Rating: 4/5
Review:
A very good read
I enjoyed this book very much. It is aimed at roughly 10-13 year-olds, but I think older teenagers and adults would also enjoy it.
As its title suggests, this is a sort of re-telling of Dante's story of his journey through Hell, set in the present day. There are some neat allusions to the original which those who have read it will enjoy, some characters and torments retold as they were in the original, and some very effective updatings. The narrative is exciting and gripping, and I became very engrossed in it. Ante, the main protagonist, is an engaging character with many of an insecure twelve-year-old's anxieties very well portrayed; I found her character and her struggles with her fears very convincing and involving.
I won't give away too much plot, but the three children making their way through Hell all have their difficulties and misadventures and, as in a good morality tale, all learn from their experience. This may sound a bit turgid and worthy, but it's not - it's a cracking read and a thoroughly enjoyable book with genuine moral and intellectual content. I'm not sure it was so truly outstanding as to merit five stars, but it's very good and warmly recommended.
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