The Bookbase

Dan Brown - Origin

Where do I start? Dan Brown is my guilty pleasure. I'm not frightened to say it.

Is his plot recycled? Yes - but so is James Bond's (Ian Fleming's)

Is his writing style clunky? Yes - he makes EL James look like James Joyce

But there's something about Dan Brown that warms my heart and puts a big smile on my face. Like 'Home Alone' at Christmas or "My baby just cares for me" - Nina Simone, I can't put my finger on why it makes me happy, but it does.

The book itself is a slightly muddled. The events of previous books are ignored. The plot is too long in the beginning, too short in the middle, and the ending has three final chapters. We already know what's going to happen before it happens. The ending is tropey and predictable. It's written by a writer trying too hard to be cool and up to date, all whilst Mary Suing as the main character: an uncool man trying to keep up to date.

That's a long list of bad.

But it's just soooo good.

I read this book, cover to cover, in around 5-6 hours of reading time.

I loved every minute of it.

From the eye roll enducing humour and slight wit of the characters dialogue. The constant adventure story tropes. The interesting, half-true observations and factiods. The plot that, rather than twists and turns, does more of a wiggle somewhere in the middle and has a seizure at the end. I loved it all.

For me Dan Brown's Origin isn't about being a quality piece of literature. Leave that to the classics. It's about getting the same kick that some get out of Twilight, Love Island or Fifty Shades. A quick dose of entertainment that doesn't take itself too seriously.