Ever since I first laid my hands on Dan Brown‘s The Da Vinci Code, I’ve become a huge fan. Despite criticism among Catholics about how bad and sacrilegious the novel was, as a reader, I was able to appreciate how detailed and deep and interwoven all the details in the book were. I was amazed at how Dan Brown could piece together everything, complicated though it is, like a jigsaw puzzle. Of course, I wasn’t too fond of Deception Point and Digital Fortress, though I thought Angels & Demons was brilliant.

A few years ago, Dan Brown came out with The Lost Symbol. I urged my mom to purchase a copy soon after it came out. Sadly, that book is somewhere in one of the shelves in our house, and since I had been in China in the last few years, I have yet to read it. It definitely has to make it to my read-shelf by the end of the year.

Now, a few days ago, Dan Brown’s latest novel came out. Entitled Inferno, it is inspired by what is commonly called Dante’s Inferno, which is part of Dante Aligheri’s 14th century epic poem – The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is something of a poem describing the nine layers of hell, though I can’t really say what it’s about (without googling it) as I haven’t read it myself. Inferno is published by DoubleDay, which is under Random House Publishing. I’m still mulling over whether I should buy the hardcover version of the book, or wait for the paperback to come out sometime late this year or next year probably, as I recently spent some money on a couple of Anne Rice books. Still, here are a few compiled details you might like to know about the book, among other things.

In his 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.

(Synopsis of the book, as taken from the Random House website)

As you can see, the main character for this story is yet again Robert Langdon, the genius who solves the going-ons from Angels and Demons, to The Da Vinci Code, and apparently later on to  The Lost Symbol.

In an article written by Hillel Italie on the Huffington Post, they write about an interview Dan Brown did while at the office of Random House in Manhattan. They quote him saying:

“My hope for this book is that people are inspired either to discover or rediscover Dante. And, if all goes well, they will simultaneously appreciate some of the incredible art that Dante has inspired for the last 700 years,”

I think one of the great things about Dan Brown’s novels is that he always includes something about history, or art, or culture, so there’s so much to appreciate, discover and rediscover, whenever you’re reading one of his novels. Dan Brown’s novels always leave you guessing, and it makes you feel like you’re traveling so much within the pages of the book.

Citing again from the article, we learn more about what’s going to happen in the story.

Brown’s fictional alter ego, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, is once again on the run. Caught up in a struggle to prevent a deadly virus from spreading around the globe, he wakes up in a daze in an Italian hospital at the start of the novel and spends the rest of the book trying to regain his bearings. There’s a love interest – sort of – visits to historical landmarks in Florence, Venice and elsewhere and mysterious codes that allude to passages from Dante.

Dan Brown’s website even includes an excerpt form the book, which includes both the prologue and parts of the first chapter. You can download it from here, or you may view the start of the chapters which is available on the Random House website, here.

Can’t wait to get it. I spend too much money on books, and I’m running out of book-shelf-space.

 

 

“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” -Inferno, Dan Brown

 

 

In other news, Dan Brown’s site has a new decrypting code bonus thing on the bottom of the page. When it comes to things like codes and stuff, I’d like to think I can solve them….but I really can’t. Feel free to try to solve whatever it is that’s there. I was only able to spot a face coming out of the middle of the diagram, but that’s about it.