O, Draconian Devil, Oh Lame Saint! - The Da Vinci Code (The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown)

Member Name: ste231191

Product:	The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Date:	27/06/06 (856 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great book brings up lots of questions.

Disadvantages: None

Have you read the Da Vinci code? What’s it like? The films meant to be rubbish. All these questions were being asked in school how has it anything to do with Christianity? This book has sparked up questions about Christianity the bloodline of Christ were his descendants still living today?? In this review I will not only be reviewing the book but what I have thought of the book and compared it to what people believe etc.

All these questions being asked and I was just listening in the background there was people showing me pictures of the last supper how John is meant to look like Mary Magdalene? So? What’s that got to do with anything? I had to find out the answers to these questions and I thought that the first step is actually to read the book.

I went to tesco and bought the book for an astonishing 3 pound which was exceptionally good value. I think that was promotion of the film because the price has gone back up to 5 now but its still good value. To understand the whole theory you need to know the background and although this book gives about the story it also gives Da Vinci’s theory throughout.

I am going to start my review with what the theory is cut short basically the theory is that thousands of years ago there was an organization called the Priory of Sion and the purpose of this group is to keep secrets to some of the greatest secrets of the world one of them secrets is Jesus’ bloodline. There are policies about the Priory for example only the top 4 members are allowed to know the secret and how to find it out. And the secret in this story is about the ‘Sangreal’ broken up into 2 words San Greal and in French that means the Holy Grail. So this changes the direction of the book completely its turned into a quest for the Holy Grail this is where the last supper painting comes in. The only grail is meant to be the goblet Jesus is drinking out of but on that painting there is no goblet. Jesus says ‘Take, Drink this is my blood that is shared for you.’ But if you have no goblet how can you drink? What Da Vinci’s theory is that the grail is not a thing but a person, Mary Magdalene? That is the basic and very basic story line. Of course no story would be complete without a bad guy or in this case guys in it. And that is where a group called Opus Dai comes in their ‘teacher’ (he cannot reveal his name or identity) knows about the grail where it is hidden everything but he just needs the key which I will explain about in a minute.

So the quest is to find out where the grail is but who knows that? The top four members of the Sion who were all mysteriously killed on the same night. Does someone want the secret to be lost forever? Luckily Jacques Sauniere the supposed grandmaster of the Sion has left clues as to find the secret and his granddaughter Sophie along with a Harvard professor that specializes in symbolism, go on a quest. The clues that he leaves are; When he is dying he lies himself in a star shape with a perfect circle around him with a pentacle on his chest next to his dead body are the words;

O Draconian Devil, Oh Lame Saint which is an anagram of = Leonardo Da Vinci The Mona Lisa or something along those lines which leads them onto the next clue and it carries on like that until they get to something called a keystone which has a 5 letter password with 26 characters on each wheel therefore creating millions of possibilities. You will have to read the book to see if they crack it. And so that’s the outline of the book.

As you can see there are ways of people believing that there are some truth in it but even the author Dan Brown says it’s a load of nonsense. So the questions that people have been asking are why does Jesus have no goblet? That can be answered because Leonardo thinks that Jesus blood is Mary also in the picture. This then brings up another question, why was Mary in the picture? Well she’s not, the ‘girl’ in the picture is John but the fashion was to have long hair and also Leonardo was a homosexual which could be another aspect. Even if them answers are wrong or not 100% truth who painted the picture? Leonardo Da Vinci. Who was a former grandmaster of the priory of Sion and swore his life to secrecy and believe everything in it? Leonardo Da Vinci. Also people have believed to found later gospels from Saint Thomas and even Mary Magdalene who says that yes she did have a soft spot for Jesus but why were these books never released? Is this just to back up the theory there are a lot of questions about it. And I have answered most of these if you have other questions about it leave a comment and ill see if I can answer it.

And to summarize this book. I can see why people believe it because it’s a well structured story but it really is a load of nonsense. If people believe this just by reading the book I suggest that they go and investigate further. This book is also a great book because of the chase that Sophie and Langdon are on they have to escape past French authorities and escape from the likes of Opus Dei. I really liked this book and as i'm 14 I never really read books to often but this one hooked me and I am looking forward to reading angels and demons which also stars Robert Langdon written by Dan Brown. If you have read the book I would be really interested to see what you thought of it. Leave a comment please.

Thanks for reading this review.
I hope you have enjoyed it
Ste231191 ©

p.s The film is quite good but I suspect that you would find it a bit boring if you have not read the book because you wont know what is going on. It doesn’t give you enough detail about that.

Summary: This is a great book but I think it is aimed at someone over 14