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Review: “The Infernal City” by Greg Keyes. An Elder Scrolls Novel.

  • Writer: Holly Jane - Writer
    Holly Jane - Writer
  • Apr 11, 2020
  • 4 min read

Genre(s): Fantasy, Gaming, Fiction

Favourite Quote: “Yes, I understand that because you imagined I would be dead. Now I’m not, and because you haven’t a decent bone in your body, you assume no one else does.”

Favourite Character: Mere-Glim is precious and needs to be protected at all costs!

*Please note, this review MAY contain spoilers. Read at your own risk!*

I’ve been a massive fan of the Elder Scrolls lore and games for years now. My copy of this book was packaged with my legendary edition of Skyrim on PS3. Yep; it’s taken me THAT long to read and review this. I’ve never read any of Greg Keyes’ work either, so it was also an introduction to him as an author for me.

I’m going to be honest with you here: I always open a fantasy novel with a small feeling of trepidation. A lot of books I’ve read in this genre either fall into one of two categories for me.

1. This is hard for me to understand/get into.

2. It was OK. Wouldn’t read again.

Fantasy is hit and miss for me and I think it’s largely down to the fact that a lot of books I’ve read, have so much organic lore and backstory to them, it’s usually crammed into a short creative space. I’m left feeling overwhelmed and lost mostly. Of course, I wouldn’t apply such a generic statement to all books in this genre. Just most I’ve experienced.

Eventually swallowing down my thoughts to be as non-biased as possible, I settled down with a lukewarm tea and got to work on this. We start on a normal day in Black Marsh where are main characters are introduced – Annaig and Mere-Glim, a Breton and Argonian best friend duo. We’re given some insight into their lives and how they spend their days, but I found myself really wanting to know how their friendship came about originally and what bonded them. A few chapters later, the action propels us into a completely different world that we expected to read about, and it’s an interesting and exotic development.

Throughout this book, we’re introduced to new characters, new POV’s that contribute to the main plot and a vast culture of new creatures and environments. I do prefer some characters naturally more than others, but that’s the point. These people are flawed and need to adapt to change in order to survive.

The storyline was satisfyingly rich in lore and history for someone who’s loved Elder Scrolls for years, I found myself encapsulated into Tamriel and the mysteries it holds. I found myself grinning at references I’ve heard of before and people already introduced somewhere else in the extended universe.

Pros


  • Really great spin off from a rich lore that deserves the recognition it gets.

  • Characters were mostly interesting as were the locations.

  • The original storyline was imaginative and introduced a vastly different way of life that we expected to see from the games.

  • I enjoyed the little twist at the end and I felt Annaig’s and Glim’s despair as they didn’t get the ending they wanted and I mourned along with them!

Cons

  • The last few chapters felt hurried and uncared for, as if the author was getting conscious, he needed to wrap up his scenes in a short space of time, after getting carried away.

  • Further to this, each chapter was dedicated to someone’s POV. Towards the end, these chapters carry different POV’s, so it becomes confusing to follow at times.

  • The story felt a little bit like a hard slog during some a few of the filler chapters.

  • I felt some of the characters needed more padding to their characterisation. For example: Colin was introduced halfway through the book and I didn’t really understand what his role really was of the point of him really being there. He was more of a passive character, following other characters, rather than one who contributes to moving the plot on.

  • Certain passages and sentences can be ‘over described’ and I did find myself having to reread these again to really understand what was going on.

  • If you haven’t had any exposure to Elder Scrolls content before, this will be hard for you to comfortably follow.

Final thoughts

This book fell into my second fantasy category; it was OK. Would I read this again? I’m leaning towards yes more than no, but I think it’s mostly because I love the world more than anything else.

Overall, I did enjoy this and found myself really engaged into the pages at certain points, where the plot really takes over. This did take me a while to get lost in to begin with and when I did, it was a real page turner that delivered.

The book ended on a cliff hanger and I can’t decide if I was underwhelmed or depressed that I didn’t get the ending I wanted. It was only after a quick Google search, I realised there’s a sequel. I will probably read it in the future, but I won’t be eagerly adding it to my basket right now. I’ll let myself stew on it for a while.

About the author:

Keyes was born in Meridian, Mississippi, as John Gregory Keyes, to a large, diverse, storytelling family. He received degrees in anthropology from Mississippi State University and the University of Georgia before becoming a full-time writer. Gregory Keyes (born April 11, 1963) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who has written both original and media-related novels under both the names J. Gregory Keyes and Greg Keyes.

Check our Greg’s social media:

As always, I’m taking requests for reads I should review next. Feel free to drop me a line via the site or my social media pages. Thanks for reading!

HJ

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HOLLY JANE - AUTHOR

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