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Inferno #2
Escape from Hell
Allan Carpenter escaped from hell once but remained haunted by what he saw and endured.
He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined.
Partnering with the legendary poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpenter is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned.
But now that he's returned to this Dantesque Inferno, can he ever again leave?
He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined.
Partnering with the legendary poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpenter is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned.
But now that he's returned to this Dantesque Inferno, can he ever again leave?
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2009
70 people are currently reading
866 people want to read
About the author
Larry Niven
686 books3,299 followersLaurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.
Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.
Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.
He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.
Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.
Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.
He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...
Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.
Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.
He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.
Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.
Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.
He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...
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July 26, 2011
Allen Carpenter is still in Hell. Those who have read Niven and Pournelle's Inferno, one might have expected him to at least be somewhere in Purgatory by this time. For everyone else, Escape is Niven and Pournelle's follow-up on their updated prose adaptation of Dante's Inferno. That first effort proved, if nothing else, a catalyst in renewing interest in Dante.
As unseemly as it may sound, Hell is better the second time around. Inferno dealt with two questions, what does it take to get one to believe something one firmly holds to be impossible and whether Hell just or just sadistic. Most of Inferno is spent with the atheist Allen Carpenter (also known as Allen Carptentier) coming to grips with the fact that he is really dead and he really is is in Hell. The question of justice hung more as a rhetorical device to support his skepticism than as a true investigation However, epistemic angst goes only so far and it sometimes left Inferno feeling like a travelogue of the damned. Escape, while not it may not answer the question, at least engages the reader in what justice could possibly be served in every circle of Hell.
Escape finds Carpenter back on the Isle of Suicides talking to noted poet Silvia Plath. This is a fortuitous meeting since she was a tree when they meet. If you've read Dante, you know why, if not, Niven and Pournelle explain. This is also fortunate for the reader. Dante needed Virgil as a guide through Hell and Plath comes much closer to Virgil than Carpenter's last guide.1 Not only are Dante's seven circles of Hell laid out, but a fair bit C. S. Lewis can be found also. Without too much work, one can find references to The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Miracles, and even The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis, however, was unavailable as a guide. Plath, however, is a poet, read Dante, and was an acquaintance of Lewis. Niven and Pournelle may have stretched that last part a bit and I dare say some admirers of Plath may not be altogether pleased with how she is depicted. After a while Plath begins to take on the voice of the newly converted such that one cannot hear the Plath that one would expect from the Bell Jar at all. At one point she anachronistically states that we are cocreators. Even if the events prompt her to such a view, surely she would have come up with something other than this theological neologism. I should not be too harsh, however. Niven and Pournelle have carved out a special niche in Hell for at least some of those critics who would prefer the unreconstructed Plath. To an extent, Plath is among those who have just found faith. She would not make a very good guide if she were still rooted as a tree, and so some sort of conversion would be necessary.
Now, those who have read Dante already know that suicides are in the seventh of seven circles. Even though the seventh circle is very convoluted, it hardly seems Carpenter needed a guide, he already had gone through six circles (twice!) before meeting her. Well, sometimes one needs a guide to get through and sometime to find a way through. Carpenter is looking for justice and Plath provides that guidance as he narrates his tale to her. Like Lewis, Carpenter is convinced that Hell is locked from the inside, Plath helps him discover how that might be. To achieve this requires creating engaging characters whom the reader believes are getting what they deserve and yet sympathizes with enough to wish that they someday get out. Niven and Pournelle pull this off while rarely falling into the temptation of putting their own adversaries in their place, as it were. As a further twist, a fair number of those whom Carpenter meets are giving service to God and well know it, and this service comes out diverse and marvelous ways.
Escape concludes with all Hell breaking loose and Carpenter being cited for disturbing the peace (or terrorism, its hard to tell). What special place Hell finds for Allen Carpenter is your to discover. The journey is worth the destination.
As unseemly as it may sound, Hell is better the second time around. Inferno dealt with two questions, what does it take to get one to believe something one firmly holds to be impossible and whether Hell just or just sadistic. Most of Inferno is spent with the atheist Allen Carpenter (also known as Allen Carptentier) coming to grips with the fact that he is really dead and he really is is in Hell. The question of justice hung more as a rhetorical device to support his skepticism than as a true investigation However, epistemic angst goes only so far and it sometimes left Inferno feeling like a travelogue of the damned. Escape, while not it may not answer the question, at least engages the reader in what justice could possibly be served in every circle of Hell.
Escape finds Carpenter back on the Isle of Suicides talking to noted poet Silvia Plath. This is a fortuitous meeting since she was a tree when they meet. If you've read Dante, you know why, if not, Niven and Pournelle explain. This is also fortunate for the reader. Dante needed Virgil as a guide through Hell and Plath comes much closer to Virgil than Carpenter's last guide.1 Not only are Dante's seven circles of Hell laid out, but a fair bit C. S. Lewis can be found also. Without too much work, one can find references to The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Miracles, and even The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis, however, was unavailable as a guide. Plath, however, is a poet, read Dante, and was an acquaintance of Lewis. Niven and Pournelle may have stretched that last part a bit and I dare say some admirers of Plath may not be altogether pleased with how she is depicted. After a while Plath begins to take on the voice of the newly converted such that one cannot hear the Plath that one would expect from the Bell Jar at all. At one point she anachronistically states that we are cocreators. Even if the events prompt her to such a view, surely she would have come up with something other than this theological neologism. I should not be too harsh, however. Niven and Pournelle have carved out a special niche in Hell for at least some of those critics who would prefer the unreconstructed Plath. To an extent, Plath is among those who have just found faith. She would not make a very good guide if she were still rooted as a tree, and so some sort of conversion would be necessary.
Now, those who have read Dante already know that suicides are in the seventh of seven circles. Even though the seventh circle is very convoluted, it hardly seems Carpenter needed a guide, he already had gone through six circles (twice!) before meeting her. Well, sometimes one needs a guide to get through and sometime to find a way through. Carpenter is looking for justice and Plath provides that guidance as he narrates his tale to her. Like Lewis, Carpenter is convinced that Hell is locked from the inside, Plath helps him discover how that might be. To achieve this requires creating engaging characters whom the reader believes are getting what they deserve and yet sympathizes with enough to wish that they someday get out. Niven and Pournelle pull this off while rarely falling into the temptation of putting their own adversaries in their place, as it were. As a further twist, a fair number of those whom Carpenter meets are giving service to God and well know it, and this service comes out diverse and marvelous ways.
Escape concludes with all Hell breaking loose and Carpenter being cited for disturbing the peace (or terrorism, its hard to tell). What special place Hell finds for Allen Carpenter is your to discover. The journey is worth the destination.
not-to-read
August 11, 2015Against my better judgement, I read the first volume in this series. (Look, I was about 17 at the time). The blurb for the second one, whose existence I've just discovered, renders me literally speechless:
Allan Carpenter escaped from hell once but remained haunted by what he saw and endured. He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined.
Partnering with the legendary poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpenter is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned. But now that he's returned to this Dantesque Inferno, can he ever again leave?
September 8, 2018
The first book in this series I read many years ago after stumbling across it at a second hand book store. The first book was a basic re-telling on Dante's Inferno (hence the name from the series). Now there was nothing there just a modern take on the story which a few moral and historical questions thrown in along the way (I don't thing that really infringes upon my no spoilers rule).
So when the second book came out I was intrigued - not only because it was from Larry Niven an author I have long collected his work but also to find out what this second book had to say - since from its title the protagonist was still - yes you guessed it - in Hell.
So what of the book well that is hard to say with out giving things away but I will say that to a certain extent it is very similar to the first book however at almost twice the length there was a lot more going on - both literally and figuratively.
After all what is the idea of hell to us now - things have changed since the time of Dante. But also I felt this book was a lot more personal. After all the idea or concept of hell differs from person to person and this book to a certain point tried to explore that.
Now like many books where you are dealing with a concept that is as personal as they come (after all try and get two people to describe hell and see how many versions you hear) you will always get some of the opinions of the author showing through. This is certainly the case here and if anything it was interesting to see how Larry Niven approached this story.
So for a slice of nostalgia this book was fun, did I enjoy it as much as the first, I am sorry so no I think packing twice as many pages in that then first book slowed things down or maybe I was just expecting a different type of book. Well I am pleased to say that Larry Niven is still active and I am sure there will be other works I will be more taken by.
