Angels and Demons - Dan Brown > Reviews > God Bless Science

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Advantages:	Keeps you turning pages, great pace, interesting plot, fantastic details .
Disadvantages:	Has alot of religious debate, can be slightly confusing and long in parts .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Dan Brown, author of Deception Point and The Da Vinci Code is at it again with Angels and Demons. I became a Brown fan when I read Deception Point. I like his style of writing - it's action packed, crosses the world over and keeps you on the edge of your seat with excitement. There are out of this world plots that he makes seem completely possible. In this book - you find yourself traveling around in a jet that travels 15,000 miles per hour around the globe. Talk about a cool ride, this book seems to travel at that pace also.

The book opens when Harvard specialist in religious symbols, Robert Langdon, receives a strange phone call asking about the Illuminati. The Illuminati were a group of Renaissance scientists, including Galileo and other famous men, who met secretly in Rome to discuss new ideas in safety from papal threat. During that time the church was against science in general and scientists were executed or prosecuted as enemies of the church. However, the group was supposedly gone long ago. They were a secret group, kind of Masonic in style, with secret symbols. The symbols were ambigrams - words that look the same written upside down or right side up. Langdon had made a study of the supposedly defunct group and their symbols. But the phone call brought proof that the group not only wasn't gone, but heading towards a violent overthrow of the church.

A famous scientist, Dr. Vetra, is murdered leaving behind a beautiful daughter to help discover the meaning behind his death and the ambigram - Illuminati - that is tattoed on his dead body. His daughter, Vittoria, reveals that they had both been working on a secret project - anti-matter. A sample of this anti-matter is missing. It must be found within 6 hours or the containment unit holding it will fail and the explosion could take out an entire city. A city such as the Vatican City. It is also discover that with the death of the current Pope, all of the Cardinals of the Catholic church will be closeted in the Vatican to decide who the next Pope will be. This is where the anti-matter is discovered to be. However, the location of the anti-matter cannot be pin-pointed. Along with the fact that the head of the Vatican's security finds it hard to believe it exists at all and so is resistant to helping to locate the anti-matter. He is more concerned with the fact that the four men who are being considered for Pope are missing. This complicates things a bit since the Cardinals who are closeted in cannot leave until the new Pope is chosen. Never in the history of the Catholic Church have the doors been opened before a Pope is selected.

So, you've got four missing men, missing anti-matter, a scientific anti-religious group who are suppose to be long gone and 6 hours. It is the job of Robert Langdon and Vittoria to follow the path of illumination by solving age old clues left for secret scientists long ago to discover who is behind all this and try to save the lives of the Cardinals before it is too late. But if that isn't enough to keep them busy, there are also many people who want them to fail and so are trying to kill them as they follow the path. Along with those in the Vatican who don't believe that any of this is happening to begin with. Unbeatable odds? Maybe. you have to read to find out.

The pace in this book makes it impossible to put it down. The suspects range from a demented scientist in a wheel chair, the head of the Vatican guard, the last Pope's right hand man and a few others thrown in. What I really liked about this book is that I didn't figure it out. I hate it when I pick up a thriller like this one and have it figured out half way through. I like to be kept guessing and getting it wrong. I like the unexpected and Dan Brown delivers it in aces. I never had a clue where this book would go next. I also really enjoyed the ambigrams - which he illustrates in the book. Also the debate of science vs. religion that goes on in the book is very interesting. Some might find the debate a bit boring and some might even be offended at some of the comments made on religion, but I would think most would not. But as a side note - if you are offended by those who question the Catholic religion - this book might not be for you as it is a strong part of the plot.

The riddles that they must solve in order to follow the path of the Illuminati takes you all over Rome and is fascinating. Brown adds enough detail about the art, the flavor and the setting to really make me feel like I could see it in my head. But refrains from going into long boring detail that would slow the book down. I found it very fast paced and never felt that it was dragging. It could be classed as a bit gory and some might not like the descriptions of the violence. But having a pretty strong stomach, it didn't really bother me.

At 592 pages, it can be a bit of a read for some but I raced through it at a pretty fast pace as I found it hard to put down. It is available in both hard cover and paper back. Having been out since July of 2003 you can probably find it in your local library or pick up a used copy pretty cheap. I'll refrain from listing prices since being from the US, it wouldn't help much. But you can find it all over online. I would definetly recommend giving it a go. I borrowed a copy and am now going to buy my own since I would like to read it again. It's a keeper. 

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