Julie's Review: Inferno

Author: Dan Brown
Series: Robert Langdon #4
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator:Paul Michael
Hours: 17 hours 12 minutes
Obtained: purchased via Audible
Genre:  Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Classic Langdon
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date. In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces: Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust...before the world is irrevocably altered. ~audible.com

Review: One thing that I love about Robert Langdon books is Robert Langdon. How can you not? He's smart, debonair and well traveled. I appreciate that each chapter is about 10-12 minutes in length, so it makes for easy listening at work. This format also lends itself to the pace of the book. As with all Robert Langdon books, there is action and a lot for Professor Langdon to figure out. Robert Langdon continues to know a lot of information about a lot of different subject matters. :) Regardless, he's still my favorite professor in modern literature.

No, I haven't read Dante's Inferno and I don't plan to but that doesn't make Inferno any less intriguing. You don't have to have an understanding of Dante's because Mr. Brown walks you through the gist of it.
I am always interested in how Mr. Brown weaves the history, literature and a moral implication into his story. Although, I'm not sure there were any truly "bad" guys in this one. Which of course begs it's own questions about the morality of someones actions. Can one person truly determine what is good for the entire human race?

As always, this novel is action packed but also intelligent. It kept me on my toes listening to it. There were a couple of times that I had to go back to ensure that I heard something correctly. There are a lot of characters in the beginning of the story and frankly you don't know who is on the side of Robert and who is against him. I always find the slow reveals in these kind of books to be great. I love it when authors can turn a novel on its head and as a reader you don't see it coming. Mr. Brown is a master at that.

Paul Michael is a fine narrator for Inferno and captures Landgon well along with the other characters in the novel. His inflection and accents are well done and not overdone.

Inferno is a solid read/listen. If you are a fan of the Langdon books then you will want to continue the series with novel. My favorite is The Lost Symbol and if you haven't read it I highly recommend it.

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Book to Movie: Angels and Demons

Summary: If the devil is in the details, there's a lot of wicked fun in Angels & Demons, the sequel (originally a prequel) to The Da Vinci Code. Director Ron Howard delivers edge-of-your-pew thrills all over the Vatican, the City of Rome, and the deepest, dankest catacombs. Tom Hanks is dependably watchable in his reprised role as Professor Robert Langdon, summoned urgently to Rome on a matter of utmost urgency--which happens to coincide with the death of the Pope, meaning the Vatican is teeming with cardinals and Rome is teeming with the faithful. A religious offshoot group, calling themselves the Illuminati, which protested the Catholic Church's prosecution of scientists 400 years ago, has resurfaced and is making extreme, and gruesome, terrorist demands. The film zooms around the city, as Langdon follows clues embedded in art, architecture, and the very bone structure of the Vatican. The cast is terrific, including Ewan McGregor, who is memorable as a young protégé of the late pontiff, and who seems to challenge the common wisdom of the Conclave just by being 40 years younger than his fellows when he lectures for church reform. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as a gruff commander of the Swiss Guard, who may or may not have thrown in with the Illuminati. But the real star of the film is Rome, and its High Church gorgeousness, with lush cinematography by Salvatore Totino, who renders the real sky above the Vatican, in a cataclysmic event, with the detail and majesty of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. ~amazon.com

Review: I admit it, I never finished the book of Angels & Demons. I was pregnant with my daughter and my mind was just too foggy to read it. I did get about half way through it when I stopped, so I remember glimmers. Having said that this movie adaptation is so much better than The Da Vinci Code which sucked compared to the book. It didn't do the book justice at all. Instantly, Angels and Demons brings you in and you are enthralled.

Angels & Demons is fast-paced and the action never lets up. The story is extremely interesting and follows Brown's typical plot science vs. religion. What I thought was the most interesting was how the Cardinals pick a new Pontiff. The other thing that I felt was an important character was Vatican City itself. I didn't realize that while it's inside Rome, it's a separate city with a separate police force.

I'm not Catholic but their history is definitely interesting and very intriguing. The archives were extremely modern and I was very surprised by this. Then I reminded myself that the Catholic church is one of the richest institutions in the world.

I will say that I pretty much figured out the bad guy in the beginning of the movie but that doesn't matter much because I still loved watching Langdon figure this one out.

I'm a huge Tom Hanks fan and was much more pleased with this Robert Langdon movie than with The Da Vinci Code. To be honest, I never saw Mr. Hanks as Robert Langdon but now I can't picture anyone else.

So, even if you haven't read the book, I would definitely watch the movie. You won't be disappointed.

