Review: The Da Vinci Code (abridged edition) by Dan Brown

History professor Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call while on business in France: the curator of the Louvre in Paris has been brutally murdered inside the museum. Alongside the body, police have found a series of baffling codes and need Langdon's help to decipher them.

When Langdon and a French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, begin to sort through the bizarre riddles, they find a trail that leads to the works of the famous artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci. As the clues unfold, Langdon and Neveu must decipher the code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle before a stunning historical truth is lost forever . . .

I know it can be a controversial thing to say in some literary circles, but I am not ashamed to admit I am a fan of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books, especially Angles and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. I have loved stories about quests for lost historical and archaeological items ever since I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark at the cinema as a child, and if they have a dose of conspiracy thrown in then you've snagged my attention right away. 

Of course, I'm not blind to the fact that Brown is not a particularly great writer, but I do believe that at his best he is a damn fine storyteller. I was therefore intrigued and also a little confused when I read some time ago that there were plans to release an abridged version of The Da Vinci Code, specifically aimed at young adults: intrigued as to how an abridged version might compare with the original and confused as to why this was being done. Having now read a copy of the abridged version, I am sorry to say that I am still no less confused, although as it is a few years since I last read The Da Vinci Code I was still able to enjoy it without too much comparison with the original.

So, what have they edited out to make the book suitable for the young adult market? Basically, the expletives, some of the bloodier violence, the detailed description of the flashback scene where Sophie Neveu witnesses her grandfather in flagrante during a ritual, and some of Robert's lengthier explanations regarding ancient sex rites and similar. From this one might therefore deduce that swearing, violence and sex are taboo subjects for teen literature in the 21st Century, which makes me wonder if the editors of this abridged version have actually read any modern YA books themselves?!

Other than that, the characters and the story are still the same, which again raises the question as to why an abridged version is needed? OK, I completely understand the need to take out some of the sexual references and violence, but outside of this it's a little patronising to presume that an adult book needs simplifying for the teen market. My experience over the years has shown that boys who are confident readers will often make the leap from junior fiction or middle grade straight to adult fiction, with only the occasional foray into young adult books. I have lost count of the number of Year 8s that I have seen reading adult books by Andy McNab, Chris Ryan, Stephen King and yes, Dan Brown himself.

With this in mind, I also felt that I needed to judge whether this edition might be suitable for middle grade readers as I was reading it. Would it be suitable for them? The answer is yes, as I believe it has been 'sanitised' enough for confident readers of age 11+, but any adult who works with kids of this age knows that they much prefer books that feature characters of their own age, or a little older. It increases their enjoyment of a story if they can relate to the characters, or aspire to be like them. That is much harder with adult characters, and I am hard pushed to think of any other modern book for teen readers that has no teen characters at all.

Whether it is the original version, or this new abridged version, The Da Vinci Code is still a thoroughly entertaining and exciting mystery quest thriller and I can't help but recommend it. Librarians, teachers and parents may feel more comfortable putting this into the hands of teens readers, in the knowledge that it has had certain passages, etc. edited out. My copy is going to go into the school library, and I will be watching keenly as to its popularity with my young readers. My thanks go to the fab people at Penguin for sending me a copy to review.

Half Bad Chapter Reveal Blog Tour: Part One - The Trick Doesn't Work

I have to admit that I tend to take hype with a pinch of salt, be it for a film, an album or, in this case, a book. However, this didn't stop me from being more than a little intrigued when news of Half Bad selling for silly money all around the world began to hit the press towards the end of last year. 

I can still hear myself crying: "Witches? Has enough time really passed since Harry Potter for the publishing world to be going crazy about another YA witch story?". And despite the hype, there was a part of me feeling that for this to be the case this had to be something pretty special indeed. And it is, and I loved it.

I've just finished it this evening and I'm still trying to collect my thoughts for my review which will come next week, however in the meantime I am delighted to be taking part in the Half Bad blog tour, with an new extract from the opening chapters of the book being released each day over the past four days. This is the fifth extract and they are best read in order, so why not head on over to Wondrous Reads for the first part.

part one

the trick doesn’t work

She’s talking but you can’t make sense of it.

You’re back sitting at the kitchen table, sweating and shuddering a bit, and blood from your left ear is running down your neck. That ear won’t heal. You can’t hear at all on that side. And your nose is a mess. You must have landed on it when you fell. It’s broken, blocked up and bloodied, and it won’t heal either.

Your hand is resting on the table and it’s so swollen now that the fingers can’t move at all.

She’s sitting on the chair next to you and is spraying your wrist with the lotion again. It’s cooling. Numbing.

And it would be so good to be numb like that all over, numb to it all. But that won’t happen. What will happen is that she’ll lock you back up in the cage, chain you up, and it’ll go on and on and on . . .

And so the trick doesn’t work. It doesn’t work and you do mind; you mind about it all. You don’t want to be back in that cage and you don’t want the trick any more. You don’t want any of it any more.

The cut on her scalp is healed but there’s the wide ridge of a black-red scab underneath her blonde hair and there’s blood on her shoulder. She’s still talking about something, her fat slobbering lips working away.

You look around the room. The kitchen sink, the window that overlooks the vegetable garden and the cage, the range, the ironing board, the door to the pantry and back to the ugly woman with nicely pressed trousers. And clean boots. And in her boot is her little knife. She sometimes keeps it there. You saw it when you were on the floor.

You’re dizzy so it’s easy to swoon, sinking to your knees. She grabs you by your armpits but your left hand isn’t injured and it finds the handle and slides the knife out of her boot while she grapples with your dead weight and as you let your body sink further you bring the blade to your jugular. Fast and hard.

But she’s so bloody quick, and you kick and fight and fight and kick but she gets the knife off you and you’ve no kick and no fight left at all.

Back in the cage. Shackled. Kept waking up last night . . . sweating . . . ear still doesn’t work . . . you’re breathing through your mouth cos your nose is blocked. She’s even chained your bad wrist and your whole arm is so swollen that the shackle is tight.

It’s late morning but she still hasn’t come for you. She’s doing something in the cottage. Tapping. Smoke’s coming out of the chimney.

It’s warm today, a breeze from the south-west, clouds moving silently across the sky so the sun is managing a series of appearances, touching your cheek and casting shadows from the bars across your legs. But you’ve seen it all before, so you close your eyes and remember stuff. It’s OK to do that sometimes.

Want to read an interview with Sally Green? Go to: http://www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com/ 
(from 1^st March)

Text copyright © Sally Green, 2014 published by Penguin Books