Review : Angels And Demons

I have read Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” and I thought that I would like to share with you my thoughts about it. “I almost share every thought in my mind about everything in the world with so what is harm ;) “

First of all this is post is full of spoilers for those who have not read “Angels and demons” , so consider this as warning , we got here a lot of spoilers

Now this is Dan Brown’s first Robert Langdon’s adventure in this world , it is the first time we are introduced to this single tweed suit Harvard professor who wears a Mickey mouse watch , unlike to some may believe “ The Da Vinci’s Code” was not the first but rather “Angels and Demons”.

This novel should be read before the “Da Vinci’s Code” because the later will spoil “Angels and Demons” , “Angels and Demons” has a similar theme and even a plot to “Da Vinci’s Code” that you think that Brown is repeating himself and you may even get bored like one of my friends did if you are interested with the riddles in it.

Check the following :

• In “Angels and Demons” the struggle was between the Catholic church and Illuminati “as we believe in the start” and in “Da Vinci’s Code” the struggle was between the Catholic Church  and priory of Zion “as we believe in the start”.
• The bad or rather mad villain in the end was someone you though to be good as in “Sir Leigh Teabing” in “Da Vinci’s code” and “Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca” in “Angels and Demons” , strangely both of them may have what you consider a noble cause but because they are sick persons they decided to support it in the most sick diabolic ways.
• We have a hitman with a cause whether the Hassassin who wanted to avenge from the church for their crimes in the crusades or  “Silias” in “Da Vinci’s code” whom wants to protect the Church from the evil priory of Zion , of course the Hassanein was appeared in a more evil way that “Silas” and strangely the weakest historical point in the novel is the Hassanein whom I will return to later.
• In “Angels and Demons” the heroine “Vittoria” was the adopted daughter of a Catholic scientist/priest “Leonardo Vetra” who was killed brutally in his lab where as in “Da Vinci’s code” the heroine “Sophie Neveu” was the grand daughter of the Louvre Curator/ Priory of Zion master Jacques Sauniere who was killed in his museum in his work , both ladies shared lots of characteristics for sure. Langdon was called to check the symbols on and around their bodies

I think Brown was growing up in his style in “Angels and Demons” and became mature in “Da Vinci’s Code”. He managed to make the plot more mysterious than in “Angels and Demons” , I did not know who was “The master” till Brown has shocked me in the late chapters in “Da Vinci’s Code” where as I began to suspect in Ventresca in the middle of the novel and I began totally convinced by that even before that mad show he presented on the Vatican’s roof

“Angels and demons” was longer than “Da Vinci’s code” and by long here I mean there are lots and lots of irrelevant details that can be summarized in one paragraphs. I did not need to know about the childhood of Maximilian Kohler, it is enough to say that he is an atheist. I do not need to go in Vittoria’s childhood too deep. Thank God Brown shortened the childhood memories in “Da Vinci’s code” keeping only the relevant memories.

The strongest points of Brown is he knows how to keep you holding the book  in order to finish it. His historical information are usual debated , I do not know much about the accuracy of the information he mentioned about the Church , Illuminati and renaissance artists but I know that his historical references regarding the Hassassin were totally wrong. Starting from the fact that Hassanein word a plural word , in fact even the correct word historically is Hashshashin; of course may be Brown may wanted to refer for the Arabic origin of the “assassin” word. I am from the people who are interested in the Hashashin sect not only because they were from the darkest and bloodiest sect in the history of Islam but because they are many similarities between them and the radical terrorist groups , there is no doubt it was from the earliest cults the world has ever known. Anyhow I will not speak about the facts concerning the beliefs of Hashashin which make me wonder on how we can consider them Muslims in the first place nor shall I speak about the fact that that they used to kill other Muslims even more than Christians in their history but I will  hint to very important historical ignored facts :

1// The hashshain were neither with the Muslims nor the crusaders during the crusades in fact they were most of the time with the crusaders.

2// The hashshain tried to assassinate Saladin himself in Damascus if I am not mistaken and he even survived another attempt ; of course the man had to crack down their castles and he had to impose a siege that was ended for the sake of women and children.

3// It is said that the Hashshain sect was the one that inspired the Masons to form their group not to mention they were blamed for screwing the minds of knight templars teaching them sorcery and blasphemy.

What makes me angry is not the western view of Brown towards the Muslims and the Arabs in specific more that he could have used the Hashshian and their legacy more giving more suspense and thrill to the novel.  Of course I must hint out that he did not mention how the hell Carlo found that assassin ?? It is not listed in the Craigslist.

Now Do I recommend you to read “Angels and Demons” ?? Well I recommended because it is a nice virtual trip to the Vatican and Rome not to mention it is not every day you discover the secret world of Illuminati.

By the way the third adventure of Robert Langdon “ The Lost Symbol” will be available in book shops on the 15th of September in the United States , you can pre-order it from Amazon here ;)

The lost symbol will be about Freemasonry and the history of the United States , it reminds with Nicholas Cage’s National treasure film series.

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