Angels and Demons

Heard people saying that “Angels and Demons” is the best of Dan Brown but after reading it I would say, “Da Vinci Code” is still the best of his if we consider the amount of action, adventure, entertainment value and the pace of narration in the novel. If we look at the other way around, based on the content and the moral of the novel, “Angels and Demons” has more insight and thorough analysis on the debate between God (Christianity in specific) and Science than any other book. In fact the hardcore philosophical books so far I have read haven’t dealt this topic in the way Dan Brown has perceived it.

The conversations written based on this debate are highly thoughtful and enlightening. Especially, the Camerlango’s speech to the media about victory of science over God is highly diplomatic. It is for this philosophical analysis I like the book so much than for Langdon’s brilliance in finding the path of Illuminati to stop the murder of the cardinals.

Actually there is no much of puzzles and riddles to solve except for a single poem, which they find from one of the books of Galileo. Everything else seems to be tackled by the information either in Langdon’s memory or with the help of somebody else around him. And that is why the way they trace out the path of Illumination by using the directions of the angel in every Bernini’s work is kind of boring. But those boring episodes in between are made up by the tension buildup in the reader’s mind out of curiosity to know how each of the cardinal is going to be assassinated in such an open space.

In DVC, there were more practical and mathematical puzzles and riddles, the complexity of which the readers can easily understand. So when Langdon solve them successfully, we just can’t stop admiring the brilliance of Langdon and in turn the writer. But here that is not the case.

The book is pretty descriptive considering the fact that the whole story happens just in 24 hours. The adventure of Langdon actually starts only after first 200 pages. But there is enough surprise in those 200 pages to keep us involved. The first part was like reading a science fiction novel with lot of technical details about one of the most shocking inventions that a scientist in CERN has done to prove that God and Science meets at a point. Then the second part is full of suspense, thrill, chill, action and adventure by Langdon.

The third part that is the last 150 pages is just brilliant. It is the best part of the novel. Hell a lot of twists and turns, surprises and shocks lay there in those final episodes. The best thing about the novel is that no character can be blamed for whatever has happened, everyone has a valid reason for his or her actions. There are some logical glitches in the novel say for example the real intention of the Hassasin, who actually does all the killing is not explained well. Also the death of Camerlango remains a mystery till the end. I won’t say this as a racy page-turner like DVC, but still it is brilliant.