Dan Brown Month...

Is Officially Over :(
I know I know. Even I feel quite depressed and down. But Harry Potter Month is around the corner! Ish!

Movie Review 1: Angels and Demons

Title: Angels and Demons
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor.
Rating: 6.5/10
Critics Rating (from Rotten Tomatoes): 36%
Review:
I was actually quite excited for this movie to come out. I mean, after all the great things I said about Angels and Demons in the previous posts! But this movie failed to achieve any sort of hype from me. I mean, come on. First of all, Tom Hanks does NOT make a good Robert Langdon. No way. Secondly, half the movie is like, "hm, let's go and solve this clue. Walk. Walk. See, kill, oh no!" I mean, it worked for the book. And now I totally don't like the book. Here is what I hate about when books turn into movies: they turn horrid. And terrible. And that ruins the whole book for you. So spare yourself to the drama and read the book instead. It is quite better! :)
Overall Consensus: Don't waste your time, stay in and watch something else.

Trailer:

Review 23: Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Title: Digital Fortress
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 8.5/10
The Lowdown:
At the NSA, Susan Fletcher is a gifted mathematician/ code breaker. Her code breaking machine, TRANSLTR, can decrypt any code within seconds. But after TRANSLTR gets a code it cannot solve after 24 hours, Susan realizes that there is something fishy going on, along with the fact that her husband, David Becker, is in Spain looking for the ring of the creator of the code which TRANSLTR cannot break...
The Good:
A. I loved the puzzles in this book especially. Cryptology fascinates me.
B. I just loved the character of David Becker and the whole Seville plot line. It was amazing!
C. The ending was truly unexpected.
D. All the minor characters (this time) were actually quite vital to the plot and quirky and intriguing. I often feel that Dan Brown's minor characters are better than his major ones.
E. Not bad for a debut novel. :)
F. Great cliffhangers
G. Short chapters
The Bad:
A. The ending was quite stretched and drawn out. A few chapters cut would have been appreciated.
B. The usual plot line. See my earlier blog post about Deception Point.
C. The major characters. All so cliched, all so boring.
The Consensus:
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. Every chapter was short, quick, and usually had a cliffhanger. I would recommend this book to any techie/person who enjoys a good thriller and some cool facts. Good one Brown!

Quick Overview:
Plot: 4/5
Original Appeal: 2/5
Ending: 4.5/5
EXTRA-ordinary: 3/5

Review 22: Deception Point by Dan Brown

Title: Deception Point
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 7/10
The Lowdown:
Rachel Sexton, the daughter of the presidential candidate/senator Sexton works for the FBI. When she gets called down to the poles to uncover a mysterious fossil, although at first it may seem unreal (that's because it is.) How she uncovers this/ tells herself to believe it is the book, along with the politics behind Sexton.
The Good:
A. Books about ET/ books that elevate NASA's rep? I love that.
B. The quirky scientific characters. All of them made me laugh out loud, but when they died, it was quite sad.
The Bad:
A. Same old plotline. Crappy life, big mystery, POLITICS, scandal, love, and happy ending. Change your storylines, Brown!
B. Half the book was convincing Sexton that the fossil was false. We get it, now can you please move on?
C. The length was too much.
D. The shifting perspectives worked for this book, but honestly, some of the characters were just there to fill up the pages. The book was dragging on halfway to the end and I felt like falling asleep at page 150.
E. The character of Rachel Sexton was so predictable and quite honestly, pathetic. I see her on Fringe everyday. Yawn x 2
The Consensus:
This has to be Brown's worst. Considering the fact that it is his second novel (first being better than the second), it is a good first try.. He has a patter of writing good/bad/good/bad. Which means his latest book should be good (hopefully!)

BREAKING NEWS: Dan Brown's New Book

Dan Brown's new novel is almost here, titled The Lost Symbol. It will be released sometime in September.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/20/dan-brown-the-lost-symbol

Dan Brown's suave symbologist Robert Langdon, star of the international phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, is set for a return to the literary stage in a new thriller this autumn.