So when the second book came out I was intrigued - not only because it was from Larry Niven an author I have long collected his work but also to find out what this second book had to say - since from its title the protagonist was still - yes you guessed it - in Hell.
So what of the book well that is hard to say with out giving things away but I will say that to a certain extent it is very similar to the first book however at almost twice the length there was a lot more going on - both literally and figuratively.
After all what is the idea of hell to us now - things have changed since the time of Dante. But also I felt this book was a lot more personal. After all the idea or concept of hell differs from person to person and this book to a certain point tried to explore that.
Now like many books where you are dealing with a concept that is as personal as they come (after all try and get two people to describe hell and see how many versions you hear) you will always get some of the opinions of the author showing through. This is certainly the case here and if anything it was interesting to see how Larry Niven approached this story.
So for a slice of nostalgia this book was fun, did I enjoy it as much as the first, I am sorry so no I think packing twice as many pages in that then first book slowed things down or maybe I was just expecting a different type of book. Well I am pleased to say that Larry Niven is still active and I am sure there will be other works I will be more taken by.
February 28, 2009
Back in 1974, I read -- and re-read, and re-read -- Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell's Inferno. Inferno has been described as "a cakewalk through Hell," but there is a great deal more to it than is suggested by that blurb: as shown by a number of intensely moving moments in the novel, the authors had clearly caught the spirit of Dante's immortal classic as well as the sheer adventure of it. This is no less true of Escape From Hell, which updates, elucidates, and climaxes the story of Allen Carpenter, a science-fiction writer who, after an accidental fall of many stories from a hotel window, wakes up to find himself in a sealed bottle in the Inferno of Dante. Rescued from his prison by Benito Mussolini, he is conducted by Benito down to the very bottom of Hell, where he and his guide climb down Satan's monstrous leg to reach the doorway out of the Inferno, leading to the good Earth above and the route to Heaven. Benito has conducted numerous souls out of Hell before having encountered Carpenter. He urges Carpenter to begin the climb toward Heaven -- but Carpenter declines, saying that it's now Benito's turn to leave Hell behind, and Carpenter's to act as a guide for the damned souls in the Inferno, leading whoever he can out of Hell. Carpenter's last glimpse of Benito is a small, dwindling dot against a background of stars as Benito climbs up and up toward Earth's surface.
Escape From Hell after some time has passed since Benito's escape from Hell and Carpenter's return to act as a psychopompos for the damned. Carpenter is resting in Round 2 of the Seventh Circle, the Wood of the Suicides, when he discovers that the tree against whose trunk he is resting is that occupied by the spirit of Sylvia Plath, the gifted poet who wrote the autobiographical novel The Bell Jar (http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Jar-Sylvia...), and who committed suicide on the morning of February 11, 1963 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_P...). Allen figures out a way to release Sylvia's spirit from that tree, and the two of them then make their way together through Hell as Carpenter conducts Sylvia toward escape and salvation. As they go, Carpenter tells her his story, and of the souls he has already tried to help leave Hell.
Since his experiences documented in Inferno, he has learned much about what has passed on Earth since his death, among which are suicide bombers and personal computers -- and he and Sylvia, who died 12 years before Carpenter did, learn still more now. On their way down toward the Ninth Circle and the very bottom of Hell, they encounter the Reverend Aimee Semple McPherson, who could have left Hell but chose to stay to rescue as many souls as possible; a prophetic medium who had been fraudulent on Earth but now has real psychic powers; a former priest; and numerous others, some of whom want to accompany them to the exit, others who are staying to help souls escape or to comfort them, and still others who must remain behind because they are not ready to leave.
With quotes from Dante's actual text and an explanatory section at the end which, among other things, describes the best Italian-to-English translations of Dante's original, Escape From Hell is both a grand adventure and a somber study of the nature of sin and repentance, good and evil, and God and humanity. Superbly written and thoroughly researched, along with its companion novel, Inferno, it is a magnificent literary accomplishment and a delight to read.
Escape From Hell after some time has passed since Benito's escape from Hell and Carpenter's return to act as a psychopompos for the damned. Carpenter is resting in Round 2 of the Seventh Circle, the Wood of the Suicides, when he discovers that the tree against whose trunk he is resting is that occupied by the spirit of Sylvia Plath, the gifted poet who wrote the autobiographical novel The Bell Jar (http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Jar-Sylvia...), and who committed suicide on the morning of February 11, 1963 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_P...). Allen figures out a way to release Sylvia's spirit from that tree, and the two of them then make their way together through Hell as Carpenter conducts Sylvia toward escape and salvation. As they go, Carpenter tells her his story, and of the souls he has already tried to help leave Hell.
Since his experiences documented in Inferno, he has learned much about what has passed on Earth since his death, among which are suicide bombers and personal computers -- and he and Sylvia, who died 12 years before Carpenter did, learn still more now. On their way down toward the Ninth Circle and the very bottom of Hell, they encounter the Reverend Aimee Semple McPherson, who could have left Hell but chose to stay to rescue as many souls as possible; a prophetic medium who had been fraudulent on Earth but now has real psychic powers; a former priest; and numerous others, some of whom want to accompany them to the exit, others who are staying to help souls escape or to comfort them, and still others who must remain behind because they are not ready to leave.
With quotes from Dante's actual text and an explanatory section at the end which, among other things, describes the best Italian-to-English translations of Dante's original, Escape From Hell is both a grand adventure and a somber study of the nature of sin and repentance, good and evil, and God and humanity. Superbly written and thoroughly researched, along with its companion novel, Inferno, it is a magnificent literary accomplishment and a delight to read.
May 15, 2022
Explicit Content Warning!!! ⚠️
“Inferno” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle was something of a 21st century commentary on Dante’s Inferno and while I wouldn’t necessarily call the book a classic it has deservedly earned its positive reputation. Said book followed recently deceased Sci-Fi author Alan Carpenter and his guide Benito as they travel Dante Alighieri’s route through Hell in order to escape the infernal plane. Along the way many observations are made about the geography of Hell, punishments of sinners, and the fairness or lack there of inherent in the situation. The protagonist comes to the conclusion that the eternal punishment of Hell is too much and has come too late for its residents and that the denizens of Hell are “…in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism”.
The sequel “Escape from Hell” begins right where the last book left off, with Alan Carpenter telling his reformed guide Benito Mussolini to escape Hell while Alan takes his place as a rescuer of damned souls. The book runs into one of its big problems right away as Alan encounters a suicide bomber and is literally blown back to the 1st circle of Hell. Part of the novelty of Inferno was taking readers who hadn’t read Dante’s Inferno on a walking tour of Hell. But it becomes immediately apparent that this sequel is going to cover much of the same ground. The authors try to rectify this by establishing that changes in the mortal world, specifically the Second Vatican Council, have changed how Hell operates. But this is only lightly touched upon with some infernal bureaucracy being newly established with the intent to eventually give every resident a new trial so to speak. Additionally, whilst the sequel is covering the same ground as the first book for whatever reason the authors decided to show a Right-Wing political bent to events this time around which include but are not limited to:
*Billy the Kid pondering why the school shooter Seng Chu Hoi (whom Billy has been assigned to torture) wasn’t shot before he managed to kill 32 people. Billy actually says, “it’s as if someone was trying to take their guns.”
*A character refers to aborting a pregnancy as equivalent to murder.
*A lawyer is in Hell for upholding the separation of Church and State.
*Divorce Lawyers are in Hell because they’re divorce lawyers and obviously only tore apart good marriages.
*Carl Sagan (only ever referred to as Carl) is in Hell because he thought long term climate change would result in global cooling instead of global warming. But don’t worry the protagonists also run into people are in Hell because they believed in global warming. Try and figure that one out.
*Sylvia Plath is rescued from the suicide forest by Alan, converts to Christianity a little later, and spends the rest of the novel proselytizing about the justice of Hell. Which ties into a major problem with this book’s theme which I’ll come back to later.
*Escape also chickens out on addressing how homosexuality was treated in the previous book. In Inferno when Carpenter visits a desert in one of the lower circles he is horrified to learn people can be damned just for being gay. This kind of criticism however doesn't jive with the new (and worse) direction this book takes, so the issue is lazily retconned by a priest Carpenter meets who says no one was ever damned for just being gay.
