Review: Fascinating tribute to Dante's Inferno
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 10, 2011
I found this book to be an entertaining tribute to Dante and his Inferno.  Inferno is, by far, my favorite canticle in the Divine Comedy, and the 2nd half of this book made me want to go and re-read it.  I did spend some time trying to decide if I found the author's use of the Inferno to be TOO derivative, or not.  I finally shrugged and said that it didn't matter - he had done a wonderful job of integrating the Inferno into his own work.Even though I'm a historian and very familiar with the Middle Ages, I found the first half of this book to be disturbingly intense.  Accurate, yes, but intense, too.  There's a big difference between reading about the nitty-gritty of medieval life in nonfiction and reading about it happening to characters that you take an immediate likeing to in fiction.  The stage was set in the first paragraph where the author comments - almost in passing - that William was walking through the aftermath of a battle barefoot.  Ick!  Even if you know that as a Francisican friar, William never would wear shoes, it's still an "Ick!" moment - but absolutely true to the time period.The 2nd half of the book was where the author really hit his stride, and where he made full use of the storyline from Dante.  There were several thought-provoking incidents, and some discussion of medieval 'hot-button' theological topics.  There were also a couple of instances where I thought that the pilgrims were a little too obviously taking delight in increasing the torments of the souls in Hell - but then I remembered what Virgil said to Dante in Inferno about righteous wrath...All in all, an excellently written book.  To fully enjoy and appreciate the skill shown in the writing, a reader should be passably familiar with medieval society & culture, and have more than a basic knowledge of Dante's Inferno.Note on Kindle formatting:  Excellent.  I did not note any issues.