Fall from Glory, by Nithilis Lidari.
The very concept of this book is critically flawed. The author talks about the decline of the Thieves Guild, and then admits to having infiltrated the guild to find out why, promising to publish a second volume when the secret is learned. If you're going to infiltrate a criminal organization, you don't publish a book saying, "Hey, I've infiltrated this criminal organization," before your investigation is complete. This is called
blowing your cover. It's also tantamount to telling every guard in every hold, "Hey, I've been engaging in criminal activity. Come arrest me."
One star.
--
The Fall of Saarthal, by Heseph Chirirnis, Mages Guild Scholar assigned to Imperial Archaeologist Sentius Floronius.
An underworked assistant pursues his own sideline of research. He is either passive-aggressive, or he has astonishingly low self-esteem. Even as he flatters the archaeologist he works for, it is clear that his own research focuses on the big picture of how Saarthal was destroyed and rebuilt, while his boss's research focuses on the minutia of the bathing habits of the people who had lived there. Actually, I consider both the historical big picture and the small cultural details of day-to-day life in ancient times to be interesting and valuable paths of research. Together, they can paint a comprehensive portrait of the culture and times. However, it seems that this assistant and his boss are unlikely to ever collaborate in any meaningful way.
Three stars.
--
Fall of the Snow Prince: an account of the Battle of the Moesring as transcribed by Lokheim, chronicler to the chieftan Ingjaldr White-Eye.This beautifully-written account gave me a strong, almost cinematic visual impression of the last great battle between the Nords and the Elves in the time of Ysgramor. This truly has an epic feel, in the classical sense of the word, both in the cadence of the story telling and in the narrative flow of the tale. This also offers a rare glimpse of the Snow Elves, who degenerated into the Falmer after this defeat, when they were still glorious.
Five stars.
--
The Falmer: A Study, by Ursa Uthrax.
This text references
Fall of the Snow Prince, and I would recommend you read them back-to-back. Together, they are like bookends on the history of the Falmer: then and now. Uthrax claims to have personally visited Blackreach, and this book represents the summary of his what he learned about the history of the snow elves who survived the Battle of the Moesring, how they sought refuge with the Dwemer, only to be blinded and enslaved, and how the toxic fungus they consumed underground warped their bodies into the Falmer of present times. This work reads less like a textbook and more like a primary source document, and it greatly enriches the game world by elevating Falmer above mere monsters.
Five stars.
--
Father of the Niben, translated and with commentary by Florin Jaliil.
This is an interesting academic text. As the title implies, four surviving fragments of an ancient epic poem are presented in translation with extensive commentary by the translator. The fragments tell of the voyage of the
Niben and the failed mission to find the lost Aldmer homeland of Old Ehlnofey. Along the way the crew encounters groups that may or may not be the ancient Orcs/Orsimer, the ancestors of the Khajiit, and a group of feathered people otherwise lost to history. The scholarly analysis of the fragments is detailed, with multiple interpretations presented. This is one of the more readable accounts of ancient Tamriel history.
Four stars.
--
Feyfolken, by Waughin Jarth.
This three-volume set features a story within a story. In the frame story, the Great Sage teaches lessons to his two students. In the nested story, a mute scribe purchases an enchanted quill. However, the quill is possessed by the soul of a daedra, and it has a mind of its own. There are a couple of typos marring an otherwise well-written narrative, including one misspelling of the main character's name. Both stories wandered a bit, and neither strongly held my interest, which makes me wonder if this was one of Waughin Jarth's earlier works, before he got good, or one of his later works, after he was burned out.
Three stars.
--
The Final Lesson, by Aegrothius Goth.
Despite having a different author, this story features the same Great Sage with the same two students from
Feyfolken, and the writing style is very similar. Perhaps Aegrothius Goth and Waughin Jarth are the same person.
This is another story within a story. The Great Sage tells his students that it is time for them to leave their apprenticeship, but they don't want to go. So he tells the tale of a sage from ages past, who had two students. One of these students of old went out into the world and found his own way, and the other stayed with their master. Those two students met again as old men, where they discovered how differently their lives had turned out. It's not a bad tale, but not particularly dynamic.
Three stars.
--
Fire and Darkness: The Brotherhoods of Death, by Ynir Gorming.
