The Lost Symbol: Lost in Translation
In honor of the ‘recent’ release of the latest Dan Brown book Origin, we thought it prudent to revisit the classics. Having already read Angels and Demons, The Davinci Code, and Inferno it was only fitting to complete the series with The Lost Symbol.
Usually forgotten since there was no movie deal tied to the book, The Lost Symbol tends to get, well, lost. Having never really heard much about it, I assumed it was kinda shitty. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
This 500 page thriller took me less than a week to read, and succeeded in keeping me on the edge of my seat, so to speak.
Usually here at Better Read than Dead our reviews have spoilers, especially on books we didn’t enjoy. But this one’s going to be different. The twist at the end was just too good to give away, so this is going to be a spoiler free review.
The first appeal to any Dan Brown book, I’m talking the Robert Langdon series here, is the short chapters. This really helps with the flow of the story and he balances it in a way where you don’t feel like you’re jumping around from POV to POV too quickly. When you set out to read a 500 page book, it can seem a little daunting. Brown helps alleviate some of that anxiety.
Now let's dive in.
As an avid fan of conspiracy theories, I love how Dan Brown turns something ordinary into something extraordinary. Not only does his subject matter come from real life, he presents it in a way that’s entirely believable. Every place visited is real, every organization mentioned actually exists, and every ritual is researched.
If you know nothing about this series, here’s a short summary. Basically Robert Langdon (portrayed in the movies by Tom Hanks <3) is a Harvard professor whose specialty is Symbology. This intellectual gets dragged into some truly wild situations. From searching for the Holy Grail, to dissuading an Illuminati plot, this man has seen it all. There’s usually some backlash from the uber religious people who are triggered by his subject matter. It’s all based on real information and historical documents, which probably makes religious people hate it more. The second book, but first movie (The DaVinci Code) was based on the premise that Jesus had a wife (Mary Magdalene) and therefore possibly a bloodline. So you can see where that might upset some people. Anyway, back to The Lost Symbol.
The Lost Symbol delves into the world of the Freemasons and their influence in Washington, D.C. It’s got a National Treasure vibe so if you dig that then you’ll really enjoy this book.
The version of the book that I have is the ‘Special Illustrated Edition’. Basically it just includes a lot of nice pictures and graphics. Whenever a new historical destination is mentioned, there’s a picture of the building. All the paintings mentioned are shown, so it really helps draw you into the story. It also helps you visualize what’s going on and helps you follow Langdon’s mental process.
(Rumor has it this book didn’t get a movie because National Treasure 2 had just came out and they thought it was too similar and wouldn’t do well. Another rumor was that they were working on the screenplay for a while, and by that point Inferno had already been written, and the studio said ‘Nevermind, we’re gonna do Inferno instead’. We all know how that turned out *Insert the biggest eye roll you can imagine*. I have a lot of opinions on the movie Inferno, maybe we’ll do a post about it sometime. Anyway long story short they changed the ending from the book and it pissed me off.)
It’s hard to talk about this book without giving anything away. The biggest take away should be that if you know Dan Brown’s work, then you know what to expect from this book. A decently written, action packed, conspiracy based journey through the world of hidden symbols and a tweed wearing Harvard professor. While this might not be my favorite in the series, it was still a thrilling read worth your time.
*Immediately plans a trip to DC*
Better Read than Dead,
Geneva & Addie
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