The Rule of Four- a book review

A couple of days ago I picked up several new books at the library, I'm finishing the second one now. I'll try and get a review of that one up this weekend, its good stuff.

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

This book first caught my eye in USA Today a couple of months ago. It was billed as a "worthy successor to "The DaVinci Code." Now I'm a huge fan of The DaVinci Code, so I picked it up. It's no DaVinci Code. It's interesting, it's a quick read, it's even mildly entertaining. But I'm not going to go pick up a copy of Hypernotomachia Poliphilo after reading it. Let me expound:

"Rule of Four" is really a tale of one young man's attempt to escape his father's obssession, a book that later becomes his own seductress. It weaves it's story across two generations and among two groups of friends. It talks about the seductive power of learning, the cost of obsession on family and friends, and the struggle of the main character to define himself in a way not related to his father. In this vein it's an interesting story that flows through the puzzle like the Tiber through Rome.

However, it is presented as an adventure and puzzle solving story, ala DaVinci Code, and in that respect it fails. The puzzle of Hypernotomachia is an academic pursuit that leads to an unknown treasure. The clues are laid out in anyway that the reader would be able to puzzle through them. The reader does get the vicarious joy of the principals solving the riddles though. At the end it injects a bit of "adventure" that felt somewhat contrived. It brings the book to a fiery climax, but the book had never felt like an adventure.

The bits and pieces of life on campus at an Ivy League school (Princeton) are amusing at times (Nude Olympics in the snow), but it becomes tiresome to those who have no ties to such memories or shared experience. The characters have diversity, if not great depth, and the story is never stolen by the background romance that pushes the development of the lead character.

I enjoyed the book, I read it in less than two days. The authors have a command of the language that keep it from getting in the way of the story. I would recommend it for a one time read, but don't buy the hype that this is a successor to The DaVinci Code.

3 1/2 Ancient Tomes out of 5.

Neil