Angels & Demons

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

I bet that the most usual review of Dan Brown's novels is "The Da Vinci code" but I have decided to go with this one which, to those who might not know, was written first.

Just before starting writing, I want to say that I read this one like four years ago, just before they released the movie adaptation. I read the book in about two days, and I must say that I liked it.

As you may know, the story follows Robert Langdon, who is now in a race against time to save the Vatican from a terrible antimatter bomb that might erase the city from the world. The story is told during the course of one day, there are things that feel quite strange (as in every Dan Brown book, I guess), but back then, honestly, I didn't care much.

So you have this cool character that is Langdon, trying to save the church (in which he doesn't believe), that make the whole thing quite interesting to me, actually. The narration is vivid and so easy to read. I wouldn't say that Dan Brown is a great writer but hey, he does entertain (at least in Angels and Demons) , and that's quite something. The thriller is great, you get surprised, scared and the moments of tension are quite interesting indeed.

What I did not enjoy much of the book is the constant use of technology to discover the main secrets or the sometimes impossible storyline. But again ,it is very entertaining and it keeps you thinking, which probably is the main goal of the book.

As I said, I read it in about two days, I thought it was great…and then came the movie!!!! I'm not going to get too much into it, but I'm going to say a couple of things. 

(I'm actually enjoying reviewing a book and then its adaptation in the same review). 

The film was ok, to me was way better than the Da Vinci Code and Tom Hanks did such a great hob in this one (compared to the first one, at least), but for some reason they changed the book so much (the ending, anyone?) that it lost much of its interest. The narration was not so thrilling as I would have liked but hey, it's just a "pop-corn film", so don't expect much.

To me, the worst thing of the film was Ayelet Zurer playing the female lead character. The best thing, aside from Hans Zimmer's amazing soundtrack, Tom Hanks and Stellan Skarsgard. 

So, if you want some good entertainment, you might want to check this out. But beware, It's not great literature.

MadHatterSays: Go on, entertain yourself 

                             3.5/5 

...and if you prefer films, MadHatterSays the same thing!