Outside Reading Project

Angles and Demons by Dan Brown was a reading choice out of curiosity rather than real interest because of the Da Vinci Code by the same author . I wanted to see what other works of fiction Dan Brown came up with before his controversial book . This book had me raising my eyebrows more than a few times with story line but that did not stop me from turning the pages until I got to the end

Angels and Demons basically follows the same formula as the Da Vinci Code . It begins with a

murder which only Robert Langdon seems capable of solving with his knowledge of religious iconology and history a strong female character , Vittoria Vetra , daughter to the murder victim Leonardo Vetra , assists Langdon in his quest a hired assassin who is delusional , a fanatic and has unquestionable loyalty to his belief carries out an unforeseen but well-crafted plan an ancient secret society , the Illuminati , is out to get revenge on the Church finally an unexpected mastermind who calls himself as Janus , works behind the curtains . An anti-matter canister was stolen from CERN when Leonardo Vetra was murdered and this is assumed to have a life span of 24 hours before the batteries die and it explodes . Brown remains true to using archaic bits of knowledge to leave a trail for Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra to follow from Switzerland to the Vatican City in to find the missing anti-matter canister and find the murderer of Leonardo Vetra . The plot thickens when the anti-matter canister bomb threatens the Vatican and the conclave in the process of choosing the new Pope . The book ends dramatically with a seemingly miraculous event followed by the declaration of a new Pope

Though I enjoyed the chase more from Angels and Demons rather than the Da Vinci Code , I must say that , as a priest , Brown seems have some issues with the Church to come up with troubling concepts for his books First you have Leonardo Vetra , a priest who turns away from the Church He becomes a leading physicist of CERN and , together with his adopted daughter , tries to find God through science and research . They seem to be successful with the development of the anti-matter , which was stolen when Vetra was murdered . You also have a Pope who sired a child with a nun , though through artificial means . The child later becomes his camerlengo , the Pope 's Chamberlain . The camerlengo , Carlo Ventresca unaware of his paternal parentage , murders the Pope upon knowing his dark secret with the belief that he is both cleansing and protecting the Church

Though the book is admittedly a work of fiction , it bs on tarnishing how Catholics and non-Catholics may view the Church and its priests . Brown puts into question the honesty and loyalty of priests to the Mother Church and their commitment to the vow of celibacy , as seen with the Pope . It is appalling to think that Jesus ' surrogates on Earth would be the...