I have been a fan of Dan Brown since The Da Vinci Code and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of his books up until this one. This particular story was interesting in challenging our relationship with technology and perhaps opening a dialogue about our future as a species. The characters and story line just felt a little meh for me. 

Part of the charm of Dan Brown's stories are that they all take place in real places, and this is no exception. Focused in Spain our hero, Robert Langdon once again finds himself caught in the middle of an ordeal, this time focused on a former student of his. To say Langdon's character wasn't really necessary seems cruel, but that's how I felt. His particular expertise didn't shine through and his character could have been replaced with almost anyone with a similar academic background. His inclusion in the scandal felt forced at times and simply ridiculous at other times. 

Vidal was an interesting character and I enjoyed her contributions to the story. She really carried the story for me. A strong, intellectual, beautiful woman with ties to the throne, what could possibly be wrong with her? It was a remarkable commentary on her relationship with the Prince and how that all came together in the end. 

All in all I didn't love this particular installment of the series. I think fans of Dan Brown and his character Robert Langdon will find this interesting. The actual "discovery" is quite dramatic and very interesting and I would love to chat about it in real life, but alas the plot just didn't fit for me this time

Another Dan Brown classic! Robert Langdon is back in this book with another winding tale of symbology, secret passageways and allegorical puzzle. Once I started reading it I could not put it back down. I started reading the last 150 pages last night and after 3 hours found myself at the 98th chapter. The story is so immersive and mind boggling one wants to know what, why, who, when…all the time.

 

Inferno spans 3 most architectural cities of the world, starting from the artist’s haven i.e. Paris, sprinting into the beautiful waters and gigantic St. Mark’s Square of Venice and finally flying to its end straight into the East’s Heart i.e. Istanbul. As always, Dan Brown was very intimate and detailed about the architectural beauty of each historical building that Professor Landgon set foot in.

The most defining part of the whole story-line is that the plot spans a total of 2 days and 2 night only. 48 hours of Robert Langdon and a dramatic unraveling of Dante’s seven levels of hell. This is what makes it so empowering and fills your imagination with hundreds of minute thoughts, codes, architectural details. So much so that one can forget the subtle hints of the dark and twisty ending. But being a serial movie watcher that I am, I did guess some part of it by the beginning of the end (how boastful of me).

 

Nevertheless, the ending is kind of a boggling turn of events. I do not want to provide any spoilers so lets just say that the book’s ending is nothing like what you think it is. Its exactly the opposite. Still it needs to be said here that, although the story itself was riveting, the curtain dropping moment was not as imaginative and thrilling as I would have liked it to be. And as Inferno readers have come to known Dan Brown by. Still, its definitely, worth the read. Also, if you are a Dan Brown follower like me, you would read anything he offers like the Scripture.

 

I would highly recommend this book to detective and mystery novel enthusiasts with a touch of thrill.

 

Cheers.

Inferno: Robert Langdon Book 4- Film tie... Wow! What a twist in the tale!
Actually, it wasn't - you could see it coming from miles away.
Other than that, a decent chase around Florence as Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital with amnesia to find people trying to track him down.
Helped by a doctor they go from place to place looking for clues to see why he is wanted so badly.

Brown likes chapter breaks to build up the suspense (over 100 in this book), but as the next chapter inevitably just follows on from the previous cliff hanger moment it doesn't really do anything.

Good read for the commute to/from work when you don't want anything too taxing.
There are some good plots within plots, and it's written in a way that keeps you guessing who is involved. May not work so well on a second reading when some of the surprises will lose their impact.

I didn't love this book, but I didn't dislike it either. It just was an okay book. Entertaining and pretty exciting but there were a lot of parts where the history parts bored me because i've read them in the book before.

Quick review: Didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the first two books. Enjoyed it more than The Lost Symbol. The pacing wasn't very great, and I remember speeding through the first three books wanting to keep reading. But there was a lot in here that I enjoyed, even if I felt it wasn't as strong of a story, for this genre, as I've seen Brown bring with his Langdon books.

I'll probably keep going in the series if Brown writes more, though I don't have high expectations that it'll be more than what fans have grown to expect at this point. A good read, but nothing ground-breaking.