The first ... half, or third, or two-thirds--it's been decades, and I don't remember where the break is--of Purgatorio was also a good read, not wildly dissimilar in content and theme from Inferno (though obviously redemption was happening in Purgatorio and approximately impossible in Inferno). The back portion of Purgatorio and Paradiso are certainly less my jam, and at least in the Ciardi translation more notes-laden, but my take is that those "fun" parts of the Comedy don't make sense--or at least make less sense--if you don't read the rest of it.
Fun fact- beneath the mask? It's John Milton.