The Infernal City

Elder Scrolls Series #1

By: Greg Keyes

Narrated by: Michael Page

Four decades after the Oblivion Crisis, Tamriel is threatened anew by an ancient and all-consuming evil. It is Umbriel, a floating city that casts a terrifying shadow-for wherever it falls, people die and rise again. And it is in Umbriel's shadow that a great adventure begins and a group of unlikely heroes meet. A legendary prince with a secret. A spy on the trail of a vast conspiracy. A mage obsessed with his desire for revenge. And Annaïg, a young girl in whose hands the fate of Tamriel may rest.

©2009 ZeniMax Media Inc. The Elder Scrolls is a registered trademark of ZeniMax Media, Inc. (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This action-based fantasy will find a following among YA and adult gamers." ( Library Journal)

An Exciting Read

I was a little skeptical when I first saw this book. In my experience, novels based on games are little more than poorly hashed head-canons filled with unnecessary adverbs. This one, however, was a pleasant surprise. Keyes managed to fully develop several different characters and give them challenging yet plausible situations. The author's powers of description are perfectly balanced, giving the reader just enough detail without dominating the imagination. The narrator's gritty Dunmer voice took a little getting used to, but after a while it was just another character voice.
I highly suggest it for Elder Scrolls Fans. Though Keyes explains important parts of the lore, I found the experience deepened by my own understanding of the world.
In short, The Infernal City was an exciting and emotionally engaging read. I can't wait to read Lord of Souls!

2 books 1 story

This is a fun book, however you have to buy both books for the whole story.

Interesting Story, Sloppy Delivery

Engaging tale taking place between Oblivion and ESO. Well written besides but sloppy finale cliffhanger.

Riveting and good, a little hard to follow

As an Elder Scrolls fan, playing Oblivion and others after, this is a great story. It describes well and the performance is pretty good. The only thing I had trouble with is when they switch characters in between one chapter. You kinda have to remember where they last left off then try and contemplate what they're currently doing. Other than that, fantastic!

Solid Elder Scrolls Story

Definitely felt immersed into the Elder Scrolls universe. The story had a great starting point and finished well, which led me directly to the sequel.

Big Elder Scrolls fan

I loved this book, I'm sad there aren't more like it, I have been wanting to read it for so long and having access to this Audio version is a blessing. it was even better than I'd hoped it would be. it touches on some of the deepest parts of the lore of Mundus and it was a joyous read. I am downloading the next book right now

A quieter Elder Scrolls experience than imagined.

Anyone who knows of The Elder Scrolls usually is certain of one thing; they will never be able to get enough Elder Scrolls content. It a widely known award winning videogame series focused on immersive fantasy roleplaying in a highly detailed world. This audiobook "The Infernal City" is based within the setting of that videogame series.

As a result most listeners might assume that a series that is all about exploring an epic fantasy world filled with action packed adventure and danger would have an audiobook that reflects that, but only one of the three main characters gets into any actual combat. This book also ends in a bit of a non conclusive whimper that more or less triggers the question of whether or not the story is even planning to continue in a different book.

The narration was excellent, however, and the flavor that makes up the richness of the setting is there. It's only the storyline itself that seems to wonder around.

Three main characters make up the bulk of the story,  a minor Breton (elf) noblewoman who dabbles in adventure and alchemy, her laid back childhood Argonian (lizardman) friend, and a disillusioned prince trying to rescue them from a otherworldly floating city that feeds on souls and contains a strange and ruthless society. As personalities these characters are entertaining, but the events surrounding them tend to wonder. The first two characters spend the book learning to adapt and survive amoung the people that live in the floating city, while the prince avoids assassinations while following a mysterious character around that knows how to get to the city.

This book is an odd example of great thoughts, discriptions and ideas that, dispite being interesting, can't seem to fold together into any great and memorable whole. This audiobook is recommended to listeners who grew up and enjoy the elder scrolls universe, but listeners new to the setting might feel a bit bogged down attempting to learn it for the first time.

Very Engaging- Does require Elder Scroll knowledge

I am a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls video game series,, especially number 4, Oblivion. This has taken place shortly after the events of the Oblivion crisis. A bit of warning- I would say at least play ONE of the elder scrolls games, since the various races, locations, and events are more than likely going to either be mentioned or have great importance in this book. Also, some of the creature names and location names will be sorta confusing, but the author does an excellent job explaining most of it.

The Scrolls

A Great story, ripped from my favorite video game franchise. Enjoyed every bit of it.

Great story, good reader

Reader is good but mispronounces some locations. To be fair there are a lot of difficult things to pronounce in the Elder Scrolls world, but it is still worth noting. I am thrown out of the story when I hear "Wardenfell" when I know it is spelled "Vvardenfell". Other than that he doea a really good job with voices for all the different races