Escape from Hell Audiobook By Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle cover art

Escape from Hell

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends January 21, 2026 11:59pm PT
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible Premium Plus.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Escape from Hell

By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Narrated by: Tom Weiner
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends January 21, 2026 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.16

Buy for $17.16

LIMITED TIME OFFER | Get 3 months for $0.99 a month

$14.95/mo thereafter-terms apply.
Allan Carpentier escaped from hell once but remained haunted by what he saw and endured. He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined.

Partnering with the famous poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpentier is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned.

But now that he's returned to this Dantesque inferno, can he ever again leave?

©2009 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Science Fiction

Critic reviews

"This well-constructed tale will inspire many readers to seek out the original Divine Comedy." ( Publishers Weekly)
Imaginative Premise • Educational Content • Great Narrator • Enjoyable Story • Dark Humor • Unique Concept

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
I never read this one. But to hear it read lent much understanding or should I say much better then reading it. Some day I'll read it. Until then I suspect I'll listen to it again.

Couldn't ask for more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed it more the second time around. I read this book about 10 years ago, and just revisited it by listening to the audiobook. The first time around, it wasn’t really what I had expected, as the story doesn’t flow quite the same way that the first one did. This book serves more to introduce uncommon interpretations of what is probably viewed as archaic sin. But it is informative, and fun, as the writers worked hard to bring levity to a very dark subject, sometimes moreso than most. This book does a much better job of educating the reader, or listener, of the layout, purpose, and imagined visual experience of Dante’s Inferno, than the first book did. I was surprised to have found that the writers had become more political, but it makes sense considering the cultural changes that had occurred between 1976 and the time this book was written. Check it out; it’s worth the trip.

Well done.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The ending could have been less ambitious. It could have described more of the trilogy. Purgatorio, Paridicio. Maybe this is what I’m learning about “old mans wisdom”, in the last few years. They tend to be detached. And very ambiguous about larger issues.

Despite the decades long delay, not a worthy successor to the original

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read Inferno almost 50 years ago and it led me to read Dante (Inferno was more accessible) I only recently learned that they had written this sequel. So comparing two books one read in youth and another in retirement is perilous, but here goes. This is more theological or at least philosophical and less adventurous. Much is predictable. Pournelle is suspect had some axes to grind, though proven stopped him from going overboard. Still, it kept my interest, even to the end, which I found less satisfying than expected. I am still glad to have found it.

Interesting but not quite the original

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Way back when, I remember really, really liking Inferno. It was a good yarn, well written, amusing, quite a unique and imaginative premise. And so, even though I am generally leery of sequels, I bit and - having used up my credits for the month - bought it. For the most part, it was again amusing. But how many times can you do this? About half way through it started getting tiresome. I began to wonder how it could be that these two protagonists could possibly know about of, or have even met, every single one of these characters that come along? Out of all of Hell, they know EVERYONE that appears? C'mon. And the ending, well, I won't spoil it for everyone but I think it was pretty weak. Still, it had its moments.

Amusing, but novelty worn off

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews