Infernal Investigations

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Murder. Machines. Diabolism. Biosculpting. Tea!Malvia was once an Infernal of the Black Flame gang, a member of the Empire’s most despised race serving in one of its most infamous criminal enterprises. But that’s all in the past now. One faked death later, and she’s been living the last few years as Katheryn Falara, a slightly sketchy alchemist operating under the nose of the law. And business is booming. With the Anglean Empire's nobility constantly scheming against each other, both magic and machine benefiting from her skills, and an ever-expanding kingdom full of rare ingredients, Malvia's been content to sit on the sidelines and make a tidy sum of cash. However, a rash of poisonings among the noble heirs make her behind-the-scenes role impossible. Elements of a life she wanted to leave behind keep resurfacing, and soon she’ll find herself at the center of a web of intrigue. It’s either figure out the web or be trapped by it forever. Updating Monday and Friday at 9 AM MST

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2024
Author: saithorthepyro

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 2,476
Views: 932,915

Chapters(216 total)

What readers say about Infernal Investigations

“I had some free time on my hands, decided to give this story a shot and got hooked surprisingly quick. Maybe its not everyones cup of tea but i loved it so far, personally. I dont really have any major complaints, the pacing can be weird at time but its not…”
Joe_BidenRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Super interesting world with many different conflicts in society. Still, we get to know many different characters from many different species and class and their involvement in whatever mystery put main character has to solve. Sherlock Holmes s apprentice,…”
Lecture FillerRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

