Customer Reviews

Inferno (Indigo, Book 2)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An original plot. Louise really has so many elements in her novels, despite the fact they aren't terribly long. It is easy to over look them. Her look at the pressure to conform in society, fear of man and the unknown, the effects of religious fanatacism, and how subjectivity can obscure reality. In Inferno, Indigo finds a religious group falling apart, literally, from the effects of their new found deity, Charchad. This is perhaps the most physical demon Indigo faces. The story's resolution is on par for Louise Cooper, where this book gets outstanding is the powerful, and nearly overwhelming imagery she creates. As one reviewer noted you can almost feel the heat, the nacreous glow of decay that the Charchad emminates you can so easily envision. You can feel the community decaying as you read. A strong first challenge for Indigo and it really grabs a hold of you. Plus even though you can feel the evil of the Demon Cooper doesn't create a derivative demon at all. It isn't growly and melodramatic, it feels alien and perhaps even insane, but evil nonetheless. Enjoy.

"Inferno" finds Princess Anghara/Indigo and her stuttering wolf in a burning realm of torment and terror. A village of copper miners is coerced into joining the cult of Charchad, who turns out to be one of the demons that Anghara/Indigo loosed upon the world in Book One of this series. Anyway, Charchad forces the villagers to mine uranium (we never learn why), and death, radiation poisoning, and really icky mutations make life miserable for all who stumble into his realm. Indigo and Grimya, her talking wolf, join forces with Jasker, a priest of the Fire Goddess Ranaya, in order to destroy the cult of Charchad and the demon, Aszareel.

Indigo spends a large part of "Inferno" trapped in lava flows, torturing a mine overseer (who, admittedly, is slimy, revolting character), and snarling at her allies. I can't figure out why anyone would like her or want to help her, especially the poor wolf.

"Nemesis: Book One of Indigo" was definitely a better read than "Inferno: Book Two of Indigo". I'm still debating whether I should venture into Book Three. I keep hoping Indigo will lose the stuttering wolf and develop a more winning personality, because I really admire Louise Cooper's writing ability. Her "Time Master" trilogy is one of the best reads in Fantasy.
Maybe the "Indigo" series is just not for me. Check out "Inferno" if you must, but Niven & Pournelle's "Inferno" is a far better read (not to mention Dante Alighieri's).

Inferno is book two of Louise Cooper's Indigo series, and it follows on from the events of Nemesis (book one). Although it's probably not absuloubtly essential to read Nemesis before picking this one up (the overal plot is simplistic enough that you could probably pick up on what's going on without having to read the previous book for everything to make sense) I would certainly recommend doing so. Not only is Nemesis an enjoyable read, it also has a lot of development to the characters and the overal plot which you would be missing out on if you attempted to start straight with Inferno.

In Inferno, Indigo's quest to slay the seven demons that she unwittingly unleashed upon the world in Nemesis (book one) takes her to a scorched land polluted by the first amongst her seven demon quarry's evil influence.

This is an enjoyable book. I loved the atmosphere, could almost feel the heat and the ash of the scorched landscape that Indigo must wander in search of the first demon. It's a short book, and sadly, may even be a bit too long already. I was ready for the climax when it came, since I'd begun to find the descriptions of fire and ash a bit repetative.

But the book had me absorbed right until the end. Sure, perhaps it's a bit predictable, but I still really enjoyed reading Cooper's wonderful descriptions; she really captures Indigo's fear and loneliness and grief over her situation and this adds an element of depth to the story which would have left it lacking without.

This series, so far, has not been one of Louise Cooper's stronger works, as it lacks much of the complexity that I've come to love in many of her other titles, but it's an enjoyable read with an atmosphere that's quite haunting.

Our wandering hero confronts her first demon in Inferno, and Cooper does not disappoint. From beginning to end, this story moves, and is populated by interesting characters.

Nemesis, Book 1, was a kind of promise to the reader to deliver seven sequels of harrowing tales of good vs. evil. This is the first delivery, and Cooper nails it.

After a promising beginning with Nemesis, the Indigo series falls into a dip in Inferno. Indigo is led by her quest of reparation to a mining town on the edge of a desert. As they arrive in the town, it is clear that something is very wrong and Indigo does not have to look much farther to find one of her demons...

The character of Indigo is a lot of what made Nemesis such an interesting book. She is a little bit faded here, and much more predictable than she was initially. The plot is very flat, and many of the plot points feel like retreads of the first book. Worst of all, Indigo becomes tiresome and petulant instead of convincingly enraged. Her challenge could have been handled with much more depth than it really was.

Cooper remains a talented writer, and I realize that this book is not a good indication of her skills. This is really a two and a half star review, but I am giving it a little bounce for the promising start in the first book. I will give the third a try, and see if it improves.

Indigo's journey takes place five years after book one and she's comes to this town being tyrantically controlled by a cult. It doesn't take long to realize that the first of the demons is at hand in this cult and Indigo, along with Grimya, and Jasker a priest of fire must face this threat. But the greatest threat is not within the cult, but from within Indigo herself.

This book is not my favorite of the Indigo series, but it does have a very important role on Indigo's personality. Really exploring her temper and sense of hatred.

Not my favorite, but a must read.

I haven't read the first book of the series because it's out of print, but I was tremendously curious about the series so I started with the second book(I hope the first, third and fourth books will be available again soon, because I really hate not to read the books by their order). I haven't regreted my choice because the book is very good. In this book Indigo is trying to hunt the first of the demons she has foolishly released from the tower of regrets(I don't know how because I haven't read the first book), the demon really is all a demon should be and we really go through some moments of suspense along the book. Indigo's she-wolf companion(she talks!) is very likeable and important in some of the books crucial moments(Nemesis plays her tricks), and they also have the help of a poweful priest of Ranaya who deals a lot with some spectacular fire spells. The name of the book is very adequate and present through all the the story, sometimes you think you can feel the heat!

I absolutely love this book it has a lot of emotions. As I read the book I felt emotionally involved. I think that the book was well written because the author able to make me feel like I was one of the characters in the book. There was a time when I felt cheated because Quinas acted as if he was really hurt by what Indigo and Jasker's elementals had done to him. The telepathic she-wolf really did care for her friend yet, Indigo didn't see that. Nemesis, Indigo's enemy that will dog her in her footsteps, had such a hold on her that she couldn't see that.

I was given the first three books by a friend, and have since scoured the bookstores and whatnot to find the rest of the series, these books are wonderful. Louise Cooper writes an engrosing yarn in a unique world, with wonderful characters...I highly reccomend this series