Origin by Dan Brown (Mini Review)

Faith vs Science. A relatively common conflict in literature, and becoming increasingly so in media. What mysteries of the universe can science explain? And what questions can faith and religion answer? These conflicts form the basis for Brown’s newest book in his Langdon series, Origin.

Robert Langdon is invited to an event at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain hosted by a former student. Edmond Kirsch has already presented his anti-faith message to three scholars representing the Catholic, Jewish, and Islamic faiths, and will now tell the world his findings. But Kirsch is murdered just as he is about to reveal his ‘truths’ and Langdon must run, for his life and the information that people are attempting to suppress.

There’s interesting scientific speculation and as usual, literary and artistic references in this one. But the central plot plods along while the reader is subject to the many ways science and faith can battle each other. Each of Brown’s other novels in the series had Langdon in his 4th country by the halfway mark of the book… but Origin takes a lot longer to get going. Unfortunately, the payoff isn’t that great. I read it expecting a good vacation read, but ended up thinking the discussion was a bit heavy for the beach and the action/ chase pacing wasn’t as quick as the other Langdon novels.