Inferno felt like a summer movie - well paced, decent writing, and exciting. Sometimes moving so fast it is borderline superficial at times, this book is definitely entertaining. I think that this latest chapter in the Robert Langdon series will stick with me longer than The Lost Symbol, it was certainly a return to form in many ways. There is an underlying formula to how Brown crafts his novels, but can you blame him? It works. Da Vinci code is one of the most wide read books in the modern world, and there are ideas embedded in all of his works that are great to get to a mainstream audience and get people talking. Compare some of what is contained in Inferno to 50 shades, and really, Inferno wins hands down, IMHO. I have the urge to go and dig out my copy of Dante's Inferno from my university days. It would be interesting to read it now. Twenty years ago I didn't really grasp what Inferno was about, even though I loved and searching out the etiology of words, places, and even choices of colour in literature.
Obviously it was an enjoyable read. There were parts of this book that weren't always cohesive, and there are a few twists (of course, being Brown). Langdon is still the coolest professor since Indiana Jones, and his women are interesting, to say the least. Inferno tromps through the pages of Dante's masterpiece, and casts light on the issue of overpopulation and introduces a new philosophy - transhumanism. I will take away from this book the unsettling awareness of our population growth, memories of biology courses, and looking at some of the population graphs out there. There are some truths in this work, such as that the mind will only explore the negative for so long before it will distract itself. Food for thought, entertaining, solid read if this is up your alley.
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