My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
The Gaudi Key
Since ancient times their name has been spoken only in hushed tones. Cloaked in anonymity, they guard history's greatest and most devastating secret.
In the early twentieth century, when Barcelona was celebrated as the center of modernist art and design, the grand master of an ancient religious brotherhood prepares to die--passing the care of a sacred relic to a prominen
...morePaperback, 367 pages
Published
by Harper Paperbacks
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
463)
This is another book that is trying to ride on the coattails of "The Da Vinci Code". However. it falls far short of its objective.
The story takes place in Barcelona and an old man is near death. He is found to be one of the Seven Knights of Moriah. The Seven Knights of Moriah preceded the Knights Templar and were to guard a sacred article that was handed down from Jesus Christ.
The man's daughter, Maria, and her boyfriend, Miguel, are given riddles that they m...more
The story takes place in Barcelona and an old man is near death. He is found to be one of the Seven Knights of Moriah. The Seven Knights of Moriah preceded the Knights Templar and were to guard a sacred article that was handed down from Jesus Christ.
The man's daughter, Maria, and her boyfriend, Miguel, are given riddles that they m...more
"The Gaudi Key" (La Clave Gaudi) possesses the grandiosity of its subject's architecture, but lacks his whimsy.
Sometimes you can concoct a literary triumph yet not tell a story so well. Such is the case with Esteban Martin and Andreu Carranza's novel.
"The Gaudi Key," takes Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," moves it to Barcelona, and then attempts to transform a potboiler into big literature. But the authors fail to match Brown's talent for p...more
Sometimes you can concoct a literary triumph yet not tell a story so well. Such is the case with Esteban Martin and Andreu Carranza's novel.
"The Gaudi Key," takes Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," moves it to Barcelona, and then attempts to transform a potboiler into big literature. But the authors fail to match Brown's talent for p...more
Lots of people have compared this book to "The Da Vinci Code." And for good reason.
Here's my list of "Instead of (this)...there is (that)"
Rome...Barcelona
Michelangelo...Gaudi
Templars...Knights of Moriah
Aside from those substitutions, there's a lot of straight similarities including codes to solve that refer to the Bible and mythology, grisly murders, and overeducated professionals turned detectives.
In the end, I sti...more
Here's my list of "Instead of (this)...there is (that)"
Rome...Barcelona
Michelangelo...Gaudi
Templars...Knights of Moriah
Aside from those substitutions, there's a lot of straight similarities including codes to solve that refer to the Bible and mythology, grisly murders, and overeducated professionals turned detectives.
In the end, I sti...more
"The Gaudi Key" (La Clave Gaudi) possesses the grandiosity of its subject's architecture, but lacks his whimsy.
Sometimes you can concoct a literary triumph yet not tell a story so well. Such is the case with Esteban Martin and Andreu Carranza's novel.
"The Gaudi Key," takes Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," moves it to Barcelona, and then attempts to transform a potboiler into big literature. But the authors fail to match Brown's talent for p...more
Sometimes you can concoct a literary triumph yet not tell a story so well. Such is the case with Esteban Martin and Andreu Carranza's novel.
"The Gaudi Key," takes Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," moves it to Barcelona, and then attempts to transform a potboiler into big literature. But the authors fail to match Brown's talent for p...more
I liked the story, it was thrilling but also informative. Though I wished it wouldn't be too schmaltzy and kitschy. Sometimes I thought "Oh, come on!" when mystic light fell on the protagonists and they looked deep in each others eyes...that was a little too much for me and I actually didn't expect this. But still, it was a good read and I had fun.I liked the detailed descriptions of the architecture in Barcelona and it was also nice to follow María and Miguel through the city solving ...more
May be compared to "The DaVinci Code" but definitely isn't the same. I had a boring time reading it, really few pages caught my attention and had to finish it just because I can't start reading a new book without finishing the previous one... so I forced myself through the pages.
The story sounded well at first, talking about architecture, Antonio Gaudí mainly, a secret that could change the humanity or something religious.
I wouldn't recommend it... though there are so...more
The story sounded well at first, talking about architecture, Antonio Gaudí mainly, a secret that could change the humanity or something religious.
I wouldn't recommend it... though there are so...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
view all 4 comments
bleh..... I wish I would have stopped reading this book, but I always feel compelled to finish. It was not worth the time. It's an overblown copycat of the DaVinci Code with way too many riddles and puzzles and WAY too much math and symbolism. The glimpses into Gaudi's life and his works were interesting because we loved Barcelona, but if we hadn't been to Barcelona, even that would have been worthless. Don't bother.
