Dan Brown The Lost Symbol Reviews

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I’m a bit surprised at the book reviews of Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” — everybody’s handling it with kid gloves. Towards the end of say, the LA Times and NY Times reviews, there’s a few lines of condescension, but as though they had been slipped in. The B&N Review by Sarah Weinman spends most of the time describing the plot, and delineating the differences between this book and “The Da Vinci Code,” as well as offering tidbits of dialogue.

At least the Washington Post gets one thing right: Louis Bayard says the implicit message of the book’s marketing has been to “submit.”

And submit we have.

It seems like this book has superseded its own status of book, and become more like a weather vane for the publishing industry as a whole — a sacred totem that no reviewer dare out-and-out criticize because so many in the publishing industry want (need!) this book to succeed.

Could it be that massive popularity on this scale trumps any kind of literary merit? That people are just in awe of the Brown Juggernaut, and choose to bow rather than fight the power?

But I think it is such an interesting commentary on the fragile and fearful state of the industry that almost every single one of our major reviewing publications not only reviews it, but also kowtows to the mighty Dan Brown by refusing to criticize it. The tone, overall, has been near reverential. The criticism is spoken in a quiet small, voice, as though a child trying not to offend his elders.

The lack of Anti-Dan-Brown reviews also might reveal the fragile state of newspapers — in a time like this, where nearly every one is on the verge of bankruptcy (or already declared it), they don’t want to risk alienating the legions of Dan Brown fans. But that’s such a horrible position for a newspaper to be in — carefully playing politician in order not to offend any readers.

I know that you have to review a book on its own merits. And the merits of Dan Brown are a quick-pace, mystery, and immediate gratification. But I want someone to actual poke fun a bit. Give me brash any day. Or is this such a perilous time in publishing that harsh criticism of our sacred cows can’t survive?

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43 comments

  1. Thank you my friend. I despaired finding of anyone even TRYING to start a rational dialogue. I was gifted the book yesterday and have to say it began well. However since Dan has ventured into the areas of science (much like one MC before him) he must stand scrutiny of his scientific ideas as well. Unfortunately all I discovered about this so called Noetic ‘science’ has been that its not considered main stream. If anyone knows anything about the empirical validity of this science and any important results/ papers that have been accepted by the mainstream I and other readers would love to know. Part of the fun of reading Dan Brown has been exploration of subjects new to oneself. Finding that Noetic is mostly mumbo jumbo would be very dissapointing.

  2. One man’s science is another’s mumbo-jumbo and a third’s religion. Katherine’s experiment to determine if there is a quantifiable soul is not a new idea, and experiments were done around the turn of the century using this very concept…
    https://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp
    Noetic Science isn’t some secret branch of science, however… it’s just more commonly referred to as Parapsychology, which is sadly considered fringe science. The major problems are that the experiments done by modern parapsychologists are mostly of a subjective nature, not lending themselves to reproducible results. It doesn’t help that the fields of ESP and Psychic phenomena have been used by frauds to make a quick buck for centuries.
    Of course, I would love to see a serious research study done on what paranormal powers Dan Brown has used to make all the mainstream reviewers think this latest book is as good as the DaVinci Code.

  3. Dan Brown is very good at pacing, structure, and mystery. But you’re mistaken if you take anything he says (about noetic “science”, freemasons, or Christ) as anything but a joke.
    The man doesn’t research. He fictionalizes. Which, apparently, a lot of people enjoy.
    “Of course, I would love to see a serious research study done on what paranormal powers Dan Brown has used to make all the mainstream reviewers think this latest book is as good as the DaVinci Code.”
    HA! Agree with you there.

