Dan Brown - Lost Symbol

 Yeah, I'm still listening to audiobooks. And recently, I finished Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It was good. Only, I went into it with the assumption that I gave up on the book in written form before, but now that I went and looked at my bookshelf, I figured out that the one I gave up on in written form was Origin instead. How do I know that? I have books that have been read standing the normal way in my bookcase. And books that I have yet to read/finish, they are with their spines facing up. Like, the bottom is facing out of the bookcase. It is a way for me to keep track of what I need to find in an audiobook format. As well as the fact that I simply have too many books and not enough time to read them in the written form. 

So, that was a little bit of background. Now, back to Lost Symbol. It is a Robert Langdon book and if I'm reading my bookshelf correctly, it is the third Langdon book in the series. This one takes Robert to Washington DC on a hunt for a lost symbol. Something relating to some word or whatever, there's a lot of religious aspects to this, as always. And well, also the Freemasons. That is the main theme of this book. 

So Robert goes on a hunt to catch the killer after being invited to an event by the killer himself pretending to be an assistant to Robert's friend and a freemason Peter Solomon. 

The whole thing is a little convoluted and also involves Solomon's sister, a scientist focusing on Noetic science. Her big thing is a scale that, supposedly, can weigh a person's soul. And yes, it sounds completely ludicrous but hey, it fits the story so who am I to complain, right? I mean, if we can have whacky science in Detective Conan and in the MCU, why not here. 

I don't know if I would ever re-read this in written format, but it is good enough as an audiobook. I really liked it. Sure, it's not as good as Angels and Demons (if we want Langdon) or the Digital Fortress which I'm listening to now. 

If we don't count Origin which I haven't read yet, I actually think this is the worst of his books. Or second worst, as I honest-to-god don't remember anything about the Deception Point. Sans the fact that I liked it much less than Digital Fortress. I might reconsider the placement when I finally read Origin, but for now, this is how I see it. I mean, I don't hate it or anything, but if I had to line up Brown's book in the order of best to worst, this one would be at the tail end even though it is not really bad. It's just that most of the others are somehow better. And nothing beats Digital Fortress.

You don't have to believe me. Read it for yourselves and then come and tell me your thoughts on it. I'll see you in the comments, okay?

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 16th of August, 2021