TITLE: The Lost Symbol
SERIES: Robert Langdon (#3)
AUTHOR: Dan Brown
GENRE: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
PUBLISHER: Doubleday (US), Transworld (UK)
COUNTRY: United States, United Kingdom
PUBLICATION DATE: September 15, 2009
PAGE COUNT: 528 Hardcover. 671 Paperback
MY RATING: 9/10
FAVORITE QUOTES:
- “Truth has power. And if we all gravitate toward similar ideas, maybe we do so because those ideas are true…written deep within us. And when we hear the truth, even if we don’t understand it, we feel that truth resonate within us…vibrating with our unconscious wisdom. Perhaps the truth is not learned by us, but rather, the truth is re-called…re-membered…-re-cognized…as that which is already inside us.”
- “The power of human thought grows exponentially with the number of minds that share that thought.”
- “The only difference between you and God is that you have forgotten you are divine.”
- “We are creators, and yet we naively play the role of “the created.” We see ourselves as helpless sheep buffeted around by the God who made us. We kneel like frightened children, begging for help, for forgiveness, for good luck. But once we realize that we are truly created in the Creator’s image, we will start to understand that we, too, must be Creators. When we understand this fact, the doors will burst wide open for human potential.”
- “The Secret is how to die. Since the beginning of time, the secret has always been how to die.”
NOTE: This is a spoiler free review and the views are solely mine.
The Lost Symbol- a 2009 thriller novel written by the famous American author, Dan Brown- is a sequel to the globally best selling novel The Da Vinci Code. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling where it takes you through an arduous and venturesome journey into Washington’s dark history and the antiquity of Freemasonry.
It had a first printing of 6.5 million (5 million in North America, 1.5 million in the UK), the largest in Doubleday history. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the U.S., the UK and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history.[5] It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction[6]for the first six weeks of its release,[7] and remained on the list for 29 weeks.
Brace yourself for a deadly race and let the guardian angel, Robert Langdon, take you through a real and perplexing world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths…all under Brown’s most petrifying, hawk-eyed villain till date! Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington D.c., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.
Blurb
As the story begins, Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon is summoned by an incognito person to deliver an evening speech in the US Capitol Building. However within minutes of his arrival, things take a ghastly turn when he discovers a gut-wrenching and a gruesome object on the Capitol’s floor- a severed wrist, artfully encoded with five symbols. Langdon recognizes that the hand represents an invitation (The Hand of Ancient Mysteries), one meant to usher it’s recipient into a long lost world of esoteric wisdom and a hidden ancient mystery…something which is only known to an elite few.
When Langdon learns that his beloved mentor, a 33rd degree Mason named Peter Solomon, who is the head of the Smithsonian Institution, has been brutally kidnapped, and his sister Katherine Solomon, a renowned scientist, is in sheer danger, Langdon, realizes that his only hope of saving his friend’s life is to accept these mystical summons and follow wherever it leads him.
Professor Langdon with the assistance of the CIA, Katherine Solomon and two of Peter’s most trusted Masonic brothers, is lead through a breathless chase through Washington’s dark history, a clandestine world of masonic secrets, ancient mysteries, and never-before-seen locations… all of which lead to a final and an inconceivable truth- the lost wisdom, the lost word, the Lost Symbol…something which holds the power to bring a great human transformation.
With his friend’s life at bay, will Robert Langdon capitulate to the kidnapper’s demands? or will he swear to sincerely protect the mankind’s greatest treasure…the lost wisdom of the ages? Shall the persuasive secret of the ages be ultimately revealed?
About the Author
Daniel Gerhard Brown, born on 22 June, 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire, is well known for his thriller novels- the Robert Langdonstories- Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003, which has become one of the best selling novels of all time as well as the subject of intellectual debate among readers and scholars), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013) and Origin (2017) and stand-alone novels- Digital Fortress (1998) and Deception Point.
His novels are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, art, and conspiracy theories. Brown’s novels are published in 56 languages around the world with over 200 million copies in print.
The son of a mathematics teacher and a church organist, Brown was raised on a prep school campus where he developed a fascination with the paradoxical interplay between science and religion. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books.
Brown’s latest novel, Origin, explores two of the fundamental questions of humankind: Where do we come from? Where are we going?
Review
I really love Dan Brown stories! It’ll make you look at things from an overall different dimension. His books are really entertaining where you get to learn about so many new and bizarre things which are at times so hard to digest! His books are meant to keep your heart racing, your mind guessing and your eyes unable to blink for a few minutes at a time.
Even though The Lost Symbol falls in the Robert Langdon series, the book can be read as a stand-alone as it is not much related to the 2nd book in the series( The Da Vinci Code) and so it wouldn’t hamper your course of reading.
I was glad to see that Brown brought the dynamic and entertaining character of Robert Langdon back to the US from Europe and UK from his previous books! The Lost Symbol, starting with a macabre scene, pulled me in instantly! From there the characters unfolded and with a good deal of historical and mystical information, the story ended in an exceptionally wonderful way! Sometimes the far-fetched revelations and the appalling acts of one of Brown’s most terrifying villains were so compelling that I came close to a “cardiac arrest”!
However I feel sorry to admit that The Lost Symbol didn’t really satisfy me as much as the previous two books in the series did! (I thoroughly enjoyed “Angels and Demons” and “The Da Vinci Code”). The One and Only reason: I felt that the second part of the book was unnecessarily made so long. The Revelations at the end were great, infact they were the best part of the story, but Brown could have easily made sure to keep it simple and compact so that the reader won’t develop a sense of apathy while proceeding and this is why it took me more time than usual to complete this novel.
Apart from that, this book is worth a read, wooahoo!!! It’s indeed amazing how the author so nimbly and in a poised manner, fuses a story of fiction with the realistic and actually existing events, how beautifully does he conglomerate parts from the ancient history and the once existing truths with a mind-blogging, thrilling and a fanciful story. Indeed brilliant! He’s put forward genuine ideas about enlightenment, noetic sciences, Christianity (and other religions in general) and faith. I loved how he eloquently summed up our inner soul as energy and our mind as the power that transforms us to reach new spiritual planes. I loved how wonderfully he connected science with religion! I loooveeedd studying and deciphering all those cryptograms, mystical codes and symbols, it’s like a brilliant mind game and one of the Brown signature styles to keep the readers hooked to the pages of the book till the very last!!!
The novel intensely needs to be devoured for the brilliant words used by the author will undeniably make you confront the deadly events that are mentioned in the book. It will candidly make you fall in love with Dan Brown and his framed and celebrated character, Robert Langdon. Once you start reading, you cannot inevitably get your mind off the pages of the book. You’ll notice the horripilation on your arms.
I would recommend this book to all the thriller enthusiasts out there. One heck of a good read and an outstanding mode of sustenance for the thriller fanatics!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my review!
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