Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the privilege of previewing this novel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something I enjoyed.

From the prologue, I felt a lot of “what the heck am I even reading,” moments, not in a good way. The writing style felt forced and like it was trying to be something it wasn’t. The characters didn’t feel very developed and the “dark lady” celt pretty generic.

I found the ending predictable and the entire story very one-note/anticlimactic. This book felt, to me, felt like it was a wish of a screenplay that never got there, so it was turned into a book last minute.

Not the worst, but not for me.

Children of the Fog has one of the creepiest atmospheres I’ve ever come across in a book. It follows a brother and sister as they each deal with a terrifying, supernatural childhood trauma in their own way. There are some really eerie, gripping scenes that kept my attention, but I felt like the story got bogged down by too much inner monologue and description. I wish there had been more dialogue and forward momentum. I also would have loved more depth and detail about the Dark Lady. Overall, I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars. Thank you Fever Dream Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed reading this book! The prologue was very interesting and sucked me into the book immediately It was just the right amount of scary and story combination.

Very dark and intense. A depressing picture of a disturbed family life. Requires the right mood for reading.

Some disturbing gore and self-harm scenes require a strong stomach. Horror fans only for those.

Disclaimer: I read horror on occasion, but not regularly. If you are a bigger fan of the genre the book may be more appealing to you. I appreciate the author's effort in writing such a dark story.

In Children of the Fog, C W. Anderson tells a story of two siblings attempting to outrun a traumatic incident from their past - one orchestrated by a dark entity that comes in the fog, an apparition known as the Dark Lady. Unfortunately, despite the author's clear skill with the written word, the novel itself is largely dull and uninteresting.

I wanted to like this book; every element was there for me. Gothic horror? Check. Moody atmosphere? Check. Mysterious event from the past that drove two siblings in wildly different directions? Check. But, C.W. Anderson is more skilled with putting flowing sentences and nightmare imagery together than forming likable, engaging characters. Neither sibling gets me to a point of rooting for them, and the brother is downright unlikable.

Reading the book is an exercise in frustration, as the author is given to long paragraphs of description that pad out the page count far beyond what is necessary. I'm all for poetic prose and painting a picture for the reader, but this tested my patience.

The threat itself is generic to a fault. You've seen ghosts and ghouls like this many times before, and the Dark Lady doesn't stand out or become fleshed out enough to be something beyond a vague, abstract threat. The way the story ends feels predictable and anti-climactic.

Overall, I can't recommend this book entirely. Some of the writing is impressive on a technical level, but this book really reminds me of horror movies from the early '00s: great cinematography that is fantastic to look at, but that has no depth and fails in demanding emotional investment from the reader.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Fever Dream Books for providing me a review copy of this novel.

This book is the reason why you should be afraid of the dark, why you should not go outside once the sunsets. This story messed wit5h my mind.

Wow. What a great read. Could not put it down. Thank you for letting me read this in advance. I stayed up way to late trying to get to the end.

What I Loved/Enjoyed About The Book:

Story/Writing/Structure:

* Simple, informative yet taken aback with a lot of information/background while effective style of writing throughout
* No jargons or phrases which are not necessary used


Background/A Bit Of The Plot Without Giving Anything Away:

* Strong Characters with a history
* Trauma, hurt, pain and suffering
* The story does fit in well and has many ups and downs

I Highly Recommend This Book I Will Give This 5 Out Of 5 Stars

I was given the opportunity to read this book from Netgalley as an ARC and read this for leisure voluntarily. The title really intrigued me and it made me want to know who were the Children of the Fog. I found the beginning really interesting and wanting to know more about Dylan. The story though focuses more about Lizzy. The Fog was really interesting and I have found this theme in previous books and movies. Kind of the "are you afraid of the dark" theme, which yes, yes I am. This book claimed me and I read it in a day. I wanted to know what happened to these siblings. I wanted to know about their past, and their future. I will say the book had a twist which I wasnt expecting. I didnt think it would go in the direction it did. I found this book to be really easy to read and fast paced. I appreciated the length of the chapters and felt the chapter titles were well thought out. Thanks for an interesting read!

This book was WOW! Once I started I didn't want to stop! Any reader of horror should definitely check this one out. I would have given more stars if able.

As children the siblings suffered something terrible, and as adults go their own separate ways to deal with their trauma. However it’s back, the fog is returning, the dreams are drawing them in and they find themselves facing their demons again.