The long-awaited novel – one of the most anticipated in recent publishing history - will be called The Lost Symbol, and will take place over a 12-hour period. No more details were given about its content, but persistent rumours have suggested it will be set in Washington DC and will focus on freemasonry. It will be published on 15 September with an initial print run of 6.5 million copies – the largest first printing in publisher Random House's history.

"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," said Brown. "Weaving five years of research into the story's 12-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

Fans of Brown's rapid-paced, page-turning novels kept The Da Vinci Code at the top of bestseller charts around the world for over a year when it was published in 2003. Today, it is the UK's bestselling adult paperback novel of all time – ahead of Brown's other titles Angels & Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress, which take second, third and fourth place.

Announcing publication plans for The Lost Symbol today, Brown's US publisher Sonny Mehta described it as "a brilliant and compelling thriller" which was "well worth the wait".

"Dan Brown's prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book," he said. "This is a great day for readers and booksellers."

Brown's longterm US editor, Jason Kaufman, promised that, as ever, in The Lost Symbol "nothing ever is as it first appears". Brown scandalised Catholics in The Da Vinci Code by having Langdon discover that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene.

A film of The Da Vinci Code was released in 2006, starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. It will be followed up on 15 May this year with the film of Angels and Demons.

Review 21: The DaVinci Code

**Part of the Dan Brown Month**
Title: The DaVinci Code
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 8/10
The Lowdown:
Robert Langdon's most adventure- the one that takes him all around Europe in locating the infamous Holy Grail.
The Good:
A. Introduction of a few quirky/cool characters.
B. The mystery part
C. Awesome facts/tidbits about Jesus Christ and Christianity that I never knew. I'm not a Christian, so I didn't look at the book hypercritically; it was more like an enlightening experience for me.
D. Short and sweet chapters.
The Bad:
A. The ending. I seriously did not get it/ was not satisfied by it.
B. The romance. Seriously, Robert Langdon is such a player! He's always messing around with other girls SO MUCH younger than him. Ew. Gross!
C. Shifting perspectives.
The Consensus:
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but it did have boring parts. Sometimes, I got confused when Brown changed the perspective of the speaker. Overall, the book was enjoyable but not as good as Angels and Demons.

Review 20: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

** Part of the Dan Brown Month Series**
Title: Angels and Demons
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 9.5/10
The Lowdown:
Robert Langdon is solving a case for CERN/ the Vatican as their Pope candidates are kidnapped and brutally murdered as the legend of the Illuminati resurfaces.
The Good:
A. I really enjoyed the narration of Dan Brown. There was always something intriguing about the story that kept me awake.
B. I loved the puzzles as well as the little illustrations. They were all extremely enjoyable.
C. I loved the mystery aura with the whole who-killed-the-candidates.
D. The papal history was great.
E. The ending was unpredictable. If you guessed the killer, I will be in awe.
F. I liked the journalist guy. He was a great comic relief character!
The Bad:
A. The length. Honestly, I think that sometimes authors write too much and isntead of being edited out it ends up being included in the story. No, I do not want to read extraneous stuff that doesn't contribute to the plot but instead just fills up the pages. No thanks.
B. The shifting perspectives. I was definitely confused in the beginning but then I understood the story.
C. The ending. I had a few issues with the ending, but I can't really explain it without giving it away. But I can say one thing: even though it was unpredictable, it was too... grandesque. No one can actually believe that it would happen.
The Consensus:
Although the story gets confusing at some parts, I loved this book. It is page turning and addictive. Read it, love it, comment on it! It is definitely well worth the recent hype, no matter how unrealistic the ending is.

Dan Brown Month

This month is officially (you guessed it) Dan Brown Month. We'll be featuring a full review of all four of his books, latest news on his new book, as well as a review on the new Angels and Demons movie. So stay tuned, because you don't want to miss it! :) Here's my personal story of how I got hooked onto Dan Brown. It started with the general Dan Brown fever. But I was skeptical. So I read the book. I never watched either of the movies. But I loved the books. So there you have it folks, even I take recommendations! I think it's great how most popular movies originated from books. Personally, I liked Angels and Demons over The DaVinci Code. What do you think? Post your opinions!