Review: Fogbound by N.J. Alexander

Blurb:

Brave the Fog. Embrace Another Self.

The nation of Entervia is on the brink of annihilation. But amidst the chaos in the capital city, one man stands as the key to Entervia's fate—Zercien Volnaire, a young history teacher with no love of war, haunted by the specter of a long-dead legendary hero who once saved the land.

Zercien's peaceful life is shattered as he is possessed by the hero, and thrust into the trenches of a battle far more sinister—one waged within his own mind. His newfound abilities earn him renown, but at a great cost: his own identity.

Accompanied by a ragtag band, Zercien is tasked with a desperate mission for reinforcements. But as the drums of war beat ever closer, he must make a choice. Embrace the power of the hero and save Entervia, or reject it and cling to his humanity, dooming his home to a bloody fate.

For fans of John Gwynne’s “The Faithful and the Fallen” and Nicholas Eames’ “Kings of the Wyld,” this epic fantasy adventure will captivate and thrill. Don't wait - brave the fog today and join Zercien on his journey.

Review:

I first saw this book being advertised on twitter when the linked post here crossed my feed. Then, a few weeks later I end up in a discussion with the N.J. Alexander on the SFF Insiders discord server, which led to me reading “Fogbound” a week after that. I read it for a bit before sleeping, then finished in the morning. Throughout the whole experience reading “Fogbound”, I didn’t want to set this book down, and still have occasional snippets of the book running through my head now.

If I had to sell this book to a friend in a sentence or two, I’d tell them this:
“Zercien Volnaire is a teacher, not interested in war. But a spirit has other ideas, forcing him to voluntarily sign up to the army.”

But that isn’t the whole gist of the book, just a snippet. And that isn’t the only character in the book that plays a central role. Nor is that spirit any old spirit. Furthermore, the magic in this book is honestly another interesting magic system that somehow gives the story even more nuance.

Starting off, we have the characters, more specifically one of them, Zercien Volnaire. He’s a teacher who’s good at his job, and would excel at it if he wasn’t always late. One day, he gets a headache and the spirit of something shows up, and torments him for a bit. Through the book, he goes from a school teacher to a somewhat seasoned swordsman in the Entervian, while going through an almost Lord of the Rings style quest to gain an alliance. The other characters, who travel with him, have a similar style of character growth, with each of them having their own plots going on in the background. Some of them end happy, some sad. Nothing about them feels off character-wise, with all of them having goals and motivations, even the more lateral characters. 

Then, there’s the plot. I already brought up the whole quest to get an alliance thing, but it’s more than that. Zercien isn’t the only PoV we get, nor is his quest the only plot. There’s more. So much more. There’s court intrigue, betrayal, some murder. All of this is happening while Zercien is going about trying to get an alliance. I liked how those plots were used to keep the story interesting and how it built up the foundation for the second book, and therefore, once the second book comes out, I cannot wait to read it.

After that, we have the magic within Entervia. In the blurb, it's mentioned a specter is playing the possession game. That’s not all though. There’s the undead brought to life with insects, there’s various elemental magic, and shapeshifting. And if any one of those were not in “Fogbound”, the entire tale would be different. Yet, somehow, the magic doesn’t feel added in just for the sake of telling the story. There’s history there, fully explained, ready for more exploration.

Taking that thread and going with it, the history and the lore in this book. We get some lore, some history that teases us readers with hints of what’s to come in the next book. What we do get to learn however from the history of “Fogbound”, instead of it feeling like a bunch of lore dumping and extra info we do not need, it feels like it’s meant to be part of the book.

However, if I had to look at parts of a book that were done poorly, or less well than the other parts, I’d have to say there’s a lack of resistance to the possession. We get some in the form of Zercien trying to physically and mentally resist, but at some point, it just stops. There’s some build up to that point, but it would’ve been nice to see him try some more things to stop the possession. That’s my own gripe though, so others might see it differently. 

Overall, N.J Alexander has created a world that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of. If you are a fan of magical quests, some backstabbing, some intrigue and lots of action, this book is for you

As always, if you have read to the end of this review, thank you, and I hope I’ve nudged you in the right direction for your next read. If not, don’t fret, we here at SFF Insiders have a plethora of other reviews for other books in a variety of different genres that you can browse through. Who knows? There might be a book that catches your eye here.

Wherever you are reading this review, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!