As most of you already know, I am a big fan of Dan Brown and Sidney Sheldon. I have read some of their books (mostly all, actually) and love their work and style of writing. Therefore, when I saw Angels and Demons at Satyams Collection and saw that it featured Robert Langdon (Da Vinci Code hero), I had to pick it up.
BACKDROP
While the Da Vinci Code largely dealt with the Louvre Musuem (Paris, France) as its backdrop, this book has Vatican City as a backdrop. Yes, that’s right. The same walled city which is the smallest independent state in the world. As usual, the city is described in impeccable detail and its rich cultural history is explored by the able pen of Dan Brown.
THE PLOT
Leonardo Vetra, a brilliant scientist trying to bridge science with religion, is murdered in his pent house. The murder is shocking and the motive is soon discovered..... Even the killer’s identity is known but the group he belongs to has been thought of as dead. Leonardo Vetra’s chest has been branded with the symetrical ambigram "Illuminati". The Illuminati were a satanic cult founded by galileo in the 1630s to fight the Church but have been thought as deceased by most for the last 50 years. The ambigram shocks everyone and so Harvard symbiologist Robert Langdon is called to do further study while Vittoria Vetra , Leonardo Vetra’s adopted scientist-daughter also comes in.
The Vetras were working on a highly secretive project where they were breaking scientific rules by creating matter from nothing. With the help of this, Leonardo Vetra planned to prove that both Genesis and the Big Bang Theory were right. But before he could do so he was murdered and his created explosive, antimatter, was stolen from his lab. Antimatter is shown to be 10 times more explosive than a nuclear warhead and it is automatically programmed to explode in 24 hours. Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra go on a wild-goose chase across the Vatican City to find Leonardo’s killer and also to help find the antimatter. Oh, by the way, the life of four cardinals (high priests) also hang in the balance.........
THE IMPLICATIONS
Robert Langdon, Harvard symbiologist, is confronted with a multitude of problems at once. The Illuminati twin threats- getting rid of the four cardinals and the bombing of Vatican City are sinister enough. But there is more...... The former Pope had died of poisoning and the illuminati were threatening to destroy people’s faith in faith and religion by destroying the Church and its leaders.
Robert Langdon has only one choice..... He has to understand Galileo’s diaggrama , a poem written by the master himself which pointed to the location of the Illuminati Lair, the HQ of the Hassassin (assassin) who was causing so much trouble.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
From Santi’s earthly tomb with demon’s hole,
’Cross Rome the mystic elements unfold,
The path of light is laid, the sacred test,
Let Angels guide you on your lofty quest.
This is the poem that Langdon has to decipher in order to catch the Hassassin. Does he succeed? What about the antimatter? Does it explode?
Dan Brown has written a rivetting, page-turning masterpiece no less brilliant MichelAngelo’s finest work. Keep up the great work man! I wish I could write like you. The only bad point? The book is too similar to Da Vinci Code.......
READ THIS BOOK NOW. QUICKLY.