The Rule of Four
by Dustin Thomason, Ian Caldwell
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Book Reviews of The Rule of Four
Book Review: A very interesting read, flawed but good
Summary: 4 Stars
After I had finished the first 100 pages of this novel, a friend asked me what I thought of it so far. I had trouble explaining my feelings: "Nothing's really happened yet, but I can't stop reading it." The beginning of "The Rule of Four" is diffuse and uneventful. Fortunately, "The Rule of Four" gets much better from there.
As some have already remarked, this book is a lot deeper than "The Da Vinci Code." It is clear that the authors of this novel think much more than Dan Brown does. In using the word "think," I am not referring to the complex riddles and answers that litter this book. In fact, the riddle solving chapters are generally dull. Rather, the authors think about their characters and their relationships. Consequently, the four undergrads who populate this Princeton world seem much more human.
There are certainly flaws in this book. The plot is a bit formulaic, the beginning of the novel is slow, and sometimes it seems like the authors are using the book to impress the reader about how much they know. There are many, many, many allusions in this book: many of them lend much to the plot, but some seem a bit pretentious. Also, there's just too much boring riddle solving which loses its appeal about halfway through. Finally, the title seems a bit off.
But overall, these flaws don't significantly weaken the novel. The book has many strengths, including strong character development and an interesting view into life at Princeton, a world defined by status, eating clubs, and senior theses. The writing is strong, and the reader gets a vivid sense of who the narrator is. It is hard not to suspect that the characters who populate "The Rule of Four" are people whom the authors have known. Ultimately, it is the story of that moment of imbalance at the brink of full-fledged adulthood - not the murder mystery - that is so intriguing about this novel, and it is that story that sets "Rule" apart from the typical thriller. I recommend this novel to anyone who wants to remember why the important things learned in college don't involve books.
Book Review: Homoerotic Tease?
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm sure I will not sound original proposing that this book is riding the wave of The Da Vinci Code mania; and I have nothing against the fact that a couple of recent college graduates decided to capitalize upon it. However, my interest (call it a fetish) lay with the campus setting of the book, which I suppose will constitute for some an enthralling but mysterious world apart from "real world" (especially with the Princeton backdrop featuring so prominently), while for others evoke memories of a time and place that from the vantage point of the present day seem much more eventful and pleasant than they are in actuality.
Basically, it is probably a book of adventures that fuels nostalgia for one's more careless and uncynical days. Therefore, the text should not be taken too seriously and treated as light entertainment--as I am sure the process of writing it was for the authors. For it is ridiculous to assume such terribly high stakes and dramatic events would be tied to the interpretations of some obscure book as is the object of the novel.
The authors try conspicuously to bring in a humanistic element to the interactions of the characters. With his intermittent philosophical tangents and memory flashbacks, the first-person narrator attempts to interpret his situation in terribly melodramatic and existential terms, confident in his deep insight. In reality the entire student universe of this book is completely uncontroversial, safe, and homogeneous, save for that thing with the book. (I could practically see the part of Tom--what a coincidence!--being played by Tom Cruise in my imaginary movie.) Too easy, too simple, too inoffensive--a way to sell to the mainstream America.
However, I will allow myself the suspicion that Paul was gay, harboring a crush for Tom, while the latter was quite happy to let their homoerotic entanglement run its course. After all, it was not Katie to whom Tom's ultimate vote goes; rather, he succumbs in the hypnotic, erotic struggle with the Cupid in the engraving, who might as well have been personified by Paul.
Book Review: Rule of Four (thousand ways to bug a reader)
Summary: 3 Stars
It is perfectly possible that you might expect The Da Vinci Code when you pick up this book. It is inevitable to draw comparisons between the two, as they seem to be perpetually compared by various reviewers. What more could I expect if there was a statement at the beginning of the book from a reviewer stating that The Rule of Four was "better than The Da Vinci Code"? The New York Times says its greatest selling point is "the process of discovery." All of this is before the reader has any chance to render a verdict on what appears to have the potential of being a fantastic read.
