Lord of Souls and I

My wait for Skyrim’s release just a few weeks back was made even longer by an unexpected trip abroad. While preparing my suitcase for the windy winter weather of November in Russia, I chucked Lord of Souls into my suitcase for a spot of light reading on the plane.

For those of you not in the know, Lord of Souls is the second half of a two part novel based on the Elder Scrolls world and set 40 years on from the events of Oblivion. From the lack of information on the front cover and the book spine as to the two part nature of the tale, I would guess Titan (the publishers) were hoping it would be strong enough as a standalone novel (which it generally is) and this is the reason I’m going to talk about it as if it shouldn’t rely on the previous book.

An early encounter with a stranger enables Prince Attrebus to rattle through any important information and bring the reader up to speed. There’s a floating city named Umbriel hovering over Tamriel, resurrecting the dead as it passes overhead on its way towards the Imperial City. Trying to stop this deadly invasion are Prince Attrebus and his companion – a revenge-driven dark elf named Sul, Annaig and Mere-Glim – childhood friends trapped aboard Umbriel itself, and a spy named Colin based in Imperial City.

For a book which had around 300 pages of prior writing to contend with, Lord of Souls can pretty much stand on its own two feet. Exposition doesn’t feel too heavy handed or over-long and the characters are well written enough that the reader quickly comes to know their voices and personalities. There are a few points where an extra slice of information wouldn’t have gone amiss, though – an extra phrase to add that Coo is the name of a magical communication device, for example – but mostly these pass unnoticed.  The glaring exception is Sul’s quest for vengeance which I never felt was fully explained.

The main characters are generally well written and fit within the Elder Scrolls universe with Attrebus gradually learning whether he is as brave as he previously assumed, Annaig wondering whether she can ever come to terms with some of the things her time on Umbriel has proved her capable of and so on. The same cannot be said of the lesser characters, however. A romantic interest for Colin is particularly two dimensional and ricochets between moods as the plot demands. Other figures seem entirely redundant, especially the soldier Mazgar and her charge Brennus. One can only assume they are leftovers from a plot in the first book who for some reason couldn’t be abandoned or killed off.

Also interesting was the sense of humour. As someone who finds the fantasy genre entirely too po-faced to be truly enjoyable, the dialogue in Lord of Souls can actually be laugh-out-loud funny. It’s a case of a good ear for real-world conversation combined with its unexpected setting.

Overall, it’s a book for fans of the Elder Scrolls but one with decent writing and a decent plot. The fact that the second part can function just fine on its own implies that the entirety of The Infernal City (the first part of the story) could have been scrapped, or at least that the two books could have been worked into separate novels. The characterisation is variable and some parts of the narrative could have been chopped out to make for a more streamlined experience but overall, having previously ventured into the world of books-based-on-games and been horrified, this was a success.