Avigail
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
i-own,
spain,
the-book-is-transelated-in-hebrew,
best-sellers,
drama,
litrature,
novel,
religion,
mysteries-thrilers,
suspense
The Gaudi tie-in seemed like it would make for an interesting conspiracy read, and in that I wasn't disappointed. The story moves along quickly, the characters are well developed, and if you have visited Barcelona you'll enjoy all the references to local buildings, streets, cafes, etc. The Gaudi Key was a book that grabbed me and pulled me in within the first couple of paragraphs. It gives an amazing setting and plot that with capture even the pickiest of readers. The characters are very well o...more
Another "Templar" type story with the knights out to protect their charge and not let it fall into "Evil" hands. What made it interesting was the history of Spanish architecture and the mystery riddles that had to be solved to find the Key. I think I've burned myself out with these types of books.
Very similar to a few other currently popular books that have gorgeous young couple in love trying to solve the origins of a mystery that goes back to Christ (got a guess?). It was a great read until the last 10 pages -- the ending was really way too religious for me.
This book had a few interesting factoids and made me want to go visit La Sagrada Familia again, but it was one of the most poorly written books I've ever read. It was like struggling through something one of my mediocre writers in year 7 (6th grade) had created!
gee this was a waste of time.. the only thing that made me actually finish this was the barcelona setting, and l've given up too many books lately, so l guess that played a role as well.. it seems even more of a stretch than dan brown's books which l thought it was practically impossible..
Peter
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who liked the Da vince code and wants more.
This seems to be remake of the Davinci Code with Davinci swapped with Gaudi and a code swapped with a key. has Monks, Knights, a secret trail across Barcelona etc etc. I found it a bit laboured but it has piqued my interest in Gaudi.
Esta interesante porque conoces muchos detalles de la vida de Gaudi, y recorres Barcelona como si estuvieras ahi. Pero se va grande con la fantasia y daria para mas si no fuera el mismo estilo del Codigo Da Vinci.
I thought this book was going to be amazing. It really wasn't. The book was kinda boring and I didn't really care for any of the characters.
bizarre ending!! totally unbelievable! a lot of wordy and seemingly useless information in the middle which made the plot really drag.
Read it because I'm headed to Barcelona and wanted something more creative than Hemingway to inspire me. Shouldn't have bothered with it. Think I'll just go get The Sun Also Rises.
..if you like Da Vinci Code you'll like this.
i had nver heard of Gaudi so i'm glad i've learnt alot from this book.
i had nver heard of Gaudi so i'm glad i've learnt alot from this book.
this book is actually by 2 authors. set in spain,present and past. learned alot about Gaudi and his structures. good mystery.
a pathetic attempt to recreate "the da vinci code" in a Spanish setting. i hate i even had to give it one star.
just got back from Barcelona and saw all the places mentioned - wish i' d read it before I went though!!
A clone of the de Vinci Code. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I hadn't read the De Vinci Code first.
I like the idea for the book but I just can't read through. I wish I'd read comments on here before. Smeyer would wrote it better, it's very incoherent.
Had the potential to be sooo much more! Was it a translation problem? Not sure....!
Minus one star for being so gruesome toward women, but I loved the rest!
This book was terrible. I don't know if it was badly written or badly translated but it uses highbrow language which is difficult to understand throughout. The plot is boring and the author was clearly trying to be Dan Brown, and failing miserably. The ending is sheer rubbish. Seriously, don't bother with this book!
Wow! Gruesome (in places)!
Really really liked the setting (probably cos it was one of my favourite places in Europe), and they made Barcelona sound soooo small.
Interesting pretext, too..
Really really liked the setting (probably cos it was one of my favourite places in Europe), and they made Barcelona sound soooo small.
Interesting pretext, too..
A great re-visit to lovely Barcelona and to the work of Gaudi. Gaudi's work is full of such intricate detail that it's easy to imagine that there is a great mystery surrounding his buildings. The story was well written (and interpreted) and was an enjoyable read. I want this in my permanent library with the works of Mary Doria Russell.
reasonably good book,
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Esteban Martin is an anthropologist and author, and a founder of Littera, a small publishing house.
More about Esteban Martin...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
