Can Langdon find the Lost Symbol?

Advantages: Fast paced
Disadvantages: last 50 or so pages

...'The Lost Symbol is the latest offering from Dan Brown featuring Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon and like all avid readers of his work I was looking forward to reading the book. - At 6am on a Sunday morning Robert Langdon receives a message from his mentor and friend, prominent 33rd Degree Mason Peter Solomon, to conduct a lecture in Washington?s Capitol Building and not wanting to let his friend down Langdon agrees to go and sets off for the airport where Peter?s private jet is waiting for him. However on arrival at the Rotunda area within the Capitol Building, something strikes Langdon as odd, there is nobody waiting there for the lecture. Believing he is in the wrong building Langdon is set to walk about but is interrupted by a commotion, on looking on what the problem is, it seems that somebody has left a strategically...

paulpry118 09.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown- Ancient Mysteries

Advantages: A good read
Disadvantages: Part of the plot is not too convicing

.... Personally, it gives me a good reflection for my faith. And finally, even though there are a few issues with the book, overall it is still a good read. For those who are new to Dan Brown, I would not recommend to read it straight away as it may end up being different from your expectation. Reading other of his books will get you used to his style of writing. Then you can proceed with the Lost Symbol, which I think is slightly different to his other works....

medgenie 11.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Langdon Returns For Adventure No 3

Advantages: Sticks to the principles of the series
Disadvantages: written with the movie in mind rather than purely a book

...and comparisons back to the previous book were bound to be drawn. I personally have been looking forward to Lost Symbol but I seem to come from a smaller camp of Brown fans who think his best book was in fact Angels and Demons. Could he possibly deliver another book to follow in the success of the previous instalment of the Langdon saga? Rather than following the formula for the other two books directly Brown has taken a slightly different approach to this book. The writing style and the short chapters are exactly the same as the previous 2 outings for Langdon, but the plot takes a slightly different twist. The previous two books were written as solely books, but this one has a real feeling that it's been written with the movie adaptation in mind. It doesn't take away anything for the plot but there are a few more twists than the previous books...

Andy.mack 15.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Brown hasn't lost it

Advantages: Great story, flows nicely, good characters
Disadvantages: Keeps you up all night

...counterpart for a change. The only thing I didn't like, and it's just a small thing; was that there was a map part way through the book showing the layout of the Capitol building. It looked totally out of place and more text book like than novel. As with the other novels there are other parts of the book where it deviates from plain text, and has symbols and items that need deciphering, but these are necessary and it would be impossible for Dan Brown to describe them without adding a dozen more pages to the book. But the map adds absolutely nothing because stopping to look at it breaks up the flow of the story, then after I found the area on the map that they were stood in I was still in the same situation I'd been before, Dan Brown had described the area as much as I needed him too, I didn't need to see a blueprint style map. Apart from that...

Fiver29 16.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

As clunky as a tap-dancing Frankenstein with new shoes..

Advantages: You read it quick
Disadvantages: Over hyped

...book one would be it would sell very well, some 80 million copies pre ordered world-wide so far, and the other is it would be written as a film script and even more in caricature than the previous Langdon books, insuring the movie rites early. The first line in the book is: 'Since the beginning of time...'. Browns prose is still reassuringly as clunky as Frankenstein's tap dancing. So huge were the DaVinci Code sales that publishers Bantam Press could make or break book shops by the speed they get 'The Lost Symbol' out. The fever pitch excitement meant a resulting price war which meant you could pick up the hard back for half-price at pretty much any good big book sellers, as did I, meaning someone is likely to go bust if they didn't hit their sales targets. Sadly the four year wait has not really been worth the anticipation and this is...

thedevilinme 01.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Excellent, page-turning mystery thriller

Advantages: A great read
Disadvantages: Characters are a little thin

...The world went crazy for The DaVinci Code a few years back. For a few months, water coolers were alive with talk of the Holy Grail, Rose Lines and hidden symbolism. But with mass appeal comes the inevitable backlash from self-proclaimed literary experts spouting accusations of poor writing, flimsy characterization and falsified research. Then, suddenly, everyone who had pretended they loved and understood Dan Brown?s work now had to pretend they hated it, because God forbid people would actually form their own opinions about books instead of following the group consensus like a flock of marginally self-aware sheep. Anyway, the upshot is that these days, proclaiming yourself a fan of Dan Brown generally renders you about as popular as Osama Bin Laden dressed in a Nazi stormtrooper uniform. The Lost Symbol, Brown?s latest entry in...