The above items are admittedly things I just don’t agree with but the absolute low point of the book is when Alan and Sylvia run into a young man and after questioning him come to the conclusion that the man is in Hell because when he was 10 years old he seduced a priest into sleeping with him and “betrayed” the priest by telling people about a different sexual assault on a minor that the priest committed. WOW! Blaming sexual assault victims for being assaulted is a special type of awful but this line of thinking is just plain creepy and utterly wrong. This should never have been in a book that was published in 2009.
Now we come to the confused theme of the series a whole due to this sequel. As I stated before, Inferno gave the impression that there couldn’t possibly be a good justification for Hell and its eternal punishment. While Escape from Hell gives the impression that there must be SOME justification for Hell and its eternal punishment, but novel either lacks the nuance or the courage to elaborate on exactly what said justification is. Honestly, this reeks of the two authors have one intention for the first book and having a completely different intention for the sequel written almost four decades later.
But now that all the complaints are out of the way, let’s talk about what I genuinely liked about the book:
*Numerous historical figures pop up in the book and the events involving Albert Camus, Robert Openheimer, and Pontius Pilate are rather well done.
*The idea of religious fanatic suicide bombers being doomed to blow themselves up even in Hell is interesting and somewhat darkly funny.
*The idea of Carpenter trying to instigate something of a mass breakout from the eternal torture chamber known as Hell is interesting if not fully realized.
*The Devil shows up briefly at the end of each novel and delivers a killer line each time. In this novel when Carpenter asks the Devil if he has any message to give to God before he leaves Hell the Devil replies, “Tell Him he could have planned a better universe by throwing dice”.
Escape from Hell is a lackluster follow up to a great book and has some truly unfortunate viewpoints to boot. Read Inferno and give this one a pass.
“Inferno” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle was something of a 21st century commentary on Dante’s Inferno and while I wouldn’t necessarily call the book a classic it has deservedly earned its positive reputation. Said book followed recently deceased Sci-Fi author Alan Carpenter and his guide Benito as they travel Dante Alighieri’s route through Hell in order to escape the infernal plane. Along the way many observations are made about the geography of Hell, punishments of sinners, and the fairness or lack there of inherent in the situation. The protagonist comes to the conclusion that the eternal punishment of Hell is too much and has come too late for its residents and that the denizens of Hell are “…in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism”.
The sequel “Escape from Hell” begins right where the last book left off, with Alan Carpenter telling his reformed guide Benito Mussolini to escape Hell while Alan takes his place as a rescuer of damned souls. The book runs into one of its big problems right away as Alan encounters a suicide bomber and is literally blown back to the 1st circle of Hell. Part of the novelty of Inferno was taking readers who hadn’t read Dante’s Inferno on a walking tour of Hell. But it becomes immediately apparent that this sequel is going to cover much of the same ground. The authors try to rectify this by establishing that changes in the mortal world, specifically the Second Vatican Council, have changed how Hell operates. But this is only lightly touched upon with some infernal bureaucracy being newly established with the intent to eventually give every resident a new trial so to speak. Additionally, whilst the sequel is covering the same ground as the first book for whatever reason the authors decided to show a Right-Wing political bent to events this time around which include but are not limited to:
*Billy the Kid pondering why the school shooter Seng Chu Hoi (whom Billy has been assigned to torture) wasn’t shot before he managed to kill 32 people. Billy actually says, “it’s as if someone was trying to take their guns.”
*A character refers to aborting a pregnancy as equivalent to murder.
*A lawyer is in Hell for upholding the separation of Church and State.
*Divorce Lawyers are in Hell because they’re divorce lawyers and obviously only tore apart good marriages.
*Carl Sagan (only ever referred to as Carl) is in Hell because he thought long term climate change would result in global cooling instead of global warming. But don’t worry the protagonists also run into people are in Hell because they believed in global warming. Try and figure that one out.
*Sylvia Plath is rescued from the suicide forest by Alan, converts to Christianity a little later, and spends the rest of the novel proselytizing about the justice of Hell. Which ties into a major problem with this book’s theme which I’ll come back to later.
*Escape also chickens out on addressing how homosexuality was treated in the previous book. In Inferno when Carpenter visits a desert in one of the lower circles he is horrified to learn people can be damned just for being gay. This kind of criticism however doesn't jive with the new (and worse) direction this book takes, so the issue is lazily retconned by a priest Carpenter meets who says no one was ever damned for just being gay.
The above items are admittedly things I just don’t agree with but the absolute low point of the book is when Alan and Sylvia run into a young man and after questioning him come to the conclusion that the man is in Hell because when he was 10 years old he seduced a priest into sleeping with him and “betrayed” the priest by telling people about a different sexual assault on a minor that the priest committed. WOW! Blaming sexual assault victims for being assaulted is a special type of awful but this line of thinking is just plain creepy and utterly wrong. This should never have been in a book that was published in 2009.
Now we come to the confused theme of the series a whole due to this sequel. As I stated before, Inferno gave the impression that there couldn’t possibly be a good justification for Hell and its eternal punishment. While Escape from Hell gives the impression that there must be SOME justification for Hell and its eternal punishment, but novel either lacks the nuance or the courage to elaborate on exactly what said justification is. Honestly, this reeks of the two authors have one intention for the first book and having a completely different intention for the sequel written almost four decades later.
But now that all the complaints are out of the way, let’s talk about what I genuinely liked about the book:
*Numerous historical figures pop up in the book and the events involving Albert Camus, Robert Openheimer, and Pontius Pilate are rather well done.
*The idea of religious fanatic suicide bombers being doomed to blow themselves up even in Hell is interesting and somewhat darkly funny.
*The idea of Carpenter trying to instigate something of a mass breakout from the eternal torture chamber known as Hell is interesting if not fully realized.
*The Devil shows up briefly at the end of each novel and delivers a killer line each time. In this novel when Carpenter asks the Devil if he has any message to give to God before he leaves Hell the Devil replies, “Tell Him he could have planned a better universe by throwing dice”.
Escape from Hell is a lackluster follow up to a great book and has some truly unfortunate viewpoints to boot. Read Inferno and give this one a pass.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2009
Why I Read This Book: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are well known for several bestselling collaborations:
Lucifer's Hammer
and
The Mote in God's Eye
to name two. My favorite of their collaborations, though, is
Inferno
. When I read (on Pournelle's website) that a sequel was on the way, I was cautiously hopeful. I was cautious because sequel to Mote consisted of a terrific novelet glued to a really tedious novel, and I've enjoyed very little of Niven's work of the last 25 years. I was hopeful because their Inferno was a compelling book that the authors clearly cared deeply about (I believe Pournelle takes his religion seriously).
I quite enjoyed this book, and found it to be very compelling again. (For instance, I was up till 1:00am this morning before I decided that I had to put it down and get some sleep.) It's not as good as Inferno--perhaps because it's not as original--but it is still thoughtful. Two nitpicks. First, there are some annoying anachronisms--the main character doesn't know what a laptop is because they only became popular after his death, but he does know all about the Alvarez hypthosis? Second, I disagree with some of the people that the authors have placed in Hell, and where they were placed (which is a measure of the seriousness of their "crimes", if you haven't read Dante or the previous book)--but the authors themselves clearly disagree with Dante's choices and the main character is often puzzled by the placement of the damned. Finally, I was fascinated by the appearance of a hugely influential SF editor (and occasional writer) in Hell; It made me think of the fact that a lot of the biggest names in the genre would firmly belong there. (To take the Big Three, for instance: Asimov and Clarke were clearly solid atheists [the latter rather hostile to religion:] and Heinlein clearly didn't believe in any organized religion I'd recognize--he seemed to believe more in reincarnation.)
(Finished 2009-03-03 8:30 EST)
I quite enjoyed this book, and found it to be very compelling again. (For instance, I was up till 1:00am this morning before I decided that I had to put it down and get some sleep.) It's not as good as Inferno--perhaps because it's not as original--but it is still thoughtful. Two nitpicks. First, there are some annoying anachronisms--the main character doesn't know what a laptop is because they only became popular after his death, but he does know all about the Alvarez hypthosis? Second, I disagree with some of the people that the authors have placed in Hell, and where they were placed (which is a measure of the seriousness of their "crimes", if you haven't read Dante or the previous book)--but the authors themselves clearly disagree with Dante's choices and the main character is often puzzled by the placement of the damned. Finally, I was fascinated by the appearance of a hugely influential SF editor (and occasional writer) in Hell; It made me think of the fact that a lot of the biggest names in the genre would firmly belong there. (To take the Big Three, for instance: Asimov and Clarke were clearly solid atheists [the latter rather hostile to religion:] and Heinlein clearly didn't believe in any organized religion I'd recognize--he seemed to believe more in reincarnation.)
