
[HTML]http://www.davincilegacy.com/Infringement/PerduevBrown-Amended-010605.pdf[/HTML]
[/edit]

Canis Lupus · 11-02-2005 12:42PM

Blood and Demons was good. Like the Da vinci code but wasn't as gripping.

Digital Fortress was terrible imo. Perhaps if I wasn't a techie I'd have been more embracing but the very end of the book was just a farce.

Da Vinci Code: Dunno if historically accurate or not but a gripping read and a real page turner. I loved it for that alone.

Deception Point. I'd almost go as far to say this was better than the Da Vinci code. It built and built all the way through the book and I totally didn't see the twist coming. I'd recommend this book over the rest.

Balfa · 16-02-2005 08:02PM

SofaKing wrote:

Aye, Crytonomicon was an excellent read.
Reading Quicksilver at the moment

Aw! how cute! i got you to like a whole nuther author!

D!ve^Bomb! · 16-02-2005 08:55PM

just so ya know The Da Vinci Code is being transferred onto the silver screen:D

As far as i know Tom Hanks is to play the main character(can't remember the name) and Jean Reno is to play the detective.. both excellent choices!!

tinkerbell · 16-02-2005 09:03PM

It's due out in spring 2006. I can't remember who is supposed to play Sophie though.

Should be good, I love that book, even if it's not exactly exact but I love conspiracies

jonny68 · 16-02-2005 09:11PM

Good to see most people are in agreement that its a bloddy good read..the film should be brilliant as well...........

colin300 · 16-02-2005 09:41PM

Audrey Tautou is playing Sophie Neveu.
Tom Hanks is playing Robert Langdon.
Jean Reno is playing Bezu Fache.

The release has been set at May 19, 2006.
So quite a long wait yet but I have a feeling when this comes out nothing will touch it as the people that were too lazy to read it will flock too it along with the people that did read it and like it.

I am happy that people express there views but the one thing that annoys me most of all is that for some reason everyone that finds a fault in it believes that they should have the right to force there beliefs on us. When I was in Eason’s the other day i saw 3 books trying to dismiss it as a joke come on that is a joke in itself.

I agree that the book is not totally factual as we gather from it being in the fiction section but you have to understand that most of the stuff is real like Constantine creating the church as we know it today you have too look at the facts and see it and also that around the same time or earlier the role of women was taken away in every religion. Why was this because before it was women in nearly every part of the world that had some control if not all of it.

Also the people that wrote the books are all mostly catholic who want to believe the church but why are the Dead Sea Scrolls or Nag Hammadi so different. But I guess these very things are what Dan wants people to do which helps book sales and he does it very well. It just gets to me when I see so many people thinking that people want to hear them saying its not true why cant there be any books out there that go deeper in to what Dan says instead of trying to say its all a lie. I can agreee with people slagging his writing style and the length of chapters but when it comes to what he says or trys to say that gets me as we all know the winners are the people who write history so we will never know so how do we not know that what we believe today is not a lie. I suppose that is how he sells books more people can say what they believe today which is good but we still have the opressing power trying to cover it up at the same time. Also people that say what the church is in there opinion are for some reason no longer called heretics they are just people that dont want to believe what is so widely accepted.

Sorry if I went round in circles.

tinkerbell · 16-02-2005 10:44PM

Those are exactly the reasons why I love the book - because it is full of stuff against the church - the scrolls, mary magdalene, how the pagan ruler constantine (or whoever he was) chose the four gospels that made Jesus seem immortal for the bible, etc. That, and it makes so interesting reading

I don't care what anyone else thinks, but I for one, loved the book. I must read it again actually

However, the one thing that bugged me was his description of the Louvre. My bf whisked me away to Paris shortly after I read the book and when we went to the Louvre, it was different to how Brown had described it. From reading the book, it made it seem like the Mona Lisa was in a separate little room of it's own, flanked by the Virgin of the Rocks on one side and the other painting on the other side. Yet in the Louvre, the Mona Lisa is just part of a big hall thingy and the Virgin of the Rocks is way off down the hall from it.

Or maybe I just picked up the description wrong in the book, who knows! :rolleyes:

omnicorp · 16-02-2005 10:50PM

Its very good, but you have to remember it's ful of cr@p and you're not to take it too seriously.
(It's a work of fiction)

mycroft · 16-02-2005 11:51PM

omnicorp wrote:

Its very good, but you have to remember it's ful of cr@p and you're not to take it too seriously.
(It's a work of fiction)

NO!

You don't say. Boy that Dan Brown would have to get up pretty bloody early to sneak one past you, eh omni.

....goes to light a candle to thank the mods you're banned from politics........

omnicorp · 16-02-2005 11:54PM

banned, yes.... It's a pity really.
Somehow I couldn't help myself.
The SWP thing was so tempting.
But at least I didn't make any Personal Insults.
Although there were a few rubbish posts....

Anyway, I'm surprised at how many people take the books to be true.
They're all very similar.
Same characters, same basic plot.

mycroft · 17-02-2005 01:20AM

omnicorp wrote:

banned, yes.... It's a pity really.
Somehow I couldn't help myself.
.

Whatever, we're rid of you......

*Angel* · 17-02-2005 03:00AM

I'll admit that when I was a third through The Da Vinci Code I was hooked and couldn't stop reading it. But I was disappointed by the ending, it lacked well a good one, it was basically just said the whole 'quest' was a waste of time.

A lot of Brown's writing is description, and while you do need a certain amount to make a readable novel I think the amount he included became tedious as the book progressed.

There's also the issue of what's real? So I can't be bothered to even distinguish the difference!(not much is real) After seeing bits of the C4 documentary...the book just looks like a total joke, and Brown was actually on a show saying the book was all fact and such, well yeah maybe so but he did a lot of stupid interpreting leading us to believe it is fact (on the show).

Why should he get all this attention? Books have been previously based on the very same topic, the only thing Brown did right was publish it into a new category that grabbed people's attention, it ain't an original idea.

You can probably tell by now that I'm not a fan of Dan Brown. Initially after reading the Da Vinci Code I had mixed feelings, I was pissed off with the ending but glad that a book had kept me interested for a while. After looking back on reading it I'll admit that Brown is definitely good at keeping the reader gripped, but he uses to much detail too often and I honestly think he's not a good writer.

Sorry hope I didn't offend anyone, just my opinion, don't shoot me!

DapperGent · 17-02-2005 03:21AM

I've only read The Da Vinci Code which was a terrible book by a woefully inept writer. I think I might be biased in that I'd already read Foucalts Pendulum which deals which much the same material but was written by someone who is a fantastic author not a talentless hack.

The Da Vinci Code is nothing without it's revelation/conspiracy theory, while that may make it mildly diverting to people previously unfamilar with it I don't know how the juvenile plot, poorly drawn characters and generally awful writing can provoke fondness in anyone. It's the worst book I've ever read, with the possible exception of the Mallorean by David Eddings. I'm not saying that to be wilfully obscure or a naysayer, I really thought it was that bad.

Dan Brown

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