NAME: The Da Vinci Code
AUTHOR: Dan Brown
GENRE: Mystery, Conspiracy Fiction, Thriller
PUBLISHER: Doubleday; Transworld & Bantman Books; Corgi
COUNTRY: United States
PUBLICATION DATE: April 2003
PAGES: 589
SERIES: Robert Langdon (2)
MY RATING: 4.8/5
FAVOURITE QUOTES: ” Forgiveness is God’s greatest gift.”
“Da Vinci was in tune with the balance between male and female. He believed that a human soul could not be enlightened unless it had both male and female elements.”
” When a question has no correct answer, there is only one honest response. The gray area between yes and no. Silence.”
“Authors, he thought. Even the sane ones are nuts.”
” The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”
NOTE: This is a spoiler free review. The views are strictly original and authentic.
Yet again back to the usual charmer, Dan Brown coupled with Robert Langdon, an amalgamation that people love to experience shall indeed knead your brain into an arsenal of serpentine and emotive thoughts. The Da Vinci Code is the second book in the Robert Langdon Series. However you can read the book as a stand-alone since the 1st book of the series is not much related to the second one and so it wouldn’t hamper your course of reading.
This fantastic novel is all about some staggering yet stupendous facts about The Religious History of Christianity; an European Secret Brotherhood and some of the famed personalities like Leonardo Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Boticelli, Victor Hugo etc..
The story begins with the murder of Jacques Sauniere, an art virtuoso and the renowned curator of the Louvre Museum, Paris. His naked body is found on the floor aligned in a shape of the famous artwork ” The Vitruvian Man” and with a pentacle drawn on his chest with his own blood. Before breathing his last wind, Jacques Sauniere managed to leave a line of secret messages and cryptograms, one of which is found written on the floor of the museum beside his deceased body. Robert Langdon, the professor of religious iconology and symbology of the Harvard University, is summoned by the French Police, Bezu Fache, for further investigation into the matter. Langdon is luckily accompanied by a French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, the estranged granddaughter of Jacques Sauniere.
On the other side, Opus Dei president-general, Bishop Aringarosa and his foster-son, Silas ( the one who actually murdered Jacques Sauniere and three other curtors of the museum under the assent of an incognito man named as “teacher”), plan to steal the keystone- an engraved tablet that reveals the final resting place of the brotherhood’s (Priory of Sion) greatest secret. A monumental secret which can judder the entire Christiany and make the duo exceedingly powerful and rich.
While the French Police suspect Robert for the murder of Jacques Sauniere and three other curators of the museum, Sophie and Langdon vamoose from the eyes of Fache . They set out on an arcane journey under the guidance of the confounding codes that Jacques Sauniere had left behind for them to decipher. Unless they disentangle the wildering clues, an imperative and a remarkable history will be lost forever. While they engage themselves in the herculean task of decoding these mystifying codes, it comes into light that all those conundrums left behind by Jacques Sauniere lead to the famous works of the Maestro, Leonardo da Vinci. . Oeuvres like the great “Mona Lisa“, “Madonna of the Rocks/ Virgin of the Rocks” and “The Last Supper“ act as a spearhead which guide them to the final clue- a secret of an elephantine importance and an implausible information- an aghast secret which is astonishingly connected to an European secret society founded in 1099- “The Priory of Sion”.
The novel is full of mind-boggling informations and unanticipated surprises. The facts are so much intriguing that you won’t be able to get your mind off the pages of the book. While reading you wont be able to resist your mind from thinking, ” bleh! What on earth is going on?! I am a novice and There’s so much to learn and acknowledge!”
A little piece of knowledge which will stimulate and tickle your agog nerves: Jesus Christ, a descendent of the lines of King Solomon and King David, was a married man, he had a delightful love story and his beloved wife carried the royal bloodline of Christ. Also if you have heard of the “Holy Grail” as a chalice or a cup which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ’s blood at the Crucifixion, then its just an allegory to protect the true nature of the Holy Grail. The true nature- a divine secret- a far-fetched history is a theory which is for you to devour and discern.
I desperately want you people to read this novel and this is the very reason why with quite certainty I have resisted myself from writing down a review with spoilers! This is one such novel which surely has the ability to leave you completely befuddled for a long while after you finish reading! And gosh I’m so glad to get my hands on it! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did ^_^
Dan Brown’s overwhelmingly impressive works deserve a big round of applause. His skills lie in the way he intermingles fiction with the realistic and actually existing events from parts of the ancient history and wonderfully metamorphoses them into an overall mind-boggling, thrilling and a palpitating story. His novels are an arsenal of knowledge and the more I read such works by these virtuosos, the more that I fall in love with Books and life.
The novel was adapted into a movie in 2006 with the same title, directed by Ron Howard with Tom Hanks, Audrey Tutou and Ian McKellen in the lead roles. The movie has recieved numerous awards and nominations. Check it out here. A must watch!
Thank you all for cooperating and keeping the patience all the way long
If you have already enjoyed reading the book then don’t forget to drop down your thoughts in the comment section below. If you are yet to read the book then HURRY!
Connect to me via:
Email: devyanisen99@gmail.com
Twitter: @bibilosmiacDS
Instagram: _.bibliosmiacds._
Devyani's World of Epeolatry and Bibliophilia 