(Finished 2009-03-03 8:30 EST)
August 13, 2012
Niven and Pournelle conclude their endnotes with: "This is, of course, a fantasy novel, not a treatise on theology and salvation." This evasion is, of course, intellectual cowardice, since they spend a considerable portion of their novel attempting to justify the existence of the Catholic Church's hell, and pontificating (see what I did there?) on the various sins that would earn one a well-deserved (yeah, right) place in that inferno, and (as the title suggests) on the means of escaping.
Their most ahistorical and illiberal case study is that of Carl Sagan, whose warnings on the dangers of nuclear winter have earned him damnation (so say N&P) as a "false prophet." The problem here (well one of the problems anyway) is that N&P are ignoring decades of research and computer modeling and instead focusing on criticisms posed in 1986 and 87, themselves long since debunked, claiming that the theory had been discredited. Hey, how's this for a Republican campaign slogan? Conservatives: Denying that Pesky Science Stuff Since the Reagan Administration!
Anyway, even if Sagan had turned out to have been incorrect, and even if he had turned out to have been lying outright, how foolish and unjust is it to condemn someone to eternal (or rather, in this case, protracted until the victim figures out that redemption is possible, and then figures out how to achieve it, and then carries out their plan) punishment for the "crime" of trying to disabuse people of the insane notion that nuclear war might ever be a sensible option?
Well, at least they didn't damn Sagan for his evil atheism. Or perhaps Nivel and Pournelle were just too embarrassed to own up to the similarities between themselves and the Pat Robertsons of the world.
To be fair, apart from the treatise on theology and salvation, it is a workmanlike adventure story. And, if anyone's interested, we get to meet the lost souls of .
Their most ahistorical and illiberal case study is that of Carl Sagan, whose warnings on the dangers of nuclear winter have earned him damnation (so say N&P) as a "false prophet." The problem here (well one of the problems anyway) is that N&P are ignoring decades of research and computer modeling and instead focusing on criticisms posed in 1986 and 87, themselves long since debunked, claiming that the theory had been discredited. Hey, how's this for a Republican campaign slogan? Conservatives: Denying that Pesky Science Stuff Since the Reagan Administration!
Anyway, even if Sagan had turned out to have been incorrect, and even if he had turned out to have been lying outright, how foolish and unjust is it to condemn someone to eternal (or rather, in this case, protracted until the victim figures out that redemption is possible, and then figures out how to achieve it, and then carries out their plan) punishment for the "crime" of trying to disabuse people of the insane notion that nuclear war might ever be a sensible option?
Well, at least they didn't damn Sagan for his evil atheism. Or perhaps Nivel and Pournelle were just too embarrassed to own up to the similarities between themselves and the Pat Robertsons of the world.
To be fair, apart from the treatise on theology and salvation, it is a workmanlike adventure story. And, if anyone's interested, we get to meet the lost souls of .
August 15, 2013
I read (or reread, rather) Inferno by these authors for my Sci-Fi Book Club; when I did so, I found that there was a sequel to the book, so I promptly requested it from the library. I am glad I did so, as this is a very good sequel, and I plan to look for this book in paperback next time I am at Barnes & Noble, so that I can keep it in my own bookshelves.
Allen Carpenter, science fiction author (died 1975), having been to the center of Inferno and down to the grotto where one climbs to get to Purgatory (he has drunk from the spring there, and now can speak and understand any language), has returned to Inferno. He is on a mission; he is determined to go back through Inferno to see if his theory that Inferno is the last learning opportunity is true, and the only way to test this theory is to see if it is possible for any given soul to find his or her way out of Inferno. During his journey he meets many of the same people he met on his first trip (he no longer believes in coincidence), and finds that there are areas in several of the circles of Inferno that he did not see on his first journey down from the Vestibule to the center of Inferno. (Most, but not all of these areas, have to do with events from the late 20th century and early 21st century.)
I loved this book, although I do recommend that one read Inferno by these authors before reading this sequel; and I am grateful that the authors provided a list of characters in the front of the book, as it gets hard to track who is who late in the book.
Allen Carpenter, science fiction author (died 1975), having been to the center of Inferno and down to the grotto where one climbs to get to Purgatory (he has drunk from the spring there, and now can speak and understand any language), has returned to Inferno. He is on a mission; he is determined to go back through Inferno to see if his theory that Inferno is the last learning opportunity is true, and the only way to test this theory is to see if it is possible for any given soul to find his or her way out of Inferno. During his journey he meets many of the same people he met on his first trip (he no longer believes in coincidence), and finds that there are areas in several of the circles of Inferno that he did not see on his first journey down from the Vestibule to the center of Inferno. (Most, but not all of these areas, have to do with events from the late 20th century and early 21st century.)
I loved this book, although I do recommend that one read Inferno by these authors before reading this sequel; and I am grateful that the authors provided a list of characters in the front of the book, as it gets hard to track who is who late in the book.
September 8, 2012
Also my Amazon review:
I've known Jerry for a long time, and met Larry a few times. I've not ever held back when I told Jerry privately what I thought about something he wrote. I was also taught that if you can't say something good about someone, it's better to say nothing at all. So, if I didn't love Inferno 2 ... errr, Escape from Hell, I'd not be writing this today. You won't get negative reviews from me, usually.
I enjoyed this book immensely when I read it before it went to press. I want to read it again, so I'm buying the book right now. The continued adventures of Allen Carpentier and his interactions with Hell's denizens took me on a wonderful ride of imagination. Personally, I find the authors to be more polished and thoughtful over the decades, and it shows in this work. In an era when they're remaking every old sci-fi movie that Hollywood already has rights to, and pushing a green theme instead of a red menace, it is refreshing to have a thoughtful, page-turner of a follow-up novel to take pleasure in. I'd tell you about the lake, and the woods, and the ... but I won't. You'll have too much fun finding out for yourself.
One of my very favorite works of fiction is Silverlock, by John Meyers Meyers. This new Niven and Pournelle book is an equally fun romp. I can tell you, Escape from Hell is going to push another book down out of my personal top ten. Or maybe I'll just have to have a top eleven! Enjoy!
I've known Jerry for a long time, and met Larry a few times. I've not ever held back when I told Jerry privately what I thought about something he wrote. I was also taught that if you can't say something good about someone, it's better to say nothing at all. So, if I didn't love Inferno 2 ... errr, Escape from Hell, I'd not be writing this today. You won't get negative reviews from me, usually.
I enjoyed this book immensely when I read it before it went to press. I want to read it again, so I'm buying the book right now. The continued adventures of Allen Carpentier and his interactions with Hell's denizens took me on a wonderful ride of imagination. Personally, I find the authors to be more polished and thoughtful over the decades, and it shows in this work. In an era when they're remaking every old sci-fi movie that Hollywood already has rights to, and pushing a green theme instead of a red menace, it is refreshing to have a thoughtful, page-turner of a follow-up novel to take pleasure in. I'd tell you about the lake, and the woods, and the ... but I won't. You'll have too much fun finding out for yourself.
One of my very favorite works of fiction is Silverlock, by John Meyers Meyers. This new Niven and Pournelle book is an equally fun romp. I can tell you, Escape from Hell is going to push another book down out of my personal top ten. Or maybe I'll just have to have a top eleven! Enjoy!
March 25, 2017
Listened to on CD.
This is only my third or fourth Niven book, but I loved everything I have read by him in the past, so when i was able to find one of his novels on CD I jumped on it.
The story follows the main Character Allan Carpenter through a return trip to hell to rescue anyone that wants to get out. His partner thru most of it is writer/poet Sylvia Plath. I have to say I didn't know much about her and had to look her up on google to see what she was all about.
Anyway, the writing was spectacular and the story was great. I had not read the prequel, Inferno, but thankfully the authors get you up to speed without have had to have read it.
My favorite part of the book was the humor throughout. The absolute funniest scene was with the kid telling Sylvia that he hid her book of poetry from the catholic priest that was abusing him so he didn't have to hear her poems. That whole chapter was hysterical.
There was a point when I wished they would've picked up the pace towards the end. However it didn't take away from it.
