Angels and Demons IV

Well, I have now finished Angels and Demons. First off, I was completely correct in my prediction about Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra falling in love. It was completely obvious throughout the whole book. Although these two characters were pretty thin, the rest of the characters were much harder to figure out. At the introduction of each new character, I was wondering if they were the traitor that I was so sure existed. I couldn’t figure out who the real traitors were until the story revealed them, and sometimes the book revealed traitors, only to later show later that the real bad guys had manipulated it to look that way. Like I said earlier, this book’s plot twists were enough to give me whiplash. In the last 50 pages, the drama is unstoppable, with ridiculous revelations about how a certain deceased pope was murdered by his own son, who didn’t know that he was his son. Yeah, I got some pretty bad whiplash. The one character that I was certain was good (besides our protagonists), turned out to be the evil mastermind behind everything. Thankfully, I finished the book before I was forced to stay up really late reading. The drama ends with the said mastermind igniting his oil covered body before all of Rome. After that, the book wraps itself up nicely, tying up loose ends and re-establishing equilibrium for the world in the story, allowing for life to return to normal after the book is over. Overall, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I think I might watch the movie or read another one of brown’s books.

Angels and Demons III

A lot has happened since my last blog, because I just couldn’t put the book down for long enough to write about it. I’m only exaggerating a little bit; I did actually lose quite a bit of sleep reading this book. The book’s pace started quickly, and only sped up. It was like a Ferrari with a jammed accelerator. Anyway, my prediction about one of the cardinals surviving was wrong. They each found their way to a gruesome death. However, Langdon got closer and closer to saving them each time, and up until the last one died, I still thought he had a chance. In the author’s note at the beginning of the book, Dan Brown promised that this book was full of suspense and cliff hangers, and he wasn’t lying. There was more than one point where I was confused that the hero had just died. Dan Brown may not know how to make his characters sound convincing, but he can move a story like no other. I was quite tired last night when I was reading, and if I had noticed a single place where the plot slowed enough for me to put the book down, I would have. It eventually did, but it took awhile. When I put the book down, Langdon had discovered the ancient illuminati lair, which was serving as the assassin’s hideout, and was where Vittoria was being held prisoner. Langdon, brave but inexperienced in fighting evil warriors, tried to save his lover (it’s pretty much certain now), but while the assassin overpowered him, Vittoria escaped and ended up saving him. I really can’t predict anything that is going to happen, as the book has proven to be much less predictable than I originally thought.

Angels and Demons II

Langdon and Vittoria have just started to chase after the illuminati assassin, who, as I neglected to mention earlier, murdered Vittoria’s father, as well as kidnapped the Cardinals. After deciphering some very complex clues found in the Vatican’s archives, our protagonists set out with a squadron of the elite Swiss Guard to find the church where the first Cardinal was supposed to be killed. Although the church fit all of the clues, as understood by Langdon, Vittoria discovered, minutes before the time that the cardinal was to be killed, that it could not be the right church. With some quick thinking by Langdon and the help of a museum docent, they discovered the correct church, and went there with great haste. However, they were too late. After several suspenseful minutes, they discovered the priest’s body, half buried in the bottom of a crypt and mutilated. Although they missed catching the illuminati assassin by mere minutes, they were able to decipher symbols in the chapel that will lead them to the next murder scene.
The book has gotten much more interesting, and the flaws in the writing that I mentioned have all but disappeared. Or I have simply become accustomed to it. Either way, it no longer bothers me. The reading is quick, easy, and enjoyable, and so far, all signs point towards my prediction of the protagonists falling in love being correct.

Angels and Demons

I am currently reading “Angels and Demons,” by Dan Brown. It is about Robert Langdon, an art history teacher at Harvard, who finds himself struggling to save Vatican City from a satanic cult. The story is quite intriguing, but so far the writing in the book has been simple, predictable, and cheesy. The bad guys are all described by the same adjectives, mainly dark and mysterious. The heroine is Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful scientist, stricken by her father’s death, and destined to fall in love with our hero, Langdon. The story has not yet revealed this plot point, but the author’s predictable writing revealed it almost as soon as both characters had been introduced. I would be shocked if it turned out another way.

Although I do not like the prose, the plot of this book is fast paced and interesting. It is possible for me to become so engrossed in the story that I don’t notice the writer’s fallbacks. Currently, there is an anti-matter bomb somewhere in the Vatican, and several priests have been kidnapped by an agent of the Illuminati, the satanic cult referred to above. Langdon and Vetra are hard at work trying to rescue the captured priests. I would hazard a guess that they fail to rescue all of the priests, but will save at least one of them.