  4. I am not a Dan Brown fan, or even a big reader of the thriller genre. I read this book as a Freemason and it has generated a lot of interest within the fraternity. Certainly Brown does not represent the organizational structure of Masonry correctly, but I can’t fault him for that because it is so complicated. He is creating a fictional world. In it is his fictional Masonry.
    It seems to me the problem with his books lies in the fact that readers think he is trying to be accurate and that he is really writing about the real world. He isn’t. He is doing what most fiction writers do, which is to say “The following story I’m about to tell you is absolutely true!” in order to get them hooked in. There are some thrillers that do attempt to be faithful to the facts of the real world, but Brown’s books do not do that.
    Instead, he crams his books full of facts that lure the reader into believing that he is writing journalism not fiction. If Brown’s settings are actually intended to be accurate and he just isn’t doing his research, then he must be pretty incompetent. But I find it hard to believe that he is not creating his settings intentionally. He is really writing a sort of social-science fiction. His use of noetic science is a good example: no intelligent reader could take his representations as factually, literally accurate. His use of the freemasons and noetic science (and ceremonial magic) are symbolic, and if you read them literally as failed attempts at “realism” you are going to miss the deeper layers of thinking going on under the rollercoaster plot.

  5. Having read ‘Lost Symbol’ twice now ( I wanted to be fair) I have to say I am disappointed that his tatooed villian in the plot seems to have been snatched straight from Red Dragon!
    I found the novel lacking in the pace of the other two – and although extremely informative as always – a little tedious in places (and repetative) Still, its a good read compared to many new ones out there at the moment and will make yet another good film!!

  6. I’ll not read this book. I read Da Vinci Code because it was a gift. Found it disappointing and badly written by any measure. Plot holes and gross conincidences (like just happening to drop in on the central antagonist’s castle). Seemed devoid of even perfunctory research (the test for albinism is an eye test, all are blind), incomprehensible given the internet. Sexually immature to downright hung-up (Please, you’re and adult woman. Your beloved, sainted and single grandpa took part in a fertility rite, get over it). Dreary, cliche prose, the best of which was probably lifted from travel broceures. Went back and tried to read an earlier book (Digital Fortress) to see how he ever made it, and was even more dismayed. Bailed after a few chapters. If you know absolutely nothing about computers or encryption, don’t write a book about it, even if you can write. Brown epitomizes everything I hate about dead-tree publishing today: formula, celebrity, and artlessness.

  7. Having just finished Dan Brown’s latest and long awaited novel, I found it to be a massive disappointment!!!!!!!!!! I have loved all of his other books and by far Angels and Demons was the best in my oppinion. I became hooked on his novels and bought the first copy in my local store on its release date but found the storyline very similar to the Da Vinci Code but without the wow fator.This novel tells you nothing really unknown about masons or their practices that cannot be found online he obviously loves wikipedia!!!! Read if you must but at least buy the paperback version so you dont waste your money!!!!

  8. Lost Symbol full of inaccuracies. The CIA is the agency investigating the crime, suppoasdly because the victim’s hand was found in the U.S. Capitol. A CIA investigator is a central charcter. All fantasy. The CIA has NO police powers. It would have no jurisdiction – none – to investigate this crime. It would be The Washington Metroplolitan Police, or if a federal isue was involved, the FBI.

  9. Man, I just thought it was a fun yarn, as with the other books. Chewing gum for the brain. Plus, I like to fantasise about the ‘hidden’ secrets… Why is everyone taking this so seriously?? I don’t see this furore and uproar in relation to the ‘chick lit’ my wife so readily laps up!!

  10. I am half way thorugh the lost symbol, a d am finding the tone generally patronising to the reader, and there is too much repetition, Like when Katheryne meets the villain a third time the says to herself in italics. “he killed my mther” we had already been told this about five times during the rpevious chapters. Also the italics used throughout to show peoples thoughts are eventually silly, like then someone ( I say this as example so as not to spoil anything) if someone is tied to a chair and someone comes over with a knife threateningly, the italics then say. “I am going to be hurt or killed now” or if someone walked into a a dead end corridor and being pursued, the hero thinks things like. I am going to be killed, and will die alone.” it becomes so completely daft.
    Another thing is hyperbole… some people are in a room talking and the phone rings and they all freeze in “shock” yet they are expecting a phone call anyway….
    Further the number of times langon is “Stunned, shocked, amazed” at discovering things which are not that amazing becomes tedious and laughable.
    After a while you can guess exactly what is going to happen as the plot twist become predicatble, if someone is called to a place of safety where they also learn more information, you can guarantee the host is either dead or is a double agent or the enemy in disguise….Soo tiresome, I may not finish the book.(pardoon my spelling I am not an author.

