Customer Reviews

The Elder Scrolls: The Infernal City

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm a big TES fan. So of course I rush out to buy this puppy the moment Hasting's opened and read it the same day.

If you're not a TES fan, some of the details might elude you, but the overall story will be pretty easy to grasp. If you're the type of person who likes having all the background explained to you, you might want to read it in front of a computer with your browser open to The Imperial Library (a google search should turn it up as the first hit).

The Infernal City was a fun, quick read. I enjoyed it. There's one part in particular that pretty much screamed TES, and that made the whole thing worth reading in and of itself. TES fans will find that Tamriel has changed slightly in some places, more drastically in others. That also makes the book required reading for TES fans.

The main plot, however, isn't so strong. Without the TES background, it would be relegated to "nothing special." I think that's really what hurts the book the most. I can understand wanting to leave the truly epic TES plots for the games, but that left the book with a rather "meh" plot.

My biggest gripe with the The Infernal City is the ending. The book's not terribly short, but it ends rather abruptly for one set of characters, and I'm still not sure if a page or two went missing or what. It also screams "The next book will be a sequel," leaving me with what feels suspiciously like half a book. One set of characters had a good, solid, end-of-a-book ending, the other set were left hanging with no resolution of any kind. Acceptable in comics, yes, not so much in books. Nothing for those characters was resolved, and I feel rather cheated in that regard. Now I have to wait for the next one to come out before I get any resolution at all.

So overall, a good, fun book. Not a GREAT book, and it will certainly be improved upon with a sequel and some resolution, but definitely a good read for the TES fan.

The Infernal City is a new novel by an accomplished sci-fi/fantasy writer. It is based upon a world from a popular video game and is a well written novel.

This novel is very fantastical in its writing. It is a new and vibrant world and very unique. There are cat people, lizard people, human, orcs, and other forms of life. The most creative portions of the novel are the ½ of the book spent in the floating city. This portion is written from the perspective of two protagonists who find a way to "fly" up to the city. This city is completely unlike anything I have read before. It exists in a rigid cast system and this cast system seems to be most highly based on culinary abilities. That's right, the cities structure is based on chefs. There are coups to take over other kitchens, chef assassinations, culinary explorations, ect. The lower casts exist to serve and process the food and the higher casts seem primarily to consume the food and the "souls" which are imparted into the food. This is shallow overview of the city so as to not give spoilers, but it is a completely new and very creative place.

On the downside, this book is very short, around 280 pages. For a novel that exists in a very complex world, this is on the light side. For example, Greg Keyes last series was four novels covered about 2000 pages to explore that world. This series will be 2 novels around 500-600 pages total. From this first book, I would say this world is much more complex than that in the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. I wish the author had taken more time to explore this new world and further develop the characters. Perhaps the assumption is that many of the readers will have played the video game and therefore have a broader baseline understanding than I had. Having now written novels based on movies (Star Wars novels) and video games (this novel), I find myself wishing Mr. Keyes would spend more time developing his own worlds and stories, rather than delving into the worlds of others.

On the whole, this is a well written and tight novel. The characters are drawn well, though lightly. The world is unique and fun to explore, but underdeveloped by the short novel. I give it a rating of 3.5 and will read the next novel.

Greg Keyes, The Infernal City (Del Rey, 2009)

How on Earth did it not occur to me when I first read the description for this a couple of months ago that "the first of two exhilarating novels" meant this was the first in a series? I try to wait until most, if not all, of a series is out before reading it these days (George R. R. Martin has taught me well). Not that I would probably have listened to my own advice in this case had I read that correctly. Elder Scrolls novels? I'm going to hop on that train from day one. Which I did, actually; I almost never pre-order novels, but the second I had book money, I tossed an order in for this (about a month before its release). So, yeah, there's been "waiting" all around where this sucker is concerned. Including the month between my finishing the book and my typing this. (I lost the first draft of my review for this book in a power outage and have been truculent about recreating the review ever since.) None of this, of course, has anything whatsoever to do with The Infernal City. I'm not usually big on novels adapted from games, but the Elder Scrolls world is something well beyond most game worlds, and I figured if any game world was detailed enough to make its novels worth reading, Tamriel would be it. While Keyes doesn't often stray outside the conventions that annoy me about most game-world books, he's still a good enough writer to make this worth reading, and the second book (whenever it appears) worth waiting for.

