The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Now, The Da Vinci Code is an ultra popular book that even kids who hate books in my class were reading. In fact, so popular, that everyone at least knows the name, even if they hadn't read it. It has caused some religious worldwide distress (good or bad, you decide) and once I read this book, the reason was clear.

This book is around 600 pages and I must tell you, Dan Brown did an awful lot of research, obviously, to produce this one book (but it was probably worth it, as it is now on bestsellers worldwide). You will clearly see the amount of research throughout this book.

The Da Vinci Code is about religion, mostly Christianity. It talks a LOT about Jesus, Holy Grail, Da Vinci, Art and that kind of stuff. Have at least a little knowledge about these subjects before you read it to get a better understanding. Being Muslim and so religious, I already had some knowledge about other religions before I read this, so I was mostly okay. Only the Holy Grail parts really confused me, though now I have a good understanding.

The mystery in this book is overwhelming; the most intense parts for religious people is that it uncovers so many mysteries about our religions. Whether it is true or not is a whole other mystery. Even for not-so-religious people, this book overwhelms you with the possibilities. Even when the book is finished, you probably have at least a million more questions.

The main character in the good side, if I had to pick one, would probably be Robert Langdon. Sophie is a definite second.

The setting of this book is Europe. Occasionally, there are lines of French scattered throughout the book but nothing the reader can't make a good translation inference of. It is also set in a series of a few days with a lot of flashbacks. Filled with so much adventure, it seems like months, but actually, it wasn't more than 2 days. What makes this seem odd is that most authors describe a whole year in 100 pages, yet Dan Brown choses to describe each moment of their 2 days in strict detail in 600 pages. But don't worry about getting confused; there are plenty of flashbacks to get everything straight.

This book also describes two "sets" of people- evil and good- alternately through each chapter until the end, which is when they collide (meet).

The writing was great, colorful and kept me interested, despite the fact that this book was made at the reading level of adults.

This is a must-read for mystery lovers. I am not that much of a mystery fan, but I did like this book- a LOT. I recommend this book to most readers. The only thing that I (and a few of my friends, too) think Dan Brown could have improved was at the way end (I won't tell you what it is) but other than that, I have no more words to help this book be better than it already is.

Yay!

Age Range: About 13+
Rating: 9.5/10

**Note: These are my opinions on this book ;)