After six long years and much hyped anticipation for a grandeur publishing event, Dan Brown's Da Vinci sequel The Lost Symbol hit stores and cyberspace September 15, 2009. According to Wikipedia, its first printing was a whopping 6.5 million, a first for its publisher's history, and sold one million both in e-books and hardcover on its release date. Impressive and huge for our hanging-on-by-a-thread publishing industry, especially since this marks the biggest and fastest selling adult novel in history. But how are readers feeling about this latest release from the great historical suspense writer?
Symbol continues the adventures of the symbologist Robert Langdon. This time Langdon is drawn to the U.S. Capital Building in none other than Washington D.C. What awaits him, instead of a lecture, is a grisly clue leading to another Indiana Jones-esque adventure through history following symbols and clues around the popular tourist spots in our nation's capitol. He gets another saucy love interest, a female scientist specializing in noetics, and another villain to outsmart. This time his nemesis is a heavily tattooed foe named Mal'akh who has found his way into the Freemasonry to flesh out his agenda. He also kidnaps Langdon's friend Peter Solomon, who happens to be a high-ranking Mason, in order to get Langdon to do his bidding. From there Langdon must figure out how to solve the Ancient Mysteries so Mal'akh can learn the Word and achieve ultimate power, but also figure out how to prevent that and save his friend (and please the CIA who happens to tag along for the ride).
But why did this book take so long to release and was it worth the wait? From fans to magazines to online book clubs, reviews on the content of the book range from praise and enjoyment to hard disappointment and scoffing. Symbol may pick up where Da Vinci left off in criticism. The wait, according to interviews with Brown, was so he could keep his promise to himself that he would not release a poor sequel that he wouldn't be happy with it and that fans wouldn't be happy with. Regardless, you cannot please everybody, right? All around the Internet on various websites, fans' comments range from 'I want my money back' to 'this will make yet another great flick'! Some seem upset with the lack of dialogue, the over-feeding of facts that ramble on for dozens of pages and strays from the plot, the predictable twists and ending, and the same sorry formula that he used before. Other readers interested in social science are disappointed in Brown's lack of research and reality.
Regardless of what readers think, some things cannot be argued. For one, whether this book is great or not, it has boosted sales for the publishing industry and gets people interested in reading. Possibly not great reading, but reading nonetheless. For another, it does not seem anywhere that Brown is attempting to create a nonfiction piece. It is his own social science fiction world with recognizable organizations and locations elaborated by his own story and creation. Clearly it is made to entertain and take readers on a thrilling ride with suspenseful plots and climaxes.
