The Lost Symbol: Reviewed

So, I finally got done with the latest Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, I only knew it was a Robert Langdon novel, which I was really looking forward to. I’ve read all of Dan Brown’s novels, including Digital Fortress and Deception Point so it’s not like I only know The Da Vinci Code. (which to this day, I still don’t believe it’s his best book. You know it got made into a movie only because of the controversial content.)

What follows are some spoilers about the book, and if you haven’t read the book yet, I don’t recommend  reading any further. The rest is after the bump.

Ok, in addition to putting the content behind the bump, I know that a lot of folks are coming from Facebook, and see the whole post without actually seeing the “bump” so I’ve added a new feature where you can opt to view the spoiler. If you are sure you want to view the spoilers about the book, go ahead and click on the “Show” link and you shall get to see it.

[spoiler]So after I got done reading this book, which I read on the Kindle, I wanted to throw it. But knowing that I would ruin my Kindle, I didn’t. The story was not bad. It wasn’t at all. The plot was ok. I mean, conspiracies about the Masons have been around for ages. It’s like a given to say “oh yeah, the Masons, I’m sure they’re hiding something.” But wow, I have to say that Dan Brown takes it to the extremes with this book.

I understand there are countless stories and myths about the Ancient Mysteries. I mean we’ve all heard the stories before. Blah blah holds the key to a map that goes to there which shows you the path of enlightenment. Ok, I get it. Like Robert Langdon in the book, I’m totally skeptical about a lot of things. Yes, there are truths in some myths and legends, but really? I suppose it could be true the Masons have an object which holds the path to enlightenment. But is it really true? I can’t say. More often than not, though, you find the treasure and it turns out to be something really simple and what we would never consider a treasure. So I was ready to get disappointed when I got to the end of the book. And I was, as predicted.

Another thing was Noetic Science. Now I’m not gonna bash this or discount them, but I’m not sure how this was even relevant to the story. I think if he had never mentioned it at all, the story wouldn’t be any different than it is now. Maybe I’m just missing the point. I can be dense like that.[/spoiler]

It’s not like I didn’t like the book. I liked it. Just not that much. At all.