The book centers mostly on Annaig and Mere-Glim, a human and Argonian, respectively, from the Black Marsh. (If you don't know what an Argonian is, I cannot encourage you enough to run out and get yourself a copy of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as fast as you can. Most computers produced in the last ten years should be able to handle Morrowind, but you'll need a much beefier box for Oblivion.) Annaig is something of a mage-in-training, though with the destruction of the Mages Guild (and when did THAT happen? Note that the book takes place forty years after the end of TES: Oblivion) she's got little to go and and is mostly teaching herself. Mere-Glim, who's something of a rogue, is a friend of Annaig's (and sometime unwilling guinea pig). The two of them, after hearing rumors of a huge floating city heading for the Black Marsh, decide to investigate, but events on the ground push them into it a lot faster than they would have moved otherwise. In any case, when they get there, they find that even the oddest things they know about their own world are nothing in comparison to this. Meanwhile, an Imperial City prince, also heading off to investigate the floating city, goes missing, and one of the last remaining Imperial mages is on his trail.

While the jacket copy makes it seem as if these four characters will eventually meet up and form a typical adventuring party, if that's going to happen, it'll happen in Book Two; by the end of The Infernal City, they're still separate. Juxtaposing the actual book text with the jacket copy reveals this to be a book of pure setup. That's not necessarily a bad thing; Steven Erikson, for example, is capable of writing exquisite books of setup (Midnight Tides is one of the best of the Malazan novels, for example). Keyes is not quite as accomplished a writer as Erikson, but this is still a fun book. Many other reviewers have complained that it's far too short, and I'm inclined to agree; if your entire party isn't even together by the end of book one, there's no way you're going to reach a satisfying conclusion by the end of book two. But there's more than enough going on here to keep the Elder Scrolls fans happy. And if you're not already an Elder Scrolls fan, why in the world not? *** ½

I am a big fan of the TES universe and I was expecting this book since it was announced.

I bought it in electronic form the same day it was released. I wasn't expecting much but I was wrong, the book is a pleasure to read. Likable characters, good descriptions and a story that (unlike Oblivion) does not patronize the reader.

I only have two complaints: the book, for me, was too short and a bit more descriptions for the uninitiated would be good. While a person that did not played the games will have a good idea of what Khajiits, Argonians and Daedra are by the end of the book, some more esoteric terms will probably not be at their grasp.

This is a pleasant read for all fans. Now I just have to buy a physical copy to put on my room.

The book is very TES lore heavy, if you're not a TES fan then you will most likely be lost throughout the book. For me (being a huge TES fan/Fantasy fan) this book was great! The setting - though TES was very fresh and original. The plot was very well written and fantastical (which is natural with Greg Keyes' writing). The teenage hero thing was a bit cliche but it didn't bother me. All in all a good book for TES fans, I can't wait for the sequal.

The Infernal City is the first of a two book series written by Greg Keyes (Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Age of Unreason & Children of the Changeling series) that takes place in the world of Tamriel. Based on the famed computer game series, The Elder Scrolls, the story takes place approximately 40 years after the events which occurred in the game Oblivion. Enjoying relative peace for several decades, the land of Tamriel suddenly faces a new threat from the plane of Oblivion when a mysterious floating city named Umbriel appears. As Umbriel moves across Tamriel it drains the souls of the living creating armies of the undead. In an effort to halt Umbriel's advance, three groups of unlikely heroes travel different paths in order to put an end to Oblivion's evil once more. Here are my thoughts on The Infernal City.


Pros

+ Finally a novel taking place in the expansive and immersive world of the Elder Scrolls.

+ Quick, enjoyable and easy read written by an accomplished author.

+ Great cover art.


Cons <Contains Spoilers>

- Extremely heavy on the lore and history of the Elder Scrolls. Readers not familiar with the games will quickly be lost with the constant references to people, places, races and factions.

