Viccar
06-02-2003, 08:35 AM
Before I even start to review this book, I feel I should try to explain Antimatter first. According to theory, when the universe was created, two things came out of it; Matter and Antimatter. While they are basicly the same, they are the complete opposite of each other. Because of this, Antimatter can not exist in the same place as Matter and would be highly unstable due to the fact that it would explode coming in contact with even air. It is said that one drop of Antimatter would power the city of New York for a full day. If you want to know more about it, the European company by the name of CERN has a website about it at:
http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/academy/AM-travel00.html
Anyway, enough of the science lesson and on to the review.
Angels & Demons starts out with Robert Langdon recieving a strange phone call that he instantly passes off as a freak call. He then recieves a fax that contains a picture of a dead man with one word branded on his chest: Illumanati. Being a scholar of the Illumanati, the brand sends chills down his spine as this brand isn't supposed to exist, as you can read the word right side up and up side down. The next thing he knows, he is on a space age looking plane that is taking him to Switzerland to meet the head of one of the most prestigous scientific companies in the world; CERN.
While at CERN, he meets the daughter of the slain scientist, Vittoria Vetra. Vittoria and her father had been working on a top secret project that even the head of CERN didn't know about. This project is to create antimatter. Upon hearing of her father's death, she takes them down to the lab to see if anything is missing. When there, they find nothing wrong, but then Vittoria tells them that they had successfully created one drop of antimatter and it was being stored in a special container in HAZ-MAT (or Hazerdous Materials). When they arrive at the HAZ-MAT, they discover the container the holds the drop missing.
It doesn't take them long to discover where the missing drop went. Someone has stolen it and placed it somewhere within the walls of the Vatican. The Royal Guard are able to watch it on a closed curcuit tv that has been stolen and moved to somewhere in the Vatican. Once the container was stolen from CERN, it would be only 24 hours before the special battery inside the container dies and the antimatter would combust in an explosion equal to the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
When Langdon and Vittoria arrive in Rome, they discover not only do they need to find the antimatter, but the top four cardinals who are set to take over for the Pope (who recently passed away) have been kidnapped. They have been told that one Cardinal will be killed each hour on an Alter of Science. This sends Langdon in a race across Rome as he tries to rewalk the Path of Illumination, the highly secret path that is supposed to lead you to the church of the Illumanati.
This book is wrote in real-time and is very fast paced. Once things start moving in this book, it is very hard to put down all the way to the end.
I would say it is one of the best books I have read in quite a while. The whole time I read this, I kept thinking that it would make for one very suspenseful movie. Definately worth picking up and reading if yoru looking for something to read.
http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/academy/AM-travel00.html
Anyway, enough of the science lesson and on to the review.
Angels & Demons starts out with Robert Langdon recieving a strange phone call that he instantly passes off as a freak call. He then recieves a fax that contains a picture of a dead man with one word branded on his chest: Illumanati. Being a scholar of the Illumanati, the brand sends chills down his spine as this brand isn't supposed to exist, as you can read the word right side up and up side down. The next thing he knows, he is on a space age looking plane that is taking him to Switzerland to meet the head of one of the most prestigous scientific companies in the world; CERN.
While at CERN, he meets the daughter of the slain scientist, Vittoria Vetra. Vittoria and her father had been working on a top secret project that even the head of CERN didn't know about. This project is to create antimatter. Upon hearing of her father's death, she takes them down to the lab to see if anything is missing. When there, they find nothing wrong, but then Vittoria tells them that they had successfully created one drop of antimatter and it was being stored in a special container in HAZ-MAT (or Hazerdous Materials). When they arrive at the HAZ-MAT, they discover the container the holds the drop missing.
It doesn't take them long to discover where the missing drop went. Someone has stolen it and placed it somewhere within the walls of the Vatican. The Royal Guard are able to watch it on a closed curcuit tv that has been stolen and moved to somewhere in the Vatican. Once the container was stolen from CERN, it would be only 24 hours before the special battery inside the container dies and the antimatter would combust in an explosion equal to the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
When Langdon and Vittoria arrive in Rome, they discover not only do they need to find the antimatter, but the top four cardinals who are set to take over for the Pope (who recently passed away) have been kidnapped. They have been told that one Cardinal will be killed each hour on an Alter of Science. This sends Langdon in a race across Rome as he tries to rewalk the Path of Illumination, the highly secret path that is supposed to lead you to the church of the Illumanati.
This book is wrote in real-time and is very fast paced. Once things start moving in this book, it is very hard to put down all the way to the end.
I would say it is one of the best books I have read in quite a while. The whole time I read this, I kept thinking that it would make for one very suspenseful movie. Definately worth picking up and reading if yoru looking for something to read.