07 March 2019

Origin

book cover of Origin by Dan Brown
Thriller

By Dan Brown

Paperback 560 pages
Publisher Corgi (12th July 2018)
ASIN B01LXCD7FU
ISBN-13 978-0552174169

'Fans will not be disappointed.' The Times





📕My Review


I've read all of Dan Brown's novels and have been an enthusiastic fan for years. I always look forward to his releases and I awaited Origin with bated breath. But whilst it was enjoyable, I found it excessively wordy and somewhat lacking in action. A vast amount deals with Spanish religion, royalty and history - yes, it's very interesting up to a point but then it becomes a bit like wading through treacle. 

In Origin we find Robert Langdon attending a presentation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Edmond Kirsch, Langdon's former student and friend, has made a spectacular discovery that threatens both scientific and religious thinking - Kirsch has found the answers to two fundamental questions:

Where did we come from?
Where are we going?
               

And WOW, those answers were breathtaking! They're relevant to the current era and really do make you stop and think. Just how Dan Brown conjures these ideas up and so eloquently puts them into words is mind-boggling.

This is a book for those who love history combined with conspiracy theories. Sadly for me the balance wasn't quite right this time. However, would I buy future Dan Brown publications? ABSOLUTELY.

Book Source: Purchased copy
Rating ⭐⭐⭐

📗The Blurb


Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend the unveiling of an astonishing scientific breakthrough. The evening’s host is billionaire Edmond Kirsch, a futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a controversial figure around the world.

But Langdon and several hundred guests are left reeling when the meticulously orchestrated evening is suddenly blown apart. There is a real danger that Kirsch’s precious discovery may be lost in the ensuing chaos. With his life under threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao, taking with him the museum’s director, Ambra Vidal. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch’s secret.

To evade a devious enemy who is one step ahead of them at every turn, Langdon and Vidal must navigate the labyrinthine passageways of extreme religion and hidden history. On a trail marked only by enigmatic symbols and elusive modern art, Langdon and Vidal will come face-to-face with a breathtaking truth that has remained buried – until now.

📘The Author


author Dan Brown
Dan Brown is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has become one of the best selling novels of all time as well as the subject of intellectual debate among readers and scholars. Brown’s novels are published in 56 languages around the world with over 200 million copies in print.

In 2005, Brown was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine, whose editors credited him with “keeping the publishing industry afloat; renewed interest in Leonardo da Vinci and early Christian history; spiking tourism to Paris and Rome; a growing membership in secret societies; the ire of Cardinals in Rome; eight books denying the claims of the novel and seven guides to read along with it; a flood of historical thrillers; and a major motion picture franchise.”

The son of a mathematics teacher and a church organist, Brown was raised on a prep school campus where he developed a fascination with the paradoxical interplay between science and religion. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he later returned to teach English before focusing his attention full time to writing. He lives in New England with his wife.

Brown’s latest novel, Origin, explores two of the fundamental questions of humankind: Where do we come from? Where are we going?

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