Angels and Demons
Jan. 11th, 2011 06:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keladry_lupinI think I'm too easily influenced sometimes. On the recommendation of my beloved Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Millie, I read The Da Vinci Code in 2003, and I loved it. But when Stephen Fry trashed it on QI -- "It is loose stool water; it is arse gravy of the worst kind." -- I took a second look at it. Stephen's pretty much right. I haven't read the third Robert Langdon adventure yet, but out of the two I have read, Angels and Demons is the better one.
Most folks know about this book, so I'm not bothering with a summary.
You have good and not-so-good writers, and you have good and not-so-good ideas. I've seen lots of story ideas that I ardently wished some other (better) writer had come up with. This is the case with Angels and Demons. I love the story. I like the adventure, some of the red herrings, the science and religion, the artwork, the history, and most of all, the way the cities of Rome and the Vatican influence the story to such a degree that they're almost characters themselves. However, the writing leaves much to be desired, the characters do things for reasons that make no sense to me, the romance (for lack of a more appropriate word) between Robert and Vittoria felt forced and fake, and a good editor could have tightened the story by 200 pages. It's rare that I like a movie more than the book that inspired it, but that is definitely the case with both of Robert Langdon's adventures. (Plus the movie Angels and Demons has some potent eye candy with Ewan McGregor, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Pierfrancesco Favino.)
I'll read it again eventually, but in the mean time, I'm gonna stream it on Netflix.
Next up: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Master List
Most folks know about this book, so I'm not bothering with a summary.
You have good and not-so-good writers, and you have good and not-so-good ideas. I've seen lots of story ideas that I ardently wished some other (better) writer had come up with. This is the case with Angels and Demons. I love the story. I like the adventure, some of the red herrings, the science and religion, the artwork, the history, and most of all, the way the cities of Rome and the Vatican influence the story to such a degree that they're almost characters themselves. However, the writing leaves much to be desired, the characters do things for reasons that make no sense to me, the romance (for lack of a more appropriate word) between Robert and Vittoria felt forced and fake, and a good editor could have tightened the story by 200 pages. It's rare that I like a movie more than the book that inspired it, but that is definitely the case with both of Robert Langdon's adventures. (Plus the movie Angels and Demons has some potent eye candy with Ewan McGregor, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Pierfrancesco Favino.)
I'll read it again eventually, but in the mean time, I'm gonna stream it on Netflix.
Next up: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Master List