Customers say
Customers find the book easy to read and enjoyable. They describe the story as thrilling, exciting, and a good intelligent adventure novel. The historical context and scientific elements add interest and credibility. Readers appreciate the depth of research and credible background information. They find the pacing fast-paced and the action quick to move from one scene to another. The characters are believable and retain their fictional characteristics. Overall, customers describe the book as a real page-turner from start to finish that keeps them turning the pages.
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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:
World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization, the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth, the long-forgotten Illuminati lair.
Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: Tucker Andersen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Awesome! ! Action, Adventure, Religion, Science & History
Review: I had been very impressed by DIGITAL FORTESS, Dan Brown’s first novel, and found his treatment of a complex subject matter both knowledgeable and compelling. I had then missed the publication of ANGELS AND DEMONS, but felt that he had overplayed his hand in his third novel DECEPTION POINT, which started with an interesting premise but wandered into unnecessary complexity and violence and ultimately complete implausibilty. With the publication of THE DA VINCI CODE, upon learning that Robert Langdon is the central character in both DA VINCI and ANGELS, I decided to first read ANGELS in order to keep the stories in sequence. This is a mesmerizing page turner as long as you accept the author’s central technological premises concerning scientific achievements in the near future.Robert Langdon, a professor of iconography and religious symbology at Harvard, is awakened by a telephone call from Maximilian Kohler, head of a prestigious European scientific institute. One of Kohler’s fellow scientists has been murdered and an ancient symbol burned into his chest. Langdon feels compelled to investigate, and soon finds himself in the midst of a plot involving not only the death of Leonardo Vetra, a priest who is the world’s leading antimatter researcher, but of the revival of a centuries old vendetta by a secret society, The Illuminati, against the Catholic Church. Langdon is forced by circumstances and the nature of the threat to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, Leonardo’s adopted daughter, in an attempt to uncover the Illumunati’s secret and halt not only several additional murders which have been threatened but the destruction of The Vatican itself.Incredibly, the entire story takes place within a time span of just over twelve hours, which adds to the compelling nature of the action. The book is typical Dan Brown, meticulously researched (despite the complaints of a few reviewers about some details), with lots of interesting information about a variety of subjects related to religion, the Vatican, art, science and morality. It is a well constructed story, with several plot twists and enough misdirection to make it extremely difficult to anticipate the conclusion. (I doubt that the outcome was as expected by those critical reviewers who didn’t finish the book after identifying their choice for the “obvious villian”. I also did not feel that the story was at all anti- Catholic, in fact the author met with the Pope and was helped by the Vatican during his research efforts.) While there are several gruesome scenes, they are integral to the context of the story and the violence is usually minimized and only briefly described.The real bonus of reading this story is the wonderfully well articulated discussion of the tension between science and religious faith, which forms the heart of the story. The last section of the book has a particularly insightful monologue in this regard, but the subject infuses the whole discussion woven into the plot concerning the historical conflict between the Illuminati and the Church. For instance, early in the book Vittoria challenges Langdon’s evasion concerning his apparent lack of a belief in God with the observation “I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference.”In addition, the book is almost worth reading just for the ambigrams (words or phrases which read the same right side up or upside down) which Dan Brown had created. These are truly works of art and their design is incredibly clever and beautiful. Finally, if you are familiar with Philips Exeter Academy, the author’s alma mater, you will also have the fun of recognizing the source of the names of several of the characters referenced in the book.
Reviewer: Giant Panda
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good story, makes me think, but annoyingly wordy
Review: First off, I enjoyed this book, especially the second half when the plot thickens and twists unpredictably. I read the entire second half in one sitting. I also liked the photographs and maps in this illustrated edition, which I found helpful to trace the action and ponder the symbolism.Having said that, the book suffers from drawbacks that puts it well out of the league of good literature. I am not sure if this is because it’s Dan Brown’s first book, not having read others.The writing style is completely amateurish. I found it too wordy, slowing me down when the plot is supposed to be action-oriented and fast paced. Things are explained ad nauseum, with much repetitiveness, insulting the reader’s intelligence. There are many irrelevant details and descriptions. For example, Robert Langdon, upon entering a church or a room, first takes the time to survey the place, admiring the artwork, even when he well knows there’s a killer in the room. Something about this kind of timing irks me. The whole novel is supposed to happen in the span of a few hours, but I cannot believe so much action could take place, not at the pace it is written out in.More annoying is the language used. Every character, whether Italian, CERN scientist, Harvard Professor, Vatican Cardinal, Swiss Guard, or British reporter speaks with the same accent, peppered with “I’ll be d*mned”. At least one “D*mn” has to pop up on every page. It cuts the believability of the story and constantly reminds me I am reading a work of fiction – an imperfectly-crafted one at that.As many other reviewers pointed out, the characters are unreal. A Harvard professor who is a champion diver and swims 50 laps a day? The author has no idea of the amount of time and devotion it takes to be a successful academic.There were also problems with the research and with consistency. The editors could have done a better job spotting those things. A poison that darkens the gums, then the tongue is found to be black. A Middle Eastern assassin who “speaks Islamic” [Islam is a religion, not a language], with a “cold Middle Eastern accent” [Middle Eastern accents I heard can be described as anything but cold]. The springtime sun in Rome setting at 9 PM? Even in midsummer the Mediterranean sun barely makes it past 8 PM. Or how about the scientist who secretly works on the CERN accelerator late at night to produce anti-matter? [Large accelerators are operated 24 hours and there are several people in the operator room at all times].The greatest faux pas of all? The Rome in which action was taking place, at 7 PM, 8 PM appears as if it was deserted. This is quite unlike my experience of Rome, with mountains and mountains of people, packed piazzas, packed churches, packed tourist sites.In summary, I enjoyed it, but I won’t bother reading his other books. Go straight to the movie instead.
Reviewer: Phil Strader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Phenomenal!!
Review: Definitely a great read.. certainly a must if you like thrillers! There are some not so subtle differences between the book and the movie…but I won’t spoil them for you in this review….but both are fantastic!
Reviewer: N. Levy
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: an excellent story
Review: I like the way the story incorporates history and culture into a masterful tale of eternal foes, bravo Dan Brown
Reviewer: Guilherme
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This history provides a travel through the ancient times and quite a non-stop action. I really liked the development of the Camerlengo’s role during the novel.
Reviewer: Zac Chan
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The copy I received was damaged and there were water stains on the cover. Slightly disappointed with the copy I received.
Reviewer: Mandler
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: “Angels and Demons” ist die englische Ausgabe von “Illuminati”. Eigentlich hege ich eine gewisse Vorsicht gegen solch große Klassiker, vor allem wenn die Verfilmungen so extrem gehypt wurden. Trotzdem, es hat sich gelohnt, es auszuprobieren. Dan Brown schrieb einen Roman, der etwas an einen Krimi erinnert, trotzdem voller “Fakten” ist und eine enorme Spannung aufbaut – absolut Lesenswert! Ich werde mir in nächster Zeit sicherlich auch die anderen Teile zu Gemüte führen.
Reviewer: Venkat
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Gives a bone chilling experience.
Reviewer: Catherine111
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellente intrigue.Le personnage est attachant. Le bouquin est écrit dans un style souple et élégant (je l’ai lu en anglais), et en plus, c’est un pavé qui vous donne des heures de plaisir.
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