What? Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.
Backcover Description:
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.
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.
So, is it worth reading? Perhaps I should not do this review. Why you ask? Particularly because I'm still vexed by the fact that there's no symbol in the The Lost Symbol (what the ?) and its grandiose preposterousity. Let's do away with the bad stuff first. There is no symbol to be found. That's weird, especially for a book titled 'The Lost Symbol'. The novel is filled with bombast and preposterous claims (that shouldn't bother you much, if you're a DB fan like me). As usual, there are again too many coincidences that keep the plot going. The CIA is along for the ride to make things tad more interesting but it's never particularly clear why the CIA is there.
Despite this, the Lost Symbol is a really taut thriller which can keep you turning pages late at night before realizing that you've already read half the novel. Dan Brown still remains the author who scrupulously does extensive research and is able to pull off a really taut thriller out of the fringes of religions and history which are particularly messy and turns them into highly readable and enjoyable parts of the story. The quintessential clever use of geography as a plot device that has been a Dan Brown trademark since Angels & Demons is there and has been utilized particularly well.
If the novel is that good, why was I just lamenting about its, well, lameness? Well, it's preposterous, downright, for starters. Noetic science, now come on. That's pretty loony, even by Dan Brown standards. Plus for a book titled The Lost Symbol, it should at least be about a symbol, right? Lost or not. It turns out there was no symbol to begin with. The fact that you just read a 500-odd page book titled 'The Lost Symbol' and (maybe) spent a few sleepless nights reading it and ultimately finding out there is no symbol/artifact or even a secret to be found, let alone 'Lost', is bound to infuriate anybody.
And claiming that the world's most famous scripture which hawkers peddle door-to-door is the world's biggest secret is really stretching it. And of course, it can hardly be termed as 'Lost' or even a 'Symbol' for that matter.
And that's what the problem with Dan's latest novel is. Even if you're really generous granting liberties in fictional plots (which probably you are, if you're reading this review and read Dan Brown's books), this novel asks for a huge loan on the liberty part, then overdraws on it and defaults on the payments big time, particularly in the end.
Why am I giving it a good rating then? Because once you overlook these shortcomings (and are prepared to be disappointed with the climax), The Lost Symbol remains a taut thriller which has the potential to keep you flipping pages late into the night.
And that's what the problem with Dan's latest novel is. Even if you're really generous granting liberties in fictional plots (which probably you are, if you're reading this review and read Dan Brown's books), this novel asks for a huge loan on the liberty part, then overdraws on it and defaults on the payments big time, particularly in the end.
Why am I giving it a good rating then? Because once you overlook these shortcomings (and are prepared to be disappointed with the climax), The Lost Symbol remains a taut thriller which has the potential to keep you flipping pages late into the night.
Rating: 4/5 (find out about ratings here).
Final Word (Go or no go?): Go! (read warnings above though)
Where do I buy this? See link below.
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