Essentially, he travels through Hell twice in this novel. Especially when the first part of the book is Allen relating his travels after Benito had escaped in the previous book, and then doing it all over again in the next section of the current one. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable, but it gets a little tiresome. Satan's servants allow him a mostly free reign to do so, just like they did with Benito in the first book, and readers of the first book can see the strong similarities between the two. Why is he there? Why are others there? Does anyone deserve to suffer in such cruel and imaginative ways? While asking these questions he also wanders through Hell gathering lost souls for an escape attempt and having philosophical discussions not only about Hell's purpose, but also who has committed which sin.

No longer convinced he's in some sort of futuristic alien theme park, Carpenter continues his pondering from the previous book. We've been there, we've seen that and we have the Infernoland t-shirt. In fact, it suffers from something a lot of sequels do. It's a classic and one of the two authors' best collaborative efforts.Įscape From Hell, while entertaining, isn't as good as that first book.

For those who didn't read the book Inferno, by the same authors, stop reading this review and go check that one out first. Like Benito Mussolini before him, Allen, in Pournelle's and Niven's Escape From Hell, is now the one outside Hell's rules and on a mission to save as many souls as he can.

List Price $24.95 Amazon US / Amazon UK / Show Official Info /Īllen Carpenter has been in Hell for a long long time, and what has he been up to since last we saw him traveling through Dante's Inferno with Benito Mussolini? Trying to reason out the existence and reason for Hell, and encouraging everyone he comes across to follow him to the way out.

Escape from hell larry niven