  11. Story started out ok but failed dismally at the end. The last few chapters tried to cover off the fact that the villain had met his demise too early. 6.5/10 – and I’m being generous.

  12. Dan Brown tells a good story, The Lost Symbol is no exception. The plot however was a major let down. We were led along with the promise of some awful deed that the villain would perpetrate, only to find out that this dreadful secret was only the release of a video that contained nothing worse than a Discovery Channel episode about Freemasons.
    I REALLY hope that if they make a movie of this book, the producers come up with a more convincing end.

  13. at last some honest reviews. dont normally read reviews but have been looking at the ones about the lost symbol as i have waited that long for the book to be written and released i just couldnt fathom the fact that it wasnt very good. i kept thinking that i was missing something. or that as i hadnt read the book straight through like i normally would i didnt enjoy it as much. but no i was right! its rubbish. am totally shocked as i really enjoyed his other books. people nowadays are brainwashed into a way of thinking by the media. if every newspaper and tv station says that the new dan brown is fantastic with a great plot and another revalation at the end, then it must be true. maybe there missing something?

  14. Stu mangan sums it up the best, its fiction! A good bed time book or if like me one works nights it helps pass the time! Who cares about accuracy or fact! a lot of hype is made by the media because both The Da vinci Code and Angels and Demons struck a cord with peoples beliefs dan Brown takes a factual idea and fictionalises it! No one ever critised Ian Fleming on his accuracy regarding MI6 agents. Looking for a book the blends fact with fiction (expertly in my humble opinion) read Chris Kuzneski’s Sign of the Cross!

  15. It has taken me forever to finish this book! I have loved Dan Brown’s previous books, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, etc. All of them. Until this one! I no longer care about the secret the pyramid is protecting. I’ll probably just donate this book to my local library. It will not rest on my bookshelf beside The Da Vinci Code (which remained on the bestseller list in hardback form for 3 years!) Disappointed!!!

  16. The only way I can judge this book is by how long it took me to read it. I read DVC and A&D’s in one night, could not put it down. This one was a struggle and a total letdown. I only finished it because I thought he would pull something out of the bag at the end. No such luck.

  17. i read the book, and it is as fascinating as the rest of his books and i think the best YET.
    actually kung open minded ka.. hindi lang yung plot ng story ang titingnan mo but what he’s trying to tell us. surely you just dont accept the facts that he revealed in that book.. kelangan mo din i-educate ang sarili mo.
    as far as im concerned, there’s a truth behind it.. that the brain if harnessed properly will give us power unimaginable… it’s not mystical.. it’s quantum physics. i watched a lot of online conferences and scientists talkig about the collective consciousness and what it can do to the world. it’s even something good…

  18. Leading book reviewers may have kowtowed to Dan Brown but the majority of Amazon.com customer reviewers (and some of Dan Brown’s biggest fans to boot) give “The Lost Symbol” lackluster marks and rightly so. “The Lost Symbol” could have been so much better. Dan Brown called this one in. What a shame.

  19. I thought it was a highly entertaining book, but I had a few problems with The Lost Symbol:
    1. At one point it had a Soap-Opera feel to it as Langdon is “killed off” only to return a chapter or two later. I could easily have seen Langdon being snuffed out as a way to end the series and allow Dan Brown to move along to another subject in his writing. But the way he was brought back was an insult to our intelligence.
    2. After the furor that “The Davinci Code” created surrounding the religious aspect of the book, I felt Dan Brown wrote “The Lost Symbol” to appease the religious right in the audience. Both “Davinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” carried a religious edge undertone to them that created a buzz about the storyline. “The Lost Symbol” carried none of that with it. It almost felt as if it were written as an apology for subject matter of his two most poular books.
    3. It is clear that this will be made into a movie as the script even felt like the plot was winding down and tieing up loose ends along the way, much like a Hollywood film does. It did not leave you with a sense of interrogation as his previous novels did.
    Still, with all of this being said, it is a fantastic read. Just don’t expect it to have the same inpact as “Davinci.”

