Victoria Taylor Murray’s Product Reviews Reviewed By: Victoria Taylor Victoria Taylor-MurrayProduct: INFERNO Author: Dan Brown Edition:1st. Edition Hard Cover Publisher: Doubleday ISBN: 0385537858 ISBN: 978-0385537859 Rating: 5 STARS Dan Brown is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code and, previously, Digital Fortress, Deception Point, and Angels and Demons. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts to fulltime novel writing. In Dan Brown’s newest novel “INFERNO” the threat of world overpopulation is the latest assignment for Browns art historian/ accidental sleuth Robert Langdon. Awakening in a Florence hospital with no memory of the preceding 36 hours, Langdon and an attending physician with a larger-than-life intellect are immediately pursued by an ominous underground organization and the Italian police. Detailed tours of Florence, Venice, and Istanbul establish the backdrop of the story. True to the Robert Langdon-style storylines we have grown to know and love Dan Brown’s INFERNO has earned him another 5-STAR review from this a true fan and romantic-suspense writer... Below Dan Brown answers a few questions: In Dan Brown’s international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date. In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust before the world is irrevocably altered. Q&A with Dan Brown Q. Inferno refers to Dante Alighieri´s The Divine Comedy. What is Dante’s significance? What features of his work or life inspired you? A. The Divine Comedy—like The Mona Lisa—is one of those rare artistic achievements that transcends its moment in history and becomes an enduring cultural touchstone. Like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, The Divine Comedy speaks to us centuries after its creation and is considered an example of one of the finest works ever produced in its artistic field. For me, the most captivating quality of Dante Alighieri is his staggering influence on culture, religion, history, and the arts. In addition to codifying the early Christian vision of Hell, Dante’s work has inspired some of history’s greatest luminaries—Longfellow, Chaucer, Borges, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Monteverdi, Michelangelo, Blake, Dalí—and even a few modern video game designers. Despite Dante’s enduring influence on the arts, however, most of us today have only a vague notion of what his work actually says—both literally and symbolically (which, of course, is of great interest to Robert Langdon). A few years ago, I became very excited about the prospect of writing a contemporary thriller that incorporated the philosophy, history, and text of Dante’s timeless descent into The Inferno. Q. Where did do your research for Inferno? How long did you spend on it? A. Researching Inferno began with six months of reading, including several translations of The Divine Comedy, various annotations by Dante scholars, historical texts about Dante’s life and philosophies, as well as a lot of background reading on Florence itself. At the same time, I was poring over all the new scientific information that I could find on a cutting edge technology that I had decided to incorporate into the novel. Once I had enough understanding of these topics to proceed, I traveled to Florence and Venice, where I was fortunate to meet with some wonderful art historians, librarians, and other scholars who helped me enormously. Once this initial phase of research was complete, I began outlining and writing the novel. As is always the case, when a book begins to take shape, I am drawn in unexpected directions that require additional research. This was also the case with Inferno, which took about 3 years from conception to publication. With respect to the process, the success of these novels has been a bit of a Catch-22. On one hand, I now have wonderful access to specialists, authorities, and even secret archives from which to draw information and inspiration. On the other hand, because there is increased speculation about my works in progress, I need to be increasingly discreet about the places I go and the specialists with whom I speak. Even so, there is one aspect of my research that will never change—making personal visits to the locations about which I’m writing. When it comes to capturing the feel of a novel’s setting, I find there is no substitute for being there in the flesh...even if sometimes I need to do it incognito. Q. What kind of adventure will Robert Langdon face this time? Can you give us any sneak peak at the new novel? A. Inferno is very much a Robert Langdon thriller. It’s filled with codes, symbols, art, and the exotic locations that my readers love to explore. In this novel, Dante Alighieri’s ancient literary masterpiece—The Divine Comedy—becomes a catalyst that inspires a macabre genius to unleash a scientific creation of enormous destructive potential. Robert Langdon must battle this dark adversary by deciphering a Dante-related riddle, which leads him to Florence, where he finds himself in a desperate race through a landscape of classical art, secret passageways, and futuristic technology. Q. What made Florence the ideal location for Inferno? A. No city on earth is more closely tied to Dante Alighieri. Dante grew up in Florence, fell in love in Florence, and began writing in Florence. Later in life, when he was exiled for political reasons, the longing he felt for his beloved Florence became a catalyst for The Divine Comedy. Through his enduring poem, Dante enjoyed the “last word” over his political enemies, banishing them to various rings of Inferno where they suffered terrible tortures. Below are a few of the reviews being made on Dan Brown’s amazing, “INFERNO”: Scavenger Hunt with Robert Langdon By Angel TOP 1000 Amazon REVIEWER on May 31, 2013 Format: Kindle Edition I like a good scavenger hunt, and what Mr Brown basically does is this: Turn it into a novel. The fourth Langdon is still nice fun. The Lost Symbol was not so great, lets be honest, but Robert Langdon is back on track now. Medieval literature, historic intrigue, ancient symbols (of course, what else would Langdon be there for), a secret organization and lots of codes are this books basic elements. The best part of it (in every sense) is set in Florence, birth place of poet Dante Alighieri. Langdon has got a new assistant in form of a clever and energetic female doctor. A sinister organization wants to kill them before they find out about the hidden clues in paintings and artefacts connected to Dantes Inferno. Classic Brown and a rollercoaster for his fans - but just for them. If there is something I have to criticize, it would be that Brown put a bit too much into it. Sometimes the book almost turns into a tourist guide, and not only that: In addition to the medieval theme its about biological terrorism, there are sci-fi elements and the idea of a new world order. Trying a bit too hard here to be exciting, I think, and eventually landing on the slightly absurd side. But we shouldnt think too much about it, there are other writers for that. As entertaining as all other Dan Brown books By maj on May 27, 2013 Format: Kindle Edition Amazon Verified Purchase I just finished reading Inferno (I pre-ordered the Kindle version for $9.99 but now I see the price has increased - shame on Amazon or whoever is to blame for charging so much for an e-book!) and was not disappointed. I know people are getting tired of the repetitive formula (not me), but in my opinion, if you want to read an entertaining book, turn to Dan Brown. If you want to read literature or something with more substance, then go for Jumpa Lahiri or other award-winning authors, because Dan Brown is not about to win any literary prizes any time soon. I bet many prize winners would love to have half of Browns books sales, though. And dont get me wrong: I love Mr. Browns books and have read them all many times because they are so entertaining. I dont see that theres a problem with an author using a formula that has worked well for him before. I mean, Ken Follett tends to do the same thing in a few of his books, and Ive never seen him get any heat for it, so why pick on Dan Brown? Anyway, this is basically Browns formula: Langdon gets himself sucked into a situation to which he was called to provide his expert opinion; suddenly everything gets complicated and goes global; he finds himself traveling around the world looking for clues and gets to run around with an attractive woman at some point. Thats his basic premise. Whats different about Inferno? Not much, really, except this time its all about Dantes Divine Comedy and not the Bible or Da Vincis works. However, the premise behind the whole thing is rather interesting and forward-looking , instead of just reflecting on the clues left by artists of the past, so it was definitely a page-turner for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (For more information on this amazing author or his many novels visit Dan Brown’s webpage (or) amazon amazon/InfernoDanBrown/dp/0385537859/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391719870&sr=1-2&keywords=dan+brown+inferno) •
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 22:00:02 +0000
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