A final note, the narrator did a spectacular job the voices, it added even more to the experience.
This is only my third or fourth Niven book, but I loved everything I have read by him in the past, so when i was able to find one of his novels on CD I jumped on it.
The story follows the main Character Allan Carpenter through a return trip to hell to rescue anyone that wants to get out. His partner thru most of it is writer/poet Sylvia Plath. I have to say I didn't know much about her and had to look her up on google to see what she was all about.
Anyway, the writing was spectacular and the story was great. I had not read the prequel, Inferno, but thankfully the authors get you up to speed without have had to have read it.
My favorite part of the book was the humor throughout. The absolute funniest scene was with the kid telling Sylvia that he hid her book of poetry from the catholic priest that was abusing him so he didn't have to hear her poems. That whole chapter was hysterical.
There was a point when I wished they would've picked up the pace towards the end. However it didn't take away from it.
A final note, the narrator did a spectacular job the voices, it added even more to the experience.
November 16, 2009
Can't say I was all that impressed here. I liked Niven and Pournelle's Inferno quite a bit, but the sequel mostly seemed to cover the same ground. Moreover it spent a lot of time on "Who's Who" territory that the previous book largely avoided (though that's something to which Dante's Inferno certainly wasn't immune.) Ended so abruptly that I actually had to flip back to make sure that I hadn't missed a section.
The Niven/Pournelle collaboration has been very productive; at its best their styles are solidly complimentary, but this book just didn't really come together. Read the first one instead, or one of half a dozen others by the same authors.
The Niven/Pournelle collaboration has been very productive; at its best their styles are solidly complimentary, but this book just didn't really come together. Read the first one instead, or one of half a dozen others by the same authors.
April 2, 2022
Pairs well with Sexual Utopia in Power.
A novel with great potential ruined by the authors' liberal sensibilities. You might enjoy it more if you know nothing about Sylvia Plath or feminism. If you do wish to know about her, check my analysis of the Bell Jar here.
Sylvia Plath is a secondary character in this novel and accompanies Allen Carpenter through the second half of his journey out of Hell. As per the novel’s theme, the characters are meant to arrive at an understanding of why they were put in hell, repent, and change for the better on their way to Heaven. Sylvia however learns nothing about the corruption in her soul or how she might save it. She cannot be written into recognizing her sins because Niven and Pournelle themselves do not appear to understand the wickedness of feminism. If they do at all, they did a terrible job of incorporating it into Sylvia’s redemption arc. That is to say, references are nonexistent. All the characters are poorly fleshed out in general, with Allen and Sylvia meeting a minimum threshold to drive the plot forward. Wherever a philosophical reflection might develop, it is nipped in the bud by a casual remark and the action keeps moving.
When Allen and Sylvia find themselves in the 8th circle discussing the difficulties of saving the souls of liars, they reference works that might land one there. According to their protagonists, the authors believe that the author of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and scientists who disbelieved global warming, belong in the 8th circle of hell. They could’ve chosen any other examples, but they picked those specifically. Make of that what you will.
The fact of homosexuality being a sin in itself is ungraciously retconned from the previous novel by Father Camillus who says he has never seen regular sodomites in hell only the violent kind. Ergo, nobody was damned just for being gay.
The work disclaims itself in its entirety, along with all import to the morale it might've imparted, with the closing statement that it "is a fantasy novel not a treatise on theology and salvation." All in all, Allen’s is a pantomime of Dante’s infernal voyage and it’s a better use of one's time to read the original.
A novel with great potential ruined by the authors' liberal sensibilities. You might enjoy it more if you know nothing about Sylvia Plath or feminism. If you do wish to know about her, check my analysis of the Bell Jar here.
Sylvia Plath is a secondary character in this novel and accompanies Allen Carpenter through the second half of his journey out of Hell. As per the novel’s theme, the characters are meant to arrive at an understanding of why they were put in hell, repent, and change for the better on their way to Heaven. Sylvia however learns nothing about the corruption in her soul or how she might save it. She cannot be written into recognizing her sins because Niven and Pournelle themselves do not appear to understand the wickedness of feminism. If they do at all, they did a terrible job of incorporating it into Sylvia’s redemption arc. That is to say, references are nonexistent. All the characters are poorly fleshed out in general, with Allen and Sylvia meeting a minimum threshold to drive the plot forward. Wherever a philosophical reflection might develop, it is nipped in the bud by a casual remark and the action keeps moving.
When Allen and Sylvia find themselves in the 8th circle discussing the difficulties of saving the souls of liars, they reference works that might land one there. According to their protagonists, the authors believe that the author of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and scientists who disbelieved global warming, belong in the 8th circle of hell. They could’ve chosen any other examples, but they picked those specifically. Make of that what you will.
The fact of homosexuality being a sin in itself is ungraciously retconned from the previous novel by Father Camillus who says he has never seen regular sodomites in hell only the violent kind. Ergo, nobody was damned just for being gay.
The work disclaims itself in its entirety, along with all import to the morale it might've imparted, with the closing statement that it "is a fantasy novel not a treatise on theology and salvation." All in all, Allen’s is a pantomime of Dante’s infernal voyage and it’s a better use of one's time to read the original.
May 21, 2019
If there was ever a book that didn't need to exist, this is it. Hell must be full after Allan Carpenter's arrival, because that's the only explanation for this book existing on Earth. Take a shitty book (Inferno) and remake it 30 years later, but this time add Sylvia Plath and some Islamic suicide bombers, and you've got a yourself a ruptured septic tank of literature that leaves you craving some substantial dialogue and plot. But you can't even enjoy the few mildly amusing conversations of historical figures in this, no. You'll find yourself too focused on the fact that this septic tank has flooded the whole damn yard and shit is now seeping through into your shoes. The smell of the first book was bad enough, but now it's stained your socks. You can't wash it out, you'll just have to toss your clothes away and accept the loss, like I did after realizing I shouldn't have purchased this godforsaken book.
Despite the fact that I almost conscripted myself to the seventh circle of hell, contemplating suicide just to escape this awful book, I still can't bear to give it one star. No, for that circle of literary hell belongs only to the flaming piece of shit that is Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.
Despite the fact that I almost conscripted myself to the seventh circle of hell, contemplating suicide just to escape this awful book, I still can't bear to give it one star. No, for that circle of literary hell belongs only to the flaming piece of shit that is Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.
May 15, 2019
Not as great as the first book, could be much better in many ways and i think it suffers from being too long and filled with nonsense but when it's good, it's great!
December 2, 2014
I loved the original book, and have reread it a couple times since first encountering it. It took me a while to get to the sequel, but I wish I had not waited - it's just as good as the original, and serves as a very nice companion volume.
The sequel actually adds very little, basically retracing many of the steps taken by the main character in the first book. This may cause some to rate this slightly lower, but the new twist this time around is a bit subtle.
The first time, Carpenter spent most of the book denying that it could be hell, and trying to rationalize what he was seeing. This time around, Carpenter fully accepts that it is indeed hell, and is instead trying to prove that hell is escapable. Not just by some, but by everyone who is ready and wishes to escape.
With that new mindset, many of the same themes are explored as in the first book, but with a slightly different perspective.
I'd certainly recommend reading the first book first before starting this one. And although you don't need to read Dante first, at least refer to some type of image so that you can understand the geography.
Think of a bowl-shaped structure. You start at the edge of the bowl, and by your sins you are judged as to how deep you will be placed. The worst sinners are placed deep in hell (where more dreadful torment takes place), and the more mildly sinful get placed further up on the sides of the bowl.
Your designated zone, then, is comprised of a circle around the circumference of a bowl. Movement clockwise or counter-clockwise is permitted. Movement upslope is very difficult. Movement downslope is possible, but undesirable because the torment gets worse the deeper you go.
And, according to Dante, to escape you cannot go upward to try to get over the edge of the bowl. Escape is always downwards, to the very bottom, so that in your travels you will be able to witness the full torment of hell.
That background is enough to get you started... now you only need to pick up Inferno and then follow up with this volume.
The sequel actually adds very little, basically retracing many of the steps taken by the main character in the first book. This may cause some to rate this slightly lower, but the new twist this time around is a bit subtle.
The first time, Carpenter spent most of the book denying that it could be hell, and trying to rationalize what he was seeing. This time around, Carpenter fully accepts that it is indeed hell, and is instead trying to prove that hell is escapable. Not just by some, but by everyone who is ready and wishes to escape.
