Origin

by Dan Brown
461 pgs  (Robert Langdon series #5)

Dan Brown is an author that people tend to have strong feelings about. Either they really, really like him, or they really, really hate him. Those who don't like him say his books all follow the same formula, and that all he's done since the success of The Da Vinci Code is repeat himself over and over again. I don't disagree with their criticisms. But I can't help it, I really, really like his books.

Edmund Kirsch is a scientist, an atheist, and a futurist, who has garnered world-wide recognition over the course of his life for his perfect record to date for predicting technological advances years before they're achieved. He also happens to be a former student of Robert Langdon.

As the book begins, Kirsch is days away from revealing his latest scientific discovery to the world. And he believes that when he does, it will destroy the core of every religion on earth, along with every believer's faith in a divine creator. He believes he's finally found the answer to the two questions: "Where did we come from?" and "Where are we going?"

But his announcement is cut short by an assassin sent to keep his discovery secret. It's up to Langdon and Ambra Vidal, the museum's curator to figure out what it was Kirsch had discovered, and make it known to the world, hopefully before the same man who killed Kirsch is able to stop them too.

Like him or not, it's hard to dispute Dan Brown's popularity. Origin is a great example of why I think his popularity is well deserved.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Inferno

by Dan Brown
463 pgs  (Robert Langdon series #4)

Dan Brown has a lot of detractors. Ever since The Da Vinci Code dominated the book world, they've been quick to point out the flaws with his writing abilities. They harp on his characters, and how he's so focused on his plots, that he never slows down enough to flesh any of them out. Even Robert Langdon, after appearing in four books, hasn't been written into someone that we know much about. And the plots themselves are too contrived, with distractingly convenient plot points that appear just in the nick of time. But there's a reason why his books are so enormously popular--they're thrilling, engaging, and they're enormously fun to read.

This time around, the fate of the world lies in Langdon's ability to decipher clues within Dante's Inferno. The book begins with Langdon waking up in a hospital in Florence, Italy, after someone tried to end his life. He can't remember the past few days, why he's in Italy, or how he came into possession of a sealed metal tube with the ominous bio hazard symbol on it. Minutes after waking, he barely escapes the assassin's second attempt on his life and he finds himself on the run with the young doctor who helped him escape.

I'm not ashamed of the fact that I enjoyed the book as much as I did. I'll admit to rolling my eyes more than once as Brown pulled the same rabbit out of his literary hat that he did in the previous Langdon books. And there was never any real fear that things wouldn't turn out okay for Langdon and of course, the rest of humanity. But the book was another page-turner and I'm ready to read whatever he writes next.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