Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Book review: The lost symbol


Finally was able to finish reading the latest and most awaited book from Dan Brown, "THE LOST SYMBOL"This book is written in a typical 'Brown style' with all the twists, thrills, and gripping narration that the authoris famous for, that said though thsi is no Davinci Code, with moments where the story seems to run away(like in the chapters preceding the climax) and at some places it really drags(the last couple especially).
The basic plot:
This is showcased as the third adventure of the famous symbolist Robert Langdon who is brought to the US Capital of Washington DC to deliver a lecture on request of his mentor and friend Peter Solomon receives a shock and the evets that are churned out as a result of it forms the basic plot of the book.

Whats interesting?:
The first feel of the book though is that its intriguing and the author very deftly and cleverly keeps the reader on his toes anxious to know what the next part would be (although doing so overly made it drag at quite a few places ). This added with the mysteries of the free masonry makes this a really good read; esp if you are the kind that really loves fast paced mysteries.There is also instances when cryptic clues are presented to the characters that the user is made to feel that he is also part of the plot as you instinctively try to solve it before reading what the characters do.

What not so interesting?:
Frankly speaking there is nothing in the story, I mean this is not something different from the previous books Davinci Code and to that matter Angels and demons. The plot lies on the same lines of a secret and active society during our fore fathers time which is now set into turmoil which Langdon is the only one capable of averting. This added to the slightly larger volume of 509 pages and multitude of sub plots makes the book slightly confusing if you tend to read it in short bursts.After all this and the gripping narration of the author you feel let down in the end and the last couple of chapters although intended to try and get the user a hang over things were a really drag. If you have read you would understand what I mean here.The gory details though intruging could have been avoided to make it a more clean read.

Finally:
A book that you might want to read but to really enjoy forget the fact that it was from a author who has written famous and good books earlier because reading it easier on a clean slate.That said I would not say it is not a good book only a book that has not much in variety that you generally would expect from a author and definitely definitely below the Davinci Code and the Angels and Demons.


3 comments:

Sadhu said...

Whoa!! u completed reading this book? Grr i envy u. am yet to read it though i got a copy of it! Anyway that's a pretty good write up on Dan Brown's latest copy. it makes me want to read the book as early as possible. :)

Srinivasa kowdeed said...

That means I am not going to read this in the near future .btw, You bought this book?

Sudheer said...

Yup I purchased the book