With that new mindset, many of the same themes are explored as in the first book, but with a slightly different perspective.
I'd certainly recommend reading the first book first before starting this one. And although you don't need to read Dante first, at least refer to some type of image so that you can understand the geography.
Think of a bowl-shaped structure. You start at the edge of the bowl, and by your sins you are judged as to how deep you will be placed. The worst sinners are placed deep in hell (where more dreadful torment takes place), and the more mildly sinful get placed further up on the sides of the bowl.
Your designated zone, then, is comprised of a circle around the circumference of a bowl. Movement clockwise or counter-clockwise is permitted. Movement upslope is very difficult. Movement downslope is possible, but undesirable because the torment gets worse the deeper you go.
And, according to Dante, to escape you cannot go upward to try to get over the edge of the bowl. Escape is always downwards, to the very bottom, so that in your travels you will be able to witness the full torment of hell.
That background is enough to get you started... now you only need to pick up Inferno and then follow up with this volume.
March 18, 2014
Thoroughly enjoyed, at least as much as the original. Some great ideas and characters added, and very gratifying that the narrator is able to achieve his goal. Interesting angle with Oppenheimer and the unexpected event/plot point regarding him towards the end - adds a new layer of irony and also a sense of symmetry.
Again I wondered at the author's treatment of his encounters with what might be termed the enforcers within the story's framework; for some reason he senses his own vulnerability to the justice of the shifting landscape upon each encounter, as if at any moment he might be made subject to it and is thus imperiled by his choices in life. For example, at each bolgia he asks, "Am I guilty of X" while viewing the punishment for X, in order to assess the risk of him being there. I had never been able to ascertain whether this was the author's view of a necessary and rational degree of paranoia in the character, or whether he intended his character to be less than rational and used it only as a plot device for Carpenter to examine his life. In the former case it would seem Carpenter felt less "free" to roam than evidence would indicate - for example, that Minos's tail might appear at any moment and force him into a bolgia... yet, as Benito pointed out, Minos's only role was that of judgment, which, having been exercised, reduced implementation of any further power. Afterwards I am still wondering whether his fear is over an exposure to a figure of authority or enforcement (such as one of the demons) under a mandate to "capture anybody wandering" as much as he might fear a rogue element (like the fanatic suicide bomber), or to some divine form of justice (or karma).
Carpenter's quest to discover whether everybody, given an infinite amount of time, could escape hell, had to be improved by the realization of his own ability to learn; having abandoned the idea of Infernoland as a place of entertainment for some sadistic voyeur; and having heard the ravings of the mad psychiatrist from whom he gained an idea of "The only possible excuse for hell"... and the experience with Sylvia, one might assume he could grow in confidence.
I also wonder whether readers would agree as to the placement of Hitler and Stalin, was it appropriate to what they did in life?
Again I wondered at the author's treatment of his encounters with what might be termed the enforcers within the story's framework; for some reason he senses his own vulnerability to the justice of the shifting landscape upon each encounter, as if at any moment he might be made subject to it and is thus imperiled by his choices in life. For example, at each bolgia he asks, "Am I guilty of X" while viewing the punishment for X, in order to assess the risk of him being there. I had never been able to ascertain whether this was the author's view of a necessary and rational degree of paranoia in the character, or whether he intended his character to be less than rational and used it only as a plot device for Carpenter to examine his life. In the former case it would seem Carpenter felt less "free" to roam than evidence would indicate - for example, that Minos's tail might appear at any moment and force him into a bolgia... yet, as Benito pointed out, Minos's only role was that of judgment, which, having been exercised, reduced implementation of any further power. Afterwards I am still wondering whether his fear is over an exposure to a figure of authority or enforcement (such as one of the demons) under a mandate to "capture anybody wandering" as much as he might fear a rogue element (like the fanatic suicide bomber), or to some divine form of justice (or karma).
Carpenter's quest to discover whether everybody, given an infinite amount of time, could escape hell, had to be improved by the realization of his own ability to learn; having abandoned the idea of Infernoland as a place of entertainment for some sadistic voyeur; and having heard the ravings of the mad psychiatrist from whom he gained an idea of "The only possible excuse for hell"... and the experience with Sylvia, one might assume he could grow in confidence.
I also wonder whether readers would agree as to the placement of Hitler and Stalin, was it appropriate to what they did in life?
March 2, 2009
Not so much as a sequel as an updated revision, or extension, of Inferno. There were no major new concepts, i.e. any reader of Inferno, if asked to predict the plot line of Escape from Hell, would have described the plot actually used. It extended the existing ideas, and did not expand them. Enjoyable, with some moments of brilliance, and some equal moments of literary haziness. If you have not read Inferno, read that first. There were no significant new concepts in Escape from Hell. This is a creation of western thought, Muslims might be deeply offended by some passing references. I would recommend this novel to those who cherish Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
April 8, 2024
The writing team of Niven and Pournelle created the classic novel Inferno, a science fiction take on Dante's classic. I read the book years ago and found it extraordinary, and I've reread it several times since. However, this sequel to that wonderful novel, Escape From Hell, was not quite as good as the first book--maybe the novelty of Inferno did not translate for me in the sequel. Still, the book was fascinating, fast-paced, and is well worth reading.
March 22, 2024
"This is, of course, a fantasy novel, not a treatise on theology and salvation."
This is the final sentence of the Notes section at the end of this novel. This statement is both technically true and also a bit disingenuous. Its predecessor, Inferno, contained plenty of theological and philosophical ruminations and conversations, but they served the story and felt naturally integrated into the narrative. In the case of Escape from Hell, it feels more like the story is there to serve the theology and philosophy. At times it reads much like a philosophical dialogue in the classic tradition.
I did enjoy this book. I enjoy spending time in this universe, which may sound perverse since the universe in question is literally Hell. But Niven and Pournelle did a great job of bringing Dante's Inferno to life in their first book of that name, and it was fun to go back and visit familiar places while also discovering some new things (and souls) in this sequel. However, this book is too flawed for me to give it a full 3 stars. I'd rate it 2.5 (and I round down on Goodreads).
The book starts some time after the end of the previous one. Our old friend Allen Carpenter, the late science fiction author, has tried to rescue other souls, as Benito Mussolini rescued him (until they switched places at the end of the previous novel), but has so far been unsuccessful. He is frustrated and depressed and still not sure whether souls can be saved nor what is the purpose of Hell, to say nothing of his own purpose.
The first half of the book is essentially a frame story in which our Carpenter is telling his story to Sylvia Plath, who has become a tree in the Wood of Suicides. After he figures out how to free her from her tree form, they begin their journey down to the center of Hell, where the exit is located. As he spends time with her, he remarks that he thinks he is falling in love with her, albeit not in a sexual way. This is an interesting and new development in this duology (or trilogy if you include Dante's Divine Comedy). However, the authors don't really follow this development to a conclusion of any kind. And periodcially, Carpenter inexplicably snaps at Sylvia with mean and petty comments, before immediately apologizing. We don't see enough of Carpenter's thoughts and feelings to understand why he behaves this way, so it seems to come out of the blue.
Once Allen and Sylvia get on the move, the start to accrue a veritable crowd of human souls they're trying to rescue, plus joining up with another soul who, like Allen, rescues others from Hell. For my taste, the pages become overly congested with characters. It's difficult to keep track of all of them, and individuals lose their impact in the crowd. The prose itself becomes clipped and descriptions bare-boned (so to speak). The reminders of what it feels like to be there, the pain that the souls endure, become too far and few between. So we have characters who are all literally on fire carrying on an argument, with little sense of how being on fire might actually feel or how it would impede one's ability to carry on any kind of conversation. The first novel did a much better job of pacing, world building, and conveying Allen's subjective experience of what it feels like (and smells like) to be moving through Hell.
Finally, the end of this novel was just unsatisfying to me. I felt that the authors set up expectations about the range of possible outcomes and then did something entirely different. Yes, there were some portents throughout about the possibility of an... explosive ending, but not on the scale that occurred. And, again, they failed to follow through on the promises of the Allen-Sylvia relationship arc.
