Ante's Inferno

Griselda Heppel
12 year-old Ante Alganesh has a problem. It’s lunchbreak and Florence’s gang are after her.
Desperate for a place to hide, she climbs the forbidden staircase to the old organ loft, from which a hundred years ago a boy fell to his death.
As Florence approaches, Ante is forcde to make a life or death decision that plunges them both into the Underworld – a dark land where mythical monsters stalk the twisted path that leads to the centre of Hell itself.
Battling the terrifying creatures that dwell in the shadows is bad enough; worse is the doubt forming in Ante’s mind.
Is Florence dead?
And did Ante kill her?
Ante’s Inferno is a book about a girl called Antonia Alganesh or Ante for short Ante got into her school on a music scholarship, but at her school, were her arch enemies Florence and her gang. One day Ante went for her lunch break and the worst possible thing happened, Florence was after her. Ante didn’t know why, she had no memory of her ever being mean or spiteful to Florence. As Florence got closer Ante climbed into the forbidden organ loft were a hundred years ago a young boy fell to his death. Ante hears Florence and hides, as she does she hears a horrible thud that turns her life upside-down. Florence had fallen down on to the hard floor, in panic Ante jumps down to see her, and as she does she plunges them both into the underworld.
In the darkness she meets a boy, a boy called Gil the same one that fell those hundred years ago. Ante doesn’t understand. Is she dead? Where is Florence? When she and Gil finally find her they go and get their ticket out of the underworld, they face the not so normal guard dog, make some friends playing an unusual game of cricket, trap the Minotaur, and survive a chaotic trip to a shopping Maul (yes that is the correct spelling!) They also get battered by freezing cold conditions, play a nasty game of world war one and face the devil himself. They make it to the centre of hell, had Ante killed Florence? Who will make it out? Well I’m not telling you! Find out yourself!
This book leaves you on the edge of your seat. At the start I found it quite hard to read but once I was in, I was in, there was no stopping me. It drags you in and it’s a struggle to get out again. This book would be for 10 year olds+ I think it would be a bit difficult to read for anyone smaller than 10. Definitely a very good book! I will recommend it to some of my friends.
Verdict If I’m honest this wouldn’t be the kind of book I would pick off the shelf and read (books about death and the underworld aren’t really my thing) but I was pleasantly surprised. I was glad I read it and am pleased that I have widened my reading genre’s. If you want to find out how good it is check it out yourself… I’m still not going to tell you the ending!
About 7 out of 10 I would say.
Reviewed by Daisy