There are several authors that I respect, and one of them is Dan Brown. I had read all of his works, from the Digital Fortress to The Lost Symbol. By reading all of his works, I could not help but see the patterns in the story plot. The protagonist wakes up early in the morning in a hotel by a mysterious call, then one thing leads to another, he or she got entangled up in a conspiracy that could have cost his or her life.
However, even though the pattern is recognizable, the content is what matters most. In each book, he managed to keep me mesmerized by the beauty of the puzzle amidst the action. One could almost feel the reality among the fiction in his works. In 2009, he made a comeback with a new novel entitled 'The Lost Symbol'. This is the novel that leaved the most impact to me aside from The Da Vinci Code.
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The Lost Symbol
This book is also revolved around Robert Langdon, the previous protagonist form The Da Vince Code and Angles & Demons. This time he uncovers the puzzle behind the most secret society, Freemason. Truth be told, I do not really remember any of it because it was such along time ago and I only have read it once. You could always google it anyway =).
On the other hand, my reason of posting this is to share my opinion on his works. Well, first of all, its not like I hate it. However, I could see that he, Dan Brown, is continuously promoting the secret society. He repeatedly wrote his amazement to this secret society and saying that it was them who uphold the foundation of the states.
Furthermore, one could see his fascination and attraction to the Freemasonry. It made me think that he is a member of the organization itself. Now, the reason why I personally disapproved of such fascination is because of the secret itself. Please correct me if I am wrong, but based upon my understanding Freemasonry and Illuminati shares the same pattern of secrecy. A member will be 'illuminated' by raising levels in the pyramid. In other words, a new secret will be revealed as you ascend higher in the Freemasonry rankings.
If the organization is doing thing for the benefits of its member or for the states, why should it be kept as a secret. From my standpoint, if you kept a secret then that means that you have done something wrong or you do not want people to know what you had done. Thus, secrecy does not reflect a good intention. How can an organization be trusted if they do not even trust their own members.
It all leads to one conclusion. Freemason is wrong. It is not an organization that was established for the people, but for the sake of the ruling Elite. It is a system where the lower ranks lived to serve the top of the pyramid. There is no good is any secret society; does not matter who their leader is or what is the agenda. As a matter of fact, you would not even know who is at the top since everything is a secret.
I really respect Dan Brown, however with The Lost Symbol, I had to think twice before digesting his words. Its not like I lost my respect to him, but one had to be careful when dealing with author with appreciation of secret society.