A few other notes. In this book, 9/11 and the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina -- and the various types of corruption that (allegedly) followed them -- all figure prominently. Likewise, global warming, laptop computers, suicide bombers, and other things that were not really on the radar back when the authors wrote the first novel back in the early 70s. As a New Orleanian myself and also an academic who studied the recovery of New Orleans from Katrina, I was amused by the creative license that the authors took to describe New Orleans politics. In this novel, deceased New Orleans power players essentially take over a good bit of the management of Hell. Basically it's determined that the demons aren't creative or nimble enough to manage Hell successfully, so they outsource the management to human souls. Those managers then recruit more human souls, and so co-opting the damned becomes one of the ways that Hell responds and adapts to the threat posed by the likes of Benito and Allen and (in this book) Aimee, who are roaming the Inferno and helping the damned to escape.
All in all, a mixed bag, and only worth the effort if you really loved the first book as I did.
This is the final sentence of the Notes section at the end of this novel. This statement is both technically true and also a bit disingenuous. Its predecessor, Inferno, contained plenty of theological and philosophical ruminations and conversations, but they served the story and felt naturally integrated into the narrative. In the case of Escape from Hell, it feels more like the story is there to serve the theology and philosophy. At times it reads much like a philosophical dialogue in the classic tradition.
I did enjoy this book. I enjoy spending time in this universe, which may sound perverse since the universe in question is literally Hell. But Niven and Pournelle did a great job of bringing Dante's Inferno to life in their first book of that name, and it was fun to go back and visit familiar places while also discovering some new things (and souls) in this sequel. However, this book is too flawed for me to give it a full 3 stars. I'd rate it 2.5 (and I round down on Goodreads).
The book starts some time after the end of the previous one. Our old friend Allen Carpenter, the late science fiction author, has tried to rescue other souls, as Benito Mussolini rescued him (until they switched places at the end of the previous novel), but has so far been unsuccessful. He is frustrated and depressed and still not sure whether souls can be saved nor what is the purpose of Hell, to say nothing of his own purpose.
The first half of the book is essentially a frame story in which our Carpenter is telling his story to Sylvia Plath, who has become a tree in the Wood of Suicides. After he figures out how to free her from her tree form, they begin their journey down to the center of Hell, where the exit is located. As he spends time with her, he remarks that he thinks he is falling in love with her, albeit not in a sexual way. This is an interesting and new development in this duology (or trilogy if you include Dante's Divine Comedy). However, the authors don't really follow this development to a conclusion of any kind. And periodcially, Carpenter inexplicably snaps at Sylvia with mean and petty comments, before immediately apologizing. We don't see enough of Carpenter's thoughts and feelings to understand why he behaves this way, so it seems to come out of the blue.
Once Allen and Sylvia get on the move, the start to accrue a veritable crowd of human souls they're trying to rescue, plus joining up with another soul who, like Allen, rescues others from Hell. For my taste, the pages become overly congested with characters. It's difficult to keep track of all of them, and individuals lose their impact in the crowd. The prose itself becomes clipped and descriptions bare-boned (so to speak). The reminders of what it feels like to be there, the pain that the souls endure, become too far and few between. So we have characters who are all literally on fire carrying on an argument, with little sense of how being on fire might actually feel or how it would impede one's ability to carry on any kind of conversation. The first novel did a much better job of pacing, world building, and conveying Allen's subjective experience of what it feels like (and smells like) to be moving through Hell.
Finally, the end of this novel was just unsatisfying to me. I felt that the authors set up expectations about the range of possible outcomes and then did something entirely different. Yes, there were some portents throughout about the possibility of an... explosive ending, but not on the scale that occurred. And, again, they failed to follow through on the promises of the Allen-Sylvia relationship arc.
A few other notes. In this book, 9/11 and the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina -- and the various types of corruption that (allegedly) followed them -- all figure prominently. Likewise, global warming, laptop computers, suicide bombers, and other things that were not really on the radar back when the authors wrote the first novel back in the early 70s. As a New Orleanian myself and also an academic who studied the recovery of New Orleans from Katrina, I was amused by the creative license that the authors took to describe New Orleans politics. In this novel, deceased New Orleans power players essentially take over a good bit of the management of Hell. Basically it's determined that the demons aren't creative or nimble enough to manage Hell successfully, so they outsource the management to human souls. Those managers then recruit more human souls, and so co-opting the damned becomes one of the ways that Hell responds and adapts to the threat posed by the likes of Benito and Allen and (in this book) Aimee, who are roaming the Inferno and helping the damned to escape.
All in all, a mixed bag, and only worth the effort if you really loved the first book as I did.
September 28, 2021
Escape from Hell (Inferno, #2) by Larry Niven (2009)
Escape from Hell is a fantasy novel written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It is a sequel to Inferno, the 1976 book by the same authors. This is not a stand-alone book. You should read Inferno book one to appreciate this book.
The novel continues the story of deceased science fiction writer Allen Carpenter (who spelled his name "Carpentier" on his novels) in his quest to help other damned souls in Hell. After going all the way down to the bottom of Hell accompanied by Benito Mussolini in Book one, Allen sees Benito escape, but returns because he wants to help other soils escape from hell. Like the first book, “Escape from Hell” extensively references Dante's Inferno.
"'Now what do you believe?'
'I don't know. I believe in you, I guess. You could have gotten out of here. You know what it's like! And you didn't. You believe in something. Tell me what.'
'I believe in justice.'
'Why?'
'I don't know. Doesn't everyone want justice?'
'Some of us want mercy.'
'All right. Justice and mercy. I want to believe that everyone in here can get out.'
'Do you really? Everyone? Doesn't anyone deserve to be here?'
'Benito Mussolini got out!' I was shouting now. 'If he didn't deserve to be here, who does?'" p 30 Exchange with poet Sylvia Plath
Narrated from Carpenter's first-person point of view, the book follows his travels through hell - again - accompanied by poet Sylvia Plath. In his travels, Carpenter meets many well-known individuals deceased as of 2009.
It's very repetitive and the wow factor from the first book is no longer there. The book was a bit boring. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first and would not recommend it.
Escape from Hell is a fantasy novel written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It is a sequel to Inferno, the 1976 book by the same authors. This is not a stand-alone book. You should read Inferno book one to appreciate this book.
The novel continues the story of deceased science fiction writer Allen Carpenter (who spelled his name "Carpentier" on his novels) in his quest to help other damned souls in Hell. After going all the way down to the bottom of Hell accompanied by Benito Mussolini in Book one, Allen sees Benito escape, but returns because he wants to help other soils escape from hell. Like the first book, “Escape from Hell” extensively references Dante's Inferno.
"'Now what do you believe?'
'I don't know. I believe in you, I guess. You could have gotten out of here. You know what it's like! And you didn't. You believe in something. Tell me what.'
'I believe in justice.'
'Why?'
'I don't know. Doesn't everyone want justice?'
'Some of us want mercy.'
'All right. Justice and mercy. I want to believe that everyone in here can get out.'
'Do you really? Everyone? Doesn't anyone deserve to be here?'
'Benito Mussolini got out!' I was shouting now. 'If he didn't deserve to be here, who does?'" p 30 Exchange with poet Sylvia Plath
Narrated from Carpenter's first-person point of view, the book follows his travels through hell - again - accompanied by poet Sylvia Plath. In his travels, Carpenter meets many well-known individuals deceased as of 2009.
It's very repetitive and the wow factor from the first book is no longer there. The book was a bit boring. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first and would not recommend it.
December 5, 2024
Escape from hell review
3.8 ☆
I was so lucky I didn't have to wait 33 years for this sequel 😂
Following Allen through hell was an interesting and thought provoking adventure. I enjoyed the moral questions throughout the story. However, Sylvia Plath, his companion, was terribly written.
She was portrayed as a desperate "girl" and her dialogs didn't seem in character for her. I absolutely HATED when Allen says he's falling in love with her because IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE IN THE STORY. The first half of the book he's talking TO her (she's a tree!). They are not engaging in conversation, she's just asking him to keep talking and he falls in love with her?! Based on what?! In hell?! Where he's trying to figure it all out? It doesn't make sense. It threw me off. It pissed me off.
And throughout both books he is a respectful, well mannered man and out of nowhere he slaps Sylvia's ass??? Out of character for him and completely inappropriate.
Also what the heck was this?:
“Great question,” Sylvia said. “Allen, I suppose you have noticed the smell?” “With wit like that it’s a wonder Ted left you,” I snapped. She turned away.
That was so uncalled for and mean.
Anyways,
The main question this book raised for me was: Can you serve God in hell?
