Professor Robert Langdon is back!

One of the first things that you realize once you start reading a Dan Brown book is that; if you were to remove the name (Robert Langdon: Except Digital Fortress and Deception point) and even the name of the places from the plot, the writing style alone will be more than sufficient for any reader to figure out that it’s a Dan Brown book. (Conditions applied* : For those who have read all of the Dan Browns book). The style that is adapted in his book are almost the same. The only thing missing from this book was that Langdon was not in his swimming pool and doesn’t come out of it to enjoy his coffee and finds a cryptic fax from a long lost friend or someone, with a plane ticket to somewhere in Europe. Well, he does get a late message from a student of his and there’s a plane ticket involved as well, but not in the manner it usually is in the other books.

This time around, the story revolves around a tech genius Edmond Krisch. A student of Robert Langdon, who has developed a computer program that has huge implications in humanity. A hard core Atheist, Krisch claims that his finding would destroy the pillars of Religion. The story starts with Krisch visiting 3 of the important religious leaders for different religions. At the end of the meeting, the leaders are left with absolute astonishment of what Krisch has discovered. So as to believe that if he were to go public, their religion would lose the meaning, it would be destroyed for good. Krisch would kill the god, that was long shot by Charles Darwin in 1859 AD. The build up to the plot is kind of gripping, for the most part of the first 50-100 pages, the expectation builds up, the ideas are thrown in pieces and keeps you wondering about what might have Krisch discovered that would destroy faith once in for as. In such a way that, even the religious leaders, who firmly believe that God exists are scared to their roots about him going public. He does give a hint for what he has discovered, it has something to do with the origin of life and the future of all life forms. Where did we came from? Where are we going?  The question that keeps you going all the way through the book.

As a Darwinist and as a student of Evolutionary biology, I was confused on how or what Dan Brown is going to bring up to match the expectations that he was building up all the way through the book. Something of that magnitude that could kill the “God” and the religion once in for all. I don’t believe in one, and I know that there’s no need for a god and that one doesn’t exist. And so far, to all the people who know and understand how Evolution works, it’s not that hard to not figure out that there’s no need for god. But the way, Dan Brown depicts the plot it seems to be an extraordinary finding that could convince a religious person as well, forget about convenience but that would rattle religious leaders( who still after listening to him are still in favor of the god though). The story line shows that they’re pretty much scared and screwed about Krisch discovery. That was the part that kept me going, because I know that it’s super hard to come up with a finding that would be of that magnitude at the moment. Evolutionary biologist have been working on tons of stuff but still no where near that magnitude to end it for all. I was wondering, how would Dan Brown bring up an idea that’d be equivalent to the magnitude he makes the readers foresee with the buildup to the story.

To be honest, I was disappointed at the end, after learning what Krisch had found. It didn’t live up to the expectations that was building up. The finding was nothing more than a simple biological observation that  a biologist learns in high school and if you’re open to science you don’t need more proof to accept that fact. It didn’t live up to the expectation, I was super gripped and waiting for the discovery myself, couldn’t keep the book down until I completed it. Just like all of Dan Brown’s book I completed this in a go as well. The book keeps you going, and the plot is interesting as well, or at least for me, the questions raised kept me going. Plus, as a fan of Dan Brown’s book, and having read all of them, I kind of knew that the discovery is not going to be as much hyped as it was (though I was curious how he would frame it) Dan Brown would definitely not come up with something that’d finally give either Science or Religion a big break. Even the character, Robert Langdon is portrayed as an agnostic atheist, or at least he likes to sit on either of the story and uncover the mysteries of both the sides. The conclusion would always have been weighted and an expected understanding would be there at the end.

But, most of the things in the book could be well predicted before the end. Just like every single book, there’s a guy, a religious guy who is killing people in the name of God, who gets an anonymous call from a “Regent” . Half way through the book, I had already figured out who the “Regent” was. And there’s always a person who gets framed, and I had figured that part out as well. The book is good, but there’s so many predictable events as the storyline is  similar in all of Dan Brown’s book. To be honest, though the book is quite gripping and good, it’s not the best book from Dan Brown. Remember the “Virus from Digital Fortress“? Or the “Don’t you remember your own son from Lost Symbol”? There isn’t a jaw dropping plot line in this book, but the anticipation of the build up to Krisch’s discovery is so massive that it seems like it’s going to shatter everything, but it just dissipates in end.

The good thing about Dan Brown’s book is that it’s very informative, you’ll learn tons of stuff from it. I kept on Googling all the churches, cathedrals, paintings and books described in the book. In fact I ended up buying a book mentioned in that book. It’s an informative book but not the best of Dan Brown books. I definitely recommend the book, it’s a good book and the technology described in the book and regarding where we are heading, I am definitely a firm believer of the scenario that has ben presented in the book.