Currently Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Update 2

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TITLE:  The Da Vinci Code

SERIES:  The Robert Langdon Series, Book 2

AUTHOR:  Dan Brown

FORMAT:  Kindle version

PAGES/LOCATIONS:  592 pages/7499 locations

CURRENT LOCATION:  approx. page 284/location 3659; Beginning of Chapter 52

GOODREADS’ AVG. RATING:  3.72 out of 5 stars; 1,225,017 ratings

SYNOPSIS PROVIDED:

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries … unveiled at last.

As millions of readers around the globe have already discovered, The Da Vinci Code is a reading experience unlike any other. Simultaneously lightning-paced, intelligent, and intricately layered with remarkable research and detail, Dan Brown’s novel is a thrilling masterpiece – from its opening pages to its stunning conclusion.

Source for Synopsis

IMPRESSIONS SO FAR:

I am still completely happy with my choice to go back and read the first two novels of The Robert Langdon Series again before reading The Lost Symbol and Inferno.  I am still finding myself at that stage where I can remember the larger events in play, but it is the smaller ones in between which lead them to their ultimate goal that I had forgotten.  I still feel as if I am reading this book for the first time in a lot of ways just because I don’t have that overly familiar feeling for the book, I don’t know what is going to happen when I turn the page.

Robert and Sophie are now on the run from the police who are convinced that Robert is the one responsible for the murder of Jacques Sauniere because Sauniere had indicated in an assumed to be post script to find Robert Langdon.  However, it turns out that the message wasn’t a post script, rather, it was a clever coded message from Sauniere to his estranged granddaughter Sophie instructing her to find Robert.  I absolutely love this novel because of its use of puzzles through out the story.  As a teenager and still as an adult, I have always found myself interested in completing puzzles.  I would work on the daily crossword in the newspaper as well as its word jumbles, then I got heavily into Sudoku, and as a child I had always been into word searches and mazes – I have just always had a love for puzzles.  I am actually having fun reading this book where so many logic puzzles come into play in order to discover a powerful hidden truth that can change the world – it is just fascinating.

I hope to finish the book over the course of the next week so I can write up a proper review and delve into some new reading in the form of The Lost Symbol and eventually, Inferno.

Currently Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Source for Image

TITLE:  The Da Vinci Code

SERIES:  The Robert Langdon Series, Book 2

AUTHOR:  Dan Brown

FORMAT:  Kindle version

PAGES/LOCATIONS:  592 pages/7499 locations

CURRENT LOCATION:  approx. page 36/location 511; Beginning of Chapter 6

GOODREADS’ AVG. RATING:  3.72 out of 5 stars; 1,225,017 ratings

SYNOPSIS PROVIDED:

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries … unveiled at last.

As millions of readers around the globe have already discovered, The Da Vinci Code is a reading experience unlike any other. Simultaneously lightning-paced, intelligent, and intricately layered with remarkable research and detail, Dan Brown’s novel is a thrilling masterpiece – from its opening pages to its stunning conclusion.

Source for Synopsis

IMPRESSIONS SO FAR:

As mentioned in a previous Want to Read Wednesday post, I was looking forward to reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code again in order to have the first two novels of The Robert Langdon Series in my mind as I went forward in the series by reading The Lost Symbol and Inferno.  So far as I have read this book I have felt somewhat lucky because it has been such a long time since I read it that I feel almost as if I am reading it for the first time.  One thing that the majority of bibliophiles will agree upon is that we have a tendency to treasure the magic of a novel’s first read through – for us, it is a once in a lifetime experience, it isn’t just about the new book smell but it is the feeling of not knowing what to expect when you turn the page.  I almost feel as if I am experiencing that very same feeling as I am reading this book.

This novel starts out intriguing because we come across the initial crime as it is happening.  We don’t start this story with Robert Langdon, our protagonist, instead we start by following the victim of the first crime as he is forced to divulge some great secret he was willing to sacrifice his life for in order to keep it hidden.  I appreciate Brown’s set up of this novel, specifically, I appreciate the round about manner in which we finally reach Robert Langdon because I feel that we are able to get a better understanding of the different elements and events in play.  For some, this type of introduction to a plot can be tedious but I felt that Brown was able to utilize this style well and was successful in showing the reader not only the crime and the protagonist, but we also are able to observe our antagonist – our murderer in his extreme devotion to not only his God but to pain.

Once life slows down a bit and I am able to truly dedicate some time to reading, I will be incredibly excited to pick this book back up and follow Robert Langdon as he attempts to solve some of the greatest age old mysteries.