This was a great read and now I'm interested in the Divine Comedy. So, I'll read that next. I need to know what's beyond the grotto ✌️
3.8 ☆
I was so lucky I didn't have to wait 33 years for this sequel 😂
Following Allen through hell was an interesting and thought provoking adventure. I enjoyed the moral questions throughout the story. However, Sylvia Plath, his companion, was terribly written.
She was portrayed as a desperate "girl" and her dialogs didn't seem in character for her. I absolutely HATED when Allen says he's falling in love with her because IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE IN THE STORY. The first half of the book he's talking TO her (she's a tree!). They are not engaging in conversation, she's just asking him to keep talking and he falls in love with her?! Based on what?! In hell?! Where he's trying to figure it all out? It doesn't make sense. It threw me off. It pissed me off.
And throughout both books he is a respectful, well mannered man and out of nowhere he slaps Sylvia's ass??? Out of character for him and completely inappropriate.
Also what the heck was this?:
“Great question,” Sylvia said. “Allen, I suppose you have noticed the smell?” “With wit like that it’s a wonder Ted left you,” I snapped. She turned away.
That was so uncalled for and mean.
Anyways,
The main question this book raised for me was: Can you serve God in hell?
This was a great read and now I'm interested in the Divine Comedy. So, I'll read that next. I need to know what's beyond the grotto ✌️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2024
I was quite disappointed to this sequel to Inferno. First, because it’s basically a longer version of the first book. Carpenter makes his way through the many layers of hell, the only difference being that now instead of being the one led, he’s leading someone else. Second, because the ending is something of a cheat. After going from danger to danger, the reader is left wondering what comes next. Thirdly, their biases against certain beliefs and some of their contemporaries are glaringly obvious.
The worst of that is their description of Carl Sagan and his work. His warning against nuclear winter are presented here as flip-flopping on global warming. The fact that the two are totally different fields of study doesn’t seem to matter. Or that he was proved right on both account (sort of like their blasting of the hole in the ozone layer theory in Lucifer’s Hammer,) is also ignored.
At times the book was pleasantly readable. At other times, their proselytizing got to be too much.
The worst of that is their description of Carl Sagan and his work. His warning against nuclear winter are presented here as flip-flopping on global warming. The fact that the two are totally different fields of study doesn’t seem to matter. Or that he was proved right on both account (sort of like their blasting of the hole in the ozone layer theory in Lucifer’s Hammer,) is also ignored.
At times the book was pleasantly readable. At other times, their proselytizing got to be too much.
October 30, 2024
Christianity is a silly belief system, especially with all the arbitrary rules made up by different denominations, so this Roman Catholic version of hell is hilariously viable. Reading from a somewhat absurdist perspective, it was hard to be offended, the book flowed well and was very funny - even if some of the humor didn't work. I enjoyed this one more than its predecessor.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
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I very much enjoyed the book up until Sylvia Plath got out of the tree.
Rosemary was a great character.
What didn't work for me:
-the authors somehow made Sylvia Plath come across as quite stupid afterwards.
-the priest-molested guy from LA who "liked it" was taking it a bit too far... that whole section was cringe inducing.
-I *hated* the Amy character, it was the only part of the book where I felt I was being proselytized to and it stopped being a fun read. Thankfully the part she was in was brief.
-Picking on Carl Sagan. It didn't quite read as funny as the authors intended.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
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I very much enjoyed the book up until Sylvia Plath got out of the tree.
Rosemary was a great character.
What didn't work for me:
-the authors somehow made Sylvia Plath come across as quite stupid afterwards.
-the priest-molested guy from LA who "liked it" was taking it a bit too far... that whole section was cringe inducing.
-I *hated* the Amy character, it was the only part of the book where I felt I was being proselytized to and it stopped being a fun read. Thankfully the part she was in was brief.
-Picking on Carl Sagan. It didn't quite read as funny as the authors intended.
June 3, 2021
In which our hero, who could have escaped hell, decides to redeem others. There isn't a lot to say about this. I think it would be unreadable without having read the first one. Our hero, Carpentier, standing in for the author, I think, gives up his chance to escape hell in order to help others escape. The theme of justice (something dear to me) is recurring and kept me engaged the whole way through.
The book follows the original Inferno, almost to a fault and we get to see Niven's idea on who would occupy a modern hell. I particularly like the part about the daily punishment for the divorce lawyers... not to give away too much of my own personality. All in all it was a fun read and a satisfying to this short series.
The book follows the original Inferno, almost to a fault and we get to see Niven's idea on who would occupy a modern hell. I particularly like the part about the daily punishment for the divorce lawyers... not to give away too much of my own personality. All in all it was a fun read and a satisfying to this short series.
June 13, 2021
I was reading looking forward to reading this; I enjoyed the previous story so much, and was delighted to find a reasonably priced copy on the interwebs.
I won't say I was disappointed because it was an entertaining read; It started well, but seemed to rush towards the ending. Almost as if the authors were in a hurry to finish.
I liked the depiction of Hell with it's contemporary characters and a smattering of old faces, but the dwelling on the bureaucracy of the underworld, and the use of wandering suicide bombers as a plot device spoiled it for me; hence only three stars.
Despite that, I do recommend reading it and think it just about stands alone as a novel, but it helps if you've read Inferno (or are familiar with the original poem by Dante).
I won't say I was disappointed because it was an entertaining read; It started well, but seemed to rush towards the ending. Almost as if the authors were in a hurry to finish.
I liked the depiction of Hell with it's contemporary characters and a smattering of old faces, but the dwelling on the bureaucracy of the underworld, and the use of wandering suicide bombers as a plot device spoiled it for me; hence only three stars.
Despite that, I do recommend reading it and think it just about stands alone as a novel, but it helps if you've read Inferno (or are familiar with the original poem by Dante).
January 24, 2020
Meh. I read the first book back when I was in college, and loved it front to back. It was the reason that I read the Ciardi translation of the entire Divine Comedy. (Learn from me: Inferno is definitely the most interesting of the three books - unless you have an interest in endless circles of angels singing praises. But I digress.)
At any rate, the second book was about as interesting to me as the endless angel circles. There was So. Much. Name-dropping. And it literally covered the same ground as the first one, right down to quoting multiple paragraphs from the first book.
A disappointment and not recommended.
At any rate, the second book was about as interesting to me as the endless angel circles. There was So. Much. Name-dropping. And it literally covered the same ground as the first one, right down to quoting multiple paragraphs from the first book.
A disappointment and not recommended.
July 11, 2024
I had read the predecessor to this book and loved it. I just discovered that there was a sequel, and it went to number one on my to-read pile. It is different from the first in tone. Both are fantasies of Hell, based on Dante. This one asks the question “Why is there a Hell?” The main character in his travel seeks to find out why he has freedom in Hell, and why some people are put where they are. Seems to be a lot of lawyers and politicians. This is the delight of both books. Discover who gets cast down into hell and what ring they are in.
February 18, 2021
A more literate and philosophical inferno
It has been nearly fifty years since Larry & Jerry created our modern inferno. What a long strange trip it has been. Allen Carpenter, the true hero of Inferno is back with the maturity and wisdom that one would expect of such a one who has taken that journey. As the final page drew to a close, was that moisture in my eyes? And what of the tingle up my spine. May we all rest in peace knowing that inferno is just a story.
It has been nearly fifty years since Larry & Jerry created our modern inferno. What a long strange trip it has been. Allen Carpenter, the true hero of Inferno is back with the maturity and wisdom that one would expect of such a one who has taken that journey. As the final page drew to a close, was that moisture in my eyes? And what of the tingle up my spine. May we all rest in peace knowing that inferno is just a story.
June 10, 2020
A worthy sequel!
I absolutely loved Inferno (the Niven/Pournelle version), and years later was delighted to find they continued the story. If you enjoyed Inferno, you're in for a treat. If you haven't read Inferno, read it first! Then go read Dante's Divine Comedy. You'll never sin again.
I absolutely loved Inferno (the Niven/Pournelle version), and years later was delighted to find they continued the story. If you enjoyed Inferno, you're in for a treat. If you haven't read Inferno, read it first! Then go read Dante's Divine Comedy. You'll never sin again.
October 24, 2024
The first book was good, but not great. This one is really right wing. An abortion is referred to as murder. All divorce lawyers are in hell. Because why wouldn’t they all be there? Obviously they only profited off of tearing apart good marriages. A group who believes in climate change is in hell. This one is just propaganda.
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