Inferno - Niven/Pournelle

Originally posted at IDKIYKT's Phile on 2011-04-26

So looking for something new to read that wasn't part of a big series, I followed up on this after Jaycube64 posted it.  My experience with Niven/Pournelle books is so-so, but the concept sounded interesting: a newly dead science fiction author finds himself in Hell as described by Dante.

It's nothing people will be reading centuries from now, but as far as travels through Hell are concerned this is a pretty fun one.  Our lead Allen Carpenter is very skeptical, and wonders if he was somehow frozen and revived in a distant future where high technology has for some reason been put to use recreating Dante's writings.  His guide Benito says otherwise, but is willing to put up with Allen's speculation and escape attempts while ultimately saying the only route out is to head down through the circles and out through an exit found there.  On their travels they see some of the torments as described by Dante, as well as ones he either didn't see or that are creations of more recent times.

The last Niven/Pournelle book I read was the long-as-hell Lucifer's Hammer.  This one seems to only be about a quarter its length, though, so I ran through it in a couple days.  Far more expensive per page, if that's an issue.

Unbeknownst to me when I finished, this actually is part of a series, though not a very big one.  This book was written in 1976, and eventually followed up in 2009 by Escape From Hell.  I enjoyed this book enough that I'm now reading the sequel.

4/5

Followed by Escape From Hell