Review: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Hi all!

My name is Chiara and I am a Bookworm.

I want to talk to you today about a book that took me nearly an entire month to read (or rather listen to).

I started listening to this Audiobook on a family day out on my birthday. It was my dad’s choice to put it on but I loved listening to it and it reminded me of just how long it had been since I had read The Da Vinci Code. But I wanted to finish listening to it, but between work and life, it took a while to really listen to the rest of it.

But without further ado, let us dive right in.

Disclaimer: The Waterstones link below are affiliate links meaning that, at no extra cost for you, I earn a small commission on any purchases made.

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon #2) by Dan Brown

The Blurb

Harvard professor Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call while on business in Paris: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been brutally murdered inside the museum. Alongside the body, police have found a series of baffling codes.

As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, begin to sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci – and suggests the answer to a mystery that stretches deep into the vault of history.

Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, a stunning historical truth will be lost forever…

My Thoughts

I haven’t read many other Dan Brown stories, as much as I have always wanted to. His books are really heavy going and take a lot of determination to read through and probably not the usual sort that you would re-read. It’s enough to be able to say that you have read them once.

Also this is the second book in the series and I haven’t read the first one, Angels and Demons, but from everything I can find you don’t need to and the references to the previous story in the book and incredibly minimal that you could almost not notice them.

I think that Dan Brown has weaved an incredible story with believable, complex, amazing characters that visit some amazing places. Whether you believe what this story tells or not (and it is almost believable) it is just incredible.

I think a major downside to this book is that it relies on the reader have at least a basic knowledge of Christianity, which if you don’t can be incredibly distracting and ruin the experience of the book. I think it limits it’s broad appeal.

I love Brown’s descriptions of the places that the characters visit. The Louvre, Saint Suplice (which is not nearly as grand as Notre Dame, but still worth visiting), Westminster Abbey. His descriptions are so brilliant that you could imagine yourself there, in those places.

My two big problems with this book are:

1. It can be a little repetitive. Riddle after riddle, puzzle after puzzle that feels like you are never going to reach the end.
2. The narrator. I love when narrators put on accents for the characters. It provides an extra dimension to the characters, but this narrator didn’t do it for me. I found his French accents too stereotypical and Sophie’s accent in particular incredibly breathy. (I hope the narrator for the other books is better.)

Overall I would recommend this book. For me, there is a reason that it sold so well. It sparks controversy and your imagination and will open your eyes to a whole new world.