A decent book tying in to the Elder Scrolls universe, a series of fantasy video games; more specifically, it relates to The Elder Scrolls Online and came with the special 'Imperial' edition of that game. Its illustrations were good, but it was clear that it didn't really know what it wanted to do. On the face of it, it is a traveller's guide to Tamriel (the fantasy world where the games take place) and includes some useful information and illustrations about the major locations in the game (though the lack of page numbers makes its use as a reference for aspiring lore-masters rather difficult). However, it is also a story of sorts, as the guide's fictional scribe goes through adventures in these lands and writes annotations and journal fragments to go alongside the lore segments. It is an attempt to try and break up the more stolid and academic texts with more conversational and easy-going prose; it works OK but is nothing special or immersive.

Neither the lore nor the story angles are really developed that much. The segments of lore are just that - segments - and you don't get any in-depth lore about the regions or the cultures. And the scribe's adventures are rather poorly executed and perhaps rushed. I'd say that for each of the regions he visits, his total word count is about five-hundred at a push. The result is a book which is uncannily similar to the Elder Scrolls Online game it came with: a pleasant-enough experience but underwhelming considering how much better it could have been. In summary, it was competent but unfulfilling. ( )