'The Killing Fog' is the second Jeff Wheeler series I've read and I have enjoyed it quite a bit.
The book tells the story of young Bingmei and her maturation from a young girl who sees her beloved grandfather killed to becoming an important part of an ensign, an armed group who provides protection to the local ruler. Mysterious killing fogs, a sword that calls to her and a cast of some wonderful side characters make this a fun, exciting read.

This is the third time I've tried this book. I love Jeff Wheeler, I really do and I was excited to try something beside his Kingfountain series. But this book just didn't do it for me. I got to 52% and still have no idea what's going on. And with this being the third time I've attempted it... I think it's safe to say it's time to fully put it away. If this was any other author I probably wouldn't have given it this many attempts.

The Killing Fog follows Bingmei, an orphan survivor of a combat school, who was rescued by members of another ensign and trained with them. They work retrieving artifacts and her ability to smell emotions has served her well, until she awakens Echion, the emperor of the Grave Kingdom. Now she must destroy him before he reclaims the kingdoms of the living.

It has promise but lacks more details about the characters and seemed rushed. Not sure if I’d read the next one if it’s rushed and not filled out more

I have to honestly say This book was tough to read. I put it down and tried to restart reading so many times. I finally caved and pushed myself through the first half until I finally became somewhat interested in the story line. This almost became a DNF (did not finish) for me which is not a common thing. This book is just not my cup of tea. The story lacked that immersive story building that I've become accustomed to and made the characters not really relatable. I honestly didn't even care what happened to the whiny main character. By the end of the story I began to appreciate where it was going but still didn't love the characters.

I'd rate this book a 3/5 and probably wouldn't recommend it. I'd recommend all of Jeff Wheeler's other series but would probably steer people away from this one if it was the first series they were going to read by him.

The Killing Fog is the first book in Jeff Wheeler's The Grave Kingdom series. It tells the story of Bingmei, a young woman raised in a martial arts school and whose family was murdered and who has joined a band of mercenaries.
This book has the quality to which Mr. Wheeler has accustomed us, with an excellent setting, beautiful landscapes, very well developed characters, very realistic action scenes and a well-defined plot that captivates the reader and that makes this book a highly recommended work for the author's followers, as well as for all of us who enjoy a good fantasy story with oriental overtones.

I wasn't able to read the book but will be including it in a series called "I Wish I'd Read That." Text below:

The Killing Fog sounds like the kind of fantasy that has something for everyone. The description promises a world of magic and mythology with a rich history, filled with intense characters who are continuously on the verge of warfare. I was drawn to the promise of an epic journey, and I’d love to hear what you all thought of the world and characters! Read more about the author and book below, or purchase a copy for yourself. And of course, a big thank you to 47North for the free review copy!

This was definitely an exciting fantasy. I think there could be some complaints about cultural appropriation. For me, it works since it is the fantasy genre. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

This was my first Jeff Wheeler novel and boy was I blown away by the writing, world building, characters, plot and action. This book is heavy on the Chinese culture which I found amazing mixed with tons of magic. I hooked from the first page!

This adult fantasy follows Bingmei who is an orphan that is now a mercenary. She along with her band are hired for a job and things take off from there. I absolutely enjoyed Bingmei!!! She was quick on her feet and cracked me up. There were some points when I wanted to jump through the pages and pop her, but her development throughout the story gripped me.

A book that begins with the character seeking out revenge, but slowly growing and moving from that mindset. The journey to different kingdoms is epic. The writing pulls you in as you can vividly picture everything.

My favorite part: the headstrong, powerful women!!

Overall, I'm excited for the sequel, The Buried World, and more fantasy novels by Jeff Wheeler!

This book had a nice bloend of Chinese culture, fantasy and Martial Arts. I liked the characters even though they fall into common tropes. My opinion there were too many battles and not enough exposition.we were going from battle to battle without furthering the plot

The Killing Fog is the start of another intriguing and otherworldly fantasy series by one of my favorite authors, Jeff Wheeler. The series is an Asian inspired fantasy with martial arts, magical weapons, and rival kingdoms. Wheeler always does a great job of writing strong female characters and creating a complex but accessible world.

The main character is Bingmei - a girl touched by tragedy and harboring secret abilities that make her a valuable asset to all. There are a lot of compelling and well written characters surrounding Bingmei but they are all easy to keep track of.

The book may seem a little slow in beginning but stick with it because it really picks up and leaves you wanting more. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

I greatly enjoyed this book and look forward to the continuation of the series. Jeff Wheeler does a great job creating the vision of this new world, and filtering in the background so that you understand the motives of the characters.

I would rate this one a 3.5-4. I enjoyed this story though at first I had trouble engaging with the main character.
Wheeler's world building is wonderful.

I absolutely loved the series and will definitely be selling/recommending this author to my customers! Unfortunately I´m not able to get a hold the author´s older titles, as they are not available at my wholesalers.

