Book Review|| Angels And Demons.

Angels and Demons was the first of Dan Brown's books I came across and I kid you not when I say that I didn't want anything to do with this piece because of its title. My first thought was ‘why would I randomly want to read about angels and demons?’ However, the fine gentleman who recommended the series was quite persistent and all I can say is that I'm glad he was as I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book.

I've always had an interest in conspiracy theories, and it was refreshing to see an author who could create a gripping work of fiction around the most pronounced conspiracy theories of our time—The illuminati.

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Whether the illuminati exist or not has been a hot topic of debate for a long time now. Most people believe strongly in its existence, and its power to control the globe, but most people believe it's all theories and an attempt to make a defunct group powerful. Which is why, when I realised that Angels and Demons focused on the illuminati, I was intrigued. With each page, It felt like I was uncovering a top secret.

About The Book

Angels and Demons, is a thrilling masterpiece about renowned symbologist Robert Langdon. He gets a call from CERN director Maximilian Kohler at an ungodly hour, and almost refuses to answer it, until Kohler faxes him something disturbing. Something many have considered to be a myth, the Illuminati ambigram, and it's branded on the body of a brutally murdered scientist.

Concurrently, miles away at the Vatican, the college of cardinals are gathering to elect a new pope, but with the knowledge that their arch enemies–the Illuminati sect– might still be perpetrating evil, will the elections still hold?

At the same time, the world might be in grave danger, as somewhere, a deadly ticking anti-matter bomb that was created as a tool of enlightenment in the lab of the recently murdered scientist, has been stolen, and was about to be used as a weapon of mass destruction.

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The series of different but intertwined events made the book a wonder.

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Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra, the daughter of the murdered scientist, must find a way to locate the bomb, and also trace the source of the Illuminati ambigram. Is the ambigram proof that the Illuminati does really exist? or are some overzealous group of people capitalising on the Illuminati ambigram to create chaos?

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An absolute page- turner like a good thriller ought to be.

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Characters

There are a number of characters in the book that made the book quite enjoyable, and I would be unfair in my review, if I failed to mention a few of them.

First, there's Robert Langdon. A renowned symbologist, and a very intelligent character, who has the ability to solve any situation and demystify any mystery—faster than a regular human being would.

Second, Vittoria Vetra, who worked closely with Langdon, to not only demystify the Illuminati ambigram, but also find out who murdered her father in such a gruesome manner. I wouldn't say she's my favourite, but she's very self-assured in her actions, and seemed to always know what to do.

I also loved the “Hassassin” character. Asides from the obvious fact that he was a killer, he showed a great deal of dedication to his work as an assassin, and I was very delighted the author spared no ink in detailing how vicious his character was.

My Opinion

It is no news that Dan Brown loves to make his books voluminous, but what should be news is how he manages to make those voluminous books enjoyable reads. One of such books was "Angels and Demons". Not only was it properly detailed, it also kept its aura of mystery and suspense till the climax.

I like that the author left nothing to imagination, as he made sure the readers could see while reading. At some point, it felt like I was part of the whole chaos. It was easy to see the author's mind, especially when he was describing characters and chapters. For instance, I had a vivid description of how the murdered scientist looked even without seeing him, amongst other things.

Courtesy of the book, I developed an interest in a lot of things, one of them being ambigrams. How intriguing can it be for a word to retain its meaning when viewed from different angles? During the course of the book, the author shared a few ambigrams and I remember spending minutes trying to decipher how the words were made.

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I was blown away when I saw the final ambigram that had different words(water, fire, air, earth) contained in it and still made perfect sense when viewed from all angles. No matter how many times I read this piece, this particular ambigram still leaves me in awe.

Also, I noticed that even for an author as intelligent as Dan Brown, romance is a very tricky topic for him to write about. The romance between Langdon and Vittoria in the books lacked all the flavour and mushiness I expected.

Their romance was depicted more as a transactional relationship, where only the intelligence that each of them had to offer, kept the spark. I would have still thoroughly enjoyed the book, without the romance part, though in the author's defense, the plot was timed for twenty-four hours, and nobody could develop a strong connection in twenty-four hours.

There were a few thoughts in this book that I found somewhat enlightening, but might be disturbing and discomforting for others.
Angels and Demons can come off as controversial, depending on how science, or religious inclined the reader is. But if you're reading it with an unbiased mind (like I did), then you're sure to come to the understanding of the defects of science, and the secrets within the Vatican.

Recommendation

Conclusively, if you can handle a great deal of violence and dark religious/sacrilegious facts, that might expose religion in a new light to you, then Angels and Demons is the perfect read for you.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to people who want to get out of a reading slump, and people who are willing to gain new and interesting insights.

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Love🤍

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