A Haunting and Beautiful Read

Fog and Fireflies by T. H. Lehnen is a wonderfully atmospheric novel that pulls you into its misty, dreamlike world from the very first page. Lehnen’s writing style is both lyrical and evocative, making the setting feel like a character in itself. The story weaves themes of memory, loss, and discovery in a way that feels deeply personal yet universally relatable.

The characters are thoughtfully crafted, with enough depth to keep you emotionally invested. I especially appreciated the slow build of tension and the subtle mysteries that kept me turning the pages. While some sections moved a little slower than I would have liked, and a few minor plot threads felt slightly underdeveloped, the emotional payoff at the end made the journey well worth it.

Overall, Fog and Fireflies is a captivating read that balances melancholy and hope beautifully. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys atmospheric storytelling and character-driven narratives.

This was a fascinating book. I love how original it was. The vocal was a wonderful Value. With a variety of accents.

The writing in this book is probably some of the most beautifully written I have ever read. The world building is vivid and unique, and the characters were captivating.
I will say the only issue I had was at times I was a bit confused and had to replay certain parts a couple times to completely grasp what the author was trying to completely grasp what was happening in the story.
The cover is what drew me in, it was mesmerizing and so unique. It reminded me a lot of Bridge to Terabithia.
I truly enjoyed this beautifully written story.

I really enjoyed this book, good world building and character development. The mystery and intrigue keeps you invested through the whole book. The only downside is that I wish there was more. Hopefully the author revisits this universe as there were a few story lines left unfinished that I wish they would have gone back to. The book was also marketed as YA but I felt that it fit better into the teen age group due to the writing style

The fog swirls around the town and adults have no defences from it, only children can protect the town. When it backs up the people can come out to find wood and ore, and at times meet others usually trapped by the fog.

A very well written novel and well narrated by the author (I listened to the audiobook). Excellent characters in this well paced fantasy novel. Ogma’s town is attacked and she gets lost in the fog. Can she find help and will she have courage to find and save her friends? Very enjoyable, enjoy.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This started off well and seemed interesting but lost me about halfway. After that it just didn't quite keep my attention, and I wanted to like it more than I did. I think it would be a hit for many, just not for me at this time.

This one comes under ‘I was seduced by a beautiful cover’. I liked the premise of the book but the execution did not work for me. The author did not write a believable female lead and the structure of the story wobbled. It also read like it was for a much younger – possibly juvenile – audience. Just not for me.

This was a wonderful audio book. It has a great blend of adventure, fantasy and drama in it. The narrator did an amazing job with the characters, and differentiated their voices wonderfully. The mystery in the story really drew me in and it was hard to turn off when I need to do other things.

I couldn't help but love the characters as they went about their journey. The ending was amazing and heart wrenching. I would recommend it for anyone that loves a good fantasy novel that is not focused on romance!

The best part of the audiobook is the narration: the author uses different voices to really distinguish characters. It's especially effective when extra effects are added to make it sound buzzing or hollowed for the beasts. It creates its own kind of haunting atmosphere.

I liked the concept of a sentient fog that distorts time and place, and monsters that only target adults. It presents fear as a learned concept, instead of something inherent.

Unfortunately the story dragged on in parts and I found my mind wandering, so I feel I may have missed out on some key plot points. I feel like things jumped around and weren't explained fully.

This leaned more toward middle grade, but I would still recommend this to anyone looking for a hopeful, tense, coming of age story.

The Alice in Wonderland vibes are strong here. I loved the whimsical, Tim burton-esque feel of the world the author created. Many of the characters Ogma (MC) encounters are strange and spooky. Their uniqueness and complexity is intoxicatingly enchanting. I enjoyed the thought provoking theme of growing older and the confusion it can bring. It’s relatable and real. The plot was simple, yet satisfying with a heart-breaking twist ending.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook arc. I thoroughly enjoyed listening. The narrator’s voice and pace was fitting and easy to listen to.