- Attrebus and Annaig's relationship felt instant, forced and unrealistic.

- Fantasy revolving around warring kitchens isn't terribly exciting. I didn't find "Iron Chef Oblivion" all that engaging yet it's a major part of the storyline.

- Some characters and parts of the story are quite cliché. Especially in regards to Prince Attrebus being the young upstart rebel, going against his father's wishes, getting himself into trouble etc..

- No maps. A detailed world map of Tamriel can easily be found online but a map or cross section illustration of Umbriel would have been helpful.

- The magical item named "Coo" while somewhat interesting was at times too convenient and rather silly. As another reviewer stated, it was kind of like a web-cam in a fantasy setting.


The Infernal City was a fast and enjoyable read but not without its flaws. I was excited that a novel set in the world of the Elder Scrolls was finally being released as an overwhelming amount of lore and history has been created for the video games over the last 17 years. Yet I couldn't help but feel a bit shorted on the overall story, especially when there's so much content to draw upon. Perhaps that was the issue Keyes faced when writing the books, there was simply too much information to use? In any case I still found the book an engaging and interesting read despite a few drawbacks with the story.

As soon as I got this book in my brother picked it up and read it start to finish in less than 3.5 hours. We are both TES fans and we both loved it. If you are not a TES fan or are not familiar with any of the TES/Oblivion story line, you will be hopelessly lost and probably detest it.

The story line is simple enough to follow and fun. I enjoyed being able to read a book involving a world that I fell in love with intensely on my PC/360. This book is designed to be the start of a series, and you can tell by the ending of the book. More or less it gets you to a cliff then just drops you off, which is my one main complaint. There is not any type of closure, which is making the time between the publishing of the two books seem like an eternity for my brother and I.

Finished it the other day and it was great! I guess I could complain about the length, but there is a sequel in the works so I can't really complain and no one else should either.The book is surprisingly well written, easy to read and it really feels like it goes along with the Elder Scrolls mythos. I would definitely recommend it to anyone familiar with the Elder Scrolls games although in the future, it would be nice if they had a re-release including appendices with maps and other useful information relating to the world in which the book takes place. I'm looking forward to more books in this series and I hope they make more than just the two that are planned.

At sea, the sailors feel the heaviness the water and look up to see floating in the air a big mountain wit the cone pointed downward with a beautiful city on top. The ship speeds to the docks to spread the word, but was given no credence until Annaig the young human female and Mere-Glim the sentient reptilian find themselves on the floating island of Umbriel. They had floated up there using the magical potion that Annaig had drank, but also has no way to turn them home in Limoth, which was once part of the Empire but now belongs to the An-Xileel due to the events of four decades ago during the Oblivion Crisis.

The island's inhabitants find themselves on the south of Annaig's world especially the High Lords while the lesser beings shall need to find food to stay alive. Annaig obtains a position as a cook and the Lord live her banquet meals. She uses a mechanical bird to send a message to try and get Prince Attrebus back to the Empire to rescue them get rid of Umbriel. To do so they need to travel through the inter-dimensional portals. It is not long before the people with various missions getting rid of Umbriel is next to impossible but it must be done before its evil destroys all life on the surface below its shadow.

Based on the Elder Scrolls video game, THE INFERNAL CITY occurs between the fourth and fifth game. Readers do not need to have played game four as the novel stands alone, but it helps to understand the events of four decades earlier that led to the current surface world. Annaig is the star of the tale as her ability to face up to challenges lead others to want to assist her; she makes friends with them though they are of a different sentient essence. Although at times the plotting feels like a game especially when Annaig gets in trouble, fans will enjoy Greg Keyes' fine adaptation that stays true to the original saga yet brings fresh action-packed excitement on its own front.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book! First I am a big fan of Oblivion and of Bethesda games. This book is amazing! Could not put it down! It gets confusing at parts but it all ties up in the end. What a good book! It is written very well and has a great storyline. Don't read this if you have not played Oblivion, you will not understand anything. I love this book and will read it again soon.