Book Review - Angels & Demons (Dan Brown)

Thrill & suspense, Action & emotion, Science and Religion, God and Satan, Art and History. Any one of the mentioned, if well written could make a book super success. What if all of it is woven into a superbly written story of an attack on the world's most sacred shrine and a race against time to avert the complete decimation of world's most prominent religious symbol 'The Vatican City'. This points to the worthy predecessor to one of the most read novels 'The Da Vinci Code', only much better than that.



This is an un-putdown-able story which provides enough twists and turns to swing the grey matter in your head and fast paced enough to keep your eyes glued to the text. Although this book might not have received any literary accolades but the book is definitely high on IQ and establishes Dan Brown as one of intelligent writers of current times. This fast paced thriller still manages to not even touch upon but strongly put forward a broader issue. The issue of faith and its place in the world taken over by science, the place of God's miracles in the midst of science's miracles and that of the morality of the actions of science. Brown contends that Science provides power but doesn't provide the caution to exercise it, the right and wrong use of it, that's the job of religion, to make the world aware of the mindless progress and preserving the collective conscience of the society.



This story revives one of the most dangerous men ever to have walked on the face of this earth, The Illuminati, enemies of the church, vanished years ago but resurfacing to annihilate the core of Christianity. The killing spree starts with killing of a CERN scientist who has Illuminati branded on his chest. This calls for a Harward Professor and Illuminati Scholar Robert Langdon who along with Scientist's daughter Vittoria Vetra finds out that CERN's antimatter has been stolen and smuggled in the Vatican and would decimate it in twenty four hours. Thus the race begins against time where Robert has to solve four puzzles to find the location of four monuments spread across Rome to save four cardinals who would be killed before midnight, exactly when Vatican would be blown apart. In his quest to save Vatican, Robert is accompanied by Vittoria, CERN physicist and wildlife specialist and unconditionally supported by late Pope's Chamberlain Carmelango Ventresca. The story twists and turns and reaches a points which looks much like a climax only to provide the biggest jolt towards the end of it. In the meantime, Brown reveals the complete architecture of Vatican city and dynamics of the electoral process of the Pope. Brown mixes fact and fiction so skillfully, it is difficult to separate the two but at the same time provides enough researched facts to substantiate the reading experience.



Dan Brown this time has thrown in enough likable characters in this novel. Robert Langdon introduced in this book moved on to become protagonist of Da Vinci Code and was a great success. A Harward symbology Professor, excessively sharp and smart, intelligent enough to solve any puzzle in the world, have an exceptional knowledge of art and history but vulnerable enough to fall in love with Vittoria. What else do you want from a hero. Vittoria, on the other hand is tough and independent physicist who despite her father's death, was strong enough to fight the battle to save the Vatican from the harm her creation was going to cause. Above all the most likable character of this novel would be Carmelengo, the late pope's Chamberlain. He is shown as sensible, firm, truthful and the man who could save the Vatican from the crisis they are in. He is the one who stands up from religion's side in the debate of science over religion and makes his point across, he is the one who leads the battle of God versus Satan and makes sure if they loose, they do it with dignity. Carmelengo's character is very powerful and very difficult to write, any mistake would have ruined the message he was there to deliver, But Brown has managed it well and projected it so strongly that it becomes the soul of the story.



All in all, this book deserves five out of five stars and one additional star for the powerful climax. Readers who have read this after Da vinci Code would defeinitely be waiting for The Solomon Key.