The short review: The Lost Symbol is not as boring as my latest history textbook, but it's not for the lack of trying. The Lost Symbol is not even close to meeting the expectations set by Angels and Demons. Honestly, it seems like a half-hearted rewrite.

The longer review: I bought this audio book to occupy my time on the hour long commute to work. The story's mystery was the only thing that kept me from turning it off as The Lost Symbol is a bit redundant. (And by "a bit" I mean very.) I found myself losing interest in the repetitive history lectures wrapped in symbolism.

In what I assume is an attempt to draw out the story (was Dan Brown paid per page?) the mystery is blatantly interrupted by Masonic history and explanations of symbols that might have been cut and pasted from wikipedia (I'm not saying it was plagiarized. It is just that dry). For instance, "[a] disturbing object -- artfully encoded with five symbols -- is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom." When the the meanings of the five symbols and the apparent invitation is explained, the story could have been shortened and the plot could have carried on. Instead, the symbolism was hashed, then rehashed and then reviewed again...just in case you slept through it the first time.

Share/Like this Review?

I bought the audio cd to keep me entertained during a long car trip. I absolutely loved Angels & Demons and thought Da Vinci Code was pretty good as well. The Lost Symbol fell short of expectations.

It was better than flipping through radio channels, but overall the story seemed very drawn out and I found my attention wandering. It just couldn't hold my interest as the plot was interrupted constantly to explain (then re-explain, then explain yet again) the accompanying symbolism. This wasn't done in an interesting/engaging way as his previous books, I felt like I was being beaten over the head with things that had already been explained 3 times.

Granted the book had it's moments - and a truly frightening antagonist - but I predicted the 'major twist' halfway through the book.

If you're a fan of Dan Brown and have some time to kill it's worth the read, but if not - skip it.

Share/Like this Review?

A disappointment, and I felt Brown must have been paid by the word for this book - and apparently no one minded that he used the same words over and over. The basic plot was good and would have moved very excitingly if he had not felt the need to explain the symbolisms and to wax philosophical - at great length. I wished I had been reading a printed book so I could skim over to the next "new" action. This would have been a great book at half the length.

Share/Like this Review?