Book Review: Inferno

36 A.D. - Jesus dies, goes to Hell for three days to free the good people who are there because they were born before baptism, and returns.

~1300 A.D. - Dante Alighieri writes about his journey through the nine levels of Hell.

In 1976 sci-fi authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote "Inferno".

2009 Niven and Pournelle release a sequel to "Inferno" called "Escape from Hell".



I finished reading "Inferno" the other day. It's supposed to be a sequel to Dante's famous book and leans on it heavily as a map to the underworld. But 700 years later a lot has changed. There are new sins to worry about, and new punishments. And Dante's route was just one of many possible options.

Allen Carpentier is a science fiction writer. At a science fiction convention he's partying with some fans. He get rip roaring drunk in an attempt to impress them and falls out a window when Asimov comes in. He wakes up in a spartan room that we later find out is the inside of a bottle. After crying out to God to free him, a man named Benito breaks the bottle.

Carpentier believes that he was frozen and has been revived in some distant future. He won't believe that he's in Hell. Instead he tries to build a rational explanation about everything he sees. This must be a theme park, he thinks, based on Dante's famous works.

Benito is very familiar with the layout of Hell having made the trip from top to bottom six or seven times. He offers to be Carpentier's guide. Together they make the trip to what, according to Dante and Benito, is the only way out - the center of the bottom. This isn't to say that Carpentier doesn't try other ways.

If you're familiar with Dante's "Inferno" you'll see a lot of familiar territory. But with time people have found new ways to commit old sins and their punishments have changed accordingly. It appears that the forest of suicides has been clear cut to fuel factories. Early in the next book we soon see that there are still forests. Hell's a big place. There's plenty of room for both.

They try to get several people to come with them in their escape, but few are willing to make the attempt. The deeper you go, the worse things get. Better to stay where the suffering is familiar, they think.

As they get nearer the bottom of the pit Carpentier grudgingly accepts that this is indeed Hell. He makes sure Benito, who has been escorting people out without leaving himself, finally leaves. Then he goes back to take up the task that Benito had assigned himself.

Satan sees Carpentier and Benito leaving. He doesn't try to stop them, but asks "What will you tell God when you see him? Will you tell Him that He could learn morality from Vlad the Impaler?"

I highly recommend this book. I only got through level 6 in Dante's work before having to return that book. This is a nice companion piece. It's credited with a revival of interest in Dante's original back in the late 70's.

I've started reading the 2009 sequel. It looks like Carpentier has been trying to lead people out since 1976 with very little luck. We find him sitting at the base of a tree in the forest of suicides. The tree turns out to be Sylvia Plath.

In the comments tell me what you'd tell God when you see him.