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| Angels & Demons: A Novel | 
| Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $7.49
You Save: $16.51 (69%)
New (11) Collectible (1) from $7.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  2183 reviews
Sales Rank: 191020
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Atria Books Hardcover Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 592
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.9
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B000V5WIF4
Publication Date: July 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
A good read August 11, 2008
The book is soft cover. I loved this book as much as The DaVinci code. The story is immersible and entertaining. I really didn't want to put it down. Also makes you think along with the character as you are reading...great book.
It's fiction - to be read as such August 9, 2008
I like Dan Brown, and Angels & Demons didn't disappoint. Contrary to many fellow reviwers on this site, I can see past the religion and see the book for what it is - entertainment. It isn't a personal vendetta against the Roman Catholic church, nor is it blasphemous or trying to change the history of mankind. It's just an adrenaline-pumping, page-turning suspence novel. A work of fiction.
 Excellent, Plot-twisting Thriller August 4, 2008
An incredibly entertaining read. Thought provoking, fast-paced action. I had read The Davinci Code first, and was not sure that it would be as good as that book, but it definitely surpassed my expectations. I think this was even more enjoyable than The Davinci Code. I would highly recommend buying the Illustrated Editions. I have bought both of these Dan Brown titles in the Illustrated Editions, and have found them to be even better, since you can actually see the paintings, statues, and buildings that they are referring to in the book. Overall, very satisfied with the title.
Great book with very good story line July 27, 2008
Awesome book read by someone with a great voice. Very very enjoyable. Some parts had more gruesome details then I would have preferred, but nothing over the top or senseless. Very good overall.
 A great (despite its flaws) page turner for the beach... July 13, 2008
Unlike a lot of readers, I read Angels and Demons before reading The Da Vinci Code, so I can't really compare the two books directly (although I've been told they are pretty similar).
Angels & Demons introduces the reader to Brown's protagonist, Robert Langdon, professor of religious iconology and art history at Harvard University. A&D begins with Langdon being awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from the director of CERN, the world's largest scientific research facility in Geneva, Switzerland. One of their top physicists had been murdered, with his chest branded with the word "Illuminati." Langdon, being an expert on the ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, is called upon to help solve the murder.
The murder victim is Leonardo Vetra. One of the world's leading physicists and a Catholic priest who has adopted a daughter, Vittoria (who ends up being Langdon's foil for this story). She is also a scientist at CERN. Vetra and his daughter created the antimatter to simulate the Big Bang. In his mind, this would show proof that God exists, being able to create new matter and antimatter in the same way God created the universe. Vetra's murder, though, allows one of the canisters to be stolen. The question of who stole the canister and what they planned to do with it is soon answered. The canister is quickly found on a security camera in Vatican City, with its LEDs counting down the time until the batteries run out. The security camera, however, is nowhere to be found, leaving the canister's whereabouts a mystery too (this is one of those plot holes that Brown gets a lot of heat for -- it would be easy for someone to triangulate the signal from a wireless video camera and locate it quickly, but I digress). Langdon and Vittoria quickly set off on a chase through Rome and Vatican City, to help find the canister and return it to CERN before it explodes at midnight.
The story takes a while to get going, with a lot of introduction and history and exposition about science and religion at the start. But once Brown gets down to business (around page 75) I found the plot engaging and pretty good. So much stuff is happening at once, and so much of it is amazingly involved and cool. I literally didn't want to stop reading to take a short bathroom break on a couple of occasions. This is the sign of a good story (that I was to read more of it) in my estimation. So I have to say that A&D is one of the most effective page-turners I've read in quite some time. You can argue with me all you want about the religious iconography and historical interpretation of the story, but in the end, it is just that, a story. An easy to read, fun story -- not great and meaningful literature (I try not too look for meaning in things where there doesn't have to be meaning).
As Langdon and Vittoria set off on their investigation, they follow a trail of multiple ritualistic murders, the threatened obliteration of an entire country, the potential death of a major world religion, secret societies that go back 500 years, new scientific discoveries that will change the world, and much more. Besides the cult murders taking place and two mysteries to try and unravel, Brown's plot takes us on a frantic chase through the churches of an ancient city following secret symbols left behind during the Italian Renaissance, a countdown to the destruction of an entire nation, and much, much more. It was easy to stay up and finish reading this book over the long 4th of July weekend.
The plot is the strength of the book, it's is easy to get lost in the involved (some say convoluted) intricacies of Brown's story... from about page 50-500. Unfortunately the last 50 pages are over the top melodrama and enclose multiple endings, conveniently wrapping up lots of loose ends in a rather perfunctory manner. These last 50 pages should have been sent for re-writes by Brown's editors, but as a fan of the SF genre I am used to reading books that require a reader to suspend their disbelief for periods of time so these last 50 pages were not bad enough to ruin the very enjoyable bulk of the story (but I am hoping that he's fixed that short coming in The Da Vinci Code).
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