Dr-Jones 23.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Very good book but no WOW factor

Advantages: A good read with symbolic twists and turns
Disadvantages: No WOW factor

...With 80 million copies of the ?Da Vinci Code? sold, rearely would a book follow so much expectation. But does it live up to the mark? STORY PLOT Akin to the tv serious ?24,? The Lost Symbol takes place over a 12 hour period in the heart of Washington D.C. This time the secret society targeted and exposed is that of Freemasonary. Robert Langdon is back and when invited to give a lecture, he finds a gruesome discovery of his mentor Peter Solomon. Once again the symbolic cat and mouse game ensues to find his friend who is a 33rd degree mason held captive by the evil villain Mal?akh. With the ransom for Robert Langdon to solve the Ancient Mysteries along with the threat of the release of a clandestine video of Washington?s finest engaged in Masonic rituals, many people have a lot to lose. And so the web of intrigue, deceit...

Nothing-But-The-Truth 06.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

The Seventh Symbol

Advantages: exciting, entertaining
Disadvantages: one or two plot holes

.... Jackson translates the coverstones that were found with the gate and discovers the seventh symbol necessary to opperate it. However, the audience is left wondering how, if there are only a limited number of symbols on the gate, it didn't occur to the scientists to just try them all until they found the seventh, since the first six were already carved in stone. The Stargate, it is revealed, opens a doorway to another Stargate on a planet at the other end of the known universe. A probe is sent through and it wouldn't be a film if they didn't decide to sent a team of people through as well. Anyway, the team, lead by O'Neil and including Jackson, heads through the Stargate to a world known as Abydos. There they encounter a city of humans taken as slaves, and an alien being who has taken on the personna of the Egyptian sun god Ra. There is...

87degrees 25.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of Stargate (Director's Cut) (DVD)

Before He Went Bonkers

Advantages: Great music; inspired writing; kept up with the times nicely
Disadvantages: Couple of stinking ballads - he didn't wanna do that!

...WHO'S THIS THEN? ----------------------------- It's Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, in Minneapolis 46 years ago is a very talented singer/multi-instrumentalist (with the emphasis on "mentalist"). A master of rock, funk, pop and soul, his most famous record is probably "Kiss". Between 1983 and 1993 he released one album every year until his record company took more control of his work and asked him to slow down his work-rate and spend more time on promotion. He responded by changing his name to an unintelligible symbol, writing the word "slave" on his cheek and actively not promoting his work. He returned this year with the fine Musicology album. WHAT'S THIS ALBUM ALL ABOUT? ------------------------------------------------- This was released in 1992 at the beginning of Prince's decline. As above, he'd released one...

waynehorrigan 16.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of Love Symbol - Prince

Streetcar of symbolism

Advantages: Very emotional, well written play
Disadvantages: Violence can be hard to read at times

..., although we know that Blanche looks down on him because of his class. It becomes obvious that Blanche has a problem with commitment and that she is a man eater and dates Stanleys friend Mitch, meanwhile Stanely finds out a shocking revelation, after which Blanches character changes and her degeneration starts. William's love of the South and ability to write clearly, emotionally but so that there is no pity and no regrets makes the book real. He manages to capture the essence of the time he is writting in. To those who are studying this as a play for an exam, I challange you not to love it and enjoy the detail Williams puts into the symbolism of the play....

forsaken 29.11.2003 · Read review
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Review of A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams