Gabriel's Inferno: 1 Paperback – 4 Sept. 2012

This is book fell into my lap ( or my kindle ) quiet by chance, I downloaded Fifty Shades Of Grey (3* at the most) and Amazon recommended Inferno, as they do. I looked at it and read the reviews and I thought "why not?" And I am so glad I did. It is an amazing work of fiction, primarily because the author seems to have had a good classical education, with a knowledge of art, music and literature, a bit of a renaissance man really, and has used this knowledge to enrich a well trodden literary path, of the Romantic Fiction, enhancing the reader's experience 100 fold, and rising it out of the ordinary, boy meets girl and they fall in love bore feat.People will compare Gabriel Emerson and Christian Grey [50 Shade of Grey) as they both started life in the twilight fanfiction-sphere, but whereas Grey is so obviously a naughtier version of Edward Cullen, Emerson bares very little resemblance to the veggie vampire, his darkness is much more believable, his twisted physic more tangible and that is down to the skill of their respective creators, simply put, Reynard is a better writer than Meyers, end of. The character of Julia Mitchell may not be as well rounded as I might have wished but I didn't want to slap her as resoundingly as I did Ms Swan, though I do think that Reynard might have worked a tad harder at making her "secret" a bit more harrowing, once you find out what it is her inability to move past it seems a little bit over-dramatic...I started reading Inferno at bedtime and I could not put it down. It is lyrical and courtesy of the very "snarky" narrator really, really funny (there are parts where I had to stuff the corner of my pillow in my mouth to stop from walking the whole house) it is poignant and just plain beautifully written. Yes it might not be "great" literature, as someone commented in their review, and you can definitely title it "guilty pleasure", but the pleasure you receive from Inferno is that of a bar of Green and Black chocolate as opposed to Cadburys, the ratio of pleasure to guilt is a lot higher, so a lot better for you.People ask what is the point of a Classical Literary education today? I always say how can you build a house without foundation? Most writer regardless of what they are penning seem to stumble around "writing" without any idea of the rich tradition they are following in; they slaughter the English Language, with bad grammar, syntax errors and a lack of vocabulary, Sylvain Reynard writes for today's reader, feeding us what we are use to but with Gabriel's Inferno he also show us that he knows his foundation from his pulp. BUY THIS BOOK TODAY!

I read this book on recommendation after 50 shades of grey. I do not understand the comparisons between the two other than that the male lead in both is a very arrogant possessive but still loveble man. This book is unlike 50 shades as it is not full of kinky sex scenes so if that's what you are after this book is not for you. It builds the love between gabriel and julia very slowly and you have a long wait for them to actually physically express their feelings with sex. The book does not suffer for its lack of sex scenes though. It is well written and the characters both well thought out. You feel their anxieties and past worries with them. Although gabriel is dislikable at first as you get to know him better you can't help but fall for him. It is erotic without the need for lots of sex....he is good at building the tension. So as a lover of 50 shades I still loved this book even though it was not erotic in the same sense of the word. So if you are considering buying this book I say go for it. It is a lovely well written love story and I am definitely going to buy the sequel to see what happens for gabriel and julia.

If you didn't like Fifty Shades for its writing quality then you'd love this. It's well written, has complicated but well balanced characters with a complex history and has a lot of insightful facts about Italian Literature. If however, you are looking for sex and something to replace the empty void left by FSoG, then I don't think this is for you.For one,it has a much slower pace, in that the characters take their time getting 'together' when you know that inevitably, that's where they will end up. It's not a bad thing, but I would have preferred them to be more upfront with each other and not leave so many moments left unsaid. It seemed a little too 'rom com' in that way, because certain situations were handled weirdly by such 'academically smart' people.I also got a little annoyed with the main character constantly calling his love interest 'Beatrice' when he knew who she was and what her name is. I didn't get it, but that's just my opinion.I read both books and I think the story between the two characters gets better in Gabriel's Rapture, but you have to read Gabriel's Inferno to really understand what the history between the two damaged people. The story gets better as you read it and my personal favourite was Gabriel's Rapture because you really notice the characters growing and exploring with/and each other, and I think that's what might have been missing,slightly, in Gabriel's Inferno.Ultimately, it is an interesting story with twists and turns that you will probably see a mile away, but it has love, an intrigue, the 'want to have you but cant' type of romance and a couple of sex scenes. It didn't grab me or stay with me for weeks like FSoG did, but for those who didn't love Fifty Shades, would probably love this. It is a long story that doesn't move that quick, and you won't really understand why the characters behave the way they do (for such a big book, I'm surprised so many questions were left unanswered, but it's well written with interesting Italian Literature subtext and you won't hate it, you'll just wish it was just this little bit 'more' different.

Fiquei curiosa sobre este livro. Adorei a história

Definitely solidly in the romance category, with all that that entails. But gripping in it's exploration of deeper themes such as religion, faith, grief, pseudo-religiousity, academic snobbery. I would definitely say this is an epic of tge romance genre. I read this after watching the first three movies, and still greatly enjoyed this book.

I read in in kindle, i love this book.

When I first read Fifty Shades of Grey it was out of curiosity since romance was not my genre of fiction reading, I then read it several times, bypassing the bdsm (was educational) but it does not float my boat, thought this was an exceptional and erotic love story and the best romance story I ever read. Subsequently when I could read no more, I suffered from withdrawal and bought several authors who all came out of the woodwork to capture the FSOG audience, I threw all those books in the garbage. There are currently 6 authors I will re-read in this quality of romance and Sylvain Reynard (SR) is at the top of the list. Not into bdsm romance, chic lit, YA, paranormal, vampires etc.Stumbled over the Gabriel Inferno/Rapture and stayed up till the break of dawn enthralled with this erotic love story, with an intellectual point of view. I love books that have a takeaway, and the Gabriel series did that for me, I am so intrigued with Dante and Beatrice and Renaissance art and literature I was left wanting to know more. Not particularly inclined to poetry but am open to experience what I never learned. Some might balk at the religious inference but the life of Dante was during the 13th century when religion and politics influenced each other, keeping in mind Dante's questioning of his life and his redemption was based on biblical teachings and it was obvious Dante was of the catholic faith. I loved the life of St. Francis of Assisi even though I am not of the catholic faith; the current Pope is an example of St. Francis. The Gabriel series made me yearn to visit Assisi.I thought SR captured the relationship between Dante and Beatrice and skilfully wove it into the lives of the Professor and Julianne and made it current. Who did not fall in love with this troubled, enigmatic, sexy Professor? His sartorial elegance seemed to be a cover for how conflicted he feels about himself and his demons. I loved that he was not a pretty package and that he was so highly educated and intellectual and enjoyed the finer things in life, some of which was not so complimentary. I was somewhat perturbed by the way he `worshiped' Julia, as if she was the epitome of perfection, which she was not. But it later turns out he was seeking redemption - maybe thru her own goodness and spiritual beliefs, he somehow finds the better parts of himself as his love for her evolves and escalates into a heated affair to the exclusion of jeopardizing his job and tenure the University of Toronto. Thought the Professor's choice of radio stations were boring......CBC and BBC!! I loved that the Manulife building is a place I have known and all the familiar sights and sounds of Toronto, what a pleasant change to most books written in and around the U.S.Julia with her innocence and her abiding love for Gabriel who captured her heart at 17 and influenced her career as a Dante specialist, takes us on her tumultuous journey from her troubled childhood to becoming Gabriel's post grad student unbeknownst to him at the time. I loved that she never gave up on him no matter what, or maybe until she thought he deliberately broke her heart. I loved all the intellectual bits and pieces and the reality of politics even in academia.I loved the whole premise of love, forgiveness, faith, redemption which gives us all hope thru our own belief system. I loved the whole courtship until it was no more, loved all of the experiences in Italy, made me want to pack my suitcase and take off and go drink some wine in Italy. I loved the storytelling between these two and how healing her love was to Gabriel who was trying to escape his demons. Courtship today is unheard of.Looking forward to the release of Gabriel's Redemption and the continuation of this most passionate, romantic love story that just grabs your attention from the first go and doesn't let you go. Well done SR, you are a keeper, now have purchased the whole trilogy for my bookshelf.

This is my first Amazon review. I've never felt compelled enough to write one, but this book truly affected me.Let me start by saying that I read FSOG in a fit of guilty pleasure. I don't ever want to tell anyone, EVER, that I've read it- not because of the sex scenes, but because it was so terribly written. I relished the book, though. It made me happy to read about two people "in love". Yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before, fifty is badly written. But I'd never read romance novels in general, and later was losing myself, again and again, into various erotic novels for the sheer guilty pleasure. This is how I came across Gabriel's Inferno.I didn't realize what I had been looking for until I read this novel. I didn't read the other books for the sex scenes. I read them because, deep down, I liked the idea of a slightly controlling man falling in love with an average woman.This was the first romance novel I've read that I found even remotely believable. I came to like the characters because of the qualities I saw in them, not because of what one character had to explain to me about another. At first, I found the POV switches to be confusing, but I think that the author did a great job making it clear who was speaking/thinking at each point that I was over the annoyance in a few pages. I enjoyed being able to see things from many POVs, without being stuck in each character's head for too long. It seems too easy to write a book in first person, but this author wrote in 3rd, enabling us to see a much clearer picture.I also REALLY liked that it wasn't full of fluff. That comes with the territory of 3rd person, but I enjoyed not having to read repetitive phrases exclaiming what a character was thinking. This author added some character thoughts, but left us to infer what they wanted to continue with, while not explicitly spelling it out. It was refreshing, after two weeks of reading crappy self-published or expensively-published-for-the-sole-purpose-of-a-profit material, to not be treated like a complete idiot by the author. The scenes were descriptive enough to allow the reader to start the image and finish it for themselves, while avoiding describing worthless things. I consistently checked on the percent progress while reading the book on my iPad, and was always frustrated when the number got higher. I never wanted it to end. It was long, yes, but every detail, every conversation had meaning that contributed to the quality of the book.For those of you who like FSOG or other dominating Alpha-male-turned-monogamous-wealthy-man types, you get a good amount of the Alpha male tendencies. What I like the most about this book, however, is how the man truly WANTS the change that he is undertaking. In all of the other erotic Alpha male novels I've read, he changes to be monogamous and stays wealthy, but continues to emotionally abuse his supposedly female counterpart by controlling her every move. Gabriel never tries to f**k Julia into submission; he actually wants Julia to trust him, and not because he has a giant penis. I like the emotional connection that he weaves before he has sex with her- he doesn't try to f**k her into liking her or making her tell him she loves him. She loves him for him, not because he can please her. I really appreciated that. It was true and real, and readers can see that he loves her for her heart, and is restraining himself until she gives that to him.Many have complained that the novel is pretentious, with all the references to Dante and different mythologies. When I read this book, I knew the bare minimum about the Dante story, and still appreciated the many themes that the author used. I didn't think it was pretentious at all. I thought it was beautiful- the way she weaved the story around the two main characters while using metaphors to explain their relationship. You don't need to be well versed in literature to appreciate the words, you just need to be open minded and not dense.Overall, I was truly struck by how beautiful the story was. I loved that I enjoyed the characters from their actions, rather than another character's declaration of sudden and true love. (Yes, I know I've said this before, but it's true.) I love that I saw their flaws and I love that there was a slight mystery tone throughout the book and the characters didn't reveal all of their secrets immediately. And most of all, I loved that their love was realistic. The circumstances may not have been (come on, it's pretty unlikely that you'd fall in love with a rich man. I mean, really....), but I saw why they accepted each others' flaws without having to be told why. I saw their attraction develop beyond just looks- I understood that their souls were drawn together. I felt them fall in love, and I knew why, without having to be told.That's why this is a beautiful story. Not because it's pretentious or fanfic or a romance. It's because I cared for the characters, and felt what they felt. They used sentiments to fall in love, not actions. The reader could feel their tension, but understand at the same time. Romance isn't about f*****g someone into doing what you want. It's about being shown and showing that you love, care, and feel for another person. That's what this novel does. Makes you feel.