Dante is determined to become popular at his new school, moving on from the infamous incident when his trousers fell down, revealing his teddy bear underpants to the whole school. But at Purg High, where trolls, ghouls and other mythical creatures roam, this won’t be easy. Lots of fun and perfect for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

A dweebish schoolkid, newly moved up to the bigger school, is fretting about being thought the loser that everyone in his old school – and indeed his entire town – knows him as. That's the scenario here, and it was so virtually adult-proof and slow-moving that I nearly gave up before this proved to be interested in cramming both Greek myth and Dante's Inferno into things. I think it could have stuck with one or the other – although let's face it, most schoolkids haven't turned to Dante that often, even the comic book adaptations such as Hunt Emerson's. So it is a little peculiar to have both things added here for more mature in-jokes and Easter eggs the intended reader will probably never get, and this did need to have a bit more opening oomph. But it seemed to stand as its own thing by the end (and not a "Loki" rip-off), it did have some interesting beats, and it did manage a sensible, full narrative. However, knowing this could have been better, it gets three and a half stars maximum, and the final verdict that it might be worth a library loan, but potentially no more.

A fun read and I gave it all the stars purely because of the artwork, which is brilliant. I loved the references to Dante - from Virgil and Milton to the fires of Brimstone but I'd have loved to see more of this world and more of that comical context because I think most (the overwhelming majority?) of young readers won't get the references at all. It feels like something's missing if the joke can't be fully appreciated by the core target audience. Especially when there's so much fun to be had with it! Absolutely love the concept. And that artwork really made me smile.

This was loads of fun! Like Wimpy Kid, but in hell essentially. Made me chuckle. It’s full of puns, friendship and learning to look at life with a bit of optimism!

I like Brian Gordon, and a middle grader called Dante N. (full name is revealed in the book) Ferno sounded like an interesting character, so I requested to read this book.
My 10-year-old is a fan of witty books that read like diaries written by a child character.
So, another bonus.
I want to do this justice here - the concept and Dante are interesting. Lots of fire and brimstones in this book.
The target audience (7+) might enjoy this, however I expected more in terms of the plot, jokes and characterisation.
My child gave it 3.5/5.
I thought it was well-designed and had some funny jokes and cute moments but that the real potential of this was not fully explored.
2.5/5 from me.