This is a fantasy tale where communities are isolated by a dangerous magical fog. Only children and teens are safe (ish) from it. Author Lehnen spins his yarn with that as the premise. Our protagonist is an interesting character and the sidekick (?) is too.

I love stories where the characters are interesting, and this book has them. I also like a plot that can be followed, which this one has as well. What it doesn’t have is a cohesive, logical magic system. There are a couple of irritating “must-haves” for YA books it also contains, so minus points for them. ~ Authors, young adults are more intelligent and compassionate than you give them credit for, so stop preaching. ~

Overall a 3.5 star book for me. I found the story interesting but it didn’t drive me. The author did a decent job narrating. A good debut novel; I would read book two, if ever there is one. My thanks to Aspen and Thorn Press.

"A fabulous YA introduction into the world of high fantasy.

I just finished reading Fog & Fireflies a Fantasy book written by T.H. Lehnen. I read the AudioBook published by Aspen & Thorn Press. NetGalley gave me a copy of this book. I listened to this book on NetGalley. It is a stand alone book.

This book is a must read if you like: YA high fantasy, Tolkien, and unique villians

""Why do we get more scared when we get older?” he asked quietly. ""We know better”, Ogma said.

The plot of this book twists and turns like the fog it features. It follows Ogma, a girl trying to survive in her dangerous world. She meets scary demons and heartwarming friends.

This book has a dark feel, but it is written for YA so it isn’t extremely dark.

I don't have the attention span for much high fantasy, but the YA made this very approachable. I took it in small chunks and it took longer than i usually take to listen.

I thought this book had very unique takes on time travel, old gods, and different species.

I really like the part where you start to realize the fog can do more than just move and hide things.

It moved a bit slow sometimes.

I thought the narrator worked fine. Sometimes I wished they had gotten a female narrator.

Overall, I really liked the book and I'm grateful I got an opportunity to read it.

Content Warnings: Descriptions of war injuries, tense situations.

This is a debut novel, and has some struggles. It struggles quite a bit around the halfway mark. It was an interesting beginning, but there is a huge drop in pacing at the halfway mark. The magic and the world expand at an exponential rate which does not give the reader the time to adapt and it truly didn't feel like the author gave me enough information. He knows his world, but I didn't.

For me, there was an issue with the sound, it would suddenly jump in volume randomly. There was also background sound that did not support the narration.

All in all it was an interesting read, but a tad younger than young adult.

I would like to thank Netgallery and publishers for the audio copy.

I was immediately interested in this book by the cover and the description of the book. This book for me read more for younger than YA, possibly middle school level. I enjoyed the overall story but it took a bit for me to really get into it. You're thrown into the book with no idea what's happening in the world around these children and it made me space in and out of the audiobook. The pacing felt a bit weird for me as well but I would be willing to read the next book and see what happens next.

3.5

This book has left me more annoyed than anything else I've read or listened to this year, and not in a "can't wait to see what's next" cliffhanger way, but a "this should have been a better experience" way.
First, the story itself was good. I was invested in Ogma and Weaver and the rest of the cast of characters. The action is slow to build but picks up eventually as little. However, I had a couple issues with the audio book. First, the chapter lengths- several of them are over an hour long, one was close to 90 minutes. But then there would be a 21 minute chapter. This contributed to the feel of the story dragging a lot. Second, the narrator (which is surprisingly the author) has a tendency to make all of the females sound whiny, no matter what they are saying. I could tell it was sometimes meant to imply a young age, but having all the females sound whiny and annoying was, well, annoying. I know if I were reading the words I would not have read Ogma as such a whimpering character. I feel she in particular was done an injustice with the whining inflection. Third, the narrator comes across as flat during exposition. When characters weren't talking, the narrator's tone had very little change, making these long passages blend together. My mind wandered several times because the narration become a drone. Even during battle scenes, there was no tension from the narrator- it was the same monotone used to describe monsters like the Cheshires attacking the caravan as was given to a description of the wall of the town.
I have mixed feelings with this audio book. I feel like this is a story I would have enjoyed better as a traditional book rather than an audio book, but at the same time, I also feel like the narrator had the opportunity to make this audiobook more exciting than it was. And this is incredibly disappointing to feel when it is the very author of the book making their work come across so one-note.
The story as a whole is slow. Again, it may be the narration more than the actual storyline. The characters are likeable and they have depth to some of them.
Would I recommend this book? The print edition, maybe. The audiobook as it is? Not to most; it would take a specific style of listener who can make it through the slow pacing and awkwardly-long chapters. If I could separate the storyline for a review, I'd give it four stars, but the narration only two stars. Since I can't specify, I'm splitting the difference with three stars, but it's a frustrating three stars.