Joe_BidenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I had some free time on my hands, decided to give this story a shot and got hooked surprisingly quick.
Maybe its not everyones cup of tea but i loved it so far, personally. I dont really have any major complaints, the pacing can be weird at time but its not that big of a deal if you ask me.
Lecture FillerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Super interesting world with many different conflicts in society. Still, we get to know many different characters from many different species and class and their involvement in whatever mystery put main character has to solve. Sherlock Holmes s apprentice, with a Rot and Hellfire in the tank. Really like the story, pretty high speed of writing too.
ArararaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I started off loving this story, but I ended up just liking it, and after a while even dropping it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's an awesome story and you should read it - I'm giving it 5 stars after all, but I'll use this review to rant about some potential shortcomings it has.
The story is well written, but just kind of difficult to follow - at least for me. The MC has a (too) rich and storied backstory that she keeps feeding us in small scraps, but the story is written like we already know all the backstory. In-medias-res, but taken to the extreme, resulted in a bit of frustration for me. I couldn't understand some of the conversations due to missing context.
It became hard to follow and keep track of past events when we weren't there to witness them. The MC makes some people out to be a huge deal because they did X and Y and Z in the past with her, but to us that new "important" character is just a rando that we met for 3 paragraphs and occasionally see mentioned in conversation. We have no connections to that character, no reason to feel they're important. Like the husband of her friend, they're super close ex-friends, but for me he was still too new - I felt very little emotion while the MC was crying her eyes out because he might move away. Similar things happened with some other characters as well.
Also we entirely skipped over the (potentially super interesting and rewarding) part of her getting her powers and learning to use them. Instead she has already mastered 3 or 4 different OP skillsets, and we're just seeing her say "Eh, I guess now I have to use X... I really didn't want to use X..." She slowly reveals all her skills to us despite being very OP.
And finally, there's just too many characters in my opinion. I'm not kidding when I say I felt like there were almost 50 named characters in the 34 chapters that I've read. Most chapters we meet a new character, but often that character is never mentioned again. Or mentioned again 20 chapters down the li
BeetlebatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a great story. I like fantasy Victorian- Edwardian (Victwardian?) settings but usually not straight up steampunk stories, so I passed this one by for a while before reading it bc of the tag. That was a mistake on my part, although there were a lot more chapters up when I did get back to this. So I got to tear through a big chunk of story at least!
The setting is good, it has a sort of generic Late Victorian steampunk vibe on the surface but with enough of the author's own twists and flare to feel like a new place. It's a perfect backdrop for the story.
The characters feel alive, from MC to side characters. The moments of humour don't take away from the dangers or ruin the tone of the story, and the atmosphere is rife with mystery which so far, is also handled really well imo.
The writing quality is good, again the style is a good match for the story & I enjoy the author's voice. Grammar is fine, none of the mistakes I've noticed are jarring enough to ruin the reading experience.
If this ever goes to print and gets a sick cover I'd buy a copy to go in the fantasy detective section of my bookshelf.
In summary, this is a well crafted story with vibrant characters in a familiar yet welcome setting. Pour yourself a nice cuppa and settle in for some action, intrigue, and mysterious mysteries.
BlandNBurntRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In a bid to escape the insane poverty of her sector, Malvia finds herself set up as the scapegoat in a dangerous game between a shady mystery faction, street gangs, and the greatest detective in the world. She has to find out who set her up, how, and why, all while proving to everyone that she isnt a sacrificial pawn all before she gets hit with the blame.
I really enjoyed reading this one! I felt that the ending helped balance out the low points. I also laughed out loud once or twice, the humor(although not a major aspect of the book) was much appreciated.
The only real misgiving i have is the book could really use an editting/continuity pass with a fresh set of eyes. Overall I dont find it to be a huge concern, but there are a fair amount of small mistakes. Nothing awful but its noticable. Despite this I think this book is in the top 10% on this site for writing alone. So i wouldnt worry overmuch.
For the two biggest examples:
There are a few chapters during the ball where william montague was refered to as the "poisoned brother" instead of edward. This was right after william was introduced on screen.
A guard in the archive is described as both "having a full head of red hair" and "wearing a helmet". Malvia hits him over the head with a book and then chokes him unconcious with a headlock. she worries she "gave him a concusion" because "she knocked him out in one hit". 1, he had a helmet and recovered easily from the book. 2, he was not knocked out by being hit.
DeadLeavesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is incredibly well written. It's clever, it's funny, and it's got depth. Everything that happens happens for a reason and it's all tied together quite brilliantly. It delivers exactly on the premise. It's just that I've never been a fan of detective fiction. But that's on me. Without a doubt a solid 5/5, I wish I could enjoy it more, but alas.
Flowing ReflectionsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Do I really need to say more than "Magical Queer Monstergirl Sherlock Holmes"?
I suppose I could also tell you it is very well written, I could tell you the character is steeped in believable but very dramatic emotional issues, I could tell you she uses alchemy and poisons with a well defined magic system, I could tell you she solves fun magical crimes, or how the story explores themes of otherness, privilege and trauma.
But really, if "Magical Queer Monstergirl Sherlock Holmes" isn't enough for you, I'm not sure what would be.
FurioRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Usually, before writing a review I wait until I have read more chapters, but I found the story so well written that it seemed right to support the author. If necessary I will edit the review later.The world building is a generic Victorian/Steampunk environment but the presence of a discriminated minority of descendants from a former demonic invasion is an original twist. The MC personal history and her personality are interesting. The only detail that I found slightly irritating is the presence of a Watson-like helper for the investigator character.
Guilherme SilvaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Two things about my review style: English is not my first language and I give 5 stars in grammar to anyone who isn't worse than me; and I normally rate the novel between 0 and 5 and give a extra star because of the algorithm, so this novel in my opinion deserves a 4/5.
The story is good, but the style is more suitable to traditional publishing than web novel. Following the novel as it's being published isn't worth to me, but a binge read at the end of book 1 was really enjoyable.
The novel would be improved with a bit more editing, and the pacing could be a bit better, but the world, the characters and the plot itself are all really good.
In book 1 the MC is a retired criminal living as a (relatively) honest alchemist for years when after a job is revealed to be a frame up, needs to unravel a pretty big conspiracy.
Her situation isn't helped by the fact that she is a infernal and in this world they are treated in a way closer to the Jews in Germany before the camps than anything else that I can think.
So, if binged read it's to me a solid 4/5, but as most systems penalize reviews bellow five stars, I gave it a 5.
NightbulbRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Phenomenally well written! Taunts me, though.
I want Malvia to go full ButcherVanity.mp4 on her foes almost as bad as the imp does- cannibalism is such a fantastically psychological plot element in a story like this, and she's clearly drawing a line against it for frustratingly emotional reasons she justifies with rational ones.
And the biomancing has been a disappointment to my love of physically transformative protagonist progression (EDIT: do not stop reading my review here, read final lines to avoid me misleading you). It had promising descriptions early on, with a weaponized glandular projectile and light discussions of improvements one can make to the way they move- but in the long-term, it only seemed to get used as an advanced disguise kit. Discussions of the process are interesting and engaging, but Malvia's on-screen applications of it hardly amount to anything an average IRL high school girl couldn't achieve with her makeup kit, the wrong foundation, and some trial and error.
Its still fun flavor. But I wanted to see retractable claws, or poison glands, or heat vision, or an extra limb, or notably improved musculature, or at least the ability to track details by taste/scent, c'mon.
Still, while the progression element is slow and has yet to take the routes I hunger to see, this is an excellent detective thriller. Puts me in mind of what little I read of the Dresden Files, with a protagonist I personally find more engaging and compelling.
(Could use some stronger proofreading admittedly. There's a couple moments where it feels like saithor re-phrased a line they forgot they already wrote, a couple typos that seem like autocowrecks or voice-to-text errors, etc. Not enough to ruin the experience, but enough to be significant.)
EDIT, FROM A COUPLE CHAPTERS LATER: Ok nevermind about the cannibalism whining Malvia I'm so sorry I get it now. You're so justified. You're so incredibly fucking justified. I'm so sorry.
EDIT AFTER CATCHING UP:
Holy hot FUCK I spoke t