⚡ Pace: fast · 🎭 Emotions: intriguing, modern · 🚪 Entry threshold: low · ⭐ Why read: science and faith, futuristic ideas
Complicated puzzles, fleeing from the Spanish police, deadly encounters, puzzles that resemble the famous Gaudi’s fanciful buildings, the astonishing intertwining of Barcelona’s streets – and somewhere amid this whirlpool, the origin hides…
“Sometimes, all you have to do is shift your perspective to see someone else's truth.”
The new 2017 quest from the well-known lover of symbols and puzzles, Dan Brown, continues the narration about Robert Langdon. Again, the author considers religious issues, although he looks at them from a different angle this time, without touching upon some particular religion but questioning the concept of faith in God in general. However, the main questions are not about faith. “Where do we come from? Where are we going?” the author seems to be asking, and the reader will seek to obtain the answers throughout the whole novel. The main characters’ tool is science, which has found those answers, and religion is set against it because of threats to destroy it.
Everything starts with Kirsch, Robert Langdon’s former student, well-known billionaire, and inventor, who makes an overwhelming discovery that may not only shake but also overturn the postulates of all religions. Professor Langdon has also been invited to listen to the sensational lecture at the Guggenheim Museum. But Kirsch gets murdered before having a chance to explain his incredible theory... The materials of his lecture are protected by a 47-character password, and now it depends only on Professor Langdon and the museum’s curator, Ambra Vidal, whether mankind will learn the mystery of its origin…
This novel will become a true gift for those who have long been fond of Brown’s books and his character Langdon known to us from Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. This time, the novel pays a lot of attention to the art, Barcelona’s architecture, and particularly Antoni Gaudi, so there is a true exciting lecture on the art in store for the reader, which seems to create a colorful background for the events. The writer provides the reader not only with interesting information on history and art but also with material for their own reflection – Dan Brown is one of the best at this.
“Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat it…”
Let’s not lay all the cards on the table in relation to the key problem, which will remain with the reader even after the last page has been turned, reminding about itself with thoughts like: what if this is true?
📚 Did you know 📖
This is the fifth Robert Langdon novel (2017).
The story unfolds in Spain – with Gaudí, the Guggenheim Museum, and other architectural gems.
Its central question, “Where do we come from and where are we going?”, bridges science and religion.
The book quickly topped the New York Times Best Seller list.
There are now 6 novels in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series: Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013), Origin (2017), and The Secret of Secrets (2025).
Fun fact: Brown consulted leading artificial intelligence experts to accurately portray the role of technology.