I listened to this as an audiobook, narrated by T.H. Lehnen and I really enjoyed the dramatic retelling. Fog and Fireflies is an enthralling fantasy adventure that seamlessly weaves together complex world-building and remarkable characters. In a fog-drenched realm where children must defend their homes from terrifying creatures, the story follows the courageous Ogma as she ventures into the perilous fog to rescue her friends and discover her own inner strength.
Lehnen's imaginative world, is truly fascinating; the floating villages and the rich lore of the wizard-war create a vivid and immersive setting that charms readers from the very first page. Ogma's journey is a rollercoaster of tension and emotion, highlighting themes of friendship, courage, and self-discovery that resonate deeply with readers of all ages. Indeed, I think this will be a hit with my ‘early-teen’ book club!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ALC of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

That was interesting. It seems to be the first in a series, so I'm feeling more charitable towards it than I would have if it stood alone. This felt like a lot of world building with us learning stuff with the characters, which was good, I actually liked the story-time aspect of the exposition. The characters seemed like individuals who were not actually fleshed out, if that makes sense. I completely believe the writer saw them own as individuals, but I the reader just... Wanted them fleshed out more. Anyway, I think this author has potential, I just think he didn't meet it in this book.

A dark fantasy and mysteries, I am enjoying parts of the story and getting confused in some parts. Overall it was a good book .

The narrator was great in narrating the book.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher Aspen & Thorn Press.

Let me start by thanking NetGalley for the advanced copy of the audiobook for review!

I wasn't sure what I was going to get into with this book, but the cover looked quite dark--even for a YA. 

Once I was in, I was hooked. This is high fantasy, so we have these moments where the book is full of description because the hart isn't what a hart looks like. The ghostly shapes in the fog are detailed, and the author hooks us on these details.  You can feel the cold biting through laters, the damp of the earth.

There were also moments of high intensity that had me asking WHAT NEXT?

I will also add, since this is the audiobook, I enjoyed the author narrating the book. He has a good voice. He adds accents sometimes to characters, but not always so I sometimes got confused about who was speaking. That being said, good pacing, clear voice, and it was an enjoyable listen (for note, I listen at 2x speed and found it to be very understandable and paced like other 2x reads).

I enjoyed this title very much and look forward to book 2 to see how the world continues to build.

This was a really interesting book with a premise that was very new and novel to me. The world was beautifully atmospheric, it was very easy to imagine the world and visualise the characters within it. I thought the law and magic within this book was also very enjoyable and very well written!
I think Ogma was a really great MC, I liked that she made mistakes and was not perfect as she is a child in this book and it made her actions very believable.

One of the issues I had was the pacing I felt like it was great up until about 60 to 70% of the way through which it then got a little slow paced, then sped up very quickly in the final 5 to 10%.

I also think that this book is more for a younger audience. Appreciate this is a YA book, but it does read a little bit young in that demographic.

But for a debut fantasy novel I think this was brilliant. The audiobook was so much fun to listen too, It was very immersive and easy to follow.

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of this book.