Inferno

A Novel

By: Dan Brown

Narrated by: Paul Michael

Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLER • Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital, disoriented and with no recollection of the past thirty-six hours, including the origin of the macabre object hidden in his belongings.

“One hell of a good read.... As close as a book can come to a summertime cinematic blockbuster.” —USA Today

“A diverting thriller.” —Entertainment Weekly

With a relentless female assassin trailing them through Florence, he and his resourceful doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee.

Embarking on a harrowing journey, they must unravel a series of codes, which are the work of a brilliant scientist whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written, Dante Alighieri's The Inferno.

Dan Brown has raised the bar yet again, combining classical Italian art, history, and literature with cutting-edge science in this captivating thriller.

©2013 Dan Brown (P)2013 Random House Audio

Loved this story!!!

Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors. First time hearing the story and it was just as thrilling as reading it!! Excellent voice!

I liked it

I enjoyed this book. It kept me interested until the end. I’m not a big reader. I judge a book on whether I enjoyed the story and it kept my attention. This book did both. Worth a read.

Six stars all around, if Audible let me!

I downloaded Dan Brown's latest book as it was released, around 3:30 am, (FWIW, I'm not a bum, I have a spinal injury) and Immediately became absorbed in an utterly fascinating tale! The story is interesting, fast and fierce. I found the reader perfect for the parts and he did everything to bring me in farther. I do not want to spoil the book for any of you so I will only say, if you liked his other works then you will probably like or love "Inferno." I say this because they are very much the same type of books but at the same time very different. I wish all series writers could write that way. I hope you enjoy it as I have.
May God Bless!

I Guess Dan Brown Never Read “Children of Men”...

…or “Jurassic Park,” or “Brave New World”…

I’m sure there are plenty of readers who give this book 5 stars because the ideas in the story energized them, and plenty who give it 1 star because they were horrified. I’m giving it 3 stars because I was neither energized nor horrified. The writing was just “meh,” also known as classic Dan Brown – his characters spend a lot of time “recalling when…” or “remembering the first time…” You can almost hear the dream sequence music cue in, and then we’re in for a long, explanatory bit of prose that acts like speed bumps to the plot. He awkwardly hides exposition within dialog and too often follows with a sometimes interesting history lesson on art, on Florence, on Dante Alighieri… but this is supposed to be a race to stop a madman from releasing a deadly plague! Right? I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say our characters have the time for a lesson or two. His show vs. tell skills could do with more exercise. That is, we know his Hero finds the female protagonist attractive because he says she’s “quite attractive.” We know she’s supposed to be very smart because our Hero finds information saying she’s very smart, though, throughout the story, Brown doesn’t have her behave like a very smart person -- she’s clever but not always intelligent. All in all, this is a tepid tale with some awkward contrivances, a strange twist and a flaccid ending, but if you’re interested in the transhumanist movement, Italian Renaissance and art, or Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy, then there is plenty in Inferno for you to enjoy.

Without giving too much away, here’s one point Brown doesn’t make in his arguments: Brown’s “mad doctor” character argues that after the black plague Europe enjoyed a renaissance reflected in the art, music and literature of the time, and makes the leap that the one-to-one correlation is related to the decrease in the population. Professor Langdon, our Hero, as an Art History professor, should have made the counter argument that the Renaissance didn’t simply come about because of a decrease in the population, but as a direct result of and an antidote to the suffering during the plague times. In other words, humanity doesn’t need to be mollycoddled by some guy who thinks he knows better than everyone else. Population wise, we’ve made our bed, so to speak, and there may be great suffering in the future, but think of the art and leaps of science we’ll make on the other side of it. Humans are at their best when given a challenge. Brown’s “mad doctor” wants to take that away without even considering that his Brave New World could usher in a malaise of thought and imagination, and accomplish the opposite of his goal by halting our evolution.

Typical Dan Brown

I happen to like Dan Brown. I feel like I learn something about art and history and symbolism with every book. This book is mostly set in Italy and will give you a glimpse into Dante's Inferno.

If you liked The Lost Symbol and the Da Vinci Code, then you'll like this one.

Blaaaah

This book is 90% history lesson, 5% running in circles and 5% story. One review had said it perfectly - Dan went through a lot of trouble to describe everything to the last detail! I like the history, but not to much where it takes over the book. He wrote a book just to write a book

You don't read Dan Brown for great literature.

Robert Langdon deciphering clues in symbols, art, and literature that only he can solve - check
Attractive, mysterious, intelligent female sidekick - check
Mad scientist villain - check
Powerful secret organizations, dizzying chases through significant cities and too many piazzas, and token references and factoids concerning Dante - check, check, and check

I can't say it any better than A.N. Wilson in The Daily Mail, "It’s all twaddle, but at least it is entertaining twaddle."

I gave Inferno three stars instead of the two it probably deserved because it was somewhat of a page-turner, if only to find out what the heck the deadly virus was, and it made me want to reread The Divine Comedy.

Last one for me.

I agree with many of the other reviews. Mr Brown has gone to the well once to many times with this theme. Although set in different places than last books (Florence vs. Rome) other than the travel guide aspects to this book, it was the same old same old. Hidden meanings in paintings, clues that only the Professor can decipher. We have been here before.

One eye opening aspect about the book is the central theme of overpopulation. The description of what the world is heading for is depressingly quite accurate and one of the reasons you want to put the book down. On the positive side, the book is really fast paced so moves right along and keep you engaged. It's just that you get a deja Vu feeling to the whole thing. As long as Dan Brown's books make the best seller list, however, the more we can expect the same.

A Tour Guide

What did you like best about Inferno? What did you like least?

This book is 75% art history and 25% story. I love the historic texture of Dan Brown books but Inferno lacked his usual creativity. He slaps together a story to go along with his fantastic research tour of Italy. I bet he had big fun researching this novel but spent little time with the composition.

Has Inferno turned you off from other books in this genre?

Nope

Did Paul Michael do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Nope

Any additional comments?

Nope

Thoughtfully Entertaining

Would you try another book from Dan Brown and/or Paul Michael?

Paul Michael is brillant and Dan Brown presents some very formidable discussion through his novels. I would try another book without question.

If you’ve listened to books by Dan Brown before, how does this one compare?

This is my first Dan Brown novel to listen to via audible, but I have read the rest of the Robert Langdon series. DaVinci Code is still my personal favorite, followed by Lost Symbol and then probably Inferno. In my opinion the writing for Inferno was subpar (examples: many repeated words within paragraph or chapter and some setting descriptions detracted from the flow of the story) but I especially enjoyed the resolution perhaps moreso than any of his novels other than DaVinci Code. I also liked learning about the facts of Dante's life and work.

Which scene was your favorite?

Without giving away too much information I enjoyed the chase scenes at the beginning and ending. Both are very vivid and easy to imagine.

Did Inferno inspire you to do anything?

I read a few blurbs on wikipedia about St. Mark's in Venice. Does that count?

Any additional comments?

I appreciate the time and the research that the author took to complete this novel. It is by no means perfect, but it is thoughtfully entertaining.