Origin - Dan Brown

  Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors. The incredible combination of history, religion, modern technology, conspiracies, world strife, global – scale danger, worldwide panic, secret societies, government organizations, betrayals and absolutely mind-spinning twists, all amalgamated and concisely packed into one novel. That, dear readers, is Dan Brown’s Signature Style.

So, obviously the wait for “Origin” was a long one. Four years, that’s longer than the wait for a new season of BBC Sherlock, but at least we were not left on a cliff hanger. Finally, Dan Brown regales us with another Langdon Chronicle.

 

“Origin” contains all the essential elements of a Robert Langdon book i.e. the professor himself, a brilliant side-chick, an unknown antagonist and multiple suspects. Robert’s personality is also maintained as the same charismatic intellectual, claustrophobic, with an eidetic memory and his renowned Mickey Mouse watch.

  The book follows the same template Dan Brown has always used, a race against a mysterious entity, with a killer on their back, to find the next clue and reach ground zero.

  

The theme this time is Science vs Religion, fitting the upcoming millennial generation which reveres science over religion, and finds a scientific explanation to every aspect of their lives.

  The book also reminds me of one of my own professors, who always emphasized on the importance of asking questions. This is because the book revolves around two questions, which hold within their answers the need for religion, but are finally answered by science. Honestly, I believe it’s a matter of perspective, religion or science; they do tie-in at some points.

  The chase in this book, along with the characters and their quirks ensures that we don’t keep the book down and finish it to the end. Also, as I always find myself doing when reading one of Brown’s books, your suspect keeps changing; with every new evidence uncovered, or news revealed, your attention shifts to a new individual. The pace is maintained and the climax is built with great anticipation akin to the last peak of an amazing roller coaster. But the final fall, the roller coaster’s final leap seems... half-baked. Perhaps it is meant to be an unexpected move judging by Brown’s previous works, but the conclusion of the story just did not sate this bookworm. The story seemed inconclusive making it largely unsatisfactory and leaving me with the desire to go back in time and redo the tale.

  To conclude, the book is endearing and piques your interest throughout, but definitely ranks after “Da Vinci Code”, “Inferno”, and “Angels and Demons” in my opinion, somewhere along the likes of the “Lost Symbol” maybe. If you’re an advent fan of the author, go ahead, read it, it’s peachy. However if this is to be your first Dan Brown book, don’t do it. It would be much like meeting Rahul Gandhi and assuming all Indians are naïvely ludicrous. ;)