Mehferno

That's right, the latest outputting from Dan Brown is now an object that has been read by me. (That's a long winded way of saying: I read Inferno.)

This is certainly going to be a lot less controversial on the history front. No-one is claiming Jesus got married (or, worse, had sex!). No-one is saying that hidden messages are stored in old pieces of art, or that there are groups that are working behind the scenes of humanity for centuries. So, on that front... yeah, nothing there. People might be complaining how various works of art are being presented, but that's nothing new in to this author.

The story is more about what one person does when inspired by his own ideas and old works of art. Which leads to a more contained story (only three cities are visited) and a more pedestrian 'go here, learn about this art, then go here and learn about this art, and then...' repeat. Dan Brown so much wants to write an action book, and you can clearly read that... but it doesn't work. There is no action here. No tension. 'Will they escape... the mild threat that is supposedly uber competent but can't stop people from going through a door'.

As for the world changing event... um... I'm not sure if Dan Brown is saying this is a good thing or not? (Let alone patently absurd from happening.) There's a discussion at the end among the character that has a philosophical bent and talks about science and Darwinism and evolution and... it's a mess. It's not clear what Dan Brown's message is, if he has one beyond 'yeah, think about it'.

I will now go look to see what about this book is getting people's panties in a twist... but if it is anything at all, then people are taking this book way too seriously.

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