The Killing Fog

Written by Jeff Wheeler

Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

The Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Kingfountain series conjures an epic, adventurous world of ancient myth and magic as a young woman’s battle with infinite evil begins.

Survivor of a combat school, the orphaned Bingmei belongs to a band of mercenaries employed by a local ruler. Now the nobleman, and collector of rare artifacts, has entrusted Bingmei and the skilled team with a treacherous assignment: brave the wilderness’s dangers to retrieve the treasures of a lost palace buried in a glacier valley. But upsetting its tombs has a price.

Echion, emperor of the Grave Kingdom, ruler of darkness, Dragon of Night, has long been entombed. Now Bingmei has unwittingly awakened him and is answerable to a legendary prophecy. Destroying the dark lord before he reclaims the kingdoms of the living is her inherited mission. Killing Bingmei before she fulfills it is Echion’s.

Thrust unprepared into the role of savior, urged on by a renegade prince, and possessing a magic that is her destiny, Bingmei knows what she must do. But what must she risk to honor her ancestors? Bingmei’s fateful choice is one that neither her friends nor her enemies can foretell, as Echion’s dark war for control unfolds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781799750024

Jeff Wheeler

Jeff Wheeler is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over thirty epic fantasy novels. The Dresden Codex is the first thriller he’s written since his early years as a budding author, but his many fans think his fantasy novels are thrillers in their own way. Jeff lives in the Rocky Mountains and is a husband, father of five, and devout member of his church. On a recent trip to the jungles of Cozumel and the Yucatán Peninsula, he explored Mayan ruins and cenotes, leading him to dive even further into the history of ancient South America and the Spanish conquistadors. There is more to the ball courts than meets the eye. Learn about Jeff’s publishing journey in Your First Million Words, and visit his many worlds at www.jeff-wheeler.com.

Reviews for The Killing Fog

[Greg · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The story is fine, but the audio skips chapters and ends early.

[Monique Ferrier · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not as compelling as the whole series around Muirwood, but eventually I warmed up to the main character. A little déjà vu though…

[Gilberto Diaz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing book that leads you down the bath of mystery and ancient ruins. Almost like a world that starts anew on top of previous civilization.

[jason7klim · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I am a huge jeff wheeler fan, but this series is not his best work. The names alone in this book made me cringe trying to keep them all straight.

[Ranakkuma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

That was amazing and deep! Kingfountain was my favorite but I don't understand why some people don't like this one. It was AMAZING and had deep culture. Truly fascinating.

[kiaya40 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to NetGalley and 47North for letting me read and review this incredible story. I'm already anxiously awaiting the next book in this series! I love and have read most of Jeff Wheeler's works and he never disappoints with his stories full of adventure, intrigue, romance, life lessons and so much more. It's always one wild rollercoaster ride with my emotions when I read one of his books, but I always learn or take away something and enjoy the stories immensely.
I always find myself easily lost and immersed in the worlds he creates and invested in the characters and the stories they have to tell. This story is very unique and different from others that Jeff Wheeler has written and just as amazing and engrossing as the others I have read.
In this story, we find ourselves following along with this story of an orphaned girl named Bingmei, who is with a group of mercenaries that serve a local ruler. They are sent on a mission to find and retrieve what treasures they can that are in a lost palace buried and preserved in ice. But when they get there, they find more than they bargained for and when they upset the tomb, they unknowingly cause havoc.
Bingmei unknowingly brings Echion, Dragon of the Night back to life, waking him from his tomb and now is meant to fulfill her part in the legendary prophecy. She has to destroy Echion before he takes over all the kingdoms and he has to stop her from destroying him. Bingmei knows what she has to do, but she doesn't know if she can do it.
This is in a world of ancient myth, legend, magic and is a story about love, loss, grief, balance, duty, honor and what people do when faced with difficult choices in heart-rending situations and so much more. You definitely want to have this one on your list, preorder it and read it as soon as you can.

[krau0098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Series Info/Source: I borrowed this audiobook through Audible Plus. This is the first book in The Grave Kingdom trilogy.Audiobook Quality (2/5): I really didn’t enjoy the narrator of this audiobook. She had a low, intense, breathy voice that just made the story sound kind of disjointed. Additionally, the non-character-spoken parts were done in this breathy low tone, while the character voices were much louder. I kept having to turn the book way up in volume while driving to hear most of the parts, but then a character would talk and it would be way, way too loud.Story (3/5): The story here was decent. I enjoyed that we got to quest to a lost kingdom but found all the politics that happened after to be pretty boring. This is a fairly typical “person accidentally awakens a huge evil thing” type of storyline. It was okay but felt like a million other fantasy stories to me.Characters (4/5): I liked a lot of the characters in here. Bingmei is determined to be good but her morals are a bit grey. She ends up accompanied by a fisher boy who was a good addition to the story and balances her well. I also enjoyed both Prince Rowan (a prince in exile) and Bingmei’s group’s leader. I did struggle a lot with keeping character names straight. Between the hard to understand narration and the fact that a lot of the names sound similar it was a struggle. Setting (3/5): This takes place in a fairly standard fantasy-type setting that has a bit of an Asian flare to it (mostly because of the names). I had some trouble picturing the settings and everywhere felt a bit the same as they traveled. Writing Style (4/5): This seemed to be written fine, the story flowed well and was well constructed. The style did seem a bit stark and abrupt throughout but it’s hard to determine if that was because of the style of narration or the story itself. It was a decent typical fantasy type story; nothing amazing but entertaining enough.My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was a decent start to this new fantasy series. I liked the magic system and the killing fog and also thought some of the characters were intriguing. The story was fairly predictable and slow at parts and the world/setting was a bit lackluster. I don’t plan on continuing with the series.

[pardamustang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wheeler's The Killing Fog kicks off his new Grave Kingdom series, introducing us to Bingmei, the orphaned child of warrior parents. Now she belongs to Kunmia's mercenary group. When their normal employer asks Kunmia's ensign to partner with another to locate the mythcal city of Fusang, it sparks an unprecedented chain of events. Ancient, restless energy has been awakened and it wants Bingmei.This was a pretty cool read! It took me a minute to get into it, but once I did, I devoured it! I loved the Chinese culture inspirations, especially the Foo Dogs guarding the city entrance. They called them 'lions' but I knew what they were. We have two sets of them in our house. Haha. The description of Fusang itself, and especially how they found it, was definitely a descent to the underworld, as the city is buried intact beneath a retreating glacier. It reminded me more of the Celtic twilight realm of Annwfyn because of that, since there was ambient light and growing things.It seems Bingmei has a variation of synesthesia, which I adored! I have a friend who senses emotion as colour via olfactory processing. Like Bingmei, it gets him in trouble sometimes! I've been seeing synesthetes showing up in books more frequently over the last year or so, and it warms my heart this unusual and fascinating condition is getting more attention. The magic was neat, being tied to the meiwood. It's creepy that using magic summons the 'killing fog' that leaves dead men in it's wake. I live in an area that is often foggy, so often that it has a name- Karl. Thankfully, Karl won't kill you outright. Just pay attention while driving!Bingmei was a cool character who reminded me a little of a younger Arya Stark. Kunmia was probably my most favourite. She's a strong, capable, protective leader. Kunmia brought to mind Georgiou, from Star Trek: Discovery. So that's kinda how those two ended up being mentally pictured for me. Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to continuing on in the Grave Kingdom series. Recommended for fantasy lovers who enjoy Asian-inspured stories.***Many thanks to the Netgalley & 47North for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed for JBN Tours.