I've been very impressed with Dan Brown's other two Robert Langdon Books, and was very excited to read this latest one. However, I must say I was less than thrilled. Dan Brown's attention to detail was too meticulous this time, slowing the pace of his usually well-paced books. But most importantly, Dan's incredible twists were shattered in this book. It was UNBELIEVABLY predictable. Literally, from page 240 I predicted the twist that is revealed on page 500!
I'm sorry Brown fans, but the first two books, were just way better.

Well, after two fantastic "hook and chase" novels like the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons (I haven't read his other novels) expectations were high for the The Lost Symbol. In the third of the professor Robert Langdon series, our favourite symbologist gets wrapped into the heart of Masonry lore and the secret location of the Ancient Mysteries. The city of choice this time is Washington D.C. Langdon has gone to Washington to help his mentor, Peter Soloman, who is a high ranking Mason, and gets involved in a plot to steal the Ancient Mysteries, a secret, higher knowledge and truth that is only known to the highest of ranking Masons. Langdon must race against time, deal with a moody CIA agent named Sato (the most interesting character in the book) and Mr. Soloman's sister, celebrated scientist Katherine Soloman.

As in typical Brown form, the location of where the book takes place is equally, if not more, important than the story. As he did with Rome, London and Paris in his previous aforementioned novels, Brown intertwines the story with the most prominent monuments in Washington, weighing rumours and myths along the way.

While the book can still be classified as a "page-turner", as Brown has a way of adding suspense to every page, the book was a disappointment. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe masonry folklore and the Ancient Mysteries just didn't stir any interest in me. I felt the book was flat and often repeated at nausea the same theories of the Ancient Mysteries. I recall in the Da Vinci Code, when the "version" of how God was a mortal was discussed, it was only referred to thereafter, we didn't hear the story over and over again throughout the book. In this book, it felt the like the secret meanings, etc. were repeated over and over again. The last 30 pages of the book was simply a repeat of earlier dialogue. Maybe Brown expected only stupid people to read this book, with short memories.

My biggest issue with this book is it seems that Brown made Langdon far less intelligent than in the two previous writings. While Langdon's character has always been suspect of ancient rumours and myths, he never simply ignored them. In this novel, it seems Langdon is somewhat of a snob, failing to even consider ancient legends and is not nearly as intelligent in his earlier dealings. In fact, he was a bit annoying at times.

Overall, the book, while thrilling and entertaining at times, was disappointing. Of course, maybe I expected too much.

3.5 stars

Robert Langdon is called to Washington, D.C., seemingly by his friend, Peter Solomon. Langdon soon discovers that it was a ruse and Peter is, in fact, missing. He must work with the CIA and security to help find Peter, until things take a turn for the worse and Robert must run from the CIA, as something there appears fishy.

I liked it, just not as much as his other books. It wasn't as much of a page-turner as the others and it took longer to get going and a bit too long to wrap up at the end. I listened to the audio, but by doing so, you don't get a picture of some of the symbols. Mostly it was fine, as it was described well; there were only a few times that I wanted to see a picture.

Dan Brown fans waited patiently for 5 years for the release of this novel, we pre-ordered our copies, counted down the days, and when we were finally rewarded for it all and had our copies in our hands we devoured it in mere hours.
I for one, was a bit disappointed. The writing felt too formulaic, and unoriginal. I figured in five years, it should have been a lot better. I will continue to read about Langdon's adventures, but that's the last time I get sucked into the hype.

Dan Brown is back for a third installment of the Robert Langdon series. This time Robert stays in the USA and is called by long time friend and Mason Peter Solomon to give a speech in Washington, DC. When Landon walks in to the area where he was supposed to give his speech to find his friend's severed hand, so starts his race to save Solomon's life. Langdon is told he must help uncover one of the Mason's oldest secrets and it starts with deciphering symbols found on Soloman's hand.

Langdon quickly becomes involved in the mysteries of the ancient brotherhood of Masons. This includes learning more about the architecture and history of the Washington, DC area. Langdon and Solomon's sister Katherine run from the CIA as they attempt to uncover the mystery.

Dan Brown sticks to the same formula that made The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons such a success. It doesn't get old in this book and makes for yet another page turning read. I didn't find the ending of this book as satisfying as the other two, as I was expecting for a more concrete resolution. Instead things got a but philosophical which I wasn't overly happy with. I also found there were a couple of instances where Brown dragged on explaining history or science for much longer than I cared to read. The negatives aside, this book was still a thrilling read!

I actually pre-ordered this book and was one of the first ones to get it on the day of the release. One of the reason why I was so excited when i first heard that Lost Symbol is going to come out soon is because The Da Vinci Code is just absolutely brilliant and I was so looking forward to see this second book!

I know some people say that usually a sequel will never be as good, and I admit that the first two chapters had given me nothing but disappointment. I left the book just sitting on my desk for nearly 4 months, before picking it up again to give it a second chance. As I got further into the book, I finally remember the reason why I love Dan Brown's book. oh waitAlthough his plots are fairly predictable after a while, but his writing style and detail facts make up for all the imperfections.

