JediKermit's Full Review: Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol
I've been a bit slow to get on the Dan Brown bandwagon. I read The Da Vinci Code in 2006, then picked up Angels & Demons shortly after that. I thought both books were fascinating reads that pitted Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon against obscured mysteries and arcane plotters who meant to keep them obscured. Both books took the tenets of Christianity and religious history and played with them, tweaking our perceptions of Catholicism and even the nature of Jesus Christ. Fun, fast-paced reads, they also both strayed a bit too far into Dr. Langdon's "lecture mode," where Brown would go on for pages on end about details meant to prove a point, but would often have me skimming ahead for the next chapter.
The latest Langdon novel, The Lost Symbol, is very much in the same spirit of the other two. Instead of being set in the museums and churches of Europe, this one stays rooted in Washington, D.C., and takes place in the course of one evening. Brown has developed a formula for these books, and although it's an entertaining formula, it adheres so closely to it that any real suspense is removed.
Robert Langdon is summoned to Washington D.C. by his old friend and mentor Peter Solomon. When he arrives, he finds that he's been misled, but that his friend is in danger. Mal'akh, a monster of a man covered in tattoos and with an axe to grind against the Solomons, wants Langdon to do him a favor--find and decode the mythical Masonic Pyramid in Washington, D.C.. Langdon doesn't believe that the pyramid actually exists, but is soon caught up in a caper that involves the C.I.A., the Capitol Architect, Masons, churches, and goes to many prominent D.C. landmarks. Along the way he eventually hooks up with Katherine Solomon (Peter's sister), another requisite part of a Dan Brown plot, and solves many puzzles along the way.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons; setting the novel in Washington D.C. meant that I had been almost everyplace that Langdon visits. Last summer was my third time in DC in the last few years, and uncovering secrets (real or fictional) in the history, art and architecture of our nation's capital is always fascinating. Choosing the Masons as the focus for the book was also an interesting choice--a group that I didn't know too much about, although my own Mormon/LDS religion does have some connections with them. I thought it was an interesting insight into a mysterious group, although at times I felt like I was learning things that Masons might want kept more secret. The third reason I really enjoyed the book was the budding idea of noetics that Katherine Solomon is involved in. The idea that thought could have an impact on the physical world isn't a new one, but with a bit of science fiction and drama worked into the mix, it made for a compelling part of the book.
The Lost Symbol isn't perfect; Dr. Langdon does lapse into professorial lectures a bit too often, sometimes via flashbacks where he actually is giving lectures to his students at Harvard. These sections could be interesting but take you out of the novel. Mal'akh came across as a stereotypical villain, and too similar to the villains in the other Langdon novels. I didn't care about him until the very end, and never really felt like Langdon was in mortal peril. Much of the book feels like it was written with Columbia's movie deal already in mind, and sometimes this felt more like National Treasure than The Da Vinci Code.
In all, this was an entertaining read, and the 500 pages went by in a rush. I enjoyed the art, architecture and history, I loved "the big idea" at the heart of the book...I just wish it had been a bit better.
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