Changes

The characters were reasonably well depicted, which lifted the interest level somewhat - unfortunately most of the interesting characters were murdered, so no hope of them reappearing in the future! Dante himself seemed rather nebulous - and I think the lack of substance to his character was the biggest disappointment. It may be that readers more familiar with Italian literature would derive more from this aspect - I had hoped and expected some insights into his writings, but this happened very rarely. There were obscure allusions to his work, and a preface highlighting/expalining explaining them would have been useful for the less knowledgeable reader.

Some of the historical and philosophical background backgrounds made interesting reading, and it was good to be able to place the novel in the context of its time. The author did this well, which once again, is why I feel that the series itself does have a certain promise. Will I read the third? Possibly, as I rarely walk away from an author on the basis of one book. But this simply didn't grab and excite me in the way I had hoped - it should have done, but sadly, it fell short of the mark on all counts. Even the descriptive scenes of the countryside/town (which can often add another angle of interest), were sadly lacking in this novel. ''Disappointing'', would be my overall conclusion.

If this book appeals then you might appreciate [[The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra]]. Shaun Whiteside also translated [[The Temptation to Be Happy by Lorenzo Marone and Shaun Whiteside (Translator)|The Temptation to Be Happy by Lorenzo Marone]].