I did purchase this book, however, as soon as it was released. I've been a huge Dan Brown fan, and was excited to see what Robert Langdon would do next. I loved Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Deception Point (not a Langdon book). The Lost Symbol was good, but didn't live up to the earlier Langdon books, and I was hoping this one would revitalize the series.
Unfortunately, it was only so so. By most standards, a good book and a solid story, but in comparison to the writing Brown has exhibited in the past, it was a bit of a let down. The story line was great and had promise, but I feel as though there was plot/character development missing.
To begin the story, Langdon wakes up in a Florence hospital after being shot in the head. He wakes up, and due to short term amnesia has no idea why he is in Italy. Not long after he takes conciousness, he flees the hospital with the help of a doctor after his attacker comes back. He realizes after going through his pockets that he was on the hunt for clues using The Divine Comedy by Dante. A madman has created a viral plague and Langdon follows the clues while avoiding capture.
There's a lot to this story. There's a backstory involving the doctor he escaped with, the scientist who created the viral plague, a group called the Consortium that help the scientist, leaders within the WHO, as well as the provost of the Consortium. At almost 500 pages, there's a LOT of story to be read. And as usual with Dan Brown, there are some crazy twists in the stories. When it came to this novel however, I almost felt like there were too many competing storylines. There was the primary storyline, and all the others got jumbled together. Bottom line, I would reccomend it if you love Dan Brown, but don't think it's going to be comparable to Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons.
Still working my way through this! Definitely getting bogged down with all of the story lines, glad I'm not the only one feeling that way.
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