Inferno
By Dan Brown
Publisher: Doubleday
Pub. Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0385537858
Pages: 480
Purchase Links:
Amazon (Hardback)
Amazon (Hardback)
Book Description:
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.
Billy's Review:
*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
It doesn't seem like it has been ten years since The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was released upon the world, followed by the film version in 2006. Back in May, the fourth book in the Robert Langdon series was released, titled Inferno, which will also become a feature film scheduled to be released in December 2015.
Inferno opens up with Robert Langdon (a Harvard Professor) waking up in a hospital room in Florence, despite the fact that his last memory was walking on the Harvard campus. Sienna, a doctor, informs him that he was grazed by a bullet and suffered from a concussion. Without warning, an assassin shows up. Robert and Sienna barely have enough time to escape.
Robert checks his coat pocket and finds a biohazard cylinder. Not knowing what else to do, he contacts the U.S. consulate, but he quickly realizes his own government may be trying to kill him when an armed Vayentha is sent to their location.
He opens the cylinder and finds a medieval bone inside along with a hi-tech projector, which displays a modern version of Botticelli's Map of Hell. With Sienna at his side, he must unravel the clues, solve the mystery and stop a mad scientist from changing civilization as we know it.
I read the first two books in the series back when The Da Vinci Code film was in theaters. I bought The Lost Symbol, but I have never got around to reading it. I heard good things about Inferno, so I thought I would give it a chance. Basically, Inferno is a scavenger hunt with Langdon running around Florence decoding ancient symbols. Dan Brown likes to use the same repetitive formula in each new novel in the series, but it seems to work, never getting dull. The new character, well more like an assistant, Sienna, gives a bolt of energy to the clichéd biological terrorism plot. Despite several flaws, Inferno is still a thrilling page turner with several twists and turns.
*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Dan brown should take a lesson or two from Rowling. I implore Mr Brown to think a little out of box, try a few things if not writing then fishing might help. :)
ReplyDeleteFrom the peak of Da vinci code to the crevice of Inferno the journey is depressing, discernable and quite frankly boring. Then the epic disappointment at the climax of the last two novels, lost symbol was still better but this one is sad.
The brilliance of Da Vinci lost in the alleys and corridors of Venetian palaces. I hope it doesn’t get any more predictable than this