Movie Final Take: 4.5/5

Jenn & Julie's Review: The Lost Symbol

Summary: As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.


Julie's Review: The Da Vinci Code is probably one of my all time favorite books. I loved the way it unfolded and how the story was told. It was a thriller and adventure but it made you think. While my ending rating isn't as high as Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol is in no way a let down or disappointment. In fact, I enjoyed most of the story about the Freemason's but in my opinion, that is not the true focus of the book. I know a lot of the hype for the book has been on the Secret Society of Freemason's but in the last 100 pages of the book you come to realize that is not the purpose. The Freemason's served their purpose in the book and in the mystery. What the book is about is knowledge. That's all I'll say so I don't ruin it. I'm sure in some ways this book disappointed Conspiracy Theorist.

Of course Robert Langdon is fantastic in this book. It amazes me how he always knows a lot about a lot of subjects. Is there such a things as "Jack of all trades, Master of all of them?" If so, this would be Professor Langdon. Amazingly even though I saw Tom Hanks play Langdon, that isn't who I picture. I think that's a good thing though. It doesn't mean I think Tom was a bad Landgon but he's not whom I see when I read the books.

As is typical with Dan Brown books you don't know who to trust and I certainly didn't. I was definitely focused on one character that I didn't believe to be trustworthy. In fact, I think I questioned the trustworthiness of all the characters except for Langdon and Peter Solomon. It is a whirlwind of an adventure. There is so much thrown at Langdon and the reader that you do have to pause and pull your thoughts together.

I really don't want to give a lot away with this book since it was kept under secrecy for months but I will say there was one twist I didn't see coming and it was a "duh" moment. Although I would have hated if I had guessed it. If you want an adventure but one that will make you stop and think, go and grab The Lost Symbol.

Final Take: 4.75/5

Jenn's Review: Another great Dan Brown novel. There was plenty of suspense and lots of twists and turns. (I did see the final twist coming, but Brown had me convinced that I was wrong for a while, which is something.)

Also, I always forget how easily Brown will kill off characters and he got me a couple of times. No one is safe and no one can be trusted. His new characters are all interesting and there is plenty of symbology and historical references to please his avid fans. My grandfather was a Mason and I always find a Masonic theme fascinating. I'm glad Brown didn't go the conspiracy route with it, because, as 'Langdon' is quick to explain, there are a lot of misconceptions out there.

Brown also brings to light Noetic science, the study of mind and intuition and its relationship with the divine intellect, which I found intriguing. (For more information on this, visit the website for the Institute of Noetic Sciences.)

Julie's right it's hard to review this without giving things away, so suffice it to say:

Though I loved Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons is by far my favorite Brown novel, and I am placing The Lost Symbol a close third to Da Vinci Code.

Final Take: 4.5/5

To Re-Read or Not to Re-Read? That Is The Question.

I went to see a movie Friday night and I saw two trailers for movie adaptaions of popular novels. I have a love hate relationship with movie adaptions, as I am sure most avid readers do, and I struggle with whether to see a movie that's been adapted from a novel. I often struggle with something else - whether to re-read the book before going to see a movie, or not. It's a big investment of time to re-read a book and lately I haven't a lot of time to keep up with and read the things I usually want to (I still have no idea what Stephanie was up to in Fearless Fourteen). With 5 major adaptations coming to the theatre this year, I am seriously wondering whether to invest the time. For some I already know the answer to this question, but for others, I still really don't know. Perhaps you all could offer up an opinion?

The Books/Movies

Angels & Demons
(May 15) - I vaguely remember the plot of this book. Yeah, I remember the big themes, the ending and I absolutely remember this book being really good, however the details completely escape me. Knowing what I know about adaptations in general and remembering how extremely pissed off I was at the cop-out that was The DaVinci Code movie, I wonder if a re-read is warranted?

My Sister's Keeper
(June 26) - This was one of the trailers I saw the other night and I can already tell you there are departures from the book. I still believe this will be a major tearjerker, though, that's not my issue. This book was so very good and so heartbreaking that I knew when I was done that I couldn't never read this book again. I want to, but I'm not sure I can.

The Lovely Bones
(December 11) - Umm, I haven't read this yet, so I guess I'll be reading it.

The Time Traveler's Wife
(August 14th) - Have you read this book yet? Seriously, this is a must read. I read it when it first came out, and like Angels and Demons I can't recall a lot of the details. I have some serious love for this novel, so I really won't mind another visit.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(July 15) - There's no question. Oh wait! Just one - Have you seen the new trailer?