Publisher: Doubleday (2009)
ISBN: 9780385504225 (US) - 9780593054277 (UK)
My Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT WAS LOST WILL BE FOUND ... Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last-minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object - gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicentre of the Rotunda. It is, he recognises, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most historic city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth. A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight... (fishpond.com.au)
My thoughts
This was my first book from Dan Brown, after watching "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons", and I have to admit it was quite a page turner for me.
Robert Langdon comes to Washington to give a lecture, but instead of an audience he finds his friend's Peter's severed hand mounted on a wooden base - the fingers pointing towards the Rotunda ceiling fresco of George Washington. This is how it all starts, and with Mal'akh, a tattooed and steroid-swollen villain, Robert now has to put together the pieces of some ancient source of power.
I do have to admit, that some of the passages felt lengthy and unneccessary, sometimes even chapters where I thought it was just a filler - such as the extensive details about Science of Noetics. I'm still not sure whether it was me or whether it just had nothing to do with the whole story.
Not wanting to give anything away, but I didn't see the twist at the end coming.
I think anyone who likes the world of Robert Langdon and the hidden symbols in "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" might probably be slightly disappointed, but will like it nonetheless.
ISBN: 9780385504225 (US) - 9780593054277 (UK)
My Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT WAS LOST WILL BE FOUND ... Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last-minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object - gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicentre of the Rotunda. It is, he recognises, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most historic city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth. A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight... (fishpond.com.au)
My thoughts
This was my first book from Dan Brown, after watching "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons", and I have to admit it was quite a page turner for me.
Robert Langdon comes to Washington to give a lecture, but instead of an audience he finds his friend's Peter's severed hand mounted on a wooden base - the fingers pointing towards the Rotunda ceiling fresco of George Washington. This is how it all starts, and with Mal'akh, a tattooed and steroid-swollen villain, Robert now has to put together the pieces of some ancient source of power.
I do have to admit, that some of the passages felt lengthy and unneccessary, sometimes even chapters where I thought it was just a filler - such as the extensive details about Science of Noetics. I'm still not sure whether it was me or whether it just had nothing to do with the whole story.
Not wanting to give anything away, but I didn't see the twist at the end coming.
I think anyone who likes the world of Robert Langdon and the hidden symbols in "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" might probably be slightly disappointed, but will like it nonetheless.
