Origin - What I Like And Dislike About The Latest Novel From Dan Brown

Origin, authored by Dan Brown is the the fifth installment in his Professor Robert Langdon series. As per his previous work, it's a fast pace thriller with intertwined clues and multiple twists at the end. 

I've never written a novel review in this blog before so thought of trying something new here. I've just finished the book (within 11 days, considered an achievement for me since speed reading is not my forte). Anyway, just like to share my review after reading the book.  

The Plot:

This time round, the story happens mainly in Spain (Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona etc..) the plot revolve around the age-long debate/battle between religion and science about the origin of human beings. 

"Where we came from?" and "Where are we going?"

An earth-shaking discovery by a futurist, Edmond Kirsch (student of Prof Langdon), facing off with the clerics from all key religions, coupled with the intertwined side-plots of the secret between the King of Spain and the Bishop, the Prince Julian and his fiancee, Ambra Vidal. Viola! You have a face pace, page turner novel.     

What I Like:

1. It is a fast pace thriller, it all happen within x hours and I like the multiple twists at the end (even though I have guessed it right for one of the twist half-way through the book) 

2. As per Dan Brown's previous works, he managed to bring alive the uniqueness of the ancient churches/buildings/structures purely with words. I especially like his vivid visualization (with words) of Museum Guggenheim, Casa Milaa and Sagrada Familia

Casa Mila

Museum Guggenheim

 Sagrada Familia

Personal note: after reading the book, I've decided to include Spain in my bucket list of country to visit. 

3. Always can learn new riddles from his book, here are 3 that I've learnt from Origin:

a. From first glance, the following Roman-numeral equation seems to be FALSE, but there is a way to make it a TRUE. How?   

    I + XI = X

b. We all know "&" (ampersand) means AND, but do your know that it was originated from two alphabets? What are they? 

c. Do you know there is a hidden symbol in the following Fedex logo? 

    

What I Don't Like:

1. The final revelation is kind of anti-climax, at least to me.

2. Some of the subplots seemed a bit too pretentious or unnecessary.  

Overall Verdict:

If you are a fan of fast pace thriller or his earlier Prof Langdon series, you will definitely like it. Even though there is no ground-breaking stuff here but overall it is still an entertaining read (click on the book cover below to find out more about book). 

Click on ME to find out more

My rating : 3.5 (out of 5 stars)

Have you read the book, Origin? What is your review?

If you are interested to read more about the earlier Prof Robert Langdon series, check out below:


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Cheers!