Inferno

Title: Inferno

Author: Dan Brown

First Published: May 14th 2013

Series: Robert Langdon #4

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 461

My Copy: Physical Copy

My Overall Rating: 8/10

Goodreads Summary

In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

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The main reason why I picked up this book because of my deep wanting to read Dante's Inferno, the one book I've been putting off for about 3 years now. So, I chose the next best thing: a modern mystery book based on Dante's epic poems. I'll admit, it was a pretty good decision.

Luckily for me, the Robert Langdon series is written so that you don't have to begin from book one to understand what it going on. Each book is a separate mystery/adventure, and the only recurring character is Robert Langdon himself - obviously.

Onto the plot. Basically, Robert wakes up in Italy with retrograde amnesia, with no memory what he is doing there. Only Sienna Brooks, a young doctor, helps him out. Running for their lives against many enemies, there is only limited time before horrors are unleashed onto the world, and the human race is stake. Sounds ominous, right? I can't say much about the plot without ruining the whole story, so I'll stick to the basics.

I really liked how the whole mystery was spun around Dante's Inferno and works based on that as well, like Botticelli's Map of Hell and works like that. Again, luckily for me (and us all), Dan Brown gives us the history and backstory behind each work, so we don't have to look them up ourselves. Phew! But back to my point, which is all the references to Inferno, and after reading this book, I feel slightly more educated on Dante and his works. Just a little more educated. I'm sure I'll understand a lot more if I read the actual one, but ha, maybe later.

Robert and Sienna make a good team: the professor and the doctor (with exceptionally high IQ). They help each other out and solve the clues at an impressive speed. They are good friends at the end of the book, despite *spoiler alert* Sienna (kind of) betraying him and ending up being someone we thought she wasn't, but luckily she saw that Zobrist's methods weren't humane and helped Robert in the end. *spoiler over*

If you like a good mystery and action book, this is the one for you! It isn't a murder mystery or anything, but the kind of mystery that you have to solve or else the whole world goes crashing down. Yes, it does seem a little melodramatic, but that is the plot :)

My Chosen Quote

“Only one form of contagion travels faster than a virus. And that's fear.”