Description

"You can’t choose your part to play. But a true performer commits anyway.”Cyrus is a photographer. A man who watches life happen through a lens, detached and adrift. So when a portal opens and reveals a fog-choked world of monsters, magic, and ruin, he doesn’t stop. He picks up his camera.He’s not a hero. Not brave. He won’t risk his life for strangers or willingly throw himself into battle. But this new world offers something the last one didn't: purpose. Even if that purpose lies buried in haunted cities, corrupted magic, and the slow unraveling of what remains of civilization.

The fog is alive. The gods are dying. Cultists want to see the last cities fall. And the wraiths hunt what little light remains. All the while, Cyrus just wants to see life for what it is.Yet, the script demands a hero. And this hero is a man who transforms from one who lives life behind the lens of his camera to one who fights for it.

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I don't have novel comparisons, but I do have several media that have inspired me throughout the chapters. If any of these appeal to you, then feel free to give my novel a try: Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Dead Space, Silent Hill, SCP Universe, Lord Of The Mysteries, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Mistborn Series, Bastion, The Thing, some of David Lynch's work like Twin Peaks, The Color From Outer Space, Fear and Hunger, and Annihilation.

Community Reviews(1)

StaleCrowRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

Overall: The biggest draw for this story to me is the main character Cyrus---a photographer who views his world through a grayed out lens. Cyrus is not really a hero, at least not in the part of the story that I'm at. He's selfish and self centered, but I don't resent him for that because it's clearly explained why, and that feeling is then shared and equally as oppressive. The other big draw is a combination of the writing and the world. The fog is genuinely creepy as a threat both to Cyrus and to the world at large and the prose and situations Cyrus find himself in make this extremely clear. I do have one worry for the point I am at the story, but I'll go over that more in that specific section.
Overall I'd recommend this story and the fact that no one else has left a review is frankly criminal. I'd read at least up to chapter 6 to see if the story is for you.
Grammar 5/5: no mistakes that drew me out. Automatic 5/5.
Style: The author does a good job at connecting character feelings to the prose itself. When Cyrus views his world as dull and vibrant we see that dullness in a vivid way, and when he's offered the other world and all of its beauty we understand why he jumps at it, but that can only be accomplished because of the authors writing style and willingness to combine the prose with the characters feelings and motivations.
Character: Cyrus, not a hero (yet), he feels like a real person. He's smart, he's not trusting of things and people he's never met when he's captured. He thinks ahead and even when he's limited has a lot of agency. Cyrus is constantly making decisions even in a powerless state and that makes him very compelling. Conceptually, I like a lot of the side characters (especially a particular guard). A good example is how the kings agelessness and gravitas comes off without the need for long winded explanations or the other characters outright stating it.
As of chapter 21 I worry a little bit for the female characters. They're fleshed out and the