This is a tale of two assassins guilds, the Dark Brotherhood and its predecessor the Morag Tong. It contains much history and speculation about the two organizations, and so will likely be of interest to those playing assassin characters. The mediocre writing, spangled with grammatical and punctuation errors, rather put me off.
Two stars.
--
The Firmament, by Ffoulke.
It's the Tamriel astrology handbook! What's your sign, baby? This text is an interesting piece of game lore, describing the thirteen constellations and the personalities typical of people born under their signs. The only thing that bugs me is the Serpent constellation, which "wanders about in the sky." Constellations don't wander. The "wandering stars" of the ancient world were what we today know as planets. Based on my admittedly rudimentary knowledge of astrophysics, I would have to say that the movements of several planets together would not maintain a coherent constellation-like formation. Of course, if you want to make a big enough mental stretch, you could imagine that the technologically-advanced Dwemer had a space program, and that the Serpent is actually a collection of satellites that orbit in formation. But that's certainly quite a divergence from the actual game lore. Back to
The Firmament--it's a fun little book. Fluffy and not essential reading, but charming nonetheless.
Three and a half stars, mostly because it made me speculate about the possibility of space-faring Dwemer.
--
The Firsthold Revolt, by Maveus Cie.
A fictionalization of pseudo-historical events, this tale tells of a battle of wits between two women, played large with armies as their pawns. The queen, a daughter of Barenziah, rightfully commands the royal forces. The king's concubine colludes with the revolutionaries. The ending, while predictable, was satisfying. The writing is not strong, but it is adequate. Overall, a decent read.
Three stars.
--
The Five Songs of King Wulfharth.
The title is misleading, as these tales are not presented as songs. They read like the kind of first-rush-of-inspiration notes an author might scrawl on the back of an envelope or whatever other scrap of paper might be at hand, had such notes been published without any revision or editing. Some parts are in past tense, others in present. Furthermore, the writing seems disjointed, incomplete and unpolished. There might be a good story there, if someone were to take the time to write it. The only positive takeaway I have from this text is that I now know who Ysmir is.
One and a half stars.
--
Flight from the Thalmor.
Perhaps the errors and misused words can be excused, as this is presented as the diary of a fugitive who anticipates that his death is near at hand. The author is purported to be a bard, and this does not require any suspension of disbelief, because the writing displays a certain natural talent for wordsmithing. The types of errors I saw are of the sort that even good writers make, and then clean up during editing. The tenor and tone of the writing are consistent, and in a very few pages do a fine job of conveying the personality of the condemned man.
Three and a half stars.
--
Forge, Hammer and Anvil, by Adolphus Eritius.
Terrible grammar and poor spelling are completely in-concept for this text, which was dictated by an illiterate blacksmith to some unknown assistant, who added his own parenthetical commentary, some of it quite insulting toward his master. Even though this is mainly a catalog of what types of ingots are required for creating particular types of weapons and armor, this brief text bubbles with character and humor. The prefatory and concluding scholarly commentary are superfluous, but not detracting. Call to mind your favorite cranky-old-man voice when reading this book.
Four stars.
--
Fragment: On Artaeum, by Taurice il-Anselma.
This is a brief piece on the Psijic Order of mages and Isle of Artaeum, where they live. The island vanished from the world for five hundred years, and the Psijics offered no explanation to the world or to the author of this book. The text is well crafted and capably written, but it failed to hold my interest. Read this if you'd like to know more about the Psijics than you see in the game.
Three stars.
--
Frontier, Conquest and Accommodation: A Social History of Cyrodiil, University of Gwylim Press 3E 344.
This text describes the spread of humans across Tamriel. In most areas, humans and elves learned to coexist peacefully, but in Skyrim, humans pushed the elves back through military conquest. Although the writing is not particularly inspired, this book does provide some nice background to illuminate the racial tensions apparent in the game.
Three and a half stars.
--
Note: I am not connected to Bethesda in any way, and no one asked me to do these reviews. I am doing this purely for my own fun, as time allows. I don't have an agenda, other than the joy of reading and writing. If I panned your favorite
Skyrim book, sorry. If I gave five stars to one you thought was awful, also sorry. These are my opinions and mine alone. You're entitled to your own.
Read these books within the game
Skyrim, on
The Elder Scrolls Wiki or on the
Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages, or download the
Dovahkiin Gutenberg.
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