This was a great start to a series. Wheeler jams in a variety of characters that work wonderfully with one another and a unique world with an interesting background into a very well-crafted plot. There's mysterious backgrounds which are constantly addressed throughout the story and enough detail given to all major characters to make them significant. The characters could have been deeper with a little more attention to world building, but the focused audience was also younger which tends not to be as epic. I will definitely be finishing this series and checking out whatever else Wheeler has written. The last bit that really stood out to me was that even though there is good and bad, the characters all tend to fit in somewhere between the two.

This is the first book I've read by Jeff Wheeler, so I'm not familiar with his style. But this Asian-inspired Fantasy story caught my eye on Netgalley, so I gave it a try.

Sadly, the ARC only had a TBD page for the map. It would have been helpful to have access to the map. I will say thank you, though, that this was clearly called out as the beginning of a series. I do enjoy series as well as standalones. But it drives me nuts when I get to towards the end of something I thought was a standalone only to find out it is a series. This happens the most when I am reading ARCs.

The story has some interesting world elements. The world has magical artifacts left over from an unknown civilization. However, using any magic summons a fog that kills any living thing it comes in contact with. (The title is quite literal.)

I was engaged in the story but wasn't in love with the characters. I didn’t connect with Bignmei the way I was hoping to. I’m a sucker for female warrior characters, but Bingmei always felt stiff and thinly drawn. I craved deeper character development from her and the rest of the characters. This seemed to be primarily caused by the age old problem of Telling instead of Showing. There was just something about the writing style that kept me from being totally immersed in the story.

The Killing Fog is still an exciting, adventurous story. There is lots of action, but I've definitely been spoiled by Fonda Lee’s martial arts scenes. Not much lives up to her action writing. Nevertheless, most of the story is fast-paced and easy to read. While I wasn’t emotionally invested in the characters, I was never bored by the plot. It was an exciting story about revenge and the fight to save the world from an unspeakable evil.

This was labeled as Adult fiction, but most of it felt YA. I don't think the main character's age is ever specified, but she sounded and acted like she was in her late teens. Add to that the love triangle, agnsty focus on her revenge, and the whole Chosen One troupe, and it felt soundly Young Adult. And while there is quite a bit of fighting and killing, the violence is the PG13- don't-show-the-gore type, so I would recommend this for teens. The story had enough content to still appeal to most adult readers. But it seems miss-marketed.

I enjoyed the story. Once I got into it, I finished it quickly. I do look forward to reading the next book, but I hope there is more in-depth character development, less telling, and that it doesn't focus on the love triangle.

Unfortuantely, I did not get the chance to read this ARC prior to the book's publication, but we did end up buying it for our library's digital collection--I don't think we'll end up buying it for our print shelves.

A patchwork of petty kingdoms, nestled in the ruins of a fallen magical empire, face a rising horror when an expedition to discover a lost city goes horribly awry.

Bingmei, who was born with pale skin and hair---a condition viewed as a 'sickness' in her homeland---and who can literally smell people's intentions, was orphaned when her mercenary parents and grandfather were murdered, and now trains for revenge. When she ends up in possession of a magical blade--one of many magical objects left behind by that now-fallen empire, whose use summons a mysterious but deadly fog to strike the wielder down---she ends up joining her mercenary band on a quest that accidentally sets in motion a series of very unfortunate events.

I'd say this read like a YA novel, but I've read too many YA novels that seemed more 'adult' than this. (And this seemed way too long for a YA novel, frankly.) I enjoyed it a lot at the start, but as the story progressed my interest waned dramatically, until by the end I was really ready for the whole thing to just be done.

There's clearly talent here, but there's a . . . simplicity? to the writing that annoyed me so much that I knocked off several stars. It constantly read like the author was terrified his readers wouldn't understand the characters' motivations, so he decided to over-explain, flat-out announcing things that should have been intuited by the reader. I glossed over that tendency at first, but the book's so much longer than its plot really needs that I really couldn't ignore it by the end.

It's hard to say this was bad; I've read bad books and this wasn't that. But it's equally hard to call this good, and . . . that's the heart of it, I think.

Meh

Yet another pseudo China magic military story. I am really tired of them, and this one does not stand out in any way.

Bingmei is an orphan of mysterious origins. She goes out into the world where her magic powers lead her into danger. Yawn. I am asleep already. Didn't I read Poppy War last year?

4.7 stars. Wow. That was epic. Okay, where to begin with this?
When I read the first part, I was less than impressed. I was relieved to encounter a fantasy novel without profanity and explicit sexual content. And the novel itself had plenty of good ingredients. Yet, somehow, the first part just didn’t grab me. I patiently read through it, though sometimes I noticed phrasing that felt clumsy. (The repeated descriptions of the main character’s “gift” really tended to knock me out of the story).

AND THEN. Probably near halfway through the book, it just caught fire. It became a compelling narrative, full of rich characters, wonderful setting and mythology (seriously, the world-building became incredible), and lots and lots of delicious tension. I can’t wait for the next installment!

Just be warned, there is a lot of violence. And there’s the idea of self-sacrifice by what seems (on my reading, anyway) to be suicide, an idea I suspect will reappear in later books.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.