Medium‘Angels & Demons’: I Watched the Movie a Dozen Times. The Book Still Surprised Me | by Sivakajan Sivaparan | Books Are Our Superpower
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‘Angels & Demons’: I Watched the Movie a Dozen Times. The Book Still Surprised Me

6 min readSep 4, 2026

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The cover page of the book Angels and Demons

As a ‘99-born, many people like me who grew up obsessed with crime and investigative thrillers, have seen the iconic Tom Hanks and Ron Howard combination movies — the unbeatable Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon trilogy: The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno. I’ll admit, I was hesitant to pick up the book at first. Having watched the movie easily a dozen times, I figured I already knew every twist, turn, and reveal by heart.

But I still wanted to experience this world through my own eyes, free from the lens of a director. So, I finally cracked open the first chapter and got so hooked that I flew through the entire book in just six days.

Reading the book after watching the movie so many times created a fascinating contrast. To break down the experience, here is what worked brilliantly on the page and what the film couldn’t quite capture.

Where the Book Wins: What Only the Page Could Give Me

While the movie stays relatively faithful to the plot, the book delivers about 20% more content that…

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Sivakajan Sivaparan
Sivakajan Sivaparan

Written by Sivakajan Sivaparan

Exploring the intersection of tech, timeless cinema, and dusty paperbacks. Unpacking lines of code and lines of dialogue, one story at a time.

Books Are Our Superpower
Books Are Our Superpower

Published in Books Are Our Superpower

Book reviews, recommendations, summaries, rants — as long as it is related to books, your piece is welcome here. We aim to build a community of book lovers sharing about the books that moved them the most.