This was a slow start for me, I found it hard to get into but as the book went on I was sucked in more and more as I got used to the writing style being a bit clunky and choppy. Very spooky vibes that at times give you goosebumps

"In the fog-drenched hills of San Francisco, siblings Lizzy and Dylan were once inseparable. It was the only way they could survive a childhood of horror and evil…until one final bloodstained night left them near-dead orphans. Now in their twenties, each has taken a wildly different path through Lizzy is ambitious and polished, compulsively driven to escape her haunted past and the forbidden truth that still whispers in her soul, while her younger brother Dylan hitch-hikes across the country, homeless and half-insane, obsessed with a return of that dark realm and the sinister presence that hungered for them. But something ominous is happening in the City by the Bay. Whispers of a strange fog that floods the streets at night, of beckoning shadows and dreams of a crumbling manor aloft over the city. As Dylan had feared, the Dark Lady has returned at last, and soon there will be nowhere for brother or sister to hide. "You may be done with Her, but I'm not so sure She's done with you."

The story does have a slow start, it does pick up after the first chapter and is very immersive on some realities. Anderson did not disappoint, enhancing the unsettling element of the fog . This horror did not disappoint.

This was eerie and filled with dreadful and tension filled scenarios. Can't help but to feel for the characters and hoping they'd survive.

I really wanted to enjoy this one, I love the idea of the story and the setting, but it didn't work for me. I couldn't connect with the characters and everything felt a bit...not as tense and scary as it should have been. Like the place in the fog should have been really creepy and intense and yet whenever I was reading about it it was just meh. I don't know why exactly it didn't work, something about the writing style didn't work for me.

What a book! This was an unsettling psychological thriller that captures your attention from the first page. This book was a good page turner that kept my attention through out the whole story. Very good book.

Siblings Lizzie and Dylan experienced a devastating trauma when young. Ten years later, Dylan is back in the San Francisco Bay Area, on a mission to find a missing girl and to protect his sister. Not having seen each other for many years, Lizzie is reluctant to reconnect, but after vivid dreams she knows that she has to find Dylan and make sure he is safe.

Who knew there were so many ways to describe fog!!

This is a first for me by this author. I’m not sure from the style and aptitude of writing if it is a debut? I found the book overly descriptive, showing lack of trust between writer and reader, hence why I thought this was a new, inexperienced author. The actual plot gets hidden in the sluggish descriptive prose

Slow and meandering, the writing missed the gothic vibe it was searching for and at times was like something from a Victorian melodrama, with some gems -

‘their solidity providing no solidity’
‘gifting him back eight bolts of beneficent pain’
‘she did not have enough coin for the egregious fare’
‘the chair alongside its fallen brethren’

A disappointing ending.

A major edit is needed. Sometimes less is more. 50% less purple prose and hyperbole and maybe a decent novel might emerge.

Thank you NetGalley and Fever Dream Books for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

C.W. Anderson, you did not miss! The suspense, the horror, I couldn’t put this book down! I made my wife read it just so I could have someone to talk about it with! Don’t sleep on this book, pick it up and buckle up!

The premise behind the book was a good one, but I fee like it could have been executed better. The idea of childhood trauma for the siblings that was actually a supernatural kind of evil was unique. It had chilling moments to the book. I did struggle to finish it at times, but overall it wasn't too bad. I think the description and inner monologue was well done, but a little too much. I think that it needs to be more balanced.

Thank you Net Galley ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I got a definite vibe from this book that was somewhat similar to 'Skinamarink'. I feel like there was a lot of content in here that, when provided to the right person, would bring definite scares and substance, but sadly, I struggled to connect with this book. We follow a brother and sister who return to visit their old trauma, and find that it may not have just been shadows in the dark but a real, actual threat.

I feel like this book danced on the edge of good a lot of the time. There was a great deal of material here that was definitely on the edge of scary, but it got bogged down in exposition and drama between the siblings that just felt really hard to get through. I found that the end of the story as well wasn't quite what I had hoped for, and there's no real resolution from the side of the horror.

I still enjoyed the atmosphere that this book had, I just felt like it could have been better in other respects and tied more together than just the interpersonal side of it. If you are very much into assessing the minutiae of character's lives and getting horror out of processing trauma without an analogy, I genuinely think that you will love this book. For the more hardcore horror fans, sadly, it just doesn't quite hit the mark.

Lizzy and Dylan escape a childhood horror now it's back. Good characters love how the author shows same trauma effects them differently. Plenty of chill and thrills along the way. Slow start but soon picks up. Thanks to Fever Dream books and Netgalley for this review ARC.