Thought-provoking, insightful, entertaining

The twists at the end...can't believe I didn't see some of that coming!

Paul Michael did a remarkable job! Love his voice and the inflections he did to try and distinguish the different characters.

No extreme reactions...just walked away thinking of our world today!

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

A big fan of Dan Brown's writing, I quickly downloaded Inferno the moment it became available at Audible.com. I enjoy Brown's ability to weave exciting tales from pieces of history. While we were first introduced to Robert Langdon in novels that centered around more familiar sites and legends, Inferno introduces us to the mystique of Dante Alighieri's epic poem the Divine Comedy. Although I have never read this poem in its entirety, thanks to a teacher I am familiar with it's content. Mr. Brown expanded upon the more familiar aspects of the poem and has peaked my interest in Dante inspiring me to read the poem this summer.

All this being said, you may wonder why I only gave a 4star rating to the book. I did so because I personally do not care for the use of medical amnesia in any story. I feel that it dilutes story potential rather than builds upon it. This is strictly a personal opinion.

I am glad Dan Brown's Inferno was my first Audible audio book. Although the story was a familiar, standard Dan Brown fair, the performance by narrator Mr. Paul Michael was simply superb. The work was peppered with Italian sentences and phrases, and Mr. Michael handled them with ease. He also had to do half a dozen accents in English and he did so convincingly. His performance made this book thoroughly enjoyable and I am very happy that I have chosen this book to listen to.
Moreover, the Audible app on my phone (an Android) is convenient and easy to use. Keep up the good work.

Robert Langdon could find symbols anywhere in the world. Enough of the travelogue to Italy and Venice. Weak story, poor dialogue, rest in peace Robert Langdon and the career of Dan Brown. Please no more. It started well with the Da Vinci Code, and has been re-worked here with disappointing results.

You have to push to get through this book.

Up untill this book I was an avid Dan Brown fan - But ............
An overwhelming part of the book is tourist bable, reiterations and art history. It appears to be there for no other reason than page filling. In depth analysis of paintings and architecture, long stories about da Vinci and his peers with no apparent purpose. Page after page of "beautiful colors and breathtaking architecture. In my oppinion it makes you loose the pace of the story, and frankly I hate it.
But most of all I hate when writers try to keep suspension by withholding clues in the most elaborate, yet unrealistic way, i.e. by avoiding telling something utterly important to the "helper" just because it may not be pertinent - they think. In a scenario like the Inferno story you would share any idea to see where it takes you.
I understand the need to build suspension, but dont assume the readers are stupid.
Example: At one crucial point in the story someone tries to shout at someone else to close some doors, but the sound is drowned by music!!!!!!!! Only two minutes before she was talking to someone else over a handheld radio, but no ... all of a sudden this is not an option and as a consequence all hell breaks loose. I am not going to spoil anybodys read by expanding on this, but you will see what I mean if you read the book to this part. And this, unfortunately, is not an isolated situation.

The plot in itself held promise, and were it not for the filling and stuffing this would have made a good story. As some critic said: "This is written for the Screen!" - I think he is right; the overexagerated picture telling would be more appropriate on screen, and then perhaps the story will catch.

So Mr. Dan Brown, you have obviously done a tremendeous work with research, but were too hasty patching the book together.

He could have skipped a lot of the tourist stuff, history and architectural cake filling.

Yes. Paul Michael varies his naration so it doesnt become boring.

Dan Brown! (joke) - But the other books were so much better.

I hope he will do a better job next time round.

I felt the author "cheated", didn't put effort into the story, and instead used tricks to get him out of situations that required effort to make the story better.

This was another novel in a long line of novels written for someone to get paid, as opposed to having a decent story to tell, and telling it well.

The narrator was provided unlikable, uninstereinting character. I think he did a good job with what he had.

I wish I could say someting good about this book, but it was truly bad in all aspects.

Considering how much I enjoyed DaVinci Code, I was shocked at how terrible this novel was. Way too much time devoted to the characters speaking in Italian, then being translated into English. We get it, they are in Italy. Way over the top with; "The most beautiful fresco in the world, The most famous painting in the world, The most beautiful sculpture in the world, The most famous porta-potty in all of Venice". Again, we get it already. The nature of the first half of the book leaves you uncomfortable for reasons I won't give away here. When you think it can't get worse...it gets worse halfway through with what the author must think is a plot twist, but is really lazy writing, or cheating, and now things really make no sense. I found myself rooting for the alleged villian without hesitation. The dialog between characters at the end wasn't fit for a Mexican Soap Opera. I understand some novels aren't great, or aren't for everyone. I thought this would be a great summer read. It was time wasted to say the least.

Somebody helping Dan Brown with his writing skills. He has a facility for ripping-yarn style plots but his writing can be quite painful at times. Why does he keep repeating obvious plot points over and over? Why does it feel that he lifted a lot of material from travel guides to Florence and Venice? He is really heavy-handed delivering any kind of explanatory information. Why is there not even a glimmer of a sense of humour in the writing?

There is a horrible fascination with reading his stuff and trying to work out why his books are so popular so probably, yeah

The narrator was blameless. There is no way anyone could deliver some of the dialogues in this book in a way that made them sound like them came from real human beings.

It provided great material for rants during coffee breaks at work.

Makes Agatha Christie read like James Joyce in comparison.

Dan Brown can definitely tell a great story; however, the heavy-handed and dubious conclusion left a really bad taste toward the book. Such a great story with all its twists and turns, surprise character revelations and suspense, deserved much better than a tired and tried "sermon" on a scientifically doubtful premise.

The Great Gatsby

Zobrist

No

A great narration

Dan Brown fans will love this book because they love Dan Brown. Too many convenient coincidences and ridiculous plot twists to be believable.

Characters flip-flopped constantly. They were good, then they were evil. This seemingly private army runs amok through the streets of Florence without ever bumping into actual policemen. Some sense of reality would have been hugely appreciated.

Paul Michael was ok. Not great. The story was so bad that no narrator could have pleased me.

Oh, where to start! The doctor with the open sores on his face seems to be the one most expendable, although there were several others who were more annoying.

I was really hoping Robert Langdon would be killed off. Dan Brown caught lightning in a bottle with the DaVinci Code. The Lost Symbol was good, but the others have such unbelievable elements to them that they frustrate me. Robert Langdon survived a helicopter explosion by surfing back to earth on a piece of the fuselage. I think I'm done with Dan.

interesting theme, not really up to par with previous books

n/a

Excellent. Paul Michael made this story worth listing to

not buy another Dan Brown book.