Customer Reviews

The Lost Symbol

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

After having enjoyed all four of Dan Brown's previous novels, I was looking forward to reading The Lost Symbol. What new secret would be unveiled? What controversy would be ignited? Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed with his latest story.

Had I read of all his books without knowing when they were released, I would've guessed The Lost Symbol was his first novel. The structure showed some potential but the pace was slow, the action unexciting, the plot highly predictable and the denouement unsatisfying. This felt like the first novel of a promising yet unpolished writer. However, this is his fifth book and I expected much more. At times, I felt I was reading an old Emile Zola novel where the author extended scene descriptions because he got paid by the word. In this case, I had the feeling Dan Brown embarked on a journey that even he was uncertain of and confused by. It seemed that he extended scenes and explanations simply to fill 500 pages. Without spoiling anything, one of the main intrigues of this book is so obvious that you're almost angry at the author for thinking so little of the reader. The main character also gets duped more than once by a similar ploy. The only part of the book I enjoyed was the first 50 or so pages when it seems the pace will suddenly pick up and you'll be swept up by the story...unfortunately that never happens.

In the end, this felt like the work of a weak writer trying to copy the style of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons but falling far short.

Despite their far fetched plots I enjoyed Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code. The pace of the books grabbed you and they were hard to put down. This book just feels like exploitation - a writer past his peak, in need of another bottle, having one last attempt to make a buck.

The book is slow paced and a tedious read. It is enormously contrived and the supposed twist at the end is very weak. Spend your money on the new James Ellroy.

[Cross-posted to LibraryThing and LivingSocial]

Oh Dan Brown. What happened? You had such momentum from The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, neither of which were fantastically written but that had interesting stories and fast-paced plots. You had a good premise, expanding on the Masons that you'd touched on in Angels & Demons. You even had lots of time - The Lost Symbol didn't exactly get rushed to the printers. So what happened? Did you have a fight with your editor? Was your 'delete' key not working? Something must have happened because I can't think how else The Lost Symbol became so bloated and boring.

The focus in this instalment of Robert Langdon's adventures is on the Freemasons and there is a lot of information about their rituals, their symbols, and their legends. Most of it is interesting and relevant to the plot. But Brown also insists on adding extra information throughout the novel that serves no purpose other than to show how good Brown is at research. Instead of a tight storyline, where the information comes in as needed to develop characters or drive the plot forward, we get little bits of action broken up by long passages of information, much of which gets really repetitive after a while. By the last hundred pages or so, I couldn't care less what happened to Langdon or anyone else. I just wanted to be done with it and move on.

A common complaint in other reviews is that the novel reads more like a screenplay. I didn't really feel that way, although it did seem like Langdon's character was written as Tom Hanks much more than in the previous two books. Everyone else just felt like the same person, they all blended together with no distinct personalities. Another reason why I didn't care what happened at the end.

Overall: a disappointment, even for Dan Brown.

I bought this book last week.

When a book is interesting, I devour it in a couple of days. In the last 6 days I've managed to read 58 pages of this book because it's so boring that I keep falling asleep!

I hope it picks up because there is no way I'm subjecting myself to much more of it unless it does.

IMHO if it makes the best sellers list it's only because his name is on the book, not because the book is a good one.

"The Lost Symbol," like the author's other books, is remarkably suspenseful and exciting while revealing little known facts about religion, history and science, all woven together to provide a whole new perspective.

It takes the reader on a tour of the Ancient Mysteries and their importance for modern American life. With different characters representing different views -- the doubter, the scientist, the believer, the evil one, the religious one, and so forth -- the Freemason symbolism underlying the architecture of the Governmental buildings of Washington D.C. are revealed and discussed, along with the continuing influence of Freemasonry in the government.

Full of surprises and fascinating ideas, this long and very relevant book is well worth reading, and I heartily recommend it as a great modern work.

Whether or not the ideas behind it interest you particularly, its quality as a work of fiction is so high and rare that you will find it a wonderful read in any case.

Dan Brown is a writer more famous for stirring up controversy rather than his meticulous research. Although the media noise surrounding his last two books treats them as historic novels, they are much more fiction than fact. Understandably; were they treated as works of wild fiction there would had been nothing to argue about. And if there ever was a writing career built on controversy...

I will refrain from letting any spoilers slip through and, instead, I shall make clear why this is one of THE WORSE books I have ever read - and that is not solely because I refused to be fed unadulterated Masonic propaganda. The book is haphazardly researched, badly written and the plot runs in circles - just like a Masonic ...ourovoros.

Allow me to give a couple cases in point.
The over and over glorified "field" of Noetics is nothing but a New Age philosophy masquerading as "science" only to peddle warmed up ancient ideas as neo-scientific. I had never heard of Noetics before reading this book and I am not surprised. If the best arguments supporting the notions that human (and why is it only human?) ...thoughts have a direct effect on reality and that there is a soul and it can be...weighted are the ones presented in this book, well snake-oils and good-luck charms should start looking pretty "scientific" by now.

In his attempt to substantiate a scientific basis of the idea of Global Consciousness (yet another excuse for the Masonic efforts towards a Global Government), Brown presents some very shaky "facts". On p.70, he claims that following 9/11 "37 Random Events Generators"(sic) (and I am guessing that since they are capitalized they must be some... Serious Scientific Equipment, right?) "suddenly became significantly less random". Wow, hold the presses! Shouldn't we wake the PM?
Even if someone were to ignore the question of ...what exactly are these 37 generators measuring, can someone give us a precise time frame of these "events" following 9/11, to establish even a mere time-line of causality? For how long were these generators been monitored to be sure that a similar "event" did not occur, say when Vettel took the checkered flag at Abu Dabi's F1 race last week? And if it took a catastrophic event of the magnitude of 9/11 to get a "significantly less random" measurement, what are chances of this pseudoscience getting anything measured ever again?

As to ...weighting the soul, is he serious? What are his scientific references, the ...movie "21 Grams"? Was he not aware that the actual scientific explanation for the (dubious) weight difference is the release of the residual air from the collapsing lugs? But that was not fitting with the rest of the "theory" so it had to be cut to size. Here is an expression to work out the etymology of Dan: Procrustean methods!

By the way, I doubt that anyone hiding out in a Greek island would remain inconspicuous for long with the ridiculously made-up name of..."Andros Dareios". The correct spelling is Darius and it is a ancient Persian, not a Greek name. What's more, the word "andros" is the name of a Greek...island, it means "lair" and it is not a proper name - yet another example of how epidermal and self-serving his "research" really is. Just think how many heads would turn to the name..."Piratecove Adolph".

Nevertheless, the most serious issue with this book is its incessant Masonic propaganda. Their rituals are glorified, their beliefs are polished and presented again and again whereas the political implications are (conveniently) glossed over.
Brown expresses his condescending outrage to the masses that would fail to comprehend that "Senators, Chief Justices and CIA directors are all Masonic brothers". Really Dan? Do you fail to grasp the implications of a judge having to pass judgment on a Masonic brother he has sworn to protect? Is it too complicated for you to comprehend how a Mason CIA director or a Secretary of State may promote the interests of his brotherhood above those of his country?

And exactly how ...enlightened can a secret society be when it refuses to accept women and shunts minorities? I am also wondering why there was not even a pip about Nazis' obsession with the occult, the Ancient Mysteries and the Illuminati (the German offshoot of Freemasonry) or the role of the infamous Masonic Temple P2 of Rome in connecting the Fascist regime of Mussolini with the Sicilian mafia bosses. Dan's silence is deafening on these and similar matters.
Any free-thinking person would be very suspicious of groups operating under blood-oaths of secrecy, enforcing strict obedience to their (selected and not-elected) hierarchy and wielding the ability to undermine every pillar of a democratic society, from the judiciary to the executive branch, when their members are called upon to "support a brother".

I for one do not buy the "if I were an Mason I could not be writing about all this because of the secrecy oaths" argument. Dan Brown's descriptions of the Masonic rituals are peculiarly selective - and they only contain what is already public knowledge. With some selective omissions of course.
Why is there no description of Baphomet, the hoofed and horned deity ever Mason upon reaching the 33th degree has to declare allegiance to? Is this not the final "Truth" that is revealed at the 33rd degree?

Judging by his ramblings in the last pages of this book, I am guessing his next book to be on the bogus...Bible Code. For someone who has been attacking the Bible so vehemently he sure seems obsessed with it. Well, I am curious to see how he is going to twist the serpents' suggestion of "Ye are Gods" into something "enlightening" Masonic.

If the Masons wanted to improve their image, maybe they should had picked a better writer.
No matter how much this guy is pushed and pulled, sure, he may be selling books - but he is convincing no one.

I have to admit I have been a fan of Dan Brown's previous works up till now. This novel was throughly disappointing, predictable and slow. Was this meant to be a quick cash grab? What were the publishers thinking? The plot had the making to be an excellent novel. I am not an author or publisher, but as an avid reader who always looks on the brighter side, have to say this book sucked! I can't tell you what to do, but only offer my opinion. Don't buy this book, borrow it from someone if you have to read it.

I am very glad I read Angels and Daemons and the De Vinci Code before this book because otherwise I never would have read them. This will be the last Dan Brown book I waste my time reading. It was a short story at best. The writing was pedantic, repetitive, boring and read like a screen play. I could not be more disappointed. I can't remember the last time I was so happy to come to the end of a book. The ending reminded me of the last of the Lord of the Rings movies with several false endings that just seemed to be endless. How sad that although I agree with the ideology Mr. Brown is espousing I was so put off by the sermon like delivery of the message that I could not feel connected only irritated by it.

If you have read any of Dan Brown's previous works this strays little from his established plotlines. The characters and their development were pulled from his previous novels and little new was offered. What saved this book for me as more than just a rehash of DaVinci or Angels and Demons was that he continues to impress with his research on secret societies and how they are woven into the everyday fabric of our cities, language, and culture. Although I didn't find the Mason's history as rich as the other two novels mentioned it was interesting and well worth the reading time.

This edition is SO LUXURIOUS and the price is FANTASTIC, thanks to Amazon!! I already own daVinci Code and Angels & Demons in the same edition and looking at the illustrations as you turn the pages brings the reading experience of Dan Brown's novels to a whole new level. The Lost Symbol is no different, when the novel first came out, I didn't buy it, hoping there would be an illustrated version. Well let me tell you that the wait paid off!

As for the story, how can you not enjoy this type of reading? Fast pace, fascinating and so rewarding!

LOVE IT!!!