Beginning novelists could never get away with writing so sloppy. While Brown's strengths are his big ideas and his clever plot twists, he is plagued (pun)by his own obsession with cliffhangers at the detriment of a real story. My feeling at the end of reading this nightmare is Good Riddance. I was not satisfied with any of his plot points..... The feeling that he has to show you all of his research feels like you are reading a term paper in high school! He continually repeats himself as if he is hitting you over the head. I get it, i know...Never a literary writer to begin with, but this was not even entertaining. It did get me interested in reading Dante but this book was terrible and to contrast Dante and Beatrice to Robert and Sienna, is no comparison at all. ( )

Twists and turns galore, a sometimes heavy-handed dose of art history and architectural commentary, and a lot of action packed into a very tight timeframe. Typical Dan Brown book--fun and yet thought-provoking when you get past the mini-lectures.
Overpopulation is a real problem and how to deal with it forms the core of this story.
And, of course, keeping track of who is aligned with whom and what their goals are is always a challenge. ( )

Book 78 - Dan Brown - Inferno

I really enjoyed The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons...I tolerated The Lost Symbol...Book 67 for all completists and laughed at how ridiculous Origin was (Book 47)...now have reached the last (?) Robert Langdon novel...Inferno

FACT At the start of each novel Brown writes a glossary type page and claims it is FACT

FACT It is almost always some random piece of information he had gleaned from an old manuscript or fairytale..to you and me

FACT This was the first Brown book that I had read after having seen the movie with Tom Hanks

Oh my goodness...it is poor...is it as bad as Origin that was written after this one ? It is pretty close. I love all the detecting and solving of clues and riddles but the ultimate reveal had me cringing and laughing at the same time. As Langdon becomes more and more of an Indiana Jones superhero but with a Mickey Mouse watch rather than a whip, the story drags itself out to the point where...when the last twist was revealed...I simply couldn’t care less...lol

A chase to stop a virus being released and what it does is so silly...I won’t bore you with it. It is very very different from the movie as at least it had the common sense to stop at ending one..the book goes on and on...

Brown’s writing doesn’t help as he insists on going over every little piece of information and explaining the historical accuracies of it...and I ...mean...every single time.

Going to stop now before I am accused of doing the same. Goodnight Mr Langdon....phew...hopefully The End ( )

After reading my first Dan Brown book, "The Lost Symbol," and being pleasantly surprised at how readable and enjoyable it was, I delved immediately into this, the fourth entry in the Robert Langdon series. I found this story even more interesting than the previous one, due, in large part to the setting. While I can appreciate the architecture and history of the buildings of Washington DC, as depicted in The Lost Symbol, it just doesn't compare to the awe and wonder evoked by the many-centuries-old art, architecture, and history of a city like Florence. Throw in some interesting biographical details concerning Dante Alighieri, while adding liberal doses of symbology and cryptology, and you have another thrilling mystery adventure that will keep you turning the pages until you reach the conclusion. ( )

I listened to the audiobook rather than reading the hard copy so some of my opinions on the prose may be skewed. The reader was enjoyable to listen too and had a fitting voice for Langdon.
Inferno was interesting to listen to and used its Italian aesthetic well, but the prose often stayed into repetition, especially with character traits. Langdon was referred to as "the tall man" ten or twelve times throughout. It was also heavily dramatic, almost every description had some kind of flare or dramatic reveal. Almost every building was the most beautiful of "something" or Langdon's favorite "something." These over-embellishments were often unnecessary and quickly grew tedious as well as ruining any power the descriptions might have once had; if everything's the "best of" then nothing is.
The plot stretched belief in a few areas and made you roll your eyes in others. Its biggest flaw though, in my opinion, was that the author actually straight up lied to the reader. I don't know if it was to build suspense or to conceal the final twist, but, either way, it was cheap writing and injured the book/story in a way it never recovered from.
One thing that Inferno does well is its conclusion, I found it an extremely enjoyable plot point (I won't spoil it for obvious reasons.)
So my final conclusion is that Inferno's worth reading if you like Dan Brown, or an information-rich narrative but that it does have some glaring flaws. ( )