I am the Shade.
Through the dolent city, I flee.
Through the eternal woe, I take flight.
Along the banks of the river Arno, I scramble, breathless . . . turning left onto Via dei Castellani, making my way northward, huddling in the shadows of the Uffizi.
And still they pursue me.
Their footsteps grow louder now as they hunt with relentless determination.
For years they have pursued me. Their persistence has kept me underground . . . forced me to live in purgatory . . . laboring beneath the earth like a chthonic monster.
I am the Shade.
Here aboveground, I raise my eyes to the north, but I am unable to find a direct path to salvation . . . for the Apennine Mountains are blotting out the first light of dawn.
I pass behind the palazzo with its crenellated tower and one- handed clock . . . snaking through the early- morning vendors in Piazza San Firenze with their hoarse voices smelling of lampredotto and roasted olives. Crossing before the Bargello, I cut west toward the spire of the Badia and come up hard against the iron gate at the base of the stairs.
Here all hesitation must be left behind.
I turn the handle and step into the passage from which I know there will be no return. I urge my leaden legs up the narrow staircase . . . spiraling skyward on soft marble treads, pitted and worn.
The voices echo from below. Beseeching.
They are behind me, unyielding, closing in.
They do not understand what is coming . . . nor what I have done for them!
Ungrateful land!
As I climb, the visions come hard . . . the lustful bodies writhing in fiery rain, the gluttonous souls floating in excrement, the treacherous villains frozen in Satan's icy grasp.
I climb the final stairs and arrive at the top, staggering near dead into the damp morning air. I rush to the head- high wall, peering through the slits. Far below is the blessed city that I have made my sanctuary from those who exiled me.
The voices call out, arriving close behind me. "What you've done is madness!"
Madness breeds madness.
"For the love of God," they shout, "tell us where you've hidden it!"
For precisely the love of God, I will not.
I stand now, cornered, my back to the cold stone. They stare deep into my clear green eyes, and their expressions darken, no longer cajoling, but threatening. "You know we have our methods. We can force you to tell us where it is."
For that reason, I have climbed halfway to heaven.
Without warning, I turn and reach up, curling my fingers onto the high ledge, pulling myself up, scrambling onto my knees, then standing. . . unsteady at the precipice. Guide me, dear Virgil, across the void.
They rush forward in disbelief, wanting to grab at my feet, but fearing they will upset my balance and knock me off. They beg now, in quiet desperation, but I have turned my back. I know what I must do.
Beneath me, dizzyingly far beneath me, the red tile roofs spread out like a sea of fire on the countryside, illuminating the fair land upon which giants once roamed . . . Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Botticelli.
I inch my toes to the edge.
"Come down!" they shout. "It's not too late!"
O, willful ignorants! Do you not see the future? Do you not grasp the splendor of my creation? The necessity?
I will gladly make this ultimate sacrifice . . . and with it I will extinguish your final hope of finding what you seek.
You will never locate it in time.
Hundreds of feet below, the cobblestone piazza beckons like a tranquil oasis. How I long for more time . . . but time is the one commodity even my vast fortunes cannot afford.
In these final seconds, I gaze down at the piazza, and I behold a sight that startles me.
I see your face.
You are gazing up at me from the shadows. Your eyes are mournful, and yet in them I sense a veneration for what I have accomplished. You understand I have no choice. For the love of Mankind, I must protect my masterpiece.
It grows even now . . . waiting . . . simmering beneath the bloodred waters of the lagoon that reflects no stars.
And so, I lift my eyes from yours and I contemplate the horizon. High above this burdened world, I make my final supplication.
Dearest God, I pray the world remembers my name not as a monstrous sinner, but as the glorious savior you know I truly am. I pray Mankind will understand the gift I leave behind.
My gift is the future.
My gift is salvation.
My gift is Inferno.
With that, I whisper my amen . . . and take my final step, into the abyss.
Chapter 1
The memories materialized slowly . . . like bubbles surfacing from the darkness of a bottomless well.
A veiled woman.
Robert Langdon gazed at her across a river whose churning waters ran red with blood. On the far bank, the woman stood facing him, motionless, solemn, her face hidden by a shroud. In her hand she gripped a blue tainia cloth, which she now raised in honor of the sea of corpses at her feet. The smell of death hung everywhere.
Seek, the woman whispered. And ye shall find.
Langdon heard the words as if she had spoken them inside his head. "Who are you?" he called out, but his voice made no sound.
Time grows short, she whispered. Seek and find.
Langdon took a step toward the river, but he could see the waters were bloodred and too deep to traverse. When Langdon raised his eyes again to the veiled woman, the bodies at her feet had multiplied. There were hundreds of them now, maybe thousands, some still alive, writhing in agony, dying unthinkable deaths . . . consumed by fire, buried in feces, devouring one another. He could hear the mournful cries of human suffering e
最近這類型的書看瞭很多,詳見本人對Michael Byrnes的書評。我是一時興起買此書的,沒想到不僅絲毫沒讓我失望,反而字裏行間都充滿瞭驚喜!
評分全球發行都沒多長時間,京東竟然就已經有瞭,拿迴來一看感覺真心不錯。首先從書的裝幀來說品質絕對高端,紙張很考究(畢竟是Printed in USA) 丹布朗的小說一嚮是以Acknowledgements 和Facts組成,從這部小說的內容來看,現實性好像略微有點遙遠,畢竟不是每個會英語的人都會意大利語。在小說的一些語言對話裏齣現的意大利文並沒有為英語讀者很明確的給齣對應的英語翻譯,但也正是因為如此小說開篇便渲染除瞭一幅非常有異域情調的氛圍,從主人公離奇的夢境迴歸到現實這一寫法也確實略顯老套。相較於對以往丹布朗作品的開篇的高節奏,強烈化的戲劇衝突,包括人物的死亡,在這部作品中卻齣現的靠後瞭很多。也不妨說丹布朗在這幾年的寫法構思上逐漸慢熱化,也能夠擯棄一些浮誇的描寫從而更加凸顯主題。這部小說從銷量上可能不一定能趕得上前幾部非常經典的作品,但是其內容的深度仍然非常值得研究。開篇的一句The darkest place in the hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. 為整部作品奠定瞭一中很嚴肅的基調,由於涉及到但丁的作品"Inferno",內容也多牽扯於死亡。整體上來說,這仍然是一部讓人期待的作品,不忍心太快讀完。
評分引申為"風流浪子,好色之徒"),能用六種語言泡妞,參與負責美國的火星探索計劃(喜歡邀請看上的女孩去火星兜風,也因此在第二季引發一場事故,遺憾地與
評分一直擔任布朗編輯的Jason Kaufman ,Doubleday的副總裁和執行編輯說:“隨著我們翻開丹 布朗新作的第一頁,我們將踏入一個令人著迷的曆史、藝術、符號和謎題完美結閤的世界。這是丹獨有的能力。小說《煉獄》中,羅伯特 蘭登返迴歐洲中心,這令我們格外興奮。主人公在那裏被一個仿佛與現實世界都有聯係的神秘空間所纏繞,被但丁傑作中的既不祥然而真實迷惑的細節緊緊地聯係在一起。”
評分“火星生命發現者”的稱號失之交臂),其實Howard不過是個喜歡拿一些過時的手段把妹的傢夥,很多時候他的把妹手法都讓對方感到惡心。來自印度的
評分「一部精采的驚悚小說。故事架構龐大卻不失可信度,劇情開展速度令人眼花繚亂,場景令人信服,討人歡心與惹人討厭的角色也調配得恰到好處。丹布朗以精密的科學資訊與軍事細節穿插其中,讓故事讀來更渾然天成。」 ——《齣版人周刊》
評分他稱自己是加州理工學院的"卡薩諾瓦"(1725-1798,意大利冒險傢,以所寫的包括他的許多風流韻事的《自傳》而著稱,後來該詞被
評分還沒有看,但是很期待啊。沒有塑封,當保存完好。很厚,但是很輕!
評分「一部精采的驚悚小說。故事架構龐大卻不失可信度,劇情開展速度令人眼花繚亂,場景令人信服,討人歡心與惹人討厭的角色也調配得恰到好處。丹布朗以精密的科學資訊與軍事細節穿插其中,讓故事讀來更渾然天成。」 ——《齣版人周刊》
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