Book Cover

Science and religion are not at odds. Science is simply too young to understand.

# Review

This is a work of speculative fiction which explores one of the topics which interests me greatly: the conflict between science and religion. The protagonist of the story is Robert Langdon, a renowned expert on symbology. Langdon is tasked with solving a murder of a physicist and preventing a terrorist plot being carried out in the Vatican City by the Illuminati, a historical anti-religious secret society.

The story is thrilling, with many twists and turns. The narration is filled with many real and speculative historical details for which the line between fact and fiction are blurred; this greatly enrichs the story. The many landmarks covered in the book are real; Vatican City has been on my travel list for a while, and when I eventually travel there, I think it'd be cool to visit the many locations described in the book.

The pace of narration is spot-on for the story and the characters are multi-dimensional, each with their own struggles and cognitive dissonances. The primary theme of the book, the idea of science conflicting with religion, gets explored, but is often sidelined for a more thrilling black-and-white narrative. The few instances where Brown does dive into the philosophical and theological arguments on science and religion, it's often very shallow and serves to supplement the plot. Then again, this book is meant to be a page-turner, not an epistemological debate on science and religion.

# Conclusion

A modern-day Indiana Jones, with more conspiracies and historical context.

# Overall rating: 8.0

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