The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code
By Dan Brown
Published: 2003

Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" has for the past several years been a best seller and has a movie and video game on the way. The plot: Symbologist Robert Langdon is implicated in an elderly man's murder. The man was a member of the Priory of Sion, and Langdon must follow a trail of clues to a secret that could shake Western Civilization to it's core, all the while hunted by a mysterious figure called The Teacher and the Catholic Sect Opus Dei. All I can say is, for all the hype I'm unimpressed. Browns writing, well not bad, is nothing spectaculare and well I was compelled to finish the story I didn't feel that I had read anything new, throughout the book I kept wondering what Michael Crichton could have done with this story. Also, for a novel that claims to be based in fact, lack of a bibliography hurts. Brown also makes several flawed or one sided assments of history/religion, ie. Brown never explains what the "sacred feminine" is other then it involves Goddess worship and sex. Also Brown claims the Priory of Sion was founded in 1099. This is false. The Priory was founded in the 1950's. All this is fine, except to many people seem willing to take this story at face value and believe it to be true. I'm still looking forward to the movie, as the big screen is probably a better canvas for this story. A good read, but nothing to write home about.

** out of ****

Criticism (Contains Spoilers)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_The_Da_Vinci_Code

Letter to Dan Brown
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5505

Mark Steyn on "The Da Vinci Code"
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/article.jsp?content=20060515_126652_126652