The Rule of Four review

The Rule of Four was suggested to me by a few people who read Dan Brown's DaVinci Code and thought that this book was smarter and equally intriguing. I definitely enjoyed the book because of its smarts, but I still see the appeal of Brown's action.
The book follows a group of roommates at Princeton as one tries to unlock the mystery of the Renaissance text, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. While Dan Brown's books sort of dispense with characters' backstory and are driven by action and pushed forward by chases and such, The Rule of Four goes deep into character background and uses the riddles and mystery to drive the story forward. That's not to say that there isn't action, just that the book isn't compelled forward by the action. Instead, the characters delve deep into the riddles of the book, and discover obscure Renaissance links to figure out the clues. It might have been a little bit more compelling if I was more interested in that period of time, but I liked the fact that the book was smarter than I was and that even when the characters were explaining the solutions, they weren't talking down to the reader and that I felt like I was discovering the secrets as they went. Overall, 4 stars, a good compelling read.
I just caught the trailer for the film version of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, and despite Keanu Reeves' presence, yet again, I thought it looked really cool, so that's what I'm going to try to read next.