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joanna1905's review against another edition
4.0
Another fabulous novel from Dan Brown! Inferno would probably have to be my second favorite book in the Robert Langdon series (The first being Angels and Demons).
The concept of this story - how to manage the overpopulation on an earth with finite resources - makes this his most through provoking and relevant book to date.
Langdon reprises his role as the loveable intellectual, who always finds time for a tiny bit of romance no matter the dire circumstances.
I particularly enjoyed the ending of this book as it strayed away from the typical 'professor saves the day' trope we've seen in his previous books. The reveal that it was not, in fact, a plague but an infertility virus was unexpected (especially since I saw the movie prior to reading the book - which for some reason was given a vastly different ending) and allowed for a somewhat bittersweet ending - as they did technically save the world from overpopulation...
I also adored Sienna's character (once again - Sienna's motives and ending is vastly different in the movie - something that continues to anger me), younger than Langdon's usual sidekicks they still work very well together and out of all the women he has shown some romantic interest in, Sienna is the one I would have liked to see him develop more of a relationship with.
All around a great read! Even if you've seen the movie, be sure to check out the book as it is by far superior and has a much better ending - and if you've read the book - the only real benefit of watching the movie is to see the legendary Tom Hanks pull of another phenomenal performance!
The concept of this story - how to manage the overpopulation on an earth with finite resources - makes this his most through provoking and relevant book to date.
Langdon reprises his role as the loveable intellectual, who always finds time for a tiny bit of romance no matter the dire circumstances.
I particularly enjoyed the ending of this book as it strayed away from the typical 'professor saves the day' trope we've seen in his previous books. The reveal that it was not, in fact, a plague but an infertility virus was unexpected (especially since I saw the movie prior to reading the book - which for some reason was given a vastly different ending) and allowed for a somewhat bittersweet ending - as they did technically save the world from overpopulation...
I also adored Sienna's character (once again - Sienna's motives and ending is vastly different in the movie - something that continues to anger me), younger than Langdon's usual sidekicks they still work very well together and out of all the women he has shown some romantic interest in, Sienna is the one I would have liked to see him develop more of a relationship with.
All around a great read! Even if you've seen the movie, be sure to check out the book as it is by far superior and has a much better ending - and if you've read the book - the only real benefit of watching the movie is to see the legendary Tom Hanks pull of another phenomenal performance!
mollysea's review
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
mllejoyeuxnoel's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed immensely - but then, I'm a major fan of Dante's [b:Inferno|15645|Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1)|Dante Alighieri|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333579470s/15645.jpg|2377563]. *shrug
chrystalo's review against another edition
3.0
Inferno was an interesting concept from the get-go, but the book itself was lacking a certain ...oh, I don't know, oomph that we come to expect from a Robert Langdon thriller. I'm not sure if Dan Brown is going through a mid-life crisis and decided to portray that through the pervading hopelessness that seems to crowd the pages of this novel, but there was a lack of the excitement and true positivity that we come to expect from him. Nevertheless, this was an entertaining read, and the concepts were very relevant to modern times. It definitely gives the reader something to think about, and determine what we as observers should be doing on our own to prevent the situation that arises. I guess it just wasn't completely believable that Robert Langdon, of all people, would've been called in to deal with this situation, especially when the rest of the major players are only vaguely related to his area of expertise. I did like the references to Dante's Inferno, and it compels me to take a look at that in the future. If you have loved the previous Langdon installments, it's worth a read purely for completion's sake, but this should not be your introduction into Dan Brown's writing.
magikspells's review against another edition
3.0
Lets be honest. I wanted to like this book. I wanted to love it. I just came off [b:The Lost Symbol|6411961|The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)|Dan Brown|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358274396s/6411961.jpg|6600281] which I adored. But I'm not sure I totally bought this story. My main problem was that I think Dan Brown tried to do something very different with this story. This is a risky move on the 4th book of a series, throwing us a curveball is very confusing.
This book starts off with our lovely Robert Langdon waking up from a coma with no memories after being shot. Essentially, the story takes place in reverse, with Robert being forced to retrace steps that he'd already taken the previous day in trying to solve a mystery relating to Dante's Divine Comedy. This backward retracing works with some stories, I'm not sure it works here. At times it felt very repetitive, even if I didn't see Robert go to the museum the first time or solve the puzzle the first time, it feels redundant knowing that he's essentially doing all this work twice.
All the while there is this group, the Consortium, who are a shady group who has been financing a scientist who is adamantly supportive of Malthusian population catastrophe, appears to be trying to hunt down Langdon. Still with me?
So far, we have The Divine Comedy, Malthusian Population catastrophe, privately contracted corporations with hitmen, the World Health Organization, and an anesthetized Robert. This book is not for the faint of heart, obviously.
But to complicate matters, then we start throwing in the fact that this scientist could have created a super virus to wipe out part of the population. I'm out of breath trying to remember everything.
Dan Brown tried to tackle too much in this book. There were too many things going on. And I really just disliked Sienna. This book was well written, it just wasn't what I wanted with Robert Langdon.
This book starts off with our lovely Robert Langdon waking up from a coma with no memories after being shot. Essentially, the story takes place in reverse, with Robert being forced to retrace steps that he'd already taken the previous day in trying to solve a mystery relating to Dante's Divine Comedy. This backward retracing works with some stories, I'm not sure it works here. At times it felt very repetitive, even if I didn't see Robert go to the museum the first time or solve the puzzle the first time, it feels redundant knowing that he's essentially doing all this work twice.
All the while there is this group, the Consortium, who are a shady group who has been financing a scientist who is adamantly supportive of Malthusian population catastrophe, appears to be trying to hunt down Langdon. Still with me?
So far, we have The Divine Comedy, Malthusian Population catastrophe, privately contracted corporations with hitmen, the World Health Organization, and an anesthetized Robert. This book is not for the faint of heart, obviously.
But to complicate matters, then we start throwing in the fact that this scientist could have created a super virus to wipe out part of the population. I'm out of breath trying to remember everything.
Dan Brown tried to tackle too much in this book. There were too many things going on. And I really just disliked Sienna. This book was well written, it just wasn't what I wanted with Robert Langdon.
laurenpat's review against another edition
4.75
I love Florence, so this was perfect! The movie was very disappointing and changed the ENTIRE ending! The book made so much more sense. You won’t be disappointed. Love an ambiguous villain.
protoman21's review against another edition
4.0
Langdon isn't at his best, but Brown still impresses.
julie_s's review
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0