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adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The music between Cantos, pulled from Chominciamento Di Gioia:
Virtuoso dance-music from the time of Boccaccio's Decamerone, performed by Ensemble Unicorn, was absolutely delightful and helped set the scene. I found it difficult to follow, but that has more to do with my personal struggles with audiobooks and less with the text itself (although I do think that translated classics such as this are best consumed with a healthy serving of footnotes). Heathcote Williams's narration is wonderful, his voices are excellent, and I would recommend this to those who like audiobooks and classical literature.
Virtuoso dance-music from the time of Boccaccio's Decamerone, performed by Ensemble Unicorn, was absolutely delightful and helped set the scene. I found it difficult to follow, but that has more to do with my personal struggles with audiobooks and less with the text itself (although I do think that translated classics such as this are best consumed with a healthy serving of footnotes). Heathcote Williams's narration is wonderful, his voices are excellent, and I would recommend this to those who like audiobooks and classical literature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture
Moderate: Suicide, Violence
Minor: Incest, Cannibalism
It's a book about hell written in 1320. Use your best judgement.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this solely to prepare for the release of Katabasis, and I actually found myself enjoying it more than I’d anticipated. You can definitely tell how much Dante idolised Virgil from how he tried to emulate his writing style and how certain lines felt more like they belonged in a self insert fanfiction. I enjoyed identifying all the references to Classical mythology, but the other references were a lot more niche and specific to Dante’s own time (bro really wrote fanfic of all his opps in hell being punished in increasingly original ways - even the ones who are supposedly still alive at the time of writing, which is just cold).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Child death, Death, Incest, Cannibalism, Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The illustrations were amazing. The book gives you lots to ponder. A must read for any religious folks. It’s absolutely amazing how timeless the work is. Also a really easy classic to get through
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Cannibalism
dark
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A literary masterpiece, even after 700 years. A must read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Self harm
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was contemplating between believing that this was the greatest book I've ever read and burning it to crisps to spare anyone the read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Art, as it were, is the Grandchild of Creation."
How was this lowkey underrated? The Inferno has been hugely influential on our ideas of the afterlife, and yet it is so richly detailed and captivating I'm surprised a lot of the finer details get lost in other afterlife stories. It's the original self-insert fanfiction, and it weirdly reads like one in just how deeply personal it is. This also made it feel like a time capsule in how it presented medieval history and thought. Though I of course don't agree with Dante on a lot, I found the story's themes to be deeply thought-provoking.
I'd especially recommend fantasy writers read this as it's world building is still a golden standard. Despite being pretty quick to get through, it's a lush universe. The translation I read was John Ciardi's, and I greatly enjoyed how he kept the translation in rhyming verse and his notes provided context that made me appreciate the book even more.
TWs: as most classics, there are part of Inferno that haven't aged well. In particular, there's a bit of Islamophobia and homophobic implications. It's also pretty graphic with gore, violence, and torture.
How was this lowkey underrated? The Inferno has been hugely influential on our ideas of the afterlife, and yet it is so richly detailed and captivating I'm surprised a lot of the finer details get lost in other afterlife stories. It's the original self-insert fanfiction, and it weirdly reads like one in just how deeply personal it is. This also made it feel like a time capsule in how it presented medieval history and thought. Though I of course don't agree with Dante on a lot, I found the story's themes to be deeply thought-provoking.
I'd especially recommend fantasy writers read this as it's world building is still a golden standard. Despite being pretty quick to get through, it's a lush universe. The translation I read was John Ciardi's, and I greatly enjoyed how he kept the translation in rhyming verse and his notes provided context that made me appreciate the book even more.
TWs: as most classics, there are part of Inferno that haven't aged well. In particular, there's a bit of Islamophobia and homophobic implications. It's also pretty graphic with gore, violence, and torture.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Islamophobia