Origin by Dan Brown

Oh Mr. Brown you've done it again! Origin is another fast-paced story with favorite Robert Langdon, a religious symbologist, and his timeless ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Origin, Langdon finds himself sucked into the announcement of the century! The mysterious, famous Edmond Kirsch announces that he has discovered something scientific that will shake the world of religion forever. However, all goes awry when Kirsch is assassinated in the middle of his presentation and Langdon and the future queen of Spain, Ambra Vidal, find themselves in a race against time to fully release the presentation to the world.

Origin is the fifth of Brown's books in the Langdon series and it is very similar to his other books while still keeping itself separate. Again we find Langdon with a beautiful, intelligent woman on his arm. Will he ever team up with a man? Ha ha. Anyway, I almost thought I was having deja vu while reading this book. I will admit that when I first started reading the book I thought it was just going to be more of the same. There's a murder, Langdon goes running through historic cities and some big mystery is revealed at the end. And while that is still basically what happens, it at least incorporates a completely different aspect that has not been touched on in other Langdon stories: technology.

Lets be honest, our world is becoming more and more reliant on technology and it is not always a good thing. Brown finds some interesting ways to tie that growing need for technology into a story of a man and woman on the run. I won't really go into detail because I don't want to give away too much, but we find that Langdon and Vidal are being guided through their adventure by Winston a very advanced AI created by Kirsch. And while it is cool to see a totally different aspect being written into the story, it is done in a way that is almost...boring. I found myself at about the halfway mark in the book and I had already solved the mystery of who had likely killed Kirsch. I don't know if it was because of the way Brown writes (he has been widely criticized for his lack-luster writing style) or that the mystery killer just wasn't developed well in the story. But I usually am pretty good at figuring out the mystery fairly early.

I will say, however, that Kirsch's presentation had me gripping the book for a hot second trying to figure out what he was going to reveal. And then I was like "oh". I think that was where the deja vu really kicked in. This book fits right in with current discoveries and realizations that are becoming more widespread in today's world. I believe that is almost why, however much I liked the book, it was a bit of a letdown. All that buildup and THAT is what you leave me with. Oh well. It was a good book nonetheless and I do recommend you read it and form your own opinion.

I give Origin by Dan Brown 📖📖📖.5 / 5 bookies.