I'm only fourteen years old, so I may not exactly seem like I know what I'm talking about, but I thought this book was absolutely amazing!
It took me two days to read because I whipped through it. I may be thinking so highly of it because my expectations were so low...seriously, I was dreading reading it, but my science teacher said it was great and I was bored one day so, what the hell? :)
Every part of this book held my interest, I even loved hearing about the history aspect of the story. The villain was built to the extreme, yet somehow it was still all believable-he had believable motives I think.
I loved the way you had to hurdle through hoops throughout the story, everything led to something else. I seriously thought the way he constructed it was amazing, you could tell Brown put a lot of thought into the planning.
The characters were there in the flesh when I was reading, as where the settings. He made everything come shining to life!

I seriously do recommend this novel, but the beginning's a little slow (only for about 8 pages or so...) READ IT :).

I tried to enjoy this. I really did. It didn't have the excitement and intrigue that the other books had. There were some parts in the book where it was fun and it got me turning a page or two, but, then I felt the action and excitement die down. The writing then got bland, the chase scenes started becoming redundant, eventually the entire book got downright...well..have to say it, boring.

I'm not sure what else to say. I personally thought the puzzles would be more entertaining and the ending well, I think it fell short. I didn't really force myself to finish this book. I kept going because I wanted to see if there was something exciting going to happen, if something mind blowing and catastrophic will be found out and the end of the world is nigh. Well, the book certainly put that out successfully, but you're left with an empty feeling, a feeling as if asking: "That's it?? that's what it was?? I read 528 pages and ...that's it?????" I was disappointed for sure.

The story arc with Mal'akh (this name belongs in a fantasy book...not in a Dan Brown one) is all right. I'd rather figured out who he really was and although perhaps his hate and anger is justified, he's nothing more than a spoiled brat who really did deserve to rot.

Overall, over hyped and not worth the read I'm still trying to figure out where these rave reviews are coming from. Stick with either Angels and Demons (I'm not even finished and I prefer it instead of this one) or The DaVinci Code for better work from Dan Brown.

The great thing about this book is that unlike "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" it is not about the Catholic church... At least in this book Dan Brown ventured to target a different institution. I love books that make you think.. And this is definitely one of those rare finds.

I went into this book, thinking it was going to be as good as the previous two. Well, it wasn't. I was confused at the end. I am not too sure still what the Lost Symbol is. Oh well. It was a good and exciting read though. I wonder if they will make it into a movie :)

This was a fantastic read!

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After reading Angels and Demons, seeing Da Vinci Code, I was so excited about reading this. I found The Lost Symbol to be the best story with Robert Langdon, it was very intreging and did have some good twists. And for the first it does not deal in Christian religion. A fresh story with a great setting. A must read for Dan Brown Fans.

I couldn't stop reading non-stop. It was so good i had to know what happens. I was so engrossed with the story that I didn't even realized it was 4 a.m. Great Book!!

A really intesesting story for fans of Dan Brown books & his favouite charcter - Robert Langdon. Made me want to return to Washington DC and really look around at all the cool buildings in the story.

Very action packed and kept you reading. Although some readers have thought it was predictable I found it to be an easy and entertaining. It was action packed and kept you wanting to turn the pages to see what was happening next. It was exciting to be on the ride that Dan Brown was taking me!

Love Dan Brown. He never disappoints. Fast paced and full of detailed information that you can see the structures in your head as you are reading.

I was wary when I read mediocre online reviews about this book, but I read Lost Symbol anyway and really enjoyed it. Dan Brown does not waver from his tried and true formula, by blending seemingly unlimited non-fiction content into a fictional storyline.

I think more experienced readers overlooked the depth of the book and criticized his writing style, which they find to be too easy. They may have also set expectations too high with the fame he has gained from his previous books (Da Vinci Code; and Angels & Demons, one of my personal favourite books). However, as an intermediate reader I was comfortable with the reading difficulty of his style of writing.

I have previously read all of his other books, including Deception Point and Digital Fortress, and they're all excellent, very similar in style and content. The Lost Symbol is not his best work, but it is vintage Dan Brown and did not disappoint. If you expect this novel to be a similar reading experience to his previous books, you should not be disappointed either.

"The Lost Symbol" was a fun read...fast paced...very short chapters that made it easy to want to keep turning the pages.

The only other Dan Brown book I've read is "The Da Vinci Code"...and this latest Brown book was just as exciting. Sometimes I like being taken away into "adventure" without having to work too hard to get there. Brown is superb at blending a great deal of information into a very readable format. The one thing I found myself doing when I read this book, as when I read "The Da Vinci Code", was constantly Googling certain places and concepts that were mentioned in the book, such as the Library of Congress and Noetic Science.

Hoping that Brown will continue to send his main character, Robert Langdon, out on more adventures.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I actually pre-ordered this book long before it came out but put off reading it until some of the early hype died down. I tend to do that with books that are hugely popular as I want to make my own decision about the book. Having said that, I certainly heard lots about this book before I picked it up to read. I've read every other Dan Brown book that he has written. He has a formula to his stories and this one is true to the Robert Langdon style. But what a style to have. The book is compelling and spellbinding. It was hard to put down once I got going with it. I learned a great deal about the Masons and what about all that crazy science that is in the book? I had to go look up some parts of it because I know that he uses a lot of fact in his books but he was referring to science that I have never even heard about! I found the ending a bit of a let down. It will be interesting to see what the movie makers do with the ending...because, you know, it WILL be a movie.