  20. “Fantastic” might be a word I would use to describe this book, but I wouldn’t be using “fantastic” in the positive sense.

  21. Past success notwithstanding, Dan Brown reminds me of Franklin W. Dixon (pen name of the authors of the Hardy Boy books). Both have the same formulaic writing styles, complete with “cliffhanger” chapter endings (watch out, Frank and Joe!). Save your money — you’ll find this book at the bottom of the bargain bin ere long.

  22. personally i liked it. but really, compared to the hype nowadays, the mass publications of books following the twilight trend. seriously twilight?! i’ll take dan brown ANYTIME. this is less junk compared to those things.

  23. The Lost Symbol is a disappointment. For all the hype, it did not live up to its predecessors ( Da VInci Code and Angels and Demons ). The new novel was a boring narrative of symbols that was something out of the National Treasure and even the revelation ( that the son was alive ) was a la Angels and Demons. A good read into Freemasonry culture intertwined with Washington DC’s history period and I dozed off trying to finish the novel!
    Quite a disappointment.

  24. Well, having read all of Dan Brown’s previous works, I reserveed The Lost Symbol for a vacation – and I actually liked it! It made me think about ourselves and humanity in general. I thought almost that the plot was superfuous to requirements as he was clearly keen to show how human’s use less than their full potential. How we can all become as God. Which is marvellous. I feel its an empowering book in many ways, ok the villain died a bit early, but in many ways its a feel good piece of work – we can all be so much more than we are right now. Lets be the best we can possibly be 🙂

  25. I too was hugely disappointed by Brown’s latest. Bad writing. Formulaic plotting. Boring characters. And, frankly, simply not believable at all! I’ll stick with Paul Sussman and J.G. Sandom any day of the week. Sandom’s latest thriller, The God Machine, was much more compelling. Heck, even Raymond Khoury writes better than Brown. Time to resuscitate that singing career, Dan.

  26. Just finished this book. Hmm. Some intersting and thought provoking items in those pages. As a mason, it is woefully inaccurate. I am sure there are many other innacuracies in the book. Dan Brown is NOT Tom Clancy. Some cool insights into the history of DC and its architecture, and some thought provoking material on the human condition. I liked it. 7.9 of 10.0

  27. Despite clunky writing and shameless cliffhangers to keep you going, I really enjoyed this book — at least the first 80-90%. Then the finish was such an immense preachy letdown, so patently patronizing as to be offensive, and just plain boring, I was sorry I had my wife buy it for me (even if on sale at Costco). Agree wholeheartedly with the above posts by Alan Clark, V. Evans and Mike Wood. I just feel cheated. Never ever had a book give me that feeling.

  28. Cheated is a great analysis. The first 90% of the book set us up for the “secret” that was to change the world only to have that secret be ridiculously disappointing in the end. Not because it was not possible or incriminating, but simply because it was not to the level of seriousness that was suggested for hundreds of pages.

  29. Nice to see everyone back me up here. Total disappointment. I read it in one day, only because i could: when the lecturing comes in (and there’s a lot of it), I started skimming the page… I found it of little use to read such bland and meaningless tips on how to live a happy life.
    As for this ‘strange new science’ Brown introduces in his novel: it scared me. Like ‘The secret’ scared me. If you thing hard enough you can cure yourself from cancer? Hello? And if it doesn’t work, is it your own fault? Apparently it is.
    In times of global shifting, where people seem to be lost and in search of meaning; they look for someone to tell them it’s not all their fault and that there are certain things that trandescend us. Not that it is all our own mess and we have to clean it up. People have always had the tendacy and need to commit their trust to an omnious being. It soothes them.(Opium for the masses!)
    I have my own opinion about religion and you either agree or disagree, it doesn’t matter. But you’ll have to agree on this one: I have read it all before. In several novels. And they were better. Dan Brown goes mystic and patronizing: no thanks

  30. I am a librarian. So many people asked to borrow Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code that I eventually read it myself to see what the fuss was about. Absolute junk! Maybe suitable for a 10 year old child but not adult reading. I have not wasted time reading any other books by Dan Brown. Having read the reviews posted here, I note that other people are also (finally) beginning to realise that this author has no talent and produces work of insultingly low quality.

  31. This is by far the worst, most infantile, incoherent, and embarrassing book I have ever read. It was truly painful, the book could have been 300 pages shorter, and its lightweight suspense ended pretty much 50 pages before its actual end. The last 50 pages were true hallucinations of Brown’s own theories and ramblings about the true meaning of religion, and had absolutely no plot left. The sad thing is, it will be a bestseller, and contribute to the path to mediocrity everything seems to be heading towards.

  32. I think all you people are being just too harsh on an absolutely talented story teller!!
    Although I agree that The Lost Symbol doesn’t come close to his last books, ‘Angels and demons’ and ‘Da Vinci Code’, it surely is worth a read.
    Kept me gripping till the very end only the end being slightly disappointing..
    Waiting for your next offering Mr. Brown:)

  33. Mal’akh is—–WTF! COME ON – WHY TELL ME HE WAS A PRISONONER OVERHEARING THE CONVERSATION -did i miss something – stopped reading after that – complete pap – i was looking forward to the read too. as for the “abyss” moment – yeh right – i’ll buy that – sign me up –

  34. Lost Symbol or Lost Way
    I am an avid reader and there is nothing I love more than curling up with a well written book by a favorite author and leaving reality behind for a little bit. What I don’t like, however, is being sucked into a book and being pulled out of it by confusing writing and an ending that goes on way too long.
    This book keeps you on the edge of your seat through all of the twists and turns of the plot. It moves rather quickly with great cliff hangers at the end of each chapter so you are tempted to keep reading. This book is very well written, up to the climatic twist and finish of the main antagonist, and it could just end there, it feels like it should, but it doesn’t. This is where I got taken out of the story and just felt like I had to finish it to see if anything else interesting happened. It feels as if Dan Brown decided to take the main plot and finish it, but keep writing until he could get as much about the connection of the Stone Masons and the founding of this country in. This can almost ruin the previous storyline and it becomes almost preachy.
    This book flowed very well through the first 89-90% of it and overall I would have to give it a B until the end. I would just recommend skipping the last few chapters.

  35. Started out just like a Dan Brown book but a major let down towards the end. The plot becomes predictable as the book progresses. Definitely not what I expected from Brown. I mean The Da Vinci Code was a great book from the on set; after The Angels and Demons, the plot in this book was predictable and the twists and turns after about 70% of the book was boring. I would rate the book 6/10.

  36. Being totally entranced with Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, I waited patiently for paperback version of The Lost Symbol since I commute mostly by public transit. As several readers have commented, I was completely hooked on the plot line up until the death of the antagonist then became agitated as the remaining story seemed to go on endlessly. Yet close to the conclusion, it occurred to me that Dan Brown, once again, had done a masterful job in combining art, history and science to convey a compelling story. After all, there’s a reason the novel is entitled, “The Lost Symbol.” And just as Robert Langdon came to grasp the true meaning of the Holy Grail at the end of the Da Vinci Code, he came to an even deeper understanding of the masons and the quest to uncover the lost symbol/word. Bravo, Mr. Brown. Looking forward to the movie.

  37. Lost Symbol is an amazing piece of work!I just couldn’t keep the book down.The way Dan Brown creates curiosity within the reader is fantastic.A fascinating story and one of the most thrilling stories I’ve read so far!

  38. The Lost Symbol kept me intrigued. An entertaining book. Of course I did not accept every statement made in the book as fact. It’s fiction placed in a contemporary setting in order to feel more real. Dan Brown takes kernels of truth and expands upon them, thus creating a more interesting story. What I did not like was the sense that the book was written with the intention of it being turned into a movie. The progression of the plot and the chase sequences would all make great film footage on the big screen. And the story is chopped up into enough small segments (chapters) to allow the convenient insertion of TV commercials without disrupting the flow of the story. The secrets revealed by the pyramid turned out to be lackluster. Just like his other book, Origin, the story builds strongly but the climax fizzles. A fun book – just don’t expect it to read like a text book on the esoteric arts.