However, if the readers go into this book with The Da Vinci Code in mind, they will be disappointed. The focuses of the two novels diverge drastically. While Thomason and Caldwell devote much of the bulk of the 446 pages to developing the relationships between the characters, The Da Vinci Code is more about the cheaper thrills--the globetrotting, the suspense, the hints of budding romance. Does that make The Da Vinci Code an inferior read?
In my opinion, it does not. The Rule of Four does not spend enough time on the present. For example, after a murder finally takes place 200 pages into the text, the reader does not discover the victim's identity until two full chapters later. Although the New York Times insists that the joy is in the process of discovery, I feel that Thomason and Caldwell nullify this point simply by the way they wrote The Rule of Four. Every single puzzle is unlocked in past tense. The flashbacks disrupt the flow of the novel and are only of tangential interest to the events that are happening.
Despite my major complaints, The Rule of Four was relatively enjoyable. Thomason and Caldwell turned some nice phrases, and the description that went into this novel was unparalleled. However, the reading of a good novel should not be marked by frustration--it should genuinely feature the joy of "the process of discovery." It may not be The Da Vinci Code, but that fact doesn't give The Rule of Four an excuse to irritate its readers.
Book Review: Over-rated and very disappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
There is the potential for a great story here, but there is a serious problem: the authors only release the storyline development related to the Hypnerotomachia code and related decoding in tiny bits of perhaps a couple pages at a time, which are separated by dozens of pages of uninteresting crap about the various dull characters and their life at Princeton. The first 300 pages are very frustrating to slog through.
Let's put it this way. Out of about 450 pages of the novel, the Hypnerotomachia takes up about 100, dull repetitious moping about obsessive goals and lost girlfriends takes up about 200 pages, and just plain dull information that doesn't move the story forward takes up another 100 pages. What's left is passable text in novel form.
The story, when actually told, of the purpose and content of the Hypnertomachia, and the many efforts to decipher it, is actually very interesting. They could make a great movie out of this story, but the novel would have to have a new, capable story writer to toss out the garbage and put in more character development, story development and they should have Katie in every other scene taking a whip to that incredibly boring Tom, the story teller in the novel. Cheer up, boy!
This is the first book I've ever read that actually upset me, and at many points, for dragging me through so many pages and chapters where the story is not moving forward; in fact not even going off on a tangent, just being dull.
Writer's Digest writers should have been paid $1000 to do a prescreen on this novel to help the two writers get past their obvious faults, or shall we say, deficiencies. Or better yet, DRAMATICA! That would have solved it!
All that being said, I'm glad I found out they finally got around to burning that creep Savonarola. Would I recommend this book to anyone? No. Finding out about the Hypnerotomachia was very interesting though.
Book Review: It actually is a good read
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen many reviews of this book that only give it 3 out of 5 stars so I have to admit going into the novel I did not expect much because usually the majority is right about a novel. In the case of The Rule of Four the majority underestimates the novel. Now admittedly none of the action actually takes place in the novel but outside the novel. We never actually see Paul and Tom find the missing art that the Hypnerotomachia hints at. It is an interesting approach to have the action take place outside the novel and most likely would not work in many stories. But in The Rule of Four it works. The language of the novel is fantastic and approachable for many audiences. Perhaps the best thing about this novel is that it at times reads like a thesis on Hypnerotomachia, even going to the lengths of placing photos from the book into the novel that we are reading. As a lit major I appreciate this aspect of the book and it is the main reason that gave this book a 5 out 5. I prefer a reading of the novel that is at the center of all the scandal as opposed to unbelievable action that the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons are notorious for.
Do not get me wrong I am not claiming that there is not an interesting plot or character construction. There is. The plot is just like all the other historical fiction, book adventure novels out there. People study this one book or time period and all of a sudden find themselves in some sort of adventure trying to discover the secrets that the book holds. The characters are just as round as those found in the same novels. Although I have to say that Tom in the end seems to have more of an epiphany in the end than Robert Langdon at the end of both the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.
If you have not read this novel yet, do. It is well worth it if you are like